The World Learner School

A Newsletter from Bob Ruud, WLS Teaching Principal, to WLS Families

October, 2009

Dear WLS Families,

There’s a lot going on. Here’s what’s most important, from my point of view...

A Montessori Point—Multi-Age Grouping: Maria Montessori said:
Beyond the more obvious reasons why it is sensible to group the ages three by three, such as the little ones learn from the older children and the older ones learn by teaching the younger, every child can work at his own pace and rhythm, eliminating the bane of competition, there is the matter of order and discipline easily maintained even in very large classes with only one adult in charge. This is due to the sophisticated balance between liberty and discipline prevalent in Montessori classrooms, established at the very inception of a class. Children who have acquired the fine art of working freely in a structured environment, joyfully assume responsibility for upholding this structure, contributing to the cohesion of their social unit.

At World Learner School we adhere as closely as possible to the fundamentals of Maria Montessori’s educational philosophy (Maria didn’t use and objected to the use of the term “Montessori Method”). The elegance of her philosophy is that it really just grows from one core principle: That each child is on his/her own mission of self-construction. All of the materials, techniques, logistics, etc. that comprise the “Method” spring directly from that principle. Case in point: multi-age grouping. Montessori believed that children need adults to do two things: serve as a link to culture and civilization; and to teach them, at their own level, the skills they need to explore their world, which exploration is their means of constructing their minds. Too often adults perceive helplessness in a child rather than recognizing the developmental stage that the child is in, and so are inclined to “help” the child, which too often becomes more doing things for (or even instead of) the child.

Multi-age grouping plays a crucial role in this. One properly trained adult presence in a classroom community of 25-30 children of a range of ages, set up and monitored as a little civilization, ensures all of the children ample opportunity to practice independence, learn to be social, and to observe more and less developed stages of development all around them.

Joined as we are to the core philosophy, we do make a few compromises. One of these is that we occasionally recognize grade levels, such as when we administer standardized tests such as the MCA. We also work toward the state standards, which are organized by grade. There are some elements of the standards that are not in the Montessori curriculum, and we supplement our curriculum with lessons to work toward those standards. As a public school, we are obligated to do that. And we don’t lose any sleep over it. But for the most part, we stick to the basics of Montessori philosophy, and use things like multi-age grouping to support and embrace and celebrate each child’s mission of self-construction.

Website Management: We've been without a website manager for a while, and the site has been out of date; sorry about that. Good news: Scott deVillers, parent of a child in Sarah's class, has just volunteered to take on the job. Look for the site to come up to date soon, and keep the pace with us from now on. Thanks so much, Scott!!

Testing: I've mentioned before that we have discontinued use of the Stanford Achievement Test and are going with Measuring Academic Progress (MAP) instead. The test will be administered twice during the year. The first time will be this month (October) and into November. The next will probably be in March. The test is administered on the computer. All students grades 3-8 will take three tests: Reading, Language, and Math. Grades 4, 7, and 8 will also take science. Each test takes about 45 minutes per child. Count the computers and do the math and you can see the logistical challenge we face. We're excited about the test, though. It syncs us with ISD 112 and a lot of other schools that are using it. It aligns with the state standards, which we need to align with anyway. It seems to be friendlier and smarter in its content and design. It adjusts to the child's level in a very clever way: one question comes up; the child answers correctly; the computer chooses a slightly harder question to be next; or: the first question comes up; the child answers incorrectly; the computer chooses a slightly easier question to be next. The child's score is really related to the level he/she ended up working at, rather than right as opposed to wrong answers. For some really well-designed info and samples, go to: http://www.nwea.org/. Click Products and Services, and then Computer-Based Adaptive Assessments.

Open House: Be sure to come to school next Tuesday, 5:30-7:00. There will be an important information packet for you to pick up, but also just some informal time for you to meet people, eat a bit of ice cream (Thanks, Kristina!!!), talk about school with your child's teacher, and talk to me about anything you like, if I'm not involved in the perpetual dodgeball game (and if I am, just join in!)

Montessori for Parents: Talk to just about anybody who's attended these, and you'll know you don't want to miss one session. Some of them are done by just one teacher; often they're done by a team, such as the lower elementary teachers together. Watch for announcements about them in your child's teacher's newsletter, and please come!!

Traffic in the Parking Lot: We have a few simple rules out there to ensure safety and get people where they need to go as efficiently as possible. In the morning: If you arrive at school after 9 AM, please don't pull up at the entrance to the school, because the busses are going to be pulling in there. The best thing to do is park in a regular parking space and walk in. If you want to just drop your child off, stop way down in the west end of the lot. At the end of the day, the best way is again to find a regular parking spot and walk over to the drop-off and pick-up area in the west end. Please be sure to stay away from the curbside where the busses will pull up. Please don't walk in between the busses; go behind the last bus in line. And I stand out in the parking lot at the end of the day to prevent a clog at the driveway; I'll let cars out while the busses are loading, but as soon as they start their engines and are preparing to move out, I'll stop the car traffic so the busses can get out easier. Again, this is so we can get the children safely on their way home as soon as possible. Thanks very much for your cooperation on this..

School Structure: World Learner School is a public school that sprang from the private Jonathan Montessori School in 1995. Both schools are housed in a building owned by a non-profit company, The JMS/WLS Building Company, set up for that purpose. Both schools pay rent to The Building Company, and the Company pays the mortgage.

Finding the Information You Need: The best source of information on your child's work and Montessori philosophy as it pertains to your child's experience is your child's teacher. For more on the theoretical side, I enjoy conversation about education in general and Montessori in particular. If you have concerns about your child's progress or experience, again your child's teacher is the best place to go. If for some reason you need information that your child's teacher doesn't seem to have, you can draw me into the conversation. If that communication doesn't seem to be working for you, you can come to the board and state your concerns there, and somebody on the board may be appointed to work with you through a communication process.

PTO: A number of eager parents are starting up a Parent Teacher Organization, which will be involved in school fundraising, maybe some general PR stuff, cleaning and beautification projects, and all kinds of enhancement stuff like that. If you want more information, or would like to join, contact Joanne Gaudette at jegaudette@comcast.net.

Volunteers for the Library: Shireen has put out a call for volunteers to monitor the library area during school hours. Not much of a response yet. If you're free anytime during school hours, and would like a very easy way to help meet a real need of the school, get in touch with Shireen. Gratitude: There's a risk that I'll thank somebody who I know just did something great, and not thank somebody else who did something great that I don't know about. I'll take a chance: Thanks, John Noonan, for moving the dirt pile from the parking lot to the back yard where it will be used. You freed up a couple of parking spots and eased a lot of congestion down there in the west end!!

Board: The 0910 Board will have its next meeting on Monday, October 26. The Board is comprised of six teachers and five parents in the school family (teachers below are marked with (T) and parents with (P)). Note that teacher terms are one year; parent terms are two:

Board Members:	Term Began	Term Ends
Carrie Baker-Rantala (T)	July 2009	June 2010
Mike Beller (P)	July 2009	June 2011
Rich Drapeau (P)	July 2009	June 2011
Sarah Hassebroek (T)	July 2009	June 2010
Susan Hoffa (P)	July 2009	June 2010
Paul Johnston (P)	July 2009	June 2011
Patti Quinn (T)	July 2009	June 2010
Amy Tanner (T)	July 2009	June 2010
Liesl Taylor (T)	July 2009	June 2010
Alicia Williams (P)	July 2009	June 2010*
Beth Wilson (T)	July 2009	June 2010

*Alicia was appointed to the second year of a parent term when a parent board member resigned in June after serving for one year.

Parents are welcome to come to board meetings. There is a Parent Forum scheduled before each meeting, 6:15 PM, in which parents can ask questions, offer suggestions, and voice concerns. The official meeting starts at 6:30 PM. Meetings are held at WLS, usually in the middle school classroom. Meetings are on the fourth Monday of the month.

Board Meeting Dates:
9.28.09
10.26.09
11.23.09
1.4.10
1.25.10
2.22.10
3.22.10
4.26.10
5.24.10
6.28.10

Vision: We are just about at the full configuration we have been striving toward for years. The third upper elementary class was the last piece of this basic configuration; it began with only fourth year students, and this year has fourth and fifth, and in the next year will be full, with fourth, fifth, and sixth year students. High School is still up there in the dream area; maybe someday....

High School?

Middle School

Upper Elementary 1 Upper Elementary 2 Upper Elementary 3

Lower Elementary 1 Lower Elementary 2 Lower Elementary 3

Jonathan Montessori House of Children

As we live by our mission statement:

The World Learner School's mission is to create a school that supports an experiential collaborative learning (Montessori) program that empowers children to unfold their full potential as whole and unique persons in classroom, local and world communities.

Thanks for Support: Thanks, Everybody, for all you do to help us in this great work. Thanks especially to the parents who have volunteered to make the tremendous commitment of serving on the board. And do keep tuned in to calls for volunteer work, and try to find time to join us in the effort to provide the very best educational experience possible for your children.

That's all for this time. See you here next month...