World Learner School

Principal Outreach

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

November, 2009

Dear WLS Families,

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

A Montessori Point-Orientation: Maria Montessori said:

It is very important for the child who goes out to know how to orient himself in the field, to recognize the position of the sun, the cardinal compass points, how to guess the approximate time of day, etc. We have him observe, for example, that moss is found mainly on the north side of trees in a forest. We have him predict the weather from the clouds and study the direction of the wind. All these things arouse his attention and become actual knowledge. When the children begin to become interested in these things they talk about them to their juniors, thereby handing down their own riches....

All these activities constitute a symbol of life. Since life outdoors differs from life in a closed environment, a guide and an aim are necessary. In short, to go out, one must be ready for it.

from From Childhood to Adolescence, by Maria Montessori, p. 15.

This is meaningful on several levels. You hear Montessori teachers talk a lot about the prepared environment (and I wrote about it here a couple of months ago). There's also the notion of the whole outdoors as an extended classroom, and the preparation of ourselves for immersion in and absorption of it. Einstein said this:

Never before have I lived through a storm like the one this night...The sea has a look of indescribable grandeur, especially when the sun falls on it. One feels as if one is dissolved and merged into Nature. Even more than usual, one feels the insignificance of the individual, and it makes one happy." -Albert Einstein, December 10, 1931

Albert Einstein: The Human Side, edited by Helen Dukas and Banesh Hoffman, (Princeton University Press), p 19

And yet how much or how little do children in the suburbs enter into this merger? Very little, is my guess. Knowledge that could be taken for granted and absorbed from daily life at one time must now be recognized as requiring conscious teaching. And teaching with an urgency born of the near missing of the sensitive period. Where am I? Where's the rest of the group? Which way is home? How far? How long?

Orientation is more than a game of Charlie-to-Base at Deep Portage. Orientation means knowing full well where we are in relation to our familiar physical space, our little classroom community and all the little members who comprise it, home and school and in between, the physical distance of it, the direction of it, and the means of getting back and forth, and especially to the greater world of nature, and becoming familiar with its predictability, and using our knowledge of its constants to survive and thrive in new situations as well.

John Dewey said something to the effect that experience doesn't exist without nature, and experience is really what education is (for better or worse; I'll go into that more another time). He was talking in more theoretical, philosophical terms. But let's not split natural hairs: let's go outside, to that prepared environment, and prepare ourselves to induce academics from nature. Join our refusnik cause of not just pushing pencils across papers, not telling ourselves that the value of the day, education-wise, is merely the checking off of items on the list of academic requirements. Instead, let's go through some perpetual orientation to the world.....

Testing: I've included a little info on the MAP test here for a few months, now. Your best orientation to the test is here: http://www.nwea.org/. Click Products and Services, and then Computer-Based Adaptive Assessments. We are giving the tests to grades 3-8 in Language, Reading, and Math, and to grades 4, 7, and 8 in science. The tests are conducted on the computer. Each test takes from a half hour to an hour. We started the tests last week in the middle school, and everybody else will be starting this week. We will be finished by November 24 at the latest. Please email me if you have questions about this.

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. Their kick-off meeting is this Thursday at 6:30 here at school. If you want more information, or would like to join, contact Joanne Gaudette at jegaudette@comcast.net.

Volunteers for the Library: 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.

Board: The 0910 Board will have its next meeting on Monday, November 23. 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:

                                                                                                                                                               Term Began                 Term Ends

Board Members:                                      

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 2008                  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:                   11.23.09

1.4.10 (note no meeting in December)

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, Everybody, for all you do to help us in this great work. That's all for this time. See you here next month...