Welcome
NEWS
“The mission of St. James Episcopal School of Dallas is to provide a unique Christian Montessori community emphasizing exploration, independence, self-motivation, creativity and compassion.�
August 15, 2012 Dear St. James Families, I hope you have enjoyed your summer! We are putting the classrooms together and are eagerly preparing for the children’s arrival on August 21. We are all looking forward to another wonderful year of learning and growing here at St. James. I’d like to give you a brief introduction to Teachers, this year’s teaching and administrative staff, our leaders within the St. James community, as well as the improvements to our facilities over the summer: Toddler and Primary Staffing The 2012/2013 school year begins with opportunities and accomplishments for our talented staff. I am pleased to announce that all of our lead teachers and most of our assistants will be returning! Ms. Lindsey, Mrs. Eva and Mrs. Yoli will move forward with our fantastic Mother’s Day Out program.
Ms. Coral, Ms. Charlotte and Mrs. Anna will continue to lead our Toddler programs with assistance from Mrs. April, Ms. Beatriz and Mrs. Martha, Ms. Linda and Mrs. Lilly. Ms. Charlotte will be the Toddler Coordinator with Mrs. Anna as her assistant. Ms. Carmen will be our nap room and ASC transition teacher and will be welcoming triplet grandchildren later this month! Our new toddler staff members are Beatriz Castaneda, Lilly Petrini and Linda Gomes. All three teachers come highly recommended…I’m sure you’ll agree when you meet them! Mrs. Rhiannon was offered a position at her daughter’s school and simply could not turn it down. In the Primary world, Mrs. Barrineau, Mrs. Bailey, Mrs. Julia and Ms. Elizabeth will be returning as leads, with Mrs. Ashley and Mrs. Tamara as co-leads. (a big congratulations to Mrs. Ashley on her marriage this month to Clayton Woodruff!) Our Primary assistants are Ms. Ana and Mrs. Shannon.
Sadly, Ms. Gavin will be finding work closer to her residence. We will all miss you, Janiece! Also, Mrs. Ashli Cheung has decided to pursue other opportunities. While we are very sad to lose Ms. Cheung who has been a very valued member of our community, we are thrilled that her protĂŠgĂŠ, Ms. Judi Kim has agreed to transition into her role as the new art teacher. Welcome to St. James, Miss Judi! Summer Projects Over the summer, we approved the following projects for continued improvement to our facilities: 1. Replace flooring in all classrooms: We are replacing all classroom flooring with durable, beautiful, waterproof vinyl wood plank flooring. 2. Front Entry and Hallway: Re-install carpet at the front entry down the steps and up the ramp leading to the back classrooms, reducing the amount of slippery surface for small and large feet.
3. Repave the side driveway and back parking lot: We re-surfaced the side driveway, back parking lot and the enclosed portion of back parking lot for basketball and small wheeled gliders and scooters. 4. Add a drinking fountain to the playground (thanks to the PTO!) PTO News As we begin a new year, I would like extend a huge thank you to all of last year’s PTO officers for all the work they have done for the school this upcoming school year. A special thanks to Sarah Sutton for serving as the PTO president last year and returning as president this year. Without the support and help of the PTO officers and all the families we would not be able to accomplish all that we do. One of the major contributions of the PTO is the coordinating and managing of the annual Auction. As we have already communicated, the Auction this past March was a huge success!
The 12th Annual Silent Auction “The Stars at Night are Big and Bright” raised $28,000 for the school!!!! Funds raised by the Auction are being consolidated with existing funds to accomplish the necessary projects outlined above (e.g. new flooring, driveway repairs, etc.). The contribution of these monies has enabled us to move forward with these enhancements that would not have been possible otherwise. So, a huge thank you to all, for your contributions of time and money!! As we prepare for the next year, the following parents have graciously agreed to become officers of the PTO; we thank you in advance for your dedication and leadership: Sarah Sutton – President
Mindee Haas – Vice President
Cynthia Elliott – Treasurer
Kristen Boothe – Secretary
Jaime Ali – Auction Chair
Ashlie McGill – MDO Liaison
Rulanda Taylor – PTO Fundraising Coordinator Meagan Martinelli – Reading Parent Coordinator Melissa Kupchynsky - Room Parent Coordinator Liz Reynolds – Sunshine Committee
Board of Trustees Another huge thank you goes to Chris Peters, who served as the President of the Board of Trustees this past year. I would also like to formally welcome Mrs. Jennifer Hargrave who has graciously taken the helm! The Board of Trustees is the governing body for the school. The Board is comprised of volunteers from our school family, as well as the church, who are responsible for setting policy, overseeing financial affairs and guiding the school’s future in coordination with the Head of School. Jennifer Hargrave has agreed to serve as the President of the Board for the upcoming school year. In addition, the School Board has welcomed Ethan Boothe and Amy Bodwell as new members, and is thankful to have the continued contributions of Cecile Allen and Stephen Tillery from our school community. The Board of Trustees is very pleased with the state of the school, and is looking forward to an exciting 2012-13 school year.
ntinues to make St. James a vital, harmonious, and happy place
Final Words Finally, thank you to everyone who continues to make St. James Episcopal School a great place for our children to grow academically and spiritually. Your contribution of time and energy continues to make St. James a vital, harmonious, and happy place to be. Please know that I speak for all the teachers and staff when I say that each and every one of you has our deepest gratitude for all you do and for choosing St. James for your family. Please remember to put on your calendar; the first day of school is Tuesday, August 21st. We look forward to seeing you! Sincerely Loree Birkenback
We are so happy to have all of our children back at school!! Our first week was most definitely a success. It’s going to be a great year!! Please remember to read over your entire welcome packet and if you have any questions please feel free to ask us. The children really did great for their first week back!! They were already doing works and using a rug or placemat for their work space. They are enjoying getting to know each other and normalizing to the environment. We can’t wait to see the wonderful works they will be doing this year, and we have a lot of new ideas for our Mothers Day Out program!! If you haven’t brought us a change of clothes, toothbrush, brush or comb please do so. We will be focusing on the first steps of independence…care of self...so these items are actually part of that work! Thanks, Your MDO Teachers
Welcome Back St. James Toddlers It’s that time again! Summer has flown by and we are busy preparing the environment for a new year in the Toddler Montessori Community. This year we are excited to welcome Lilly Petrini to our classroom as our new toddler assistant to support Ms. April and myself. We have lots of plans for art projects, new recipes to try and lots of fun lessons to introduce to the children. We are excited to announce that each of the toddler teachers will be posting weekly on a couple of Montessori Pinterest Boards. One will be geared toward fun, Montessori style works to do at home and the other will be a weekly update on new work in the toddler community. We also have plans for parent education nights throughout the year to keep parents in the loop and answer any questions you may have about Montessori philosophy or our classroom. Beginning in October, we encourage parents to schedule an observation in the classroom so you can witness the Montessori community in action. We look forward to seeing your sweet children soon. Thank you in advance for all the ongoing support and commitment to the Montessori way! -Mrs. Charlotte and Ms Lilly
Welcome back to St. James Episcopal School. We are very excited to meet the additional friends we have added this year to our toddler community; as well as, welcome back our returning students. It is amazing at what a toddler can accomplish in a few months and we are so excited to see the progression and growth in the children. We are overjoyed to integrate our new assistant , Ms. Linda, into the toddler classroom. We are confident in her abilities to guide the children and to make them feel comfortable and important to our environment. As we gear up for this year, we hope all of you are as excited as we are to return to school. Ms. Coral, Mrs. Martha, Ms. Linda
Welcome to the Toddler 2 Class of 2012 - 2013! This summer has just flown by and we are looking forward to another wonderful school year here at St. James. This year we are excited to welcome Miss. Beatriz; she will be my assistant and will be a wonderful addition to our classroom. With cooking, art, gardening and Christian education and much more, we are going to have a fun filled year. The Toddler Team will also be having several Parent Education classes to help you stay in the loop of what the toddler environment is all about. We will also have two pintrest boards that you can follow, one will be a board with fun works to make at home and one board that shows you works that are at school.
Mrs. Anna and Miss. Beatriz
Hello everyone! We hope all of you had a wonderful and relaxing summer! It is hard to believe that summer vacation is coming to an end; time has passed so quickly. Although summer has been wonderful, we are very excited about the start of a new school year! We have missed our returning students and look forward to meeting and getting to know the new children and families. The teachers have all been busy preparing the Montessori environment in anticipation for the beginning of school. Much thought and love goes into making the classrooms beautiful learning environments for the children to enjoy. We have many exciting new works to share with the children including a new art section, musical instrument shelf, sequencing beads, as well as cheese and cracker serving. We also have a new pet in our classroom – a baby corn snake! The children loved Houdini the ribbon snake so much that we decided to get a new snake in addition to our zebra finches and aquarium. We will wait until the children arrive to name the new snake! We look forward to seeing all of you soon! Miss Elizabeth and Ms. Ashley
Dear familes of P3, We hope that each family had a wonderful, refreshing summer! We are looking forward to seeing each of you next week as we begin this new school year. In addition, we will be welcoming our new students this Thursday and Friday at orientation. It will be a lovely time of introductory lessons, learning the classroom routine, and getting to know each child. Please remember that next Monday evening, August 20th, is Meet the Teacher Night - we hope to see you there! Please enjoy these last few lazy days of summer and we will see you soon! Best, Ms. Julia & Ms. Tamara
Welcome and welcome back. We are looking forward to a great school year.Please send an extra change of clothes for your child to leave in the classroom. They do not have to be the school uniform. They will only be used in case of accidents. (If you have a 3 year old please leave three or four pair of underwear). Please allow your child to independently put lunch boxes, sweaters, etc., in their cubbies and also independently retrieve those items at the end of the day. One of the goals of the Montessori classroom is to lead the child to independence. If you need to talk with me in the morning when you drop off your child, please write a note on the pad of paper on the table in the entrance of the school. I will check for notes ASAP. We welcome communication from you. SNACKS - snack schedules will be put in your child’s cubbie. Please post the schedule with your other family reminders. If you cannot bing the snack on your assigned week/weeks please arrange a trade with another family. Any questions, please ask. LUNCH GUIDELINES - WE ASK THAT YOU SEND YOUR CHILD A HEALTHY LUNCH. Please do not include chips of any kind. Most have no nutritional value. Please DO NOT include sweets. Please include a protein in your child’s lunch. HERE WE GO! Mrs. Barrineau/Ms. Ana
Welcome All New and Returning Families This Thursday and Friday all new students will be visiting our Classroom for “Orientation”. This is a special time to meet their teachers as well as a few friends also new to our group. The children will tour the classroom, the bathroom, the handwashing sinks, play some name games, and perhaps sit to eat at the snack table with a new friend. There will be time for each child to have a few preliminary lessons, begin to learn “how to choose work”, “how to use the material purposefully” and “how to return it to its place on the shelf, ready for the next person to use it”. On Tuesday, August 21, the returning students will join us. I am so excited to see all of you and so happy for you to meet your new teacher, Mrs. Shannon. This day is always amazing to observe! Many of the returning students come right in, ready “to go to work”! It is so much fun to see what they are ready to do and immediately begin giving lessons to the new children by “choosing work and using the material purposefully”.
This summer my family, including children, parents, aunt, uncle and grandparents, went to stay in a cottage in Maine for a week. I am setting up a Maine table with objects, postcards, a map, children’s story books and art cards, all to be used as Language and Cultural materials for the first week of school. Did you and your child go somewhere special this summer? The children love to bring meaningful things from home that can be used as a Cultural Lesson. Objects, pictures or postcards that fit into any of our Cultural Areas (Science, Geography, History, Zoology, Botany, Art, and Music) are the best. All of these things stimulate conversation and Language for the beginning days of school. Bringing something meaningful from home to the classroom also, of course, helps the children to feel comfortable and secure. Simply writing on a slip of paper the name of a state you visited with your Welcome to “Primary 1” for the School Year 2012 – 2013! Mrs. Shannon and I are so excited to see all of you! Anne Bailey
After School Care I am excited to be heading up the after school care program for my second year. Tori McClure will be returning for her second year and will be working with your toddlers. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to direct them to myself or to Tori. We have two new staff members to help Tori and they are Delaney Cotton and Hannah Sparks. Delaney and Hannah are both seniors at Lake Highlands High School. Tori, Delaney and Hannah have a tremendous amount of energy, patience and love to bring to our toddler ASC room, I am excited for you to meet them. I will again be working directly with the primary students and I am excited to say that Elizabeth Stark will be joining. Lisa Wilson
Welcome and Hello! My name is Miss Judi and I will be the new teacher for Arts and Technology! I am so excited to start teaching and getting to know everyone here at St James! This year for Art we have lots to look forward to, like the annual auction house piece and much more! From Van Gogh to Picasso, the students will learn about all the major artists that shaped and inspired today’s art world! Our first project we will learn about color theory and how to draw trees. We will incorporate the tree drawing with the four seasons in the background. Can’t wait to start painting! In Technology, our kindergarteners will begin with learning about the Parts of a Computer and Laptop such as the motherboard, hard drive, etc. I will help them understand what each part does to make the computer function. In addition to learning about the computer, we will work with Lego Robotics, and Microsoft office (MS Word and MS PowerPoint) on the computer. It’s going to be a great year and look forward to seeing everyone soon! - Miss Judi