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Author: Foothill Montessori

Green initiative: school working towards a cleaner environment

Written by Foothill Montessori on . Posted in Blog.

The Foothill Montessori of Salt Lake has been working towards a zero emissions, zero carbon footprint for years with solar panels on the roof, electric vehicle charging stations and many recycling programs.

Students learn about ways they can help ensure a clean environment

As students learn about ways they can help ensure a clean environment outside of a school setting, the staff want to ensure that they are leading by example. In 2013 Solar Panels were installed on the roof of the school in order to offset 90% of the power used by the school.

We can see each of these solar panels, what it’s producing at any moment, and the children can watch that

– Bob Buchanan (co-founder)

In 2019 two EV chargers were installed on the south-west side of the building for members to charge their Electric Vehicles. Air quality has always been a huge topic at the school with the PSA helping the school to obtain and install a Purple Outdoor Air Sensor for monitoring air quality. The school installed better air filters in all of their heating units in 2020 to ensure that the air which the students and staff are breathing is as healthy as possible. The school continues to recycle paper plastics, aluminum, tin and glass through curb-side recycling programs. The school community members have also managed some of their own recycling programs for batteries, plastic shopping bags and other hazardous household materials generated from electronics, paint and fluorescent light bulbs.

Staff members work towards their goal of zero carbon emissions

Foothill Montessori of Salt Lake continues to look for additional ways to ensure its students and staff members work towards their goal of zero carbon emissions. Currently we are working towards offsetting the remainder of the school’s power consumption through the Rocky Mountain Blue Sky program to ensure all power used by the school will be from a renewable source. As we upgrade our facility we are installing LED bulbs and researching options for greener ways to heat and cool the building. If you would like to learn more or get involved with our efforts please contact the school. You may track how much power the school is generating back into the electrical grid here.

Summer Camp 2021

Written by Foothill Montessori on . Posted in Blog.

Please click here for current summer camp information.

Summer Camp

Summer Camp’s theme this year will be Oceania!

Camp Hours will be as follows:

  • 8:45 AM – 3:15 PM for Toddler and Early Childhood Campers (morning drop off occurring from 8:30- 8:45 AM)
  • 8:30 AM- 3:00 PM for Elementary Campers (morning drop off occurring from 8:15- 8:30 AM)
  • Extended Day 8:00 AM- 5:30 PM

Families with students enrolled in Toddlers or Early Childhood AND Elementary are given grace to attend Extended Day for the difference of the time between the programs arrival or dismissal hours.

COVID-19 policies and protocols will be in place for camp, these include:

  • EC and EL campers will wear masks.
  • Camp groups will be kept separate from one another.
  • Families will monitor for symptoms on a daily basis and complete the health screening form prior to arrival at camp.
  • Students who display any COVID symptom will be sent home and referred for testing in order to return.
 
Closer to the start of summer an information meeting regarding camp specifics will be scheduled and camp “packets” will be distributed.

In the meantime, reach out to us.

Looking forward to sunny summer days

Montessori and the Real Building of Self-Esteem

Written by Foothill Montessori on . Posted in Blog.

Montessori and the Real Building of Self-Esteem

Montessori education has been building self-esteem for over a hundred years long before it became a
popular buzzword and a psychological “distortion” of reality. All the trappings of the modern self-
esteem movement – participation trophies, not letting children fail, everyone’s outcome is equal – have
no place in Montessori or the reality of the world.

Practical life in Montessori is the foundation of all this reality that is to come. Every practical life exercise
has a beginning, a process and an ending – just like successful life. But there is something in this process
that is so simple yet dynamic – the child builds and feels a sense of power, control, and accomplishment.
It is these early experiences, these early real successes that become the foundation for all the success
that is to come. This self-esteem is internalized and does not come from outside, from what people tell
you but it wells up from within. It comes with the beginning of concentration and self-control (which is
the biggest challenge of life – and a great giver of self-esteem.)

True self-esteem is an approval that comes from within. It is not about pleasing people or being
validated from outside. That is why grades, awards, punishments are not motivating factors in a
Montessori environment. Ironically, self-esteem built in Montessori is not self-centered. The lack of
outward competition (for grades and prizes) creates an attitude of family and community where we help
each other to succeed which also affects how we feel about ourselves.

The real self-esteem of Montessori comes from the continuing sense of accomplishment and of mastery
as the student faces greater challenges and complexity in life. Since making mistakes is part of the
Montessori learning process making mistakes does not undermine a child’s sense of self-esteem nor
does the child crater when faced with “failure”. Montessori children learn to pick up the pieces and get
back in the game. The game of life does not have four quarters, nine innings, eighteen holes or two
halves. It is a continually evolving game as you learn new strategies, techniques, gain new information,
practice new skills and begin to recognize the patterns of life that lead to success. Montessori children
learn first-hand that actions have consequences, that success is spelled w-o- r-k, and that some of the
biggest rewards of life are just personal and do not require anyone else’s acknowledgment or
affirmation. And that doing the right thing for the right reason is an amazing accomplishment all its own
– an amazing adult lesson learned very young.
Self-esteem is “practiced” every day in a Montessori environment. Try – and try again until you reach
your goal. Montessori children don’t wait for an adult’s approval because they learn early that it is their
effort that achieves success. And every goal that they achieve – on their own – builds that unique
amazing sense of accomplishment and self-esteem.

Edward Fidellow

COEEF Update

Written by Foothill Montessori on . Posted in Blog.

With some of the Fun Run money raised by the PSA, we have paid for our COEEF students’ tuition and medical expenses for the year. We recently received three beautiful cards of gratitude from Betselot, Mariana and Hana. They also sent us some short thank you videos.

 


Our Navajo Grandmothers are Beautiful Inside and Out

Written by Foothill Montessori on . Posted in Blog.

We are supporting our two grandmothers, Elvira and Anita, through the winter. Thus far, we were able to send firewood, food certificates, medical supplies, and yarn bundles two times. We will send these items again in the spring

Both of our grandmothers are so grateful for our help as they need our support especially in these COVID times. Upon receiving our recent offers of support, our grandmothers sent lovely cards of appreciation.

And then a most wonderful surprise arrived- two beautiful rugs.

Our grandmothers are beautiful people. Your support is much appreciated.

 

Red Risk Level Questionnaire

Written by Foothill Montessori on . Posted in Blog.

In order for us to refine our plans for a potential school wide closure we ask that you kindly complete the questionnaire included here. Your response will provide us with information necessary to continue to operate and provide services to our community at the highest risk level of our safety plan. In order for us to adequately staff Distance Learning classrooms and provide childcare for our essential workers we need to know your intention should we shift to Red. Please complete the questionnaire by January 21. Reach out to Margaret, margaretmcdonald@mcsslc.com, should you have any questions regarding this questionnaire or the Red Risk level in general.


Red Risk Level Form

Offering Encouragement not Empty Praise

Written by Foothill Montessori on . Posted in Blog, Parent Education.

Create an environment where your child feels encouraged to become aware of his own actions

Parents sometimes use far too much praise in a well-intentioned attempt to build their child’s self-esteem: ‘You’re an awesome climber, you’re a great artist, you’re great at sitting quietly.’ However, often these remarks are not really sincere and they teach children to depend on praise for motivation to do something. When we praise children for doing something like eating their vegetables or putting on their shoes what we are really saying is that they did what we wanted them to do. Even young children can recognise when our remarks are not sincere and they are being manipulated.

Research shows that the present culture of over-praising children leads them to feel that they have a right to things in life irrespective of the amount of effort they have put in. Overpraising our children confuses them about their own self-worth since they are not able to judge for themselves how good they are at something if we always tell them they are doing well. This is not to say that you should not encourage your child. Your child will thrive on positive statements just as we do when our effort is appreciated by work colleagues or family members.

If we are to think about the way we encourage children we need to do some work on training ourselves in a new approach so we don’t fall back on the kind of praise that we hear all around us these days.

​Connect your child to the possibility of starting to become aware of the impact of his own actions
  • Focus on the action or the effort, not the person- Instead of saying ‘you’re such a good helper’ say ‘thank you for setting the table’. Instead of saying ‘you’re such a good chopper’ say ‘thank you for cutting the carrots for dinner’.
  • Nurture Empathy- Instead of saying, ‘I like the way you comforted Anna’, call her attention to the effect of her action on the other person: ‘Look Anna stopped crying when you brought her a tissue and hugged her. She must feel better now’. This is completely different from praise, where the emphasis is on how you feel.
  • Quietly observe- Your child does not expect praise. You may be surprised to see that your child works and plays with more persistence when you say nothing.
  • Express gratitude- When you are in a rush, instead of saying, ‘You are going to make us late with your dawdling. Hurry and put on your coat’, say, ‘You are helping us get to the dentist on time because you are putting on your own coat’.
  • Observe rather than evaluate- When your toddler is building with blocks, instead of saying, ‘Your blocks are all over the floor’, say, ‘You are using all the blocks.’ An observation may build interest and reflection, but a judgement can be discouraging.
  • Allow room for self-evaluation- Instead of saying, ‘I love your painting.’ say ‘You filled the left side of the paper.’ This focuses your child’s attention on the painting and not your opinion of it. Instead of ‘What a great horse.’ [which may not be very sincere] say ‘You painted a red horse.’ This focuses your child’s attention on evaluating the painting for himself rather than on your evaluation of the painting.
  • Accept that rewards are not necessary- An activity that your young child is engaged in is rewarding in itself. When your child is learning how to peel a banana the joy is in the skin coming off in clean strips and revealing the banana and the joy of eating the banana. When she fills the dog’s bowl and sees him come running with his tail wagging, that is her reward. Research has shown that rather than motivate children rewards can have the opposite effect. Rewards erode your child’s inner motivation. Even small children can work out that if they have to be rewarded for doing something that something might not be something nice to do!
  • Accept that punishment doesn’t work- Punishment tells the child what not to do, not what to do, and it often makes a small problem bigger. Your young child may remember the punishment but may not connect the punishment to the behaviour that triggered it. A child who has been punished can feel powerless, humiliated, defiant, and resentful. Research demonstrates that punishment has the short-term effect of stopping the offending activity but has no long-term effect on behaviour. When children are punished, the adult solves the problem in the short term and the child doesn’t learn how to solve problems in the long term. ‘Time out’ is commonly used to control children’s behaviour these days. In ‘time out’ children are typically confined to a chair, room or space for a set period of time to gain control of themselves and think about their behaviour. The problem with this approach is that if the child was capable of thinking about his behaviour he probably would not have done it in the first place. But more importantly, ‘time out’ does not provide any help for the child to start controlling his behaviour from within.
Make time for your child’s awareness to emerge

It takes time for your child to start to become conscious of how her actions affect others. Your child is at the beginning of a journey of self-realisation that will last for life. But when you are patient and keep using an approach that helps her to become aware of her behaviour rather than overpraising, judging or criticising her she will gradually become aware of the reality of her own behaviour and start to take control for herself.

https://aidtolife.org/

Jan. 11 @ 6:30pm – Admissions Meeting

Written by Foothill Montessori on . Posted in Blog.

One of the great strengths of our school is its community of parents, students, and staff. We appreciate and are grateful for the word of mouth referrals by our current families. We want to inform you about our upcoming general admissions meeting in the event that you would like to pass that information along to friends or family interested in Montessori education. This event will be virtual.  The “Join Meeting” button above will connect you on the day of the event.

  • Thursday, January 11, 2022
  • 6:30-7:30pm

This event is a required step for beginning the application process and will count as a tour while we are operating under COVID-19 safety protocols. Unless they have done so already, families interested in attending should begin by filling out the Admissions Inquiry Form on the FMSL website.

Foothill Montessori of Salt Lake serves children aged 18 months through 6th grade. The application period for 2021-2022 opens on January 22, 2022. We have rolling admissions, and will schedule parent interviews in the order in which applications are received.

Our mission is to provide an authentic Montessori experience that nurtures the natural unfolding of the whole individual, instills a love of learning, encourages acts of peace, and empowers all.

Link

Jan. 21 @ 6:30pm – Admissions Meeting

Written by Foothill Montessori on . Posted in Blog.

One of the great strengths of our school is its community of parents, students, and staff. We appreciate and are grateful for the word of mouth referrals by our current families. We want to inform you about our upcoming general admissions meeting in the event that you would like to pass that information along to friends or family interested in Montessori education. This event will be virtual.  The “Join Meeting” button above will connect you on the day of the event.

  • Thursday, January 21, 2021
  • 6:30-7:30pm

This event is a required step for beginning the application process and will count as a tour while we are operating under COVID-19 safety protocols. Unless they have done so already, families interested in attending should begin by filling out the Admissions Inquiry Form on the FMSL website.

Foothill Montessori of Salt Lake serves children aged 18 months through 6th grade. The application period for 2021-2022 opens on January 22, 2021. We have rolling admissions, and will schedule parent interviews in the order in which applications are received.

Our mission is to provide an authentic Montessori experience that nurtures the natural unfolding of the whole individual, instills a love of learning, encourages acts of peace, and empowers all.

Please share this event on Facebook with friends or family.

Open Letter to the Community- Hi from the Hood

Written by Foothill Montessori on . Posted in Blog.

Hello There FMSL Community!

This is Gracie, that weird Toddler Dept. teacher who wears the big hood. I just wanted to pop by and say ‘Hi from inside the hood!’ Your wonderful kids have all been pretty curious about my hood and I’m happy to talk about it with all of you. My hood is a compromise. My family had reservations about me returning to in-person teaching during the pandemic, but not coming back to FMSL just wasn’t an option for me. I love my job. I love my coworkers. I love your kids.

My bubble, my immediate family, are all in high risk groups for Covid-19. My parents, who I live with, are in their 60’s. My sister has a congenital defect of her respiratory system which makes Covid a death sentence, and her husband, my sweet brother-in-law, has been battling Stage 4 esophageal cancer for a little over a year now. Because of the greater risk to the members of my family, we worked out a deal; I could return to work, but would have to take some pretty extreme precautions. Those of you in the medical field are probably doing most of these too.

My daily routine when returning home is this:

  1. Remove my shoes on the back porch and put them in a Tupperware. (I don’t want to be surprised by a sheltering spider in the morning!)
  2. Undress in our mudroom and put my scrubs and hood in a sheet. I then put on a robe and take all of my clothing bundled in the sheet to the washing machine.
  3. Wipe off everything that went to school with me with alcohol.
  4. Take a shower.
  5. Make sure my scrubs and ppe are ready for the next day.

That part isn’t so bad. I’m used to it now, but life in the hood isn’t much fun. Its basically a sauna for your head. A sauna of your own breath. But hey, it’s a pandemic better my own breath than anyone else’s, right?! It’s stuffy and my screen fogs up all the time and I have to put dish soap on it to keep it clear. I also have to wear a scarf over my hair or the hood rubs on my head and I have big knots and matted spots when I get home. It’s not ideal, and it’s not maybe even significantly more effective than just a mask and a face shield; but that’s not really what it’s all about is it? It’s about my compromise, and my promise to my family to do whatever it takes to keep them safe.

I know there are so many new inconveniences in life, so many more worries and things to keep us up at night; but we’re in it together. I wouldn’t have returned to work if I worked anywhere else, but I feel a tremendous amount of trust in our community. This is a feeling of safety and trust I can not feel in wider world at the moment, so I am tremendously grateful for it. Here I see us all doing our part everyday to keep each other safe. Maybe my hood is silly, it certainly has made me take myself less seriously, and be a bit less vain. I mean, who cares if you’re wearing makeup or did your hair in your spacesuit anyway?

My students mostly cannot wear masks, and even before Covid they were not great at catching sneezes and coughs in the crook of their arms. Toddler teachers are accustomed to the fine spray of a sneeze misting lightly over us like summer dew. You name it, and I can guarantee a toddler teacher has definitely had it on their person at some point. You’ve all been forewarned we’re terrible dinner party guests, and don’t ask about our day unless you have a strong stomach. But we don’t mind. We really don’t. We love what we do, and we love your children. But they can’t protect us, so you have to. Please be willing to get covid testing, even for toddlers, when it is prudent to do so. When a student has a symptom of Covid, we worry. We worry that we held them too close to our face when we picked them up after they scraped their knee. We worry about that time we bent down to hear their story and they sneezed right into our face. We worry that we’re going to get sick, and that we might get the people we love sick. Every-time a student goes home sick I start a self quarantine at home because the risk for me is too high not to. My world is much smaller now; I only see my immediate family and FMSL family in person. For now that is enough, and I feel blessed to have you all; but it would hurt all the more if even one person from that short list was gone. Please be safe. Please keep your promises. Please be willing to keep us safe.

With Fond Regards,

Gracie Reitz