Author: Foothill Montessori

We love health, routine, and structure in Montessori.  As parents, sometimes our commitment to these things may be the only things keeping us above water.  In the most busy times I like to remember that most likely children won’t capture in their memories how well kept our homes were or which impressive meals we served, but they will remember what it felt like when we entered the room, our smile, the way we comforted and built them up in the times of struggle. Presence is the best gift we can offer our children.

The Inside Voice

One of the things that probably impressed you when you visited your Montessori school was something
you didn’t see, or actually, hear – cacophony. Cacophony is a ten dollar word that might be best
described by what you experience in a New York traffic jam, or when an orchestra tunes up – or in a
typical day care. The lack of cacophony (might as well get all the use we can out of the ten dollar word)
begins with a very simple premise, and most notably found in Montessori schools – the inside voice. It is
an amazingly simple, yet profound exercise. When there is a ceiling above your head – you use your
inside voice.

The advantages of the training that comes with “the inside voice” are many. No one is yelling quiet. You
can hear yourself think – which is one of the great outcomes of a Montessori education – the ability to
think. You operate in a peaceful, calm environment. You can have quiet conversations without having to
raise your voice. It is much easier to concentrate. With concentration comes easier learning and
mastery. And when you go home – you are not wired. (Thank your teachers.)

You might wonder if the use of the inside voice might be oppressive to children who seem to be so full
of exuberance. When you compare it to someone yelling at you to be quiet there is no contest. Re-
reading the instructions – “When there is a ceiling above your head – you use your inside voice.” You
consider its corollary “When there is NO ceiling above your head – you may use your outside voice.”
Montessori playgrounds are full of exuberance.

How do you maintain the inside voice? First, the lesson (it is training) is given many times in the course
of all the lessons that are presented. Second, when a teacher lowers her voice, children usually match
her volume. Or third, a simple pointing to the ceiling, with a smile, is a sufficient reminder.

As wonderful as the outcomes of the inside voice are for the classroom, its real benefit stays with your
child indefinitely. The inside voice is one of the first lessons of self-control. It is a lesson and an action
that is accessible to them. They do not lose their voice (be quiet) but learn to control their voice. This
will be the first of many lessons of self-control that a Montessori education affords them.

There are many other common exercises of a Montessori education that provide dual benefits both to
the classroom and long term to your child. There is the inside walk, which prevents accidents and
disturbing other people’s work. This is a second major experience of self-control that is within their
abilities. A third common exercise is to put everything back exactly where they found it. This experience
is the beginning of the self-control to finish completely what you have started.

These exercises of self-control are major and not as simple as they seem to adults. These exercises call
for great restraint of natural impulses that achieving these are like scaling mini Mount Everests. Children
always seem to have two modes – fast and faster, loud and louder, messy and messier – and the control
of these is the beginning of the foundation of self-control that they will need to achieve success in life
not only for academics but for their place in society and their relationships.

This beginning of self-control is within their grasp hidden in the lesson of “the inside voice.”

Edward Fidellow

• The terms immunization and vaccine/vaccination are interchangeable. Through immunization/vaccination, healthy children are exposed to small, often inactive pieces of a germ so that their immune systems can learn to fight that germ if/when they are ever exposed to it. 

• Examples of Vaccine-preventable illnesses include influenza, or the “flu” (over 100 children died from influenza-related causes last flu season in the US), measles (In 2019 thus far, outbreaks of measles were reported in 31 states including Idaho, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and California), rubella (“German measles”), pertussis (“whooping cough”) and several kinds of meningitis. Children who are not immunized for any reason are at greater risk of severe consequences from vaccine-preventable illnesses.

• Medical exemption for immunizations: some individuals cannot receive immunizations or vaccines because their immune systems do not mount a protective response to immunizations, including very young infants, individuals with cancer, organ transplants or conditions affecting their immune systems. These people depend upon others (“herd immunity”) to be protected from vaccine-preventable illnesses.

• Nonmedical (i.e., “personal” or “religious” exemptions: The American Academy of Pediatrics states that nonmedical exemptions to school-required immunizations are inappropriate for individual, public health, and ethical reasons and advocates for their elimination.

• An immunocompromised person refers to a person who is unable to respond typically to exposures to germs or vaccines. This includes pregnant women and the children they are expecting, infants whose immune systems have not developed the ability to respond to dangerous germs, people with certain chronic illnesses that require them to take drugs that suppress their immune response like people with cancer, organ transplants, or autoimmune diseases (for example, Rheumatoid Arthritis or Multiple Sclerosis).

• Children at greatest risk for vaccine-preventable illness: Infants are all born with immune systems that are not fully developed. Though infants and toddlers are exposed to many germs, there are dangerous germs that increase the risk of severe illness, lasting consequences of illness (for example, hearing impairment from meningitis, developmental delay from exposure to measles or Rubella, blood infections from chicken pox), and even death.

• Children in Montessori education are exposed frequently to each other and the risk of germ transmission is higher by virtue of the child-centered, sensory exploration, and close contact with classmates and teachers that is encouraged and valued in a Montessori classroom.

  For more information: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/growing/index.html 

  Prepared by FMSL Parents:

  Michelle Vo, MD, FAAP

  Beth Knackstedt, MD, FAAP
  

  Katie Lappe, MD

  Rita Sharshiner, MD

Foothill Montessori of Salt Lake is excited to announce our first two electric vehicle (EV) charging points. They are available now for staff and parents to use while at the school.

The Montessori curriculum includes a connection with the environment. We appreciate opportunities to explore green energy and different ways that they can help preserve our precious environment with our students. We want to continue to be role models for our students, which is one reason that we installed solar panels on the roof to power the school in 2013 as an alternative fuel.

The school received a grant from Rocky Mountain Power a few months ago with the help of Leaders for Clean Air. The grant afforded the school with two fast chargers. The chargers are located on the South West side of the building. These chargers can be utilized by staff or parents while EV drivers are on campus. We request that you move your vehicle once it is charged so that others can utilize the chargers if needed.

Foothill Montessori of Salt Lake is excited to be able to offer Level 2 Electric Vehicle chargers which are powered in part by the solar panels on the roof of the school. These chargers can recharge most cars within 3-5 hours. The school plans to continue working towards being leaders in environmental conservation and teaching our students about alternative power and renewable energy.

Townhall 2019

15 October 2019/ 6:00-7:30 pm / Gym

Meeting Facilitator: Margaret Mc Donald

Minute Taker: Katie Baucom

Time Keeper: Britney Peterson

Objective: The purpose of this townhall is  to inform and engage stakeholders in regards to the progress being made in revisiting the FMSL Immunization Policy, the refinement of best practices for health and safety purposes, and to solicit input in the Accreditation process.

Meeting Norms: Contribute to meeting’s goals; Listen with an open mind; Challenge the problem, not the person.

In attendance: Approximately 8 Elementary parents, 19 Early Childhood parents, 7 Toddler parents. 20 attendees were staff members, some who are also FMSL parents.

Process Over Outcome: Montessori children learn by doing.  At school, we prepare the environment and ensure a child has the tools they need to be successful, and then we are hands off. We recognize that kids learn best by doing (and that this can involve making mistakes). Process overrides outcome, which involves adults letting go of control.  Lastly, the more trust we place in our child, the more successful their process will be.

There are a variety of reasons we are seeking accreditation as a Montessori school:

• Guaranteed quality;
• Program assurance;
• Accreditation ensures that standards represent a consensus of values, and that standards and procedures are fairly and consistently applied;
• Accreditation is one of several means used in identifying programs for the potential investment of public and private funds, and for determining eligibility for federal student assistance;
• Professional Credibility;
• The Montessori field gains enhanced credibility through the accountability provided by accreditation. Certifying bodies and state agencies are assisted in the process of issuing professional credentials, registration, or licensure.

We decided to undergo the International Montessori Council accreditation program because they work with the variety of trainings our teachers have, from veteran teachers who have been with us for 20+ years to recently certified teachers, rather than requiring all of our staff to have one particular certification. We have been impressed by the quality and availability of their teacher certification programs. IMC leadership is highly responsive to questions regarding any aspect of leading a Montessori school. They are recognized as an accreditation commission by MACTE, the Montessori Accreditation Council for Teacher Education.

Update:

We have completed the ratings of the IMC Accreditation self-study and are currently working on the narrative portion and gathering the evidence for each standard. Thank you to the parents and teachers who met with the committees to assess FMSL on the five standards: Vision and Purpose, Governance and Leadership, Education, Resources, and Cycle of Continuous Improvement.

Our goal is to complete the IMC Accreditation and in the process to reflect on our school practices, policies, and communications in order to better improve how we fulfill our mission, goals and vision and how we serve our stakeholders (students, parents, teachers, staff, community).

Highlights from the Committee meetings and ratings

Things we are doing well:

• Peace Curriculum: parents on different committees expressed how they can tell we practice what we preach. Their children come home and practice the tools they learn in the work it out process of the classroom.
• We have clearly defined and well-documented policies and procedures to ensure the integrity of the school’s Montessori program and effective school operations. We continually ask for input from stakeholders in a variety of ways (meetings, surveys, emails, town halls, etc.) to better reflect on how to meet the needs of a dynamic community while all the while upholding Montessori principles.
• We are committed to having trained teachers in each classroom and providing professional development opportunities for all staff each year, which allow us to stay informed about best practices in Montessori education.
• We stay true to the multi-age classrooms according to Maria Montessori’s planes of development, taking a great deal of time each spring to engineer balanced classrooms from the combination of returning and new students. In doing so we also ensure that the ratio of adults to children facilitates the development of children’s independence and autonomy.
• We have uninterrupted work cycles in the mornings and afternoons, another major tenet of Montessori philosophy.
• Our prepared environments, in common spaces as well as classrooms, are pleasing to the eye, enticing to children, and developmentally appropriate. We have the full complement of Montessori materials in each classroom.
• We have a developmentally-customized, unified curriculum, with integrated studies and a spiraling curriculum where materials teach different concepts to different ages. We employ a variety of instructional and assessment strategies that are engaging, experiential, and responsive to individual student needs.

Things we need to work on (areas that are currently undergoing development and therefore need ongoing monitoring to measure the effectiveness of the current systems and any modifications or addition that may need to be implemented):

• Documenting our process of reviewing, revising, and communicating our vision and purpose, as it relates to Montessori philosophy, to community stakeholders. Some teachers and parents may not be aware of all the ways our vision and purpose permeates what we do on a variety of levels.
• Administrative leadership is working on consistency in supporting the policies and procedures in place, as well as on the autonomy of the School Director and other Directors in decision making.
• We continually work on having enough fiscal resources to ensure that all faculty and staff positions will be maintained as needed to support the school’s vision and purpose (tuition increases help with staff raises each year but we would love to pay staff more competitive salaries).
• We continually work on ensuring regulatory compliance, ongoing facility needs, and that potential hazards are assessed and addressed on a regular basis, and communicating that to stakeholders.
• We have implemented a written budget for each classroom, specialty class, and camp and extended day programs. We continue to work towards being able to share an annual report that incorporates a financial review with all stakeholders.
• We are continuing to work on assessing our educational and operational needs in order to budget effectively to provide adequate materials, media and information resources, and technological infrastructure.
• We are working toward creating and implementing a Strategic Plan and/or School Improvement Plan based on assessed data and stakeholder input.

Next Steps:

• Complete the narrative portions of the self-study by December 15.
• Gather required and supplemental evidence by December 15.
• Prepare for Onsite Visit in April 2020.
• Receive an accreditation status from the School Accreditation Commission: Full, Provisional (required actions that need to be completed and extra time to complete them), Deferred, or Denied.
• Review commendations, recommendations, and required actions of our accreditation status with stakeholders.
• Continue to use the feedback from this process to improve/enhance our programs. We will be required to submit an annual report to IMC each year after being accredited, detailing any changes in the five areas of the self-study and progress on the areas identified in our continuous improvement.

Prepared by Ramira Alamilla, October 2019