​Greetings, community!


In the Garden 💧
This week has been a doozie, but what a silver lining to see our community bind together.  Despite the inconvenience, the water shortage has been a great teaching opportunity.  It makes us see how much potable water we waste without thinking twice - valuable information for all.  Sharing this knowledge with our children, while sending the message that water is precious, is something that we can continue to advocate for long after this crisis has been averted.  My heart swelled this week with each heroic water contribution and each parent’s willingness to go the extra mile so that our days could continue fluidly inside the classroom.  Our community ROCKS 🎸!!!

I can’t think of a better time to give to the Fall Fund than now.  Let’s continue to feed this upward energy and achieve our goal of 100% participation!  Our staff has set the foundation with 100% participation in just 2 weeks time.  Our parent community is at 11% and we have just a few more weeks to achieve our financial goal of $25,000.  Please donate, this fund drive can only be successful if everyone does it together!  Much like our city’s call to reduce water consumption in each household by just 12%, with total participation the results were phenomenal.  Our school’s fundraising efforts can have this same effect: if every family gives what they can, at any level, we WILL reach our goal.  Thank you, community, I know we can do this!!

In the Classroom ☠️
Happy birthday this month to Lana on November 2nd and Felix on November 3rd.  More November birthdays to celebrate: Findlay on the 7th, Ms. Teri on the 9th, Zahra on the 20th, Ms. Phoebe on the 21st and Dylan on the 27th.  We wish each of you an amazing day!!

Dia de los Muertos celebrations are coming up soon in both of our primary environments.  Please tune into your classroom leads on how you can help your child participate in this rich cultural celebration.

As a reminder, please save your costumes for after-school wear this week.  Thank you!

Picture Days Monday, October 26th & Tuesday, October 27th 📷
Please dress your little darlin’ in solid colors (no white) and comb that hair for school Picture Day.  Maggie Messer Photography (also one of our fab Farm to Fork donors) will be absorbing the sitting fees and providing precious photo opps for each child in our community.  See below for the schedule of individual and class photos.  Please note: this year, only our primary communities will participate in group classroom photos.

Monday: M-Th & MW YCC children, MW Hay House children and all Main House children
Tuesday: M-Th Hay House children, TTH YCC children and all Casa children

If you have specific questions, please contact Maggie directly at maggie@maggiemesser.com

Farm to Fork and More! 🗓
Looks like Farm to Fork is shaping up to be an uproarious event!  Our band is local musician Roman Samuels Music and our food and beverage vendors are top notch.  From Bottecelli’s on SOCO, to the MMH family of restaurants, to Modern Market, to TLC - the food at this event going to be off the FORK!!  Drink donations are coming from Personalwine, Waterloo Mineral Water, Sway Water, Dulce Vida Organic Tequila, American Born Whisky, Treaty Oak Distillery, Dripping Springs Vodka and the ABGB.  Three cheers for Amina Garrison and all of our House Mamas who are pounding the pavement to secure these amazing vendors for our school’s fundraiser event.

Get your tix today early bird prices are still good until Wednesday, October 31st!

Upcoming Dates:
October 29th: Returning Student Enrollment Forms + Deposits Due (forms turned in after Nov. 1st we cannot guarantee spring placement)
October 29th & 30th: School Picture Days
October 31st: Early Bird Pricing for Farm to Fork ends
November 18th: Alt Ed Festival of Learning at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - come out and support Julia’s Garden at this free family fun event!
November 19th - 22nd - Thanksgiving Break, school is closed
November 29th - Farm to Fork Fundraiser Event at VUKA Collective
November 30th - Fall Fund Drive Ends

You can always check under the calendar section of our website for the most up-to-date events and reminders.  

Enjoy this gift of a weekend and fun candids to boot!

Katherine

Katherine Parlette
Founder, Director
Julia's Garden Montessori 🌸
(512) 790-4094
juliasgarden@me.com
www.juliasgardenmontessori.com

“I did not invent a method of education.  I simply gave some little children a chance to live.” - Maria Montessori

In the YCC, language reigns above all other activities. With a classroom full of children in their sensitive period for language acquisition, we are presenting every opportunity for them to take as much in as they can in preparation for their upcoming language explosion.  Above, we see Skylar showing Maxwell the flower language cards, Boze reading in the reading corner, Will & Juniper exploring the school-themed language work and the most fun way of all to share language?  With a song, of course!  Ms. Carissa leads a game of Row Row Row Your Boat with Juni, Jai and Emma.

Food, glorious food!  Orion gets busy cracking pecans harvested from the yard (lawn to table!).  We then we see Ms. Savanna supervising an entire table full of aspiring chefs busy at work.  Varenna scoops and Vivian enjoys the best part of all: the eating part!  A picnic lunch on the pavilion was a welcomed treat as well on a rare dry day in the Garden.

Aldo explores the watercolor work (seasonally-themed orange, of course) while Orion sharpens his fine motor skills by bead stringing. Outside, we practice scooping sand then get to dig in the dirt for realz with Ms. Natalie during a garden lesson on sprouting.

Andres and Zahra sound out the “m” letter and trace it to get their motor memory working while Dylan proudly shows off her work.  Jakson and Sam are busy with the graduated cylinder work and Gracy helps crack pecans for communal snack.

Oliver busies himself caring fr the plants in Casa and Junali enjoys the sewing work. Max is all on the water this week as he washes his hands at the sink (with bottled water!) and then cleans the Casa floor.  Beau excites on building a tower that is as big as he is during Outside Time.

Main House children rejoiced in Outside Time this week and everyone is looking forward to drier days.  William, Anders, Ruairidh and Emma play chess with their pal, Aiden, while he heals. Later, we see some concentrated spelling happening during the afternoon cycle.

Hooray for Community Singalong Day!  And magnablocks 😉

Hello, Garden Greats!

In the Garden 🌷
Our fall weather continues to leave us in flux: between rain, sun, wind, wet and now, COLD, our bodies and our wardrobes are in a state of constant confusion.  Thankfully the rain held off long enough for our fantastic Garden Committee and amazing Garden Day volunteers to get those seeds in the ground last weekend.  Whew!!!  The garden looks great and we had a full house of helpers to get ‘er done.  I am grateful for this amazing community and can’t wait to share the garden’s bounty with your children this season.

Don't forget to keep checking the calendar for your Compost Care Week: this month, the Main House community reports for duty.  Thanks, friends, for helping to keep these systems flowing!

As our garden grows, Ms. Natalie is continuously forming weekly lessons at a child-sized level so our students can participate and understand the metamorphosis.  One staff conversation that came up during CD day was centered around what a gift being near these food-bearing plants is for these children.  We also shared how very few of us had the opportunity to learn first-hand where our food comes from.  The garden offers a wealth of knowledge with endless teaching opportunities built in.  We are lucky to be living in a community that understands and supports our mission that grows with each unfolding project.

Fall Fund Drive Begins! 🙌🏻
Our 2nd Annual Fall Fund Drive is open to the parent community starting today!  Donate and receive your tax exempt receipt before the end of the 2018 for a benefit to both your school and your deduction level.  We successfully achieved our goal of 100% staff participation in less than 2 weeks and raised $5,300 towards our goal of $25,000.00.  Fantastic work, staff!!  Parent community, you now have multiple ways to help us reach our goal: each ticket sale that comes through is also a contribution to the Fall Fund Drive and if you wish to become a sponsor, each donor at the $500+ level also receives 2 free tickets to the event.  If you have local business, this is a great way to increase exposure.  Every donor at the $1,000+ level receives advertising space at the event and recognition in Edible Austin’s Jan/Feb edition.  Please let Amina Garrison am@aminamichele.com know if you are interested in being a sponsor and join our growing list of awesome local businesses who are getting involved!

Another way to get involved is to donate whimsical, mismatched or antique forks and cloth napkins.  Our theme is "Farm to Fork" and every party-goer will receive a personalized fork and napkin at check-in to sample goodies from vendors.  If you know of a restaurant who would like participate in this super-fun way to try out local eats, let us know!  We have just 2 weeks left to secure food vendors in order to allow enough time to prepare for the event.

Fork and napkin donations should arrive in a bag with your child’s name on it and can be handed to Danielle, Phoebe or Carissa at pick up or drop off until we break for Thanksgiving.  This is something fun your child can help with, maybe he/she has a fork and/or napkin he wants to pick out.  Donation credits for each fork + napkin set will be placed on the name tags, giving each ticket a personal feel.  We are looking forward to making this event a total community project, take a look at our Eventbrite page and see all of the great local businesses that are already helping us make this a success! 

In the Classroom ✏️
YCC and Hay House welcome new friends this week: Emma Mery and Emile and Aldo Humpierres recently joined our IC environments.  We are so happy to have them with us!  Casa also welcomes new faces: Oliver Maniscalco, Andrés Mery and Hudson Fox all started school these past two weeks.  We are sending a great big JG welcome to each of these children as well as their families this month!

Our IC environments have been busy stabilizing routines and preparing for the change of season.  Fall celebrations inside an IC are recognized by parallel experiences in place of direct lessons.  In our glue box, we may find pictures of pumpkins to work with instead of sunshines; during Circle, you can hear our children singing a song about falling leaves to help them understand why the ground is now covered in orange and brown; language work always reflects the change of season, which helps the young child make a connection from his learning world to the outside world. 

Our Primary environments will be celebrating fall this year by recognizing Dia De Los Muertos. Casa families are sharing their culture with our students - thank you to the Martinez- Watts and Mader families in advance!  Main House, see below for a note from Mrs. Meagan:

Cooling temperatures usher in a change of season this time of year. Fall brings new opportunities for learning about the we world live in. When choosing cool weather clothing for your child imagine how they will manage their things independently at school. Look for jackets and sweaters with large buttons or easy snaps and big, strong, zippers that don’t snag easily. Support children by setting them up for success. Take time to practice clasps on new clothes. You will be surprised by how much interest they have in figuring these little things out. Slow down with them and take time to practice the simplest daily tasks like buttoning your new rain coat. Autumn themes of leaves falling, pumpkins, acorns, spiders, and all things Halloween inspire language, culture, and expression lessons. The children were captivated by a dead Spiny Texas Lizard discovered on the playground Monday. We collected it in an observation box for further classroom study. Perfect timing for our next investigation of the five vertebrate classes! We have now moved on from fish and are absorbing everything we can about reptiles and amphibians. Keep your eyes open for more information coming soon about our Halloween and Dia De Los Muertos celebrations!

School Picture Day 📸
School Picture Day with Maggie Messer Photography is coming soon, be on the lookout for a note telling you when and how to dress your youngster for their pics in your JG tote.  This year, instead of pre-ordering, you will have the option to purchase your selections online in early November.  Plenty of time for those prints to arrive which make such great holiday gifts!  Please note if you do not plan to purchase prints your child will still be photographed on picture day.

Spring Enrollment 2019 📆
Spring Enrollment forms are due October 29th and a copy will be sent out to you in a separate email this week that you can fill out electronically.  Currently enrolled students have first right of refusal for Spring Enrollment.  Submitting your enrollment form and deposit by the due date will hold your child’s space; after October 30th we will open enrollment to our wait-listed friends.

Parent Ed 👨‍👩‍👦
For those of you who were unable to make our IC & Primary parent ed talks this month, you can now tune into our podcast, Supporting Our 21st Century Children, on multiple channels, including Stitcher!  We hope you will find this podcast to be a useful resource.

Our second fall series of the Parent-Tot Series starts Friday. This class still has space and if you haven’t had a chance to take the class yet, we encourage you to do so!  This will be our last parent ed class offering of the semester.

Admin Dates & Reminders ☑️
October 15th: Fall Fund Drive is Open!!
October 19th: Parent-Tot Series II Begins
October 28th & 29th: School Picture Day
October 29th: Spring Deposits and Enrollment forms due
November 29th: Farm to Fork Fundraiser Event at Vuka Collective

Enjoy this fall weather and these super-great shots!

Sincerely,

Katherine Parlette
Founder, Director
Julia's Garden Montessori 🌸
(512) 790-4094
juliasgarden@me.com
www.juliasgardenmontessori.com

“I did not invent a method of education.  I simply gave some little children a chance to live.” - Maria Montessori

Ms. Natalie takes her Music Lesson outside this week: less transitions makes for a smoother work period in the YCC and left plenty of time to help make new soil for the garden. New student, Emma, takes a curious look at our feathered friends.

Butterscotch enjoys a chin scratch then Ms. Natalie helps our YCC friends with a planting lesson. Later, Will and Calder work in the sand pit and Boze tries out the new bridge connecting the YCC to the Garden.

New friend, Aldo, works with stamps while Varenna gives Orion tips on bead stringing.  Senna and Vivian work on gluing fall pumpkins and Harvey does apple work, all reflective of the changing of seasons.

Stefano enjoys scrubbing work and Orion shows us the okra is ready to bake!  Varenna slices crispy fall apples to complement the Snack Time menu.

Butterscotch gets some love from a delighted Vivian. Ms. Natalie gives a lesson on planting to the Hay House while Varenna listens intently. Brothers, Aldo & Emile, find each other on the playground and have fun with bubbles on the porch together.

Ms. Natalie reads to our Early Arrival friends in Casetta, then we see double birthday celebrations of Ruairidh and Lion above last week. Not pictured, but also celebrated, was our pal Aiden who turned 6 on Friday!  Lion works on the thousand chain and despite all of the birthday fun, we see a busy classroom of academic focus in the Main House last week.
Ms. Siu Gi gives one of her last lessons to Casa before she delivers her baby next week (!) New student, Oliver, works on strengthening his pincer grasp and new pal, Hudson, works on writing while Felix watches.  Dylan selects sandpaper letters to practice during the Work Period.

Fine motor practical life work: Beau does spice grinding, Sam works on wood polishing, Hudson waters our plants and Jakson, Dylan and Beau get busy with transfer and puzzle work at the round table together.

Zahra enjoys flower arranging before helping to cook a fall favorite, butternut squash, with her friends.  New friend, Andres, and Junali, give it their seal of approval!

Outside of Casa, we are busy bees everyday! Friends work and play in the outdoor area then happily transition to the playscape area.  Go Sam, go!!