Where everyone is welcome, and everyone belongs.
On December 21, 2016, we joined together at Johnson Park to celebrate the Winter Solstice. We lit candles and sang Here Comes The Sun — it was a wonderful way to mark the passing of the seasons and spend some time together.
This is Ms. Melissa singing I Love Snow while IMA’s kids light candles at the Solstice Gathering.
And here’s the Solstice sunset looking from Burrows Park to the lake.
Isthmus Montessori Academy wishes you all a Happy New Year! From left to right:
On Wednesday, December 21 from 4:00 to 5:00 pm, we invite you to an informal Solstice Gathering beginning at the Johnson Park Gazebo in Maple Bluff (right across from our old school building). Families and children will be given a candle to hold as we walk through the snow to the Burrow’s Park Pavilion for a bonfire, songs, and making wishes for the New Year!
The weather is forecast for a wet evening. If that’s the case, possibly we try again next year? Possibly we meet sit around the fireplace at Manna Cafe?
The inspiration…
Some of the children in Ms. Melissa’s classroom have been interested in the calendar and the weather and the amount of sunlight and darkness. We discussed that the Winter Solstice is the day with the shortest amount of sunlight and that many groups of people celebrate this relationship between Earth and Sun in different ways.
If it’s a dry day, families may join their children on a walk and songs by the bonfire. What fun!
4:00-4:10 pm Johnson Park Gazebo
4:10 pm begin walking over to Burrow’s Park
4:30/4:40 pm Burrow’s Park Pavilion
4:40-5:00 pm Songs, wishes, and bonfire
5:00 pm Go home, eat a delicious dinner, snuggle in bed, and welcome the sun!
RSVP to Ms. Melissa please so that she knows how many candles to bring, and thank you:)
Please mark your calendars for Isthmus Montessori Academy’s (IMA) semi-annual Souper Supper fundraiser. This community event helps raise money for items or programs needed at our school as well as charities in our community.
When?
Our first Souper Supper will be on Thursday, December 8 from 5-7 pm.
Where?
The Souper Supper will be held at Isthmus Montessori Academy, 1402 Pankratz Street, Madison.
What is the Souper Supper?
As parents and friends drink their delicious soup, IMA students and staff present their arguments for which program, item, or charity should receive the money collected from entry fees to the supper. In addition to hearing about the different programs at IMA, the event also provides elementary and adolescent students the opportunity to write and make a presentation, as well as begin to understand ways they can work to help the community. For example, previously, guests at the Souper Supper voted to support the IMA adolescent program’s urban farm, which made the local news when it was completed!
Isthmus Montessori is also working toward being the first public Montessori school in Madison. Our goal is to give all children, regardless of their socio or economic background, access to the many benefits of a Montessori education. Every bit of support for our programs helps strengthen our school and move us towards achieving this goal. In addition to being a fun way to meet others in the school community, this is a great opportunity for you to invite friends and family who may not know about IMA!
Should you have any additional questions, please do not hesitate to contact Georgia Lieber or Courtney Seidel.
We hope you and your family will attend!
Best wishes,
IMA PTO
Come join us for IMA’s Running Club! We meet in the IMA Great Hall on Thursday mornings at 8:15 am. We run on the sidewalk, and three laps equals 1 mile. Most students run/walk one to three laps, so we finish by about 8:40 am.
The best way to show our children that we value exercise is to do it with them.
All are welcome; we all run or walk at our own pace.
Dear Friends
The Isthmus Montessori PTO is once again sponsoring a Winter Resale shop in the Great Hall! Snowsuits, coats, sweaters, snow pants, boots, costumes, hats and mittens… oh my!
You can bring your gently-used winter gear to donate, and also see if there is anything that will work for your kids this year. All items are pay-what-you-wish. Please tag your items (to distinguish them from coats that are NOT for sale) and put your payment in the tuition mailbox (tags and envelopes are provided in the great hall). There is a bin for smaller items like hats and mittens.
All proceeds will go to help buy winter playground toys for our students! Anything left over after winter break will be donated either to our community garage sale or food pantry.
Come join us on November 4 and 5 for IMA’s Silent Journey & Discovery — the ultimate Montessori experience for parents and families! Engage all your senses as you learn about the materials and lessons your children use.
On Friday, non-students visit the classrooms in silence to view the classrooms as students would. You will walk around to silently observe the prepared environments of all the classrooms in the school, at all levels.
On Saturday, teachers present and discuss materials and lessons with visitors. You will receive lessons on the materials and gain a deeper understanding of the genius of Montessori.
Our Silent Journey & Discovery is for parents and people from outside of the existing IMA community. However, it is also a fantastic opportunity for families who are considering the next level for their children. This will be an event when you’ll really get to investigate each level.
We will provide beverages and snacks on Friday night, and we provide food and beverages on Saturday. Check out the event page, and please RSVP to Mr. Chet at info@isthmusmontessoriacademy.org!
IMA was featured on Wisconsin’s WMTV, NBC15 television station this week, in a story titled Montessori Students Raise Chickens To Learn Business And Civics Lessons.
The video features IMA adolescent student Sophie Griffith-Oh, and the story features Allison Bloom, IMA’s Adolescent Program teacher.
Allison Bloom, the teacher overseeing the project, says students are encouraged to explore and pursue their own interests.
“They’re learning all the basics of business,” she said. “A little bit about farming and biology and all of these things too.”
One of the biggest lessons of the project ended up being in civic engagement. While developing the project, students learned their school is in a zone that doesn’t allow chicken raising. The students had to work with city officials to get the city ordinance amended, so they could properly take care of the chickens on school property.
“The civics lesson was an amazing bonus to that because these students really feel if something needs to happen or they want something to happen, they feel empowered to do it themselves,” Bloom said.
IMA was featured in the Wisconsin State Journal this week, in a story titled School Spotlight: Chickens Provide Civics, Other Lessons for Isthmus Montessori Students.
The story features Sophie Griffith-Oh from IMA’s adolescent class, Clarity Watson from IMA’s elementary class, and Allison Bloom, IMA’s adolescent teacher.
Allison Bloom, who works as a guide in the adolescent-aged room, said the hands-on experience taught students about biology, physics, husbandry, carpentry and diplomacy, and they will delve into math as the project evolves. It also included a lesson about death, since some of the eggs did not result in successful hatches.
The school has applied to become Madison’s first public Montessori school, and Bloom cited the chicken project as an example of what older students can achieve through its curriculum.
Want to do something super easy (and fun) to support Public Montessori?
IMA is hosting a Family Fun Night at the Warner Park Recreation Center on Friday 10/14, and we need your family to show up!
Warner park hold these events monthly, and they are a great resource to the community. Because IMA supports this mission and because it is a fabulous opportunity for the school to increase support and relationships within our new Northside neighborhood, we have signed up to be the event sponsor this month.
How does this help with our goal of becoming a public school? Well, one thing we have heard over and over from the school district is that they are not sure that we have the community support and that we are community-supporting. By hosting this event, and by bringing as many families as we can, IMA hopes to make some new friends and connections, and drum up support, while at the same time beginning some conversations with our neighbors and exploring what types of events or services the community would like to see IMA provide.
What are we asking of you? Primarily that you plan to attend — as many members of your family as are available — and have fun, mingle with the community, and say something nice about IMA if it comes up. If you can wear your Race to the Finn! shirt or other IMA gear, that’s even better (tip: swap your mom-purse or diaper bag for your IMA “extra clothes” tote for the day). We would also like some adults to serve as “official” volunteers for part of your time there — there may be some very light set-up, clean-up, or assistance needed. Hopefully there will be enough of us there that we can watch each others kids while we fill in some of these duties.
Activities:
Cost: $5 per family. But if you can’t afford that, Fratney Miller will personally cover your payment. If you can afford more, please consider paying double — or even triple-admission for your family. We know that each month some neighborhood families cannot afford the admission, and as the event sponsor, we’d love to be able to support their attendance.