Clothing - Children should be dressed in comfortable clothing suitable for sitting on the floor. Fancy dresses and shiny shoes may look lovely, but can be ruined at the art easel or even be a danger on the playground equipment. Rubber soled shoes must be worn if children want to use the climbing frames. Practical clothes that the children can manage on their own build a sense of self-confidence and independence. Parents should remember that many of our children have newly acquired toileting skills and belts, buckles, and zippers are impediments to a quick trip to the bathroom. Pants with elastic are much preferred.

Newsletter - We will send newsletters every month, to make families aware of school activities, special events, and snack days, as well as information that may be of interest from child development research and Montessori philosophy. A monthly calendar, which includes all special dates and the class snack schedule, is also provided. Any changes in the program, details about field trips and holiday parties, as well as policy decisions, will be included. The newsletter and website are our best way of communicating necessary information to all parents/guardians, and it is, therefore, very important that parents take the time to read it. It arrives in your child's school bag at the end of each month and parents are advised to look for it, read it, and keep the calendar as a reference in order to avoid any confusion and mix-ups.

Open House - All children, with their parents, will be invited to an Open House during the first week of September. The exact date and times will be sent to you during August. The MVMS student list, September's newsletter and other necessary forms will be available that day. Open House gives new children a chance to become familiar with their teachers, the surroundings, and some of the children before the first day of school. It also gives returning students a chance to reacquaint themselves with the environment and the other children.

Peaceful Environment - At MVMS we try very hard to provide a peaceful, happy environment which promotes respect for others, as well as ourselves. We teach the children to solve problems peacefully using words and compromise rather than physical action. Since certain toys and television programs promote violent and aggressive solutions to problems, we ask parents to help us by not sending children to school in clothing accessories, or with toys, which encourage the children to engage in aggressive behavior or violent play.

Phase In - At the beginning of each school year, we phase-in the children, beginning the day after the Open House. The first few weeks of school are very important to children and staff alike, as we want to minimize nervousness and establish our ground rules and procedures effectively. New children come in first, a few at a time, so that the staff has plenty of opportunities to give them the extra attention they need. Returning students are then phased-in over the following week, so that the numbers increase slowly around the new students. We find this to be an effective way to ease children into the school setting. Although our returnees are often impatient with the extra few days waiting(!), parents remember how comforting this phase-in was for their child's first few days at MVMS.

Show and Tell - Show and Tell is when children bring an item from home to display and talk about at circle time. It is popular with all the children and is a way of connecting what children learn at home to their school and peers. Selecting an appropriate item is often a little difficult for some of our younger children. We try to avoid it turning into a "look-what-I've-got-that-you-haven't" session and therefore we generally discourage toys. The idea we try to establish is that the item should teach the class something they didn't already know. If your child is eager to bring something in, please give him or her a help in chosing something suitable. If you have any questions, talk to any of the teachers.

Snack - Parents provide snack once a month for the class. We would prefer non-sugary snack, since some of the children are sensitive to refined sugars, and many parents prefer more nutritious food. The school provides all paper goods and water. If, however, you send in a snack that requires small dishes or spoons please check and make sure that we have those available. Snack ideas are included in the back of this handbook and a snack schedule will be included with the newsletter every month. Some children have very restrictive diets or acute food allergies. If this is the case, please make us aware of that. We are authorized to keep allergy medication in the school and to administer it as required. If your child's diet is highly restrictive, we may ask that you send in something for your child that we can keep on hand in the event the snack is not appropriate. We also ask that parents providing home-baked snacks, which we encourage, to label them if peanut butter or peanut products are among the ingredients.

Taking Work Home - Maria Montessori felt that at this period of a child's development the process of learning is more important to the child than the product that might result. Although some children may bring papers home, a good deal of work is done which has no paper as its product. If teachers and parents equate work with paper production children may begin to feel that if they have no paper they have done no work. In most instances that is simply not the case.

Arrival and Dismissal - It is very important to have a system that allows us to bring children into school and dismiss them later in an orderly, safe fashion. Therefore, during arrival and dismissal times, a teacher will come to your car and escort your child to and from the school. Parents should remain in their cars. The morning class arrives between 8:40 and 8:50 a.m. and is picked up between 11:25 and 11:35a.m. The afternoon children arrive between 12:10 and 12:20 p.m. and are picked up between 2:55 and 3:05p.m. Please try to observe these times as closely as possible, so as to minimize the disruption caused by late arrivals. If you are late arriving, and we are already inside, please walk your child into school and let one of the staff know that your child has arrived. Children should never be allowed to walk into school by themselves. If you are detained, please try to call the school so that we can explain the situation to your child.
The driveway is a one-way system. When picking up, please keep the line moving, so cars do not back up onto the main road. If you wish to speak to a staff member, fasten seatbelts, or look at papers, pull up into a parking space so that parents behind you can leave.

Birthdays - Birthdays are special for children and we like to help make the day special at school. During circle time, he/she will have a "Birthday Walk". The child carries a globe around a representation of the Sun one revolution for each year of her or his life. During the walk, we tell the class about the child's life and important events up until that time. To help us with this, we ask you to fill out a birthday questionnaire at the beginning of the year, to give us some interesting facts about your child's life. We will schedule your snack day to coordinate with the birthday as closely as possible. We do one Birthday Walk per day/class. When we have children in the same class with birthdays on the same day, we usually do the walk for the youngest child first and then the older child on the following day. Birthday snacks may be cupcakes, etc. Children with summer birthdays have a special celebration day during the final week of school.

Transportation - Parents are asked to complete a drivers form at the beginning of the school year, listing all drivers that have your permission to pick up your child. Please help us protect your child by keeping us informed of all transportation arrangements. You may notify us of any changes with a note or a phone call. We can not allow your child to leave even with a relative or friend unless that person is on the list or we have been informed. Please tell any new person picking up how the system works (when to arrive, how the carpool line works, etc.) Often parents arrange carpools to share the transportation burden. A complete student list will be available, to assist you in finding parents that live in your area. The school should be provided with a carpool list, with details of days, children, and drivers, in order to avoid confusion at dismissal time.

Unit Work - Throughout the course of the year we will be doing special units with the classes. The monthly newsletter and website will keep you aware of the unit for the month. If your child has books or items of interest which would enhance the unit please encourage her/him to bring those things to school to share with the class.

Visitors - Children enjoy visitors in their classroom, especially those with interesting things to show and tell them. If you have a hobby or interest, play a musical instrument, do crafts, have an occupation that would be of interest to children, or have movies of your travels, please consider sharing with your child and his/her classmates. Coming into the class to "help" is also a good way to observe your own child. Adults who are busy in the environment become part of the group rather than observers, and sometimes this helps you to get a better picture of your child's regular school behavior.

Workshop Days - The yearly calendar shows a number of "workshop" days. We feel strongly that the work on the shelves should be kept fresh and exciting, and should reflect the interests of the children in the classroom that year. Every month, the staff removes all the work, washes everything and re-sets every tray, incorporating seasonal and unit studies that are appropriate. If there is a vacation at the end of the month, the workshop day is scheduled during that vacation. Otherwise, we close the school for one day toward the end of the month to put out all the new work.