I t will really feel like summer on Wednes-day, June 1, when Montessori of Mauldin celebrates the end of the 2010-2011 school

year with a private party, 5:45-7:45 p.m. at Discovery Island Waterpark.

We will enjoy discounted admission prices (usual fees are $11 for adults and $8 for children). Save even more by purchasing your tickets in advance in the office: $8 for adults, $5 for children under 12 (free if younger than 1 year). Tickets may be purchased at the event for $8 per person (children and adults).

The event also is open to friends and relatives, so go ahead and invite them to come along!

Discovery Island is located at Southside Park, 417 Baldwin Road in Simpsonville. For more informa-tion, visit the website at www.greenvillerec.com/wa-terparks/discovery-island/

Discovery Island Waterpark

Montessori of Mauldin private party

5:45-7:45 p.m., Wednesday, June 1

Southside Park, 417 Baldwin Rd., Simpsonville

Advance tickets in the office through May 31:

$8 adults, $5 children under 12

Tickets at the door: $8 everyone

Invite your friends!

Summer Splash Don’t miss our water park party, June 1

What’s left?

May 2011

Bergamo musical travels to Pluto

Join Bergamo (lower elementary) on a trip to outer space with their performance of the play, “Pluto’s Identity Crisis.”

The first- through third-year students of Ms. Susan’s and Ms. Samantha’s/Ms. Mary-ann’s classes will sing and dance their way through the solar system, this Thursday, May 26, starting at 1 p.m. in the gym. You won’t want to miss it!

Primary sing-along celebrates another great year

Family and friends of primary students are in-vited to join the children in a fun-filled sing-along on the last day of school.

The celebration begins at 9 a.m., Tuesday, May 31, in the gym. It is sure to be a rollicking good time for everyone, so come on out!

The sing-along en-compasses all students in Ms. Jamie’s, Ms. Beth’s, Ms. Faria’s, and Ms. Jen-nifer’s classes, morning and afternoon.

2—Mauldin Montessori Newsletter

Toddler I, Ms. Julie, Ms. Brenda, Ms. SophiaSummer is almost here!!!! This past spring we learned about kites and made some to

hang up in our classroom. We would like to welcome three new friends to Toddler I: Ethyn, Zachary, and Weston. We also said goodbye to Lincoln, Spencer, Isabella, and Karynton, who all moved up to Toddler II. We have been working on opposites, big and little, and learning our colors and shapes. We love working with the animals on the felt board. For Mother’s Day we planted sunflowers and we are also working on a special surprise for Fa-ther’s Day. We are also excited about the new educational toys that have been added to our room. We are looking forward to a fun summer in Toddler I.

Orange and yellow paint on black construction paper. At left, Eleanor; below, Lea (Toddler I)

Toddler II Our school year is drawing to a close. We will miss our friends who are moving up to

the primary class or leaving us for the summer. Miss Luz will also be off for the summer but will be back in the fall. We are also happy to welcome Karynton from Toddler I to our class as well as Jack and Mathis. We have finished our alphabet and now have moved on to learn-ing about our colors and about sharing with our friends. Ms. Doris has an exciting summer planned for June, July, and August. Parents, please remember to bring extra summer clothes and as always, sheets and blankets go home on Friday to wash. We hope to see you at our end of the year “Summer Splash” party at Discovery Island Waterpark on June 1!

Ms. Mary The last month of school is here! It seems like yesterday I was meeting the students for

the first time. I would like to give a big “thank you” to the parents who volunteered their time, and donated candy and plastic eggs for our Easter egg hunt. A big thank you to Cam-eron’s mom, Leigh; Brooke’s mom, Jennifer, and sister, Bryce; Sofia’s mom, Carolina; and Gage’s dad, Corey; who helped hide almost 600 eggs in my room. (And all of the eggs were found!) I think the adults had just as much fun as the kids. Every one of the mothers seemed to enjoy the ‘Muffins for Mom,’ then the children went down to the gym and decorated cakes for Mother’s Day. Thank you to Publix for the cakes (and the decorators who helped us)! Thank you to Ms. Leigh Ramsey for all of her great stories from the Greenville County Library. Many thanks go to Ms. Lisa for our Spanish classes, and Ms. Linda for the great art show. We will have an end of the year sing-along on May 31st, at 9 a.m. in the gym. All parents, grandparents etc. are invited. Don’t forget the Summer Splash tickets, June 1 at Discovery Island Waterpark! They are for sale in the main office, we hope to see you there! School is about over and I would like to thank all of the parents for everything they have done this year. For those children who will not be with us during the summer and next year, I will miss each and every one of you. Please keep in touch with us. Have a happy summer and remember I will miss you.

Infant roomOur class has gotten smaller this month. Our good friend Campbell moved to North

Carolina. We wish him all the best. We will also welcome a new friend, Henry, into our class soon. Everyone is beginning to enjoy each other. The children are spending more time on the floor playing and less time in the their beds sleeping. Bella likes sitting in the bouncer while Jacob prefers the ExerSaucer. Sophia and Thomas are busy discovering new toys and looking at themselves in the mirror. We are looking forward to a fun summer in the infant room.

Caterpillar, by Michael (Ms. Jamie)

May 2011—3Gym activity class news, Ms. Beth & Ms. Kathy

It has indeed been a wonderful year working in the gym activity class with our enthusi-astic group. Our shared journey of learning has been exciting for everyone! We have so many individuals to thank for any success we have enjoyed this year. Ms. Linda ... for her serious, studied approach to art, media application and art appreciation. Ms. Michelle ... for her en-thusiasm and love of music that she shares with us. Ms. Lisa ... for the gift of language of her native tongue and love of all things Spanish. Ms. Sarah, Ms. Terri, Ms. Kris, Ms. Samantha, and Ms. Mallika ... for their administrative support and assistance. To all our parents who have helped with projects, planned and accompanied us on field trips, provided supplies, support and encouragement. To Ms. Kathy for her ... everything! We look forward to our end-of-the-year sing-along on Tuesday, May 31, in the gym and we hope everyone has a safe and happy summer!

Western Swallowtail afternoon Montessori class, Ms. Beth and Ms. LydiaIt seems we have come full circle ... the end of the school year is upon us. But, in real-

ity, this “ending” is really a beginning ... the beginning of summer vacations, family time, travel, relaxation. The end of the school year will mark as well, the beginning of a time of transition for many of our friends who might be moving to new classes here at Montessori or new learning environments elsewhere. We sincerely trust they are well prepared for new challenges, and we know what a positive and lasting impact each has had on our lives. Our hearts are full of love for each student and best wishes for their success in the future. We are all indebted to all our related arts and administrative staff for their enhancement of our classroom learning experiences. We are equally grateful to each family for their generous sharing of their time and talents during our school year. And where would we be without the continued guidance and wise counsel of Dr. Maria Montessori, who tells us to trust the child to show us the way. She said, “In the child is much knowledge, much wisdom. If we do not profit from it, it is only because of neglect on our part to become humble and to see the wonder of this soul, and learn what the child can teach.”

Red Admiral, Ms. FariaIt’s hard to believe that it’s almost the end of the school year. Time flies when you are

busy learning and having fun. We had a great Easter egg hunt. The children were so good about counting the eggs as they were hunting for them. We thank Rosa (Ana’s mom), for helping us with the egg hunt. The children truly enjoyed making the Mother’s Day craft. We thank Publix for coming in and helping our children decorate their Mother’s Day cakes. Our Friday show-and-tell has been very exciting. Children have shared exciting books, personal artwork, science experiments, a personal tool box and a beloved tree frog pet. We have been talking about mammals, rainbows, endangered and extinct animals, and the solar system.

White Admiral and Eastern Swallowtail, Ms. JamieIt’s hard to believe that we are at the end of the school year. This year has flown by in

the blink of an eye. This final month of the school year brings us to the end of a journey we started many months ago. During the month of May we will be discussing the solar system, the spectrum, and the continent of Australia. We will also be reviewing certain topics that were discussed during the year. The children enjoyed the Easter egg hunt this year. The rain wasn’t going to stop us from having fun, so we hid them in the class. Thanks for all of those who sent in eggs. We would like to welcome Marley and Liam to our morning class. It’s been a great pleasure to have taught your children this year and put them on the path to knowl-edge. For those who are moving on from us, I wish them all the luck and success in their future. For those returning next year, I look forward to seeing you then.

Above, composition of colored squares in layered paper, by Aurora (Ms. Jamie)

4—Mauldin Montessori Newsletter

Monarch class May news, Ms. Jennifer and Ms. SadiaThese last two months of school are flying past as the end of the school year is fast ap-

proaching. We have had a busy few weeks with the Easter egg hunt, Mother’s Day activities, and the strawberry-patch field trip. A big “thank you” to all the moms who helped with the Easter egg bags, hiding the Easter eggs, and the crafts for the strawberry-patch field trip. The children thoroughly enjoyed all of these activities, which couldn’t have happened without all the wonderful parent involvement.

We have also had lots and lots of birthday celebrations, birthday bread, and birthday parties this month; more than any other month this year!! The children have become experts singing our birthday celebration song. In addition to the birthday song, the class has been practicing diligently with the Spanish numbers song and the Make Your Own Kind of Music song for the end-of-the-year sing-along. This is scheduled to take place the last day of school on Tuesday, May 31.

Please be sure to order your class photos from the office if you would like to have a picture of your child with the whole class. A sample photo is available for viewing on the classroom door. This is a great way to remember our year together. We hope to see you all at the Discovery Island Waterpark end-of-the-year splash party on June 1. In the event that your family is unable to attend, we will look forward to seeing you all again next year. Have a wonderful, safe, and fun-filled summer!!

ASK news, Ms. AlisonThe school year is coming to a close and we have so much to look forward to! We’ve

spent the last few weeks getting to know each other. In case your children haven’t told you, my name is Alison Raiti. I have been working at Montessori for about a month now. After graduating from Coastal Carolina University with a B.A. in education, I acquired a S.C. teaching license in early childhood education. I have been teaching in private child develop-ment centers in and around Greenville since 1999 and couldn’t be happier to have found a place at the Montessori School of Mauldin. I live in Taylors with my silly dog, Kaya.

Please be sure to sign your child up for our summer camp if you haven’t already. There will be tons of creative and educational activities as well as fun chances to learn on field trips!

Don’t forget our end-of-the-year Summer Splash Party at Discovery Island Waterpark! We have rented the whole place for ourselves so there won’t be any long lines for the slides. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for kids under 12, and tickets can be purchased in the main office through May 31, or that night at the door for $8 for everybody. Don’t miss this event!!!!!!!!!

Children have been enjoying working with parts of a flower, gerbil and flag cards too. Mrs. Wynetta and I want to thank Ms. Linda, Ms. Michelle, and Ms. Lisa. The children have learnt so much and are always excited about their art, music, and Spanish classes. Hope you enjoyed the art show and are now looking forward to our spring sing-along on May 31. I would like to welcome our new students, Madeline, Gaulthier, Sophie, Ariana, Uden, and Audrey. It’s comforting to see how well they have transitioned. Mrs. Wynetta and I would like to take this opportunity to thank all our parents for all their understanding and support. It has been a joy working with your children this year. We look forward to another great school year. See you at the spring sing-along!

This page: examples of some artwork the primary students have worked on. Top, cut-paper shapes; middle, colored-pencil caterpillar based on a wavy line; and at left in background, dots and shading with crayon (tree and house). All by Anirudh (Ms. Jennifer)

May 2011—5Ms. Susan’s end-of-the-year news

The children are ending the year just as they began—with lots of exciting work, inter-esting research, and creative activities! Some special highlights:

First-year students are tackling long division and fractions.Second-year students are editing compositions and mastering equations.Third-year students are doing extensive research in geology and doing a great job on the

standardized achievement tests.Everyone is enjoying a series of Tomie dePaola books and planning summer fun based

on the Julian stories. Also we have been reaching out in our community—making 25 flower arrangements for a nursing home out of recycled materials, and packing 20 personal-care kits for a women’s shelter. In addition we are becoming superb actors and actresses for our class play! Please join us in the gym at 1 p.m., Thursday, May 26, for our special program, “Pluto’s Identity Crisis.”

Have a terrific summer, with many fun family activities and lots of READING!!!!

Ms. Samantha’s (Ms. Maryann’s) Bergamo class Ryan W. asked us why the weeks were passing so quickly ... and

isn’t that the question of the year! We have a new student all the way from Saudi Arabia who has recently joined our class. We welcome Fatemah, and her family.

We’ve been keeping up with Ms. Maryann’s baby, Hope, via pictures. She is growing, and everyone thinks she is just the cutest! We can’t wait to meet her. In celebration of babies, and spring-time, we have been logging in to watch the Eagle Cam every day! The camera is set up over an eagle’s nest in Decorah, Iowa. Did you know that baby eagles are called eaglets? This year three eaglets have hatched in this particular nest. We have watched them from when they were very tiny. They have survived snow, rain, and heavy wind. Now we are watching their feathers change color and texture. The eaglets get bigger by the day! Grey, one of our classroom eagle observers, tells us that they now look like teenagers, and if they were humans, they would probably be in high school by now! It looks like they are almost ready to leave the nest and take flight! You can log in and see for yourself at www.raptorresource.org/falcon_cams/. We love it so much, we made ‘eaglets’ one of our spelling words!

Our month of May has been buzzing with activity as we pre-pared for our final events of the year. After the third-year students completed their testing, we began to prepare for our next adventure. Our class is taking a trip into OUTER SPACE, as we put on the lower elementary year-end play. We will be singing and dancing our way through the solar system as we help Pluto solve its identity crisis. We have worked very hard, and you are welcome to join us on Thursday, May 26th at 1 p.m. in the gym. We can hardly wait!

After our big debut, we still have work to do! We decided to celebrate the end of the year with a Montessori-style luncheon. We will all work together to prepare a homemade meal consisting of homemade pizza sauce, dough, toppings, salads, fruit smoothies, and to top it off, we will make our own frozen yogurt for dessert! What a sweet way to end the year! Have a wonderful summer!

Story and picture by Katherine (Ms. Samantha)

Foxes, colored pencil, by Grey (Ms. Samantha)

6—Mauldin Montessori Newsletter

Brennan Hall NewsUpper School News—the 4th-8th grades of Brennan Hall

I n March and April we worked on our community ser-vice project to support ALS, commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease. The bake sale and penny drive were a great success

and we achieved our goal of starting a Montessori team which par-ticipated in the 2011 Upstate Walk to defeat ALS. The name of our team is “Montessori Marches Out ALS.”

We also wrote to our senators and congressmen. We thanked them for their support of the National ALS Registry and asked them to do their best to continue to support research in the future. We received a letter from the ALS Association South Carolina Chap-ter thanking us for our efforts, but really it was a lot of fun. If you would like more information, contact www.scalsa.org.

Annual Montessori art show and Brennan Hall concertOn May 1, we hosted the Montessori School of Mauldin Art

Show in Brennan Hall. The show opened at 2 p.m. in the gym with an upper school dance led by Coach Kim. Then we had a short concert by the Brennan Hall chorus. Students sang excerpts from Camp Rock, Tarzan, and we ended with “We Are the World.” Then, parents and students toured the building and looked at the artwork. This was the second year that primary, lower elemen-

tary and upper elementary students were all represented.

Learning in action: Sewee Coastal Retreat field tripIn the middle of May we went on our first overnight trip to the

Sewee Coastal Retreat Center. This center is part of Clemson Uni-versity’s Youth Learning Institute. It is located in the Francis Marion National Forest near the Cape Romain Wildlife Refuge, which is about 20 miles from Charleston.

We visited a barrier island, a salt marsh and a 4,000-year-old In-dian shell ring. We were divided into two groups for our classes: the Dolphins and the Loggerheads. If you see us, ask us about our trip ... or check out our photos on Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Montessori-School-of-Mauldin/158161949430?sk=wall.

Author visit postponed until fallOn May 20 we had planned to host a history presentation and

writer’s workshop with one of the authors we have been reading. Due to unforeseen events, Donna Campbell Smith was unable to come this year, but we look forward to having her visit us and teach us in the fall.

Her work has been recommended by the North Carolina De-partment of Public Instruction and has been selected by Renaissance Learning’s Accelerated Reader Program. One of her books, Pale as the Moon, centers on Native Americans and the Outer Banks and we thought it would be a great follow-up to our class trip.

Some of us wrote letters to Ms. Smith, telling her how much we enjoyed her book and are looking forward to her visit in the fall.

We can’t wait to be face-to-face with a real author in the near fu-ture. (Here is a link to the book’s page at Amazon’s book-discussion website, Shelfari: www.shelfari.com/books/18127128/Pale-As-The-Moon).

Second annual Parent P.E. DayOn Wednesday, May 25, we will host a Parent P.E. Day from

11 a.m.-noon at the Mauldin Sports Center. Parents are invited to warm up and try a few of our skill-building activities or cooperative games. Then we will have a kickball game of students vs. parents. This should be great fun!

Busy spring has students ready for summer

May 2011—7

Nonfiction poetry: triolets and mask poemsIn late April, one of our students spent two weeks visiting France. When she got back, she built an Eiffel Tower

and shared her journal with us. So the least we could do was try to write a triolet, a French style of poem!

I am a fish,I am as blue as the sky,I swim,I live in a school,I can catch my own food,I can get caught on a hook,I am a fish.By Emma

I am a dolphin,Gray as an elephant,I swim,I jump,I can play,I can flip,I am a dolphin.By Griffin

I am a ghost crab,White as the moon,Crawling,Hunting,I can crawl into small holes,I can pinch,I am a ghost crab.By Jennifer

I am a laughing gullGray as storm clouds,Together we fly,We laugh in triumph,We dive to fish,Then we go to swim,I am a laughing gull.By Philip

Trio means three. This poem is made up of 8 lines, but the first one repeats three times on the 1st, 4th and 7th lines. The second line also repeats and be-comes the last line of the poem. There is also a tricky rhyme pattern – the first line rhymes with line 3, 4, 5, and 7. The second line rhymes with 6 and 8.

Many adult triolets are also written in iambic tetrameter. Well ... we couldn’t quite do that yet, but the rest of the rules weren’t too bad. It did take some thinking though. Here are a few of ours:

Playing the DrumsBy KevanIt is rock music that I like the best,It makes me feel like a free man,I feel the beat inside my chest, It is rock music that I like the best,I would like to head way out west,And play the drums with a rock band.It is rock music that I like the best,It makes me feel like a free man.

Day at the BeachBy SarahIt was June at Myrtle Beach,It was so hot, we drank lemonade,We built sandcastles and the shells were bleached,It was June at Myrtle Beach.The waves knocked down our castles on the beach,So we went to the arcade,It was June at Myrtle Beach,It was so hot, we drank lemonade.

A Fish Named “Beachboy”By AylaWe trained a multi-colored fish,To go through hoops with a wand,But he won’t always do what we wish,We trained a multi-colored fish,Near the beach in his tank he loves to swish,Another fish might help him bond,We trained a multi-colored fish,To go through hoops with a wand.

Michael JacksonBy EthanHis career started when he was ten.He created a great techno “Thriller.”He died of a heart attack in the end,His career started when he was ten.A lot of cards his fans would send,I watched Thriller so much; it was a great timekiller,His career started when he was ten.He created a great techno “Thriller.”

SoccerBy Ashlyn I’ve played in the heat, mud and rain,With my friends blocking and scoring goals,It’s a physical sport; you might feel pain,I’ve played in the heat, mud and rain,In 2010, a championship gained,Eight trophies, eleven seasons...boy, I’m old!I’ve played in the heat, mud and rain,With my friends blocking and scoring goals.

We also tried our hand at a persona poem called a “mask poem.” Here the subject of the poem is the speaker. You can use this idea on any object, plant, or animal. We saw so many great plants, animals, and habitats up close and personal on our trip that this seemed a perfect way to describe some of the things we saw. Here are some samples:

I am a minnow,I am as black as ashes,I swim,I dart,I can go fast,I can “speed swim.”I am a dart fish. By Rader

I am a fiddler crab,Grey as the mud,I scuttle, I scatter,I can shield with my shell,I can hide in a hole,I am a fiddler crab.By Rader I am a bat, As black as the night that I fly in,I flutter and land in trees and caves,I like bugs and fruit,I can see better in the night than you can,I can sleep upside down,I am a bat.By Nolan

8—Mauldin Montessori Newsletter

Expedition Sewee field trip: see for yourself!Our first-ever overnight field trip was amazing, and we took literally hundreds of pictures documenting it. Here

are just a few of the photos.

Clockwise from top left: pelican on a channel marker; Brady (carefully!)holds a crab; Erick learns to cast a crab net; all the students, both Dolphins and Loggerheads, play capture the flag; a fiddler crab from the pluff mud. Visit the Mauldin Montes-sori page on Facebook for links to our photo albums on Photobucket, posted by Ms. Kris (Christine Fetter). Thank you to all our parents who sent us on the trip, and especially the chaperones.