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1Learning styles – Focus on Primary Montessori Motion 24/1 November 2014

International-montessoriA Newsletter for the families of ‘International Montessori’

Author: Annie Hoekstra-de Roos – Design: Inspirit International Communication

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Learning styles Focus on Primary

24/1 November 2014

2 Montessori Motion 24/1 November 2014

Development is often seen as a straight line or as a set of steps. Childhood is of course a preparation for the adult he or she is meant to become, and it is also a very important stage of life in itself. We live now; living in the moment stimulates the feelings of being at peace and happiness.

It is not always easy for an adult to find these perimeters. This is because development is actually not a straight line, and therefore not as obvious as one would like. When a child has seen, heard or has experienced something, it does not mean it becomes immediately fixed and visible in behaviour or understanding. Children learn a lot through repetition. This does not mean that the adults need to repeat the same information, but that the children are given similar opportunities for practicing. Humans learn through experiences. Activity translates into neuro pathways. These neuro pathways allow again for more refined activity. Thinking and knowledge gathering develops in relation to these activities. As the child grows the brain sorts the information and classifies it in logical categories. Thus making it a workable organ that can contain a large amount of knowledge and allows for advanced abilities to develop.

Dr. Silvana Montanaro, the author of the book, ‘Understanding the Human Being’, describes development as a continuous sequence of waves. Looking at a specific aspect of development, there is first a slow increase in the ability and then it swells and parents think, “Yes, she’s got it!” Before not very long, the wave crashes on itself and it looks like there is a setback. This is when the parent despairs, but lo and behold, the water picks up and the slow swell towards a new crescent is forming again.

Isn’t that a beautiful way of looking at child development? Now why does that wave cave in on itself? This can be seen as a period of consolidation. The new experiences are integrated with the existing ones and become slowly part of the personality before it can be used in a consistent manner.

Experiences, doing things, are the key to a successful wave. Without experiences there is no information given to the brain that needs translation into brain patterns. This is why we urge families to keep

The school year is well on its way. It is so interesting to see children grow and understand more and more of the world that surrounds them. At each level, they have ‘work’ to do in becoming self sufficient, independent and socially in tune with others. Learning is happening at school and at home. When accompanied with freedoms, boundaries and responsibilities appropriate to their age range, children grow and develop to their fullest potential.

A wave of development

Content:A wave of development 2

Experience based education at the Primary level 4

Learning styles matter – In the Montessori Primary classroom 10

Freedom and boundaries help the development of logical reasoning 14

Outdoors is a must 15

La Finca Farm: touching, tasting, and experiencing botany classification 16

It takes a village to raise a child 18


electronics away from small children, if possible till the child is a mature Primary child. Yes, the child becomes good on an iPad at age three, but this is pure Pavlov; ‘push here and you will be rewarded’. Children do not build life skills and life experiences through their eyes only. The brain is not wired that way. A young child behind a screen looses important time, since the brain is at its most intense period of development in the first 6 years of life.

Logical thinking is a consequence of life experiences. When a child has had a multitude of developmental waves, the brain has gathered and grouped information. This classifying is important for logical thinking. Once information is grouped, it is easier to recall and can be used for reasoning. One starts hearing logical reasoning from approximately 5 to 6 years old and onwards. This is the older Children’s House child who simultaneously wants to know about maps, dinosaurs, volcanoes, etc. It is especially the Primary child who is interested in the vast curriculum and wants to know why and how. This keen interest stimulates reasoning and widens the base of thinking for the personality.

School and families help children by giving them plenty of age appropriate real life experiences. Turn off the screen, since the virtual world does not help this process at all. It is a distraction from the real world and simultaneously fills the head with fantastic information that does not aid appropriate development.

A wave of development


Experience based education at the Primary level


Around the age of six, children’s perception of the world starts to change. They become aware of life beyond the family. They also become very interested in that world and all its elements. They want to know the reasons for phenomena; how did mountains form? Why is the ice on the North Pole melting? How does a fish breathe? They acquire a thirst for knowledge and can become very motivated at school to find out more on a wide range of topics.

Every child is different of course. Their perceptions and interpretations differ. And some of that is related to the life the child led up to now. For example, if a child has played a lot in nature, insects are interesting. However, should he/she have spent most time behind the screen, insects can be perceived as dangerous and scary.

Children also experience events in different ways and learn differently. In a family one can see this clearly; siblings are unique! They have different personality traits that result in preferred learning styles. When the child can use their preferred style then he/she learns quicker and more efficiently. The feeling is more relaxed, at ease, and natural for the child.

When a child’s learning style is respected at both home and school, then children learn optimally. Simultaneous to using their natural style, they can also consciously acquire other styles and thereby become flexible and adaptable to the situation. As an employee, or entrepreneur, an individual has ‘chameleon’ attributes, a valuable asset in teams and organisations.

Now let’s look at the different learning styles specific to Primary students, using the construct of the four animals: Beaver, Owl, Dolphin, and Fox. These were first outlined in our school newsletter of February 2014. In the February issue, the learning styles were applied to the age range of zero to six. Now we will focus on the characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses seen in the Primary aged child in terms of these four generalized learning styles.


BeaverPrimary Beavers love to work. They like to work through a sequence of materials or instructions. They see the purpose and work through it at a solid pace. This results in a feeling of happiness and satisfaction. Beaver Primary children are good role models to others. They use the materials correctly, listen well to the director/directresses, and try to act according to the instructions. Beavers are solid workers that one can count on. The older Primary Beavers, when part of a group’s task, will be the reliable backbone of the group. They will keep their work ordered and organised and pack it away appropriately.

Beavers like routines in their life; work, food and play should be at the appropriate times. They think ahead and reason logically. They often have a good inner discipline. These children like to help parents in the garden, wash the car and then have a cup of tea together. They are reliable and generally do what is logically required.

Beavers can get a little stressed when instructions are more open and when creativity is needed. A challenge is fine for them as long as the main structure is understood. They do not like ‘wishy-washy’; one needs to be to the point. Beavers are often serious, not without humor, but do not like ‘silly jokes’.

Beavers rely well on their own resources and abilities. They do not always need others around them. Others can be rather annoying to them, should they not follow the beaten track. Beavers like to be in a group with like-minded people and get something done. Look at the animal; they like chewing methodically through many logs and then use them to make dams!


OwlPrimary Owls like to read. They are interested in the world at large and can consume books rapidly and plentiful. Owls like to know for the sake of knowing. It tickles their mind and gives a lot of pleasure.

The Owl animal is used for this learning style due to its symbolism with wisdom and its solitary existence. Primary Owl children like to sit alone, they choose the individual tables and start their work by themselves. They can be hesitant in joining the group, since this requires engaging with others. They come across as a little shy, however, once their favourite topic is in discussion, they will surely add their knowledge. The teacher needs to choose the appropriate group and topic and then the owl will join social experiences.

Owls are not so interested in sports. There is not a natural disposition towards being overactive. At home, they tend to spend time in their rooms. Parents need to be careful in putting limits on screen related activities. These appeal a lot to Owl children due to its solitude and mental activity required in e.g. gaming. Owl children will be the first (not the only) group of children to lock themselves away and over engage in IT entertainment for hours in a row. The time consumed behind the screen is not consumed with others and therefore feeds the solitude too much.

In decision-making processes, owls need their time. They might not respond immediately to requests and need to contemplate first. They like to gather more information and reflect. Sometimes they need prompting in coming to conclusions.

Owls have a strong inner discipline when the task meets their needs. They can be a little stubborn when this is not the case. Outer discipline is usually not successful since they can block from the opinion of others. Gentle coaching and logical consequences are helpful.

When you need to know something, go to the Primary Owl. They will be happy to explain the intricate details of the studied phenomena. Due to their reading ability, vocabulary can be wide and explanations can be very thorough!


DolphinDolphins at Primary age love to giggle. When you see a table with four deeply socially engaged children, you are probably seeing four Dolphins at their best. They like to engage, interact and talk.

Being social is their primary reason of existence. Everything is discussed with someone else first. When needing to come to a conclusion the Dolphin child will first need a round of talks to see what other people think and how they feel about it. After that it is a little hard to come to a conclusion since there are so many opinions. How to cater for all these friends’ opinions? And what if someone disagrees with you? So before coming to a conclusion, they might need a bit more talking. It is the process that is important.

When Dolphins are in a conflict, they are also the ones who will use ‘social punishment’ for each other such as, “You can not come to my birthday party!” An Owl child will shrug her shoulders when this is directed at her. However a

Dolphin child will cry and discuss with mum on how unfair her friend is and that she ‘never’ wants to play with her again.

Dolphins do very well when working in small groups. They are creative and can come to beautiful results. Now and then the chatting needs to be curbed, so that everyone can turn the focus back to the work at hand.

Primary Dolphins will push parents for mobile phone ownership at an early age. Advice here is not to start this yet. The same goes for Facebook and other social media, which form a threat to children with this personality trait. They can easily be ‘sucked into’ the social virtual world of ‘he said, she said’, loosing not only time, but real-life interaction.

Dolphins can have a challenge with coming to conclusions and making choices on their own. Thinking for themselves needs stimulation. Dolphins need the adults to coach them in order to develop critical and independent thinking.


FoxHow to recognise a Primary fox? Well, when a group of students is together and they are given one task for all, then you spot them immediately. The task needs to be completely in a way that is ‘up their alley’ otherwise they will engage very little. They will pass their knowledge quickly and get it over and done with. Should a written follow up work be required, it will be minimal.

This sounds a bit negative, but it is not. Foxes are clever, they see through the exercises given to them. They have the ability to come to the core immediately, deal with it and get it done efficiently. They work fast and do not need the same amount of practice on new tasks as others might need.

Foxes never use the same route to the chicken coup. They are inventive. They can read other people’s intentions. So they can be quicker. Empathy is not their strong side; Primary foxes need help from the teachers and parents to learn to accept that other people have needs too. Irritation on their behalf needs to be turned into helping others. Working in a group in a leading role, assists foxes in being able to be effective and simultaneously learn to value people with other learning styles.

Foxes are physically strong. Movement and action is important. They are strong in Body-Kinesthetic Intelligence and sport is a good activity during their leisure time. They love challenges and sports competitions. Also then, limits are necessary in order to develop empathy. This social engagement will help them in becoming inspiring and just leaders in a group.


Learning styles matter – In the Montessori Primary classroom


Individualised education does not mean that every child can do as he/she pleases. Children do not become skillful and satisfied by getting what they want without putting effort into it. We like our children to be happy but must not forget that happiness evolves through doing. One feels happy when one achieves something, puts effort into tasks or relationships or when one plays an important role in a group. Children are by nature active and this activity needs to be channeled so that it is constructive activity. The word constructive has many meanings here; the activity needs to be constructive in terms of the child’s own development, the other people in the group and the environment.

In the Montessori classroom the teachers know their children’s personality traits and learning styles and act accordingly. With acting, we mean two routes:

Children learn best when they are interested. They are interested when the topic relates to them at that point in time and when the learning experience offered meets their learning style. The teacher caters for that in order to get the child’s attention.

Personality traits always need balancing. Children are born with predominant traits and learning styles relate to this. However, to become a flexible person one cannot always say; “This is who I am, so change accordingly so that it meets my needs.” Successful and happy people are those who can adapt to different situations. Therefore based upon the natural tendencies, the teacher puts ingredients in to the classroom learning so that skills natural to the other learning styles can be acquired.

The Montessori Primary classroom offers many ways of traveling both routes. The following examples will give some information on how the curriculum, pedagogical materials and multi-age group are used as ‘ingredients’ in the child’s learning environment:


Mathematics: The math curriculum is very wide and well thought through. It starts with counting, moves through the operations, fractions, multiples, divisibility, signed numbers, decanomials, exponential notation, moving on to squaring and cubing, square and cube root. The materials start very concrete and move to more abstract and eventually the child works on paper, thus abstract, only.

Beaver children have the possibility to move methodically from one presentation to the next, moving orderly through the steps. A fox child can skip and jump. Order of presentations depends on understanding and steps can be skipped. The Dolphin child will do more work with a group and the Owl child has the opportunity to work solidly and become deeply interested.

The learning skills that do not come naturally to children are developed by means of the same ingredients. Beavers are asked, within a routine task, to become inventive and look for the unknown. Dolphins are given tasks and materials that need solitary reasoning and then written down in a creative manner. Foxes study a topic and are consequently asked to explain the concepts to a group of children. Owls feel safe and secure in joining the group and work on squaring after they have worked in solitude and now understand the material. Hence the environment and materials is used in different ways for different children.


BiologyBiology is studied as a separate subject, but always in relation to geography and historic evolution of life. Within the subject both Zoology and Botany are important and run parallel to each other. Zoology looks at the different kingdoms, knowledge on individual animals and comparative studies. Botany covers in the first years of Primary the functioning of the plant, leaf, root, stem flower and seed. This is followed by classification, interrelations and moves on to ecology.

Within that framework, children can go in many directions. Beaver students will love the Classified Nomenclature, study all parts of the plant and make booklets on their functions. Dolphin children will engage intensely in groups work where they study Dycotyledons and monocotyledons and come up with creative posters to explain the theory to others. Owl children will be engaged in the dissections and Foxes in relating new knowledge to the timeline and find out when and why flowering plants started to appear on earth.

In order to help balance the development of skills, the teachers will instigate process minded work for the Beaver. After having made visual products, she is asked to work together with a group of children and make a fact-finding quiz for other children. The older owl child makes charts of the dissection and presents these to the parents during a Windows into the class session. The Dolphin child is asked to try out an experiment in a group and then fill in related observation sheets on an individual level. The Fox is engaged in researching and constructing a story on the functions of the flower and present it to the whole group.

Individualised education makes it possible for the teachers to attract and interact according to the natural strengths of the child so that the child feels safe, acknowledged and motivated. This state of being is the right start to then help a child go beyond his/her comfort zone and develop new skills. These two routes give the children the opportunity to become balanced learners. It allows for the development of a multitude of skills that will be useful in life and make it possible to become adaptable and flexible.

In 30 years time, 50% of the professions that we engage in now will not be needed anymore. So for education to help children in the future, the focus on the development of a varied range of skills is essential.


Freedom and boundaries are important ingredients in each environment. One needs to choose each time for whom, which freedoms are applicable and which boundaries are needed. These should change along with the age-range of the child, the child’s personality traits and learning styles, the emotional state and the child’s specific bahavioural patterns.

Culturally it is believed that to be fair, one needs to put the same rules on every child. But following the theory that every person is different, it is actually ‘not fair’, to put the same rules and regulations on every child, and it is definitely not helping every child. A Beaver, Owl, Dolphin and Fox require very different limits to their actions. Helping each specific child includes looking at where, when and how the adult needs to say ‘stop or go’. Primary children must not be given free range. They are becoming confident in their actions, more knowledgeable and worldly. However that does not mean they can think like an adult yet. They can also not make adult decisions yet and should not be asked to. They do not have the wide scope of perception and thinking skills yet of an adult. Their life has just been too short.

Logical reasoning develops from around age five onwards. Due to the fact that the child obtains more knowledge and life experience, reasoning has basic material to work with. They are at the beginning of the process and need lots of practice. When they come home and tell about an event, “He said this… and then that happened to me….” It is best to reason with the child and ask; “What happened before?”, “Why did that happen”? “Where were you?”, “ Maybe the consequence was….”. ”What could you have said instead?” And so on…

Conflicts are good reasoning material. The questions how, where, why, when and whom are important ones in life to contemplate before one takes actions. Adults can role model this for the child. They can ask the questions, and help children to stand still, think, and look at it from other points of view. This helps the child in calming down and to think critically, to learn about cause and effect and maybe to make different decisions next time. A Primary child learns through trial and error, through experiences and talking about right and wrong.

Feelings of entitlement can develop when the adult solves the problems for the child and the child is not regularly guided through problem solving and solution finding mechanisms. At Primary age, the ability to

Freedom and boundaries help the development of logical reasoning


Outdoors is a must

Personalities also develop outside! The outdoors gives lots of opportunities to Beavers, Owls, Dolphins and Foxes. Outdoor play can be rather informal and small groups of children make up games, set rules, adjust them as is necessary and work together. Outdoor activities also bring calmness to the mind. Nature sustains human energy. As we walk, run, cycle or work in the outdoors, the energy level increases, one feels good about oneself and the look on life is positively influenced.

Yet, we hear and see less children playing outside in the streets and in the fields. As screen related ‘play’ is taking over. Unfortunately, this is not a very relaxing way to spend an afternoon, nor does it provide life experiences that form the base to logical thinking. It causes stress to the child, over-activates the adrenaline glands and makes children grumpy when dad calls for dinner.

Home, neighbourhood, playgrounds, parks and school can provide many opportunities in the outdoors. Primary aged children can do a lot, since their abilities are widening. Car washing, cleaning the deck with the high pressure machine, painting the trellis, cleaning the pond, sewing, planting, weeding and harvesting are all interesting activities that require the development of various skills.

The Tervuren Primary children work regularly at the La Finca ecological farm.

become truly responsible can develop. It is the age when children ‘give’ to others, where they learn to contribute to the group and become consciously aware of the feelings of others. Should a child not be asked to contribute or is always getting his/her way, the ability to become responsible does not develop. Children should acknowledge their teacher when entering the class; put away their Gameboy in a restaurant; say ‘thank you’ when the meal arrives; tidy their toys and area prior to the housekeeper’s visit. The expectation of courtesy and consideration for others needs to be set and upheld by the adult. If not, logical reasoning is not being used and does not develop to it’s utmost. The feeling of entitlement will take over and have a large impact on life, work and relationships in the future.

Helping children becoming responsible for their own actions by setting appropriate limits helps the Primary child to become a reasonable, cooperative and positive member in a social setting. As Jim Fay and Dawn Billings, say in their book, ‘From Innocence to Entitlement’, it is for adults with children important to have:

The Courage to Say No

The Joy of Saying Yes

and

The Wisdom to Know the Difference.

By Annie R. Hoekstra - de Roos


What type of edible vegetable is the fennel plant? Is it a fruit, leaf, root, flower, or stem vegetable? As an educator, you have many choices on how to teach this fundamental botany classification to your young students. Worksheets, blackboard, lecture, textbook, or even an interactive iPad app exists for this exercise. Let’s choose an app for this one. The student is able to swipe their finger across the screen to drag and drop the virtual vegetables into the appropriate category. The child even receives immediate feedback that they dropped the correct vegetables into the correct category through a dancing bean that jiggles the iPad. There is a video that the child can select to have more details or to watch a clip of a farmer harvesting different types of produce. The exercise is finished and now the child has ‘learned’ one of the first classifications within Kingdom Vegetalia!

La Finca Farm: touching, tasting, and experiencing botany classification


Now let us examine this same lesson of edible vegetable classification as the Primary 1 students of ‘Rotselaerlaan’ did a few weeks ago. The Primary 1 students donned their mud boots for their two km walk to La Finca farm. After their walk through the neighbourhood, they were greeted by Sarah, the owner and operator of this organic farm. Sarah toured the students through the greenhouses introducing them to the vegetables by having the students pluck the produce off the stalk, break it open and take a taste. She showed the parts of the plant, fruit, and flower and the stages in between. They carefully manoeuvred themselves between the tidy rows of thriving vegetable plants. Sarah tasked the students to pick several types of vegetables. The mission was to collect several samples of vegetables in order to classify them and also to extract the seeds. One favourite vegetable was the long, plump, pod of the bean plant. The children’s nimble fingers worked to pry open the bean pod casing to reveal the bean. Students helped one another when they came across tougher casing covers. Once opened, they counted how many beans they found tucked inside. They also rolled up their sleeves to sift through the dirt to extract the potatoes that lay beneath the rich soil. After a variety of vegetables of different shapes, sizes, tastes, smells, and textures were collected, the group worked together to determine the category for each of these edible vegetables. Together they documented their findings on a large poster paper laid on a makeshift table. After the group discussion, Sarah collected the seeds from the children and agreed to bring them along with her during her visit to our school greenhouse for the next lesson on planting.

During the visit the children’s senses were fully engaged in this fundamental botany lesson: the cool, dampness of the day; the squish of the green moist ground underfoot; the sticky rubberiness of the freshly peeled bean; and the camaraderie of their friends, teachers, and hosting farmer. This is in contrast to the experience with the digital tablet where the senses of sight, sound and touch were stimulated, but only in the case of sight were the stimuli related to the subject. A jiggle of the tablet and a ring indicating ‘well done’ are more associated with a fantasy world of Minecraft than of the natural world.

As defined, experiential learning is, “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.” The cycle involves: having a concrete experience, reflection/observation on the experience, abstract conceptualisation, and finally active experimentation. These four areas are actively engaged during our on-going visits to La Finca farm. Of course the Primary curriculum is vast, so not all concepts can be brought to the children at such lengths. However, a great majority of them can! All Primary mathematical concepts (arithmetic, geometry, and algebra) have associated concrete materials for the introductory stages. Language concepts are brought to the child in context to the cultural academic topics. By relating concepts to real objects, ideas, people, and the world, children are stimulated in their learning and in their development. This is a key distinction that no app can duplicate…yet.

By Lisa Thauvette


It takes a village to raise a child

19Learning styles – Focus on Primary Montessori Motion 24/1 November 2014It takes a village to raise a child Montessori Motion 24/1 November 2014

New format!We offer many events for the whole school community and also events specific to school locations and classrooms. In order to communicate these effectively, we are listing these events in a new format.

You will find events that are geared toward the whole school community listed in the pages of this bound newsletter. When an event is specific to a certain school location or classroom (such as excursions, singalongs, theatre performance, or Windows into the Class events) then these can be found on a separate loose-leaf page, inserted into the newsletter. Families of Tervuren and Wezembeek-Oppem will receive a page insert for events pertaining to these locations and ‘Hof Kleinenberg’, Woluwe will receive a separate insert.

This does not mean that you will miss out on information, since all happenings are published on the school wall calendar as well as electronically on our school website. We hope you have already discovered our electronic calendar on the website and have subscribed to receive event updates on your Smart Phone! This way you can always check and see what is happening at the different locations and the various age groups.

It takes a village to raise a child


TUESDAY JANUARY 13

The Power of Ten: the heart of mathematicsLocation: International Montessori School – Rotselaerlaan, TervurenTime: 19.30

Just imagine if we had only 8 fingers and 8 toes. Instead of the decimal system we would have the octal system. An entirely different counting base that would revolve around the eight ‘digits’ on our hands and feet. But indeed ten is the magic number in our counting universe. Once you reach 9, you start again with 1 and use 0 next to it as a place holder. Families from all locations are invited to join the teachers of Tervuren Children’s House and Primary for an evening where we will present the mathematics curriculum for children from ages 3 to 11 and how this curriculum is brought to life through hands-on materials, storytelling, and social interaction. You will even meet the original founder of googol, that is, 10 taken to the power of 100.

Information sessions TUESDAY NOVEMBER 25

Introduction to the IB Diploma ProgrammeLocation: ‘Hof Kleinenberg’ – Multi-functional Space Time: 19.30

Participants: This evening is an important preparation for MYP Year 5 students and their parents. Other parents, who would like to orientate themselves, are also welcome to attend. The following topics will be discussed:• The level and expectations of the IB

Diploma Programme• The subject groups• High level and Standard level subject

decisions • The core elements: Extended Essay

(EE), Community and Services (CAS) framework and Theory of Knowledge (TOK).

• The calendar of the two year programme


Parent CaféVaried topics are presented and discussed informally at the school’s ‘Parent Café’, housed at ‘Savoorke’, Bergestraat 24, Tervuren. All are welcome and please feel free to bring a friend to these events.

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 14

The Primary YearsTime: 9.30 – 11.00

If your child is a few years away from entering Primary, or your child is currently a full-fledged Primary student, this session will shed light on the characteristics of this aged child and how at home, and school, to best accommodate the Primary years. Teachers of the Primary section will be on hand to lead a discussion on this very social and inquiring age.

FRIDAY JANUARY 16, 2015

Process Communication for our ChildrenTime: 9.30 – 11.00

Sofie Masselin, Children’s House directress in ‘Hof Kleinenberg’, will share her insight on the use and implementation of the communication model of Process Communication and how this can be applied in our relationship with our children. The model takes into account the personality structure and behaviour cues inherent in communication and how to effectively work through these differences, especially when there is miscommunication or conflict. Join us for this very interesting discussion.

Family events:SATURDAY NOVEMBER 22

Christmas Market and Family Photographer at ‘Savoorke’ Time: From 10.00 to 17.00 hrs.International Montessori ‘Savoorke’ Bergestraat 24,3080 Tervuren

The artisanal Christmas Market at ‘Savoorke’, Bergestraat 24, 3080 Tervuren is happening again! ‘Savoorke’ will be transferred into a Christmas den with many different ‘home-made’ goods for sale. Additionally there will be English children’s books for sale and also a lovely toy selection. ‘Savoorke’ has been recently renovated and consequently you will see a change in the layout. The MYP students will use the kitchen for preparation and the Parent Café for the sale of their delicacies. The Family Photographer will have his studio set up to make beautiful portrait photos of children, siblings and families. The high quality printed photos will be ready in time to give as gifts to dear ones. Sign up sheets to book the photographer will be put up on the noticeboard of every school closer to the date.

Call for VendorsWe welcome new vendors who have a beautiful craft or art to sell! This can vary from jewelry, paintings, woodwork, and bookbinding to jam, cake, or chocolate. The cost of a stand is €50 for 2 meters and €100 for a double spot. This fee goes into the school’s charity account ‘Reaching Out’ and will be donated to Ecole Maternelle Simandari in Burkina Faso. Last year we sponsored 24 children to attend the school in Burkino Faso and part of that money was raised via the Christmas market. It all goes to a good cause!

Please indicate your interest to the Christmas Market Coordinator, Marleen Moyson, by e-mailing her at [email protected]


Last Day of School of 2014WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 17The last day of school for 2014 is on Wednesday 17th December. On this day every child should bring a festive dish to school to share with their classmates and teachers during their lovely class lunch together. School finishes at midday (normal hours) and school buses function as usual (After School Hours service in ‘Rotselaerlaan’ is suspended due to preparation needed for the evening event). This lunch is just for the students and teachers. The entire family is invited to come together for our evening event at the Christmas Craft Evening (see next entry)!

Christmas Craft Evening at ‘Rotselaerlaan’ – TervurenTime: 18:30 to 21:00Participants: Everybody welcome!

Both school buildings at Rotselaerlaan 1 and 3 will have been ‘packed away’ for the night and a Christmas atmosphere will take over. Teachers from all school locations will provide lovely craft activities for children and parents to make. Please also bring your relatives that have come to visit. You may come straight after work, since the Secondary students will provide gluhwein and serve yummy Christmas delicacies.

Lease a Christmas treeThe pine trees have been growing over the past year and are again ready to be decorated for Christmas! The IB Secondary students, together with gardener Jurek, will dig them out of the ground and transport them to the family houses who signed up to lease a tree. It is a great experience for the children in organisation and working together. The trees are then picked up at the end of the three week period and replanted in the school’s Christmas tree ‘forest’ at ‘Hof Kleinenberg’. This year there are some trees looking for a permanent home, so these will be for sale.

Trees can be booked during the Christmas market. You will find MYP students there with signup lists. Should you like to book a tree by e-mail, please mail to [email protected]

Academic reportingFRIDAY DECEMBER 5

Report Day – no schoolLocation: Your child’s classroomTime: individual time slots from 8:00 a.m.Participants: All families throughout t he school

Teachers prepare a written report that is presented and reviewed during the bi-annual report sessions. All families are invited to make a booking on the sign-up sheets available two weeks before the Report Day.


Dad’s morningSATURDAY JANUARY 24

Location: In your child’s classroomTime: Please choose from two time slots: 9.30 to 10.15 or 10.30 to 11.15

Participants: Toddler Community, Children’s House and Primary dads with their children

Dad’s of children aged 1 to 11 are invited to the classroom and participate in the activities your child is currently working on. Children take this very seriously, since they show you their important daily work. Teachers are there to support when necessary. Mum’s morning will be on 28th February. Please note that it is possible should you need to swap or have another family member come instead.

Parent – Infant GroupTHURSDAY JANUARY 22 TO APRIL 2.

Location: International Montessori ‘Savoorke’, TervurenTime: 10 Thursdays from 13.30 to 15.00Participants: Families with children of 6 weeks to walking age

Every term we have a group of infants and one of their parents attend the Parent-Infant sessions. In this prepared environment babies discover the world around them bit by bit. Elvira Bronsch is the leader of the group and has prepared lots of information and articles on the important developments happening in the first year of life. Topics covered:- How does the baby’s brain develop, - What do those neurons do, - The importance of quality develop-

mental toys, - Why a baby should be freely on a

mattress and the floor and much more.

Should you have a baby between six weeks and walking age in January 2015 and you would like to join, please find the application forms on the school’s website or phone Marleen on 02-768-0751. The cost for the 10 sessions is €150.

Holidays:TUESDAY NOVEMBER 11

Public Holiday, Armistice Day, No school

THURSDAY DECEMBER 18 TO JAN 4, 2015 Staff Preparation Day and the first day of the winter holiday for the children.

School re-opens on Monday January 5, 2015Have a lovely relaxing break!


Christmas MarketInternational Montessori School

‘Savoorke’ Tervuren

The International Montessori School invites you to the yearly Christmas Fair.For you to buy beautiful hand made and original presents for friends and family: Decoration .

Children’s books . Jewellery . Stationary . Quality toys . Paintings . and much more . . .

Saturday November 22 from 10.00 to 17.00 hrs. Bergestraat 24, 3080 Tervuren

www.international-montessori.org

www.international-montessori.orgBrussels

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