January 2012

Important Dates: No School January 2nd and 16th

can. Thank you for your patience and cooperation during this time of transition. The best is yet to come.

Food Program Update

Our hot lunch program is struggling financially. Besides a large start-up cost, individual payments are not being received to cover the cost of the program. Funds are expected at some point, but none have been received as of yet and the process may take some time. The students love the food and are learning daily about good nutrition. Please do your part to keep this program going. While funding is being sought, please pay in full for the program: $44 a month per child. If you can not pay this, please write a letter to the board for consideration of a partial payment waiver. If no payment is received at the first of the month, and no letter has been written to the board, your child will be expected to bring his or her own lunch to school.

News from the Board

Learning Center staff and Friends Board of Directors have been meeting during the break to ensure that the current transition is well thought out. The overall hope is that the plan is as close to permanent as possible. Every effort is being made for the children and their parents to feel secure with the changes and that there will be stability with the program moving forward. We are all very fortunate to have four dedicated and experienced teachers sharing in the role of guiding our children in their studies. Communication is key to successful change. Please ask questions, attend meetings and participate however you

January 2012 Newsletter

Message from Sharon:

Montessori del Mar Learning Center

19201 Del Mar Drive

964-7311
Email: montessoridelmar@att.net Website: www.montessoridelmar.org Newsletter Contact: anderson1785@yahoo.com

I want to express my gratitude to all of the staff, children and families of Montessori del Mar. Baes illness was the most difficult thing our family has ever experienced, and your kindness, generosity and love helped us through each day at the hospital. Thank you for the constant prayers and support. I believe it was love that gave Bae the strength to fight the battle against the toxins that were attacking his body. My decision to return to Sprouts as the teacher comes almost exactly five years after we opened as the first Montessori preschool on the coast in three decades. When we opened the learning center in August of 2007, it was with Jessica Drayer in mind as the teacher. I was only to be the elementary teacher temporarily until she was able to take over. So much has happened since then (mostly babies!), and now, the children are finally able to work with Jessica! I am excited to watch the learning center grow with Jessica and Nancy, both of whom are experienced Montessori elementary teachers. I am also looking forward to returning to the roots of our amazing program. Thank you for your faith in us, and for your dedication to our children. It is with confidence that I step down as the learning center director and teacher. I know that what is to come will strengthen both the elementary program and Sprouts. It has been my great pleasure to serve our community and to help build our learning center. Thank you, children, for all of the many blessings I have received in these years as your teacher. I love you. Sincerely, Sharon

Friends of Montessori del Mar Board Members:

Susana Jung Jana Kidd Anaswara Jannone Patricia Hoskins Danielle Miller Misty Daniels

Montessori del Mar Learning Center friendsofmontessoridelmar.blogspot.com

Meet our New Teachers!

Message from Nancy Gouwens Happy New Year! It looks like 2012 will be bringing changes for all of us. As you have probably heard we are currently working with Mattole to establish a new teaching team for the Learning Center. We support the changes that Sharon is making so that she can focus on her family and Sprouts. At the same time we will miss her presence in the Learning Center and are so grateful for the beautiful Montessori environment she has created with your tremendous support. Since some of you know me as your childs Sprouts teacher and others only know me as someone that youve seen around school, I thought I would tell you something of my history of working with children and Montessori. I began as a Montessori parent. I had read some books about Montessori in high school, but forgot about them and got a B.S. in Biology. Then I had my first child. Beth began Montessori just before she turned three and I was active in the parent group. Three years later I began Montessori teacher training with the St. Nicholas Training Centre,

working as a classroom assistant, and enrolled my second child in Montessori. Through the next ten years I taught in the first Montessori Elementary classroom in Indianapolis, bought my own Montessori preschool in a small town, and then opened branches in two nearby towns. By then I was fascinated by the wide range of learning styles and personalities that could already be seen at the preschool level. This led to 20 hours of graduate work in special education, but the information seemed too limited in its view of children. So I got a second B.S. in Occupational Therapy and became board Certified in Pediatrics. This training fit beautifully with Montessori philosophy and helped me understand the biological and neurological aspects of child development. Meanwhile, I never really left Montessori. I was the director of a wonderful United Way program that integrated typically developing children and children with a wide variety of special needs in a Montessori classroom/therapy environment. My therapy rooms at the hospital and at Therapy for Children, my own O.T., P.T., and Speech Therapy business, looked just like a simplified Montessori classroom with sensory movement equipment added.. During this time I also received my American Montessori Association teaching certification in 1992 and completed my M.Ed. at Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1994. In 1999 I moved to Chandler Arizona to be closer to my daughter. While I continued doing some therapy primarily for children diagnosed with learning disabilities or autism spectrum disorders, I returned to my first love, full time teaching in a 1st through 3rd grade classroom at the Montessori Education Centre Charter School in Mesa, Arizona. I left after almost 10 years to begin a 3 year adventure living and

traveling on my 35 foot sailboat on the Pacific coast of California and Mexico. After volunteering at a bilingual preschool in Mexico, I knew I really wanted to return to Montessori. I found your ad, visited your school and felt I never wanted to leave. You have a wonderful school here in Fort Bragg and I feel honored to be here. Im looking forward to meeting individually with all of you to learn more about your children and your wishes and concerns for them as a part of the Montessori del Mar Learning Center. To contact me you may leave a note at school, leave a message on the Learning Center number, call my cell phone (a Phoenix based number) 602-617-0632, or e-mail me at negouwens@yahoo.com. Message from Jessica Drayer Hello everybody! My name is Jessica Drayer and I will be one of the new teachers at Montessori del Mar. Im looking forward to meeting all of you and reconnecting with the former Sprouts families. For those of you who dont know me, I taught at Sprouts with Mark from 2007-2010 and since that time have been at home with my two young children, Max (3 1/2) and Emmett (7 months). I am really excited to be in the classroom again!

I was a Montessori kid myself (preschool-fifth grade) so when I considered teaching as a career after college, Montessori was an immediate draw. In 1995 I worked as a teaching assistant at One World Montessori School in Cupertino, California. I fell in love with the work and by 1998 I had completed my Primary (ages 3-6) and Lower Elementary (ages 6-9) Montessori teacher training. I started a teaching job at Common Threads, a wonderful little Montessori preschool/kindergarten in Santa Cruz. I taught there off and on for ten years. During this time, I decided to go back to school and get my Masters in Education and California Teaching Credential. I graduated from UC Santa Cruz in 2001. In 2003, I opened a Montessori Elementary (K-2) with another Montessori teacher. This was a great experience, but due to lack of funding, we decided to close after just one year. After this, I taught at Common Threads and also tutored elementary school children in math and reading. In 2006 I moved to Livermore where my husband, Mark, was working towards his teaching credential. I was hired at Hacienda School, a Montessori elementary where I was responsible for curriculum development and teaching language arts for 3rd5th grades. I also co-taught math, cultural studies/geography and life sciences for 1st-5th grades. In the summer of 2007, Mark was hired as the art teacher at Mendocino K-8 and we moved here. I grew up in Mendocino (yep- Im one of the many returning natives!) and I have never regretted the decision to move back and raise our family here. I am eager to work with elementary students again! I love the small, cozy atmosphere of Montessori del Mar, and having worked with Nancy, Myra and Lorry at different times in Sprouts, I am confident that we are going to be a very cohesive and harmonious team. I look forward to seeing you all in January!

Thank you to Jana for all your hard work on the tree farm and to all the parents who helped set up, pre-sell and work the farm. We raised $12,500.

American Montessori Society Annual Conference

Montessori: The Bridge to Learning for Every Child

Thank you Sharon

for all the selfless hours, days, weekends and late nights that were dedicated to the success of our learning center. We appreciate all you have done for us over the years.

March 15-18 San Francisco Marriott Marquis

Come learn powerful ways to fulfill the needs of the child through work in the classroom and with families, Montessori educators, Montessori organizations, and the larger education community. For for information visit the AMS website: www.amshq.org