Yes, the first day of school is almost here!

Tuesday, August 16 @8:00 is the first day of our new school year.  Please remember to see Ms. Carol for your ticket to enter the classroom.  We hope everyone has had a wonderful summer.  Listed below is advice for parents with kids returning or just starting school...it's worth a look!

Back to School in 6 Easy Steps

See also:School Supplies

Summer Changes
Back-to-schoolstruggles still surprise many parents. After all, kids go back to school every year -- why don't they know what to expect? Well, consider this:

Thegrowth rateof kids is so fast that going back to the previous year's routine can seem pretty stale.

Kids either dread or look forward to a new school year depending on what they remember from last year. Expectations are nearly everything.

What's it like to goback to school? Imagine a job change for you. Your kids also may be in a new building this year, which makes it even harder to feel comfortable.

1. Get a Grip
Yourrelationship with your childrenhas a great effect on them. So it's important not to act too crazed about the return to school. Build inextra time, put irrelevant projects on hold, stay rested, and try to stick closer to your kids. Dads need to listen up, too. Many jobs seem to pick up at this time of year, and it's easy to getsucked down by the undertow.

2. Case the Joint
Even if your child knows the school well, it still feels good to get reacquainted. My third-grade daughter was always crabby until she saw her classroom, thought about the schedule, met her teacher, andpicked out her clothes. Your kids may enjoy getting a "sneak preview" with another child from her school or class. Call before you go, since school buildings may be open the Saturday before opening day.

3. Don't Clean the Slate
Fresh starts are so promising that we tend to overdo them. This may seem like a great time to clean up, sort out, and set newground rulesfor family life.Choresare reassigned,allowancesrenegotiated, andafter-school sports and activitiesscheduled. While change is good, the timing requires some reflection. Too much too soon can make even the most cooperative child balk. Focus on the start of school, and revisit the other issues after your kids feel more settled.

4. Be Reassuring
Tell your kids that they'll be fine! Before school starts, encourage them to reconnect withschool buddiesthey may not have seen over the summer. This may take some brokering, depending on the particularsocial appetiteof your child, but it's money in the bank for reducing fears of isolation in the new classroom. If they want to, let them take part of their sticker or baseball card collection to school (with the teacher's approval). Listen to their worries and don't minimize, dismiss, or try to talk them out of them. These fears are real to your child.

5. Set the Stage
Shopping forsuppliesandclothesshould be fun, but overdoing this can be boring and a little scary to kids. Spend time thinking together about quiet time and reading and work space in the house. Choose special places, like corners of rooms, or certain tables or chairs, to show your kids that you'll help them find space where they can do the things that matter, like reading andhomework.

6. Meet the Teacher
Your child is still young enough to feel comforted by an opencommunication between parent and teacher. In fact, when parents and teachers have regular discussions about school and home events, kids feel a more trusting connection with the school as a whole, and tend to try harder both socially and academically. Check-ins about new or recently lost pets,family moves, births, anddeathscan help a teacher fathom something in your child that might otherwise seem mysterious. Most good schools would rather know sooner than later if you are worried about your child's school experience.

Read more on FamilyEducation:http://school.familyeducation.com/back-to-school/parenting/38700.html#ixzz1V3PJzU8H

Moving On Ceremony TONIGHT!

Moving On Ceremony
June 2, 2011 7pm
Lakeside Baptist Church 
9150 Garland Road Dallas, TX 75218
Come celebrate our third graders and our wonderful little Montessori school!

Fundraiser at the Libertine!

LPCS Parents’ Night at the Libertine 
Saturday, May 21st , 

hosted by Michael Smith and Dana Schumm!

Parents! We have an extra fun night planned May 21st at 5:00pm at the Libertine Bar located at 2101 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75206. A $15 donation at the door gets you delicious food, drinks, music and hanging out with other very fun LPCS parents. All proceeds go to help pay for the Moving On Ceremony, and to the non-profit organization Way Into Music, that has been providing singing lessons, free of cost, to our LPCS elementary school children. Please come join the other LPCS parents and support our school's programs. www.wayintomusic.org

(This is an event for Adults only. Please do not bring children!)

A big Thanks to those who traveled to Austin!

Maybe next year, LPCS could fill it's own bus for such a worthwhile event!!!!

Teacher Appreciation Week!

The LPCS Parent Organization is planning some nice things for the teachers for Monday, Wednesday and Friday of this week. We need your help to provide something for our wonderful teachers on Tuesday the 3rd and Thursday the 5th. If you would like to help coordinate a gift for your teacher for Tuesday the 3rd, please contact your room parent as soon as possible. For Thursday the 5th, please have your child write a special note of appreciation to their teacher and give it to their teacher on that day. 

Thank you for your help!

Any Questions, please contact Sarah Tippetts.

Anti Bullying Ads--A great teaching tool for parents

I recently showed my kiddos the following clips and felt that each one led to such great discussions about not just bullying but about how remaining passive while others are being unkind just contributes to the problem.  Just thought I'd share with you.  (even if only a handful of people are reading this...:-))

Get on the Bus!

Texas Charter Schools Parent Rally

Get on the Bus! South Steps of the Capitol, Austin

Wednesday, May 4, 2011 1:00pm—2:00 pm This event is FREE for Texas charter school parents & supporters!

Take a stand for your school by rallying with other charter school parents and supporters! Together, Let’s show lawmakers how important charter schools are to Texas families.

School Contact: LPCS– David Pryor Email: davidmpryor@yahoo.com & david.pryor@bnsf.com Phone: 214.826.9291

Bus Pick Up Time: LPCS—7:30 am Location: LPCS

Child care provided for children enrolled at LPCS for our participating parents until the bus returns.

MOVING ON CEREMONY MEETING--THURSDAY, APRIL 21 @6:30

If you have a second or third grader attending LPCS, please come to the mandatory meeting for parent volunteers.  The volunteers help to organize the ceremony and make it the most wonderful event of the year.  The meeting will begin promptly at 6:30!  If you absolutely can't make it, contact Sandy Bracy (sandybracy@gmail.com) or Sarah Tippetts (sarah.tippetts@gmail.com) to volunteer your efforts.

Although third grade parents will be asked to do the bulk of the work, we are all needed to ensure that the event is a success.

See you there!

Television and the Montessori Child

I had a discussion with some children the other day at school about what their favorite books and movies were.  I was devastated when the discussion became centered around their love of some very violent and scary characters--some of which I had never been allowed to watch until I was a teenager.  Additionally, their favorite books seemed to revolve around the same content.  With such great characters and amazing adventures to be found, I was sad to think of what was being missed and then replaced with such dark, vile, and mean images.   The below article is Part 1 of a three part series on the montessori child and television.  Realizing that this may not apply to most, it's still a great reminder to remain mindful of what we let our little ones watch...

Television and the Montessori Child: Part 1

Television has always been an option – never a life requirement, but you wouldn’t know this from the following statistics:

* The average child spends nearly 4 hours per day watching TV
* If there is a TV in the child’s bedroom, add another 1.5 hours to that total

Numbers like these appear to put the need for television on par with the need for learning, socializing, or even sleeping. Having the TV on in the home looks like a must rather than a choice.

One of Maria Montessori’s pivotal discoveries and lifelong beliefs was that children have incredibly absorbent minds. The Montessori method evolved to ensure that the very best of materials, experiences and life lessons are what are provided for the child to soak up, helping her grow to be a confident learner, an independent problem solver and a positive contributor to society. But what is being absorbed by the growing mind of the child who spends nearly 1/3 of his waking hours in front of the television every day?

Violence and the Montessori Child

According to a report conducted by the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, the average American child will witness 200,000 violent acts and 16,000 simulated murders on TV by the age of 18.

Hundreds of studies have been conducted over the past few decades which prove the link between watching violence and committing violence. These studies confirm what every Montessori teacher and parent already knows so well: repetition leads to mastery of a subject.

Though we normally would not need to have a child use a sandpaper letter 200,000 times to expect him to master it, we see how normal repetition of a concept results in a child who is thoroughly acquainted with a skill. A child who is given instructions 16,000 times, over 18 years of life, regarding how murders are enacted has, in effect, achieved a mastery of the subject of murder. This is something few parents would want for their children.

The Montessori method is grounded in a sense of peacefulness within the self and within the community. Grace in challenging situations and non-violent conflict resolution are essential skills for the child to learn in order to be a productive member of the classroom and a peaceful world citizen. The efforts of the Montessori instructor to inspire intelligent conflict resolution, no matter how often such lessons are repeated, certainly stand a strong chance of being undermined by television shows that demonstrate violent behavior 200,000 times as an appropriate way to resolve life’s conflicts.

Sexual Content and the Montessori Child

According to a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the number of sex scenes on TV has doubled since 1998. 70% of the 20 most popular TV shows aimed at teens contain sexual content. These shows feature an average of 5 sexually-related scenes per hour.

The Montessori method begins with helping a child to view himself or herself with respect. This sense of self worth is what enables the child not only to become a problem solver, but also to recognize the worth and rights of others. In America today, 1 in 4 sexually active children have sexually transmitted diseases. The physical and psychological effects of living with such diseases are extreme and these numbers put a vital question to every American child: If sexual activity puts my valuable life and the valuable lives of other people at risk, might it be worth it to abstain from sex until marriage?

For parents, the answer to this is obvious if we want our children to enjoy health and long life, to be a benefit rather than a danger to society. But, the thousands of hours of sexual instruction given to our children by television programs leads our children not only to master the skills of life-endangering sexual behavior, but also to view such behavior as normal because of its constant repetition.

Marketers and the Montessori Child

In the Montessori environment, a child learns that she is valuable because of the gift of life and because of her potential for living a beautiful and useful life. The 20,000 TV commercials absorbed by the average child every year present a different message: that the child is valuable because of her ability to consume products and fund the existence of corporations. Numerous studies have determined that children under the age of eight are unable to understand the bias of advertising, and therefore simply view commercial messages as the ‘truth’.

Corporate marketers are paid to exploit this vulnerability, to find the most profitable way in which to instruct the child in his need for toys, fast food, video games or whatever the employer manufactures. Music, violence, sexuality and a variety of other elements are utilized to trigger desired, documented responses in the child’s mind. Consider this: the most successful people in children’s advertising are the ones who are best at manipulating children.

As Montessori parents and teachers, we are well aware that the learning and living environments we prepare are based upon our intent for a desired outcome for the children in our care. Marketers have a set of intentions for our children, too, and it is up to us to determine whether these intentions are appropriate. As creators of the environment our children live and learn in, it is up to us to determine which materials are available for absorption. TV is an option, not a requirement, and the only way the TV producers and marketers gain access to our children’s environment is after we have first given them permission to do so by the presence of a television in the home.

Interested in learning more? Check out the other two posts in this series:

Television and the Montessori Child: Part 2
This post talks about ways that television can be used positively as a learning tool.

Television and the Montessori Child: Part 3
Suggestions for dealing with the effects of television at school and in the home.

The Garden's are A-Growing!

Soren in front of the trellis for the peas.

Thanks Mark!

"Creative Achievers don't begin with brilliant ideas, they discover them."

• 

• APRIL 5, 2011, 10:57 AM
• The Montessori Mafia

Getty

Montessori learners

It may seem like a laughable “only in New York” story that Manhattan mother, Nicole Imprescia, is suing her 4-year-old daughter’s untraditional private preschool for failing to prepare her for a private school admissions exam.

But her daughter’s future and ours might be much brighter with a little less conditioning to perform well on tests and more encouragement to discover as they teach in Montessori schools. Ironically, the Montessori educational approach might be the surest route to joining the creative elite, which are so overrepresented by the school’s alumni that one might suspect a Montessori Mafia: Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, videogame pioneer Will Wright, and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, not to mention Julia Child and rapper Sean “P.Diddy” Combs.

Is there something going on here?  Is there something about the Montessori approach that nurtures creativity and inventiveness that we can all learn from?

After all, Henry Ford and Thomas Edison were famous life-long tinkerers, who discovered new ways of doing things by constantly improvising, experimenting, failing, and retesting.  Above all they were voraciously inquisitive learners.

The Montessori learning method, founded by Maria Montessori, emphasizes a collaborative environment without grades or tests, multi-aged classrooms, as well as self-directed learning and discovery for long blocks of time, primarily for young children ages 2 1/2 to 7.

The Montessori Mafia showed up in an extensive, six-year study about the way creative business executives think. Professors Jeffrey Dyer of Brigham Young University and Hal Gregersen of globe-spanning business school INSEAD surveyed over 3,000 executives and interviewed 500 people who had either started innovative companies or invented new products.

“A number of the innovative entrepreneurs also went to Montessori schools, where they learned to follow their curiosity,” Mr. Gregersen said. “To paraphrase the famous Apple ad campaign, innovators not only learned early on to think different, they act different (and even talk different).”

When Barbara Walters, who interviewed Google founders Messrs. Page and Brin in 2004, asked if having parents who were college professors was a major factor behind their success, they instead credited their early Montessori education.  “We both went to Montessori school,” Mr. Page said, “and I think it was part of that training of not following rules and orders, and being self-motivated, questioning what’s going on in the world, doing things a little bit differently.”

Will Wright, inventor of bestselling “The Sims” videogame series, heaps similar praise.  “Montessori taught me the joy of discovery,” Mr. Wright said, “It’s all about learning on your terms, rather than a teacher explaining stuff to you.  SimCity comes right out of Montessori…”

Meanwhile, according to Jeff Bezos’s mother, young Jeff would get so engrossed in his activities as a Montessori preschooler that his teachers would literally have to pick him up out of his chair to go to the next task. “I’ve always felt that there’s a certain kind of important pioneering that goes on from an inventor like Thomas Edison,” Mr. Bezos has said, and that discovery mentality is precisely the environment that Montessori seeks to create.

Neuroscience author Jonah Lehrer cites a 2006 study published in Science that compared the educational achievement performance of low-income Milwaukee children who attended Montessori schools versus children who attended a variety of other preschools, as determined by a lottery.

By the end of kindergarten, among 5-year-olds, “Montessori students proved to be significantly better prepared for elementary school in reading and math skills than the non-Montessori children,” according to the researchers.  “They also tested better on “executive function,” the ability to adapt to changing and more complex problems, an indicator of future school and life success.”

Of course, Montessori methods go against the grain of traditional educational methods.  We are given very little opportunity, for instance, to perform our own, original experiments, and there is also little or no margin for failure or mistakes.  We are judged primarily on getting answers right.  There is much less emphasis on developing our creative thinking abilities, our abilities to let our minds run imaginatively and to discover things on our own.

But most highly creative achievers don’t begin with brilliant ideas, they discover them.

Google, for instance, didn’t begin as a brilliant vision, but as a project to improve library searches, followed by a series of small discoveries that unlocked a revolutionary business model.  Larry Page and Sergei Brin didn’t begin with an ingenious idea.  But they certainly discovered one.

Similarly, Amazon’s culture breathes experimentation and discovery.  Mr. Bezos often compares Amazon’s strategy of developing ideas in new markets to “planting seeds” or “going down blind alleys.”  Amazon’s executives learn and uncover opportunities as they go.  Many efforts turn out to be dead ends, Mr. Bezos has said, “But every once in a while, you go down an alley and it opens up into this huge, broad avenue.”

Perhaps it’s just a coincidence that Montessori alumni lead two of the world’s most innovative companies.  Or perhaps the Montessori Mafia of can provide lessons for us all even though it’s too late for most of us to attend Montessori.

We can change the way we’ve been trained to think.  That begins in small, achievable ways, with increased experimentation and inquisitiveness.  Those who work with Mr. Bezos, for example, find his ability to ask “why not?” or “what if?” as much as “why?” to be one of his most advantageous qualities.  Questions are the new answers.

Peter Sims is the author of Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries.

Reading to our Children

"Children are made readers on the laps of their parents."  Emilie Buchwald

Thanks Kambria and the wellness committee for such a great event!

Thanks to Kim Ritzenthaler for these fun photos:

No Joke--Potluck at Lindsley Park, April 1 @6:00

Start the weekend out with a casual and fun picnic in the park.

It's potluck, so bring something yummy...

Little Johnny and his family lived in the country, 

and as a result seldom had guests. 

He was eager to help his mother after his father 

appeared with two dinner guests from the office. 

When the dinner was nearly over,

Little Johnny went to the kitchen 

and proudly carried in the first piece of apple pie, 

giving it to his father who passed it to a guest. 

Little Johnny came in with a second piece of pie

and gave it to his father, 

who again gave it to a guest. 

This was too much for Little Johnny, who said, 

"It's no use, Dad. The pieces are all the same size." 

PARENT WORKDAY, MARCH 26 9:00 AM

Help is needed to finish up the garden project and tidy up the school grounds.  

We will need to clean up the grounds, work on the building, and wash windows.  Bring the family and receive twice or triple volunteer hours for each member that comes to work.  Parent Workdays are usually over by noon.  Please mark it on your calendar.

As a reminder,  log in your volunteer hours in the big, blue book located in the office.

"The youth gets together his materials to 

build a bridge to the moon, 

or, perchance, a palace or temple on the earth, and, 

at length, the middle-aged man concludes to

 build a woodshed with them."

Henry David Thoreau

Bike Safety Day--Friday, March 25 @3:00

Bike riding is a great way to get exercise and fresh air and share time as a family. But before you and the kids rush out and start pedaling, there's an important factor that you need to consider — safety.

Please come out this Friday in support of Bike Safety.  Everyone is invited, so bring your neighbors to Lindsley Park for great reminders and perhaps further instruction on how to keep our children safe.

For you own information, the following site is very helpful:
http://bicyclesafe.com/

See You There!

Any Further Questions?  Please call or email, Kambria Kennedy 

@214-770-5335  kambriakennedy@yahoo.com

So Many Seeds...So Little Time

Spring is Here (or just around the corner)!

The LPCS Teachers recently met with Texas Discovery Garden's very own Erin and Randy who gave them each valuable instruction on the caring for the LPCS Garden.  Additionally, they also sent each teacher back with some beautiful starter plants.  Partnering with Texas Discovery Garden is the beginning of a wonderful relationship that everyone is very excited about!

We are hoping that the enthusiasm continues to spread and brings us all under the gardening spell.  The teachers need our assistance to help their classes make the garden special and their very own.  Please contact your child's teacher and let them know that you are available to help!

Flower gardens reflect the kind of care they get and we so want for the LPCS Garden to thrive...

http://texasdiscoverygardens.org/

Raising a Secure Child with Alicia F. Lieberman, PhD

If interested in attending, be sure to RSVP.

The Garden Project Continues

Volunteers are needed for This Friday to help move mulch from East Dallas Community School to our new garden spot at LPCS.  Volunteers need to be at EDCS at 8:30 a.m., this Friday, February 18th.  If you have a big shovel, please bring it with you.  Thank you so much.

Bake Sale Big Success

The Parent Organization would like to thank all those who helped with the Bake Sale.  The money raised will help provide the funds for the elementary children to attend the symphony later this month.  The bake sale is the largest fundraiser for the year and we truly appreciate the generous offerings of time, talents and treats by our school community.  Thanks again!

School closed

LPCS is closed today, Wednesday February 9th due to ice and snow.

Bake Sale is Now On February 14

The Annual Bake Sale has been changed to Monday, February 14.  It will be from 2:45-4:00.  Please bring your yummiest baked goods to be placed on the table and sold for a wonderful cause--Our School.  If you are available to help set up and/or take down, please email
lpcsparentorganization@gmail.com.

If you are bringing baked goods, please remember to bring them before the event begins, and wrap your items individually (items can be dropped off anytime before 2:30 in the teachers lounge).  Spread the word around the neighborhood.

We look forward to having another great event!

Anyone have any fun snow photos to share?

GET ON THE BUS!--canceled due to ice and snow in Dallas

Texas Charter Schools Parent Rally
South Steps of the Capitol, Austin
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
1:00-2:00pm

Join TCSA and over 1,500 charter school parents from across the state on the south steps of the Texas Capitol.  The gathering will be the largest show of charter parent support in state history.

Take a stand for your school by rallying with other charter school parents and supporters!  Together, let's show lawmakers how important charter schools are to Texas families.

This event is FREE for Texas Charter School Parents and Supporters!

GET ON THE BUS!

School Contact:  David Pryor
Email:  davidmpryor@yahoo.com & david.bnsf.com
Phone:  214-826-9291
Bus Pick Up Time:  LPCS--7:30 am
Location:  LPCS

Garden day hooray!

Tuesday’s garden kick-off party was a huge success. The Parent Organization would like to thank all those who came to help and join in the fun. We also want to offer a special thank you to Mark Ingraham and Leigh Ann Romack, our garden committee chairs, for their tremendous efforts as well as Mr. Loew and Mr. Gordon for the many arrangements they made to make this happen. Carolyn Perna arranged for the beautifully rich dirt to be donated and the neighbor association of Hollywood Heights also made a large donation that made the purchase of the untreated cedar wood for the beds possible. Thanks again to all those that played a part. It was very rewarding to watch the children of LPCS enthusiastically fill their buckets and move all the dirt needed to fill our fine garden boxes. Oh the happiness...well done everyone!

Here’s a recap of the day…

Many handy and even the not-so-handy parents came out early to construct the beds.

The whole school gathered and braved the cold for the garden ceremony.

Rudy, a 3rd grader, shared a garden poem. 

Ms. Sandya's class sang a few garden songs.

Three children from each class came and filled a bucket full of dirt for the ceremonial first dirt drop into the garden boxes.

 

After the first dirt drop all the children returned to their classes and then throughout the day each class returned to the garden and spent some time filling buckets and moving dirt until...

the boxes were...

all full.

Bravo! 

Here are LPCS we believe in child labor, especially the joyful kind.

 

What's next in the garden process? 

So glad you asked...
The teachers will be meeting with Texas Discovery Gardens next Thursday, February 3rd to discuss the planting and curriculum plans.


What can the parents do?

Even better question!...Please talk to your teacher or your room parent and make sure they know of your support and availability to help. Each teacher will have different needs for their classroom garden that will be determined by the teacher. It is important that our teachers know what parents are available for assistance so they can request help as they need it. This is a proactive effort we need from our parents.

Additionally for the Garden Party

Approximately from 8:00-9:30, Parent Volunteers are needed to build 6 small garden beds from wood.  Please bring any tools that might help--like drills or saws.

If you have questions, contact Leigh Ann Romack @214-394-9948.