Message From the Director
Dear Families,
I am getting excited for the big Annual Event, Clue: A Night of Mystery
coming up on Saturday. I'm not sure what to expect, but the rumor is it is a VERY good time! When I first moved to White Rock Montessori I heard there was a deep desire for connection and community. The Parent Community under the leadership of Catherine Tunks, Megan Fears, and the Annual Event Committee make all of this happen. It would be impossible for our small, but mighty Administrative Team to put on such an event. I hope many of you enjoy the hours and hours of planning. I want to thank our TPC for helping to create a thriving school community! I saw this beautiful quote in a signature line and it captures what I'm feeling.
"The greatness of a community is most accurately measured by the compassionate actions of its members." - Coretta Scott King
A generous family has two tickets that they would LOVE to give away to anyone that would like to attend. Please contact me via email (brenda@whiterockmontessori.org) if you would like the tickets. Thank you to the family for the generous donation!
The Parent Community is still in need of some help!
Help Is Still Needed: Set Up for Annual Event!
Are you available for a few hours on Saturday before Clue: A Night of Mystery?
Come get a sneak-peek at the event and help the planning team set up and decorate!
Sign up here
to help set up on Saturday 11am to 2pm and/or 2pm to 5pm,
or to help tear down and clean up on Sunday 10am to 12noon.
We can't wait to see you on Saturday night!
Have a nice weekend and I'll see you Saturday!
Brenda
Book Study
I am thrilled that I had so many parents sign up to participate in our book study and read the book, The Gift of Failure.
We will hold 4 sessions on Monday evenings at 6:30 beginning on March 18. Our meetings dates will be March 18, March 25, April 1st and April 8th. It's not too late to sign up! I'll order the books early next week.
Ferguson Road Cleanup!
Do you want a chance to give back to the East Dallas Community and model service for your children/adolescents? Please join us and volunteer for the Ferguson Road Initiative,
Operation Beautification Litter Clean-Up
March 2 @ 9:00 am - 12:00 pm
Please sign-up for "Team Connie"
in honor of former Director, Connie Laufersky.
Located this year at Owenwood Farm & Neighbor Space.
Please bring canned food for the White Rock Center of Hope Food Drive.
Key Dates for the 2024-25 School Year
All School KickOff and Open House; August 9 5:30-7:30
Smart Start Conferences for new families or any family of a student moving into a new level; August 12
School begins for ALL Middle School students; August 12
Orientation for new students to WRM and any student moving into a new level; August 13-14
First day of school for ALL students; August 15
Early Fall Break; October 10-14
Late Fall Break; November 25-29
Winter Break; December 23-January 6
Spring Break; March 10-14
Last Day of the 2024-25 School Year; May 23 8:00-12:00
School Times for 2024-25
Right now White Rock Montessori instructional school minutes (yes...the state of Texas counts instructional time in minutes...75,600 to be exact) is below this requirement set by the Texas Private School Association. Therefore, starting in August 2024 our school hours will be the following:
Before School Care; 7:00-8:00
Lower School (Toddler-Upper Elementary) arrival; 8:00-8:15
Middle School arrival; 8:15
Dismissal for Lower School; 3:00-3:20
Dismissal for Middle School; 3:30
I know this requires an adjustment in morning routines, but it allows us to meet the requirement without extending the school year and more importantly it adds instructional time to the Montessori morning work cycle.
Lost and Found
Our Lost and Found is overflowing! Please help these items find a home. Katie, WRM Technology Coordinator, took a wonderful
video
of our Lost and Found table. Please watch it at your leisure and let us know if any of these items are yours! Anything that doesn't find a home will be donated at the end of next week.
Financial Assistance
Families interested in applying for financial assistance through FACTS Grant and Aid can access the portal
here. The deadline to apply is March 8, 2024.
AMS Family Connections
Access the February AMS Family Connections
here.
This month the articles are about the Absorbent Mind and Tips for Cooking With Your Child. Enjoy!
Good Neighbor Program at
Tom Thumb
Earn money while you shop at Tom Thumb!
Our Good Neighbor Number is: 2881
Thank you!
Let's Make a Cookbook!
We need your help! We are putting together a Cookbook for the 2023-24 school year, and would love to collect all of your favorite family recipes to share with the WRM community.
Our plan is to use Morris Press Cookbooks
, who have prepared templates that we can use. They will print them for us to distribute! WRM Parent Kira Hartgrove has used them in the past with fabulous results. |
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Please send your well-loved recipes to Kira Hartgrove at txkira@gmail.com
by March 1st,
so that we can submit them to the printers before the end of the month.
We look forward to creating this lovely memento with you! |
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DAA (Diversity Awareness & Advocacy)
Link to the DAA Curriculum on our WRM website:
https://www.whiterockmontessori.org/diversity
White Rock Montessori’s Diversity, Advocacy and Awareness curriculum is proud to recognize February as Gender Diversity.
Here are a few resources as outlined in our DAA curriculum that you can use to have conversations about gender with your student:
Primary; Red
; A Crayon's Story by Michael Hall and/or Neither
by Airlie Anderson
Lower Elementary; I Am Jazz
by Herthel and Jennings and/or From the Stars in the Sky to the Fish in the Sea
by Kai Cheng Thom
Upper Elementary; Jaime is Jaime: A Book About Being Yourself and Playing Your Way
by Afsaneh Moradian
