Grand Lake Montessori

An unusual Halloween celebration this year (and you families were missed on campus!) but rest assured a blast was had by all today!!

Elementary’s first day back on campus! So much learning and great work already happening!

It’s Mr. Bill Day at GLM, an annual honoring of Bill Wright on his birthday! Mr. Bill, aka Mr. Build to some of the children, was GLM’s long time Facilities Manager and very good friend, who left this life last February. It is our tradition to remember and honor Mr. Bill and the indelible mark he left on our community, by wearing our favorite tie dye on October 16th. Mr. Bill had the best collection of tie dye t-shirts and not a day went by when he did not wear one, along with his big, warm, infectious smile. We miss him very much!

A Live Oak student drew our "skool." Child art is truly the best art!

Sights and sounds of children at play! Such welcome sounds, indeed...

Lunchtime funtimes

These are strange days, indeed. We had to close GLM early today due to the very bad air quality. Thank you to our dedicated Facilities Team who stayed on to take the opportunity to rid the school of some of the wildfire ash that has fallen like snow over the last two days. They will also wash and water the grounds this afternoon. In addition to this being better for all of us, we are hoping it will help out the plants and other creatures who share our GLM gardens. We will keep everyone posted regarding plans for school tomorrow, in case we need to do a repeat of today's half day. Thanks for your support and crossing our fingers!

Did you know that through our partnership with The PEACE Program, we sponsor FREE parenting support for families during life's most early and essential stage of development? ALL of our parent support programs are now virtual, FREE, AND open to the public! **VIRTUAL BABY & ME GROUP Every Wednesday 11am-1pm FREE and for families with infants prenatal-18 months... Topics include: play, solids, sleep, toys, language, and more! ** VIRTUAL PARENTING CONSULTATIONS Sign up for an available appointment FREE and for families with infants prenatal-12 months and sliding scale after 12 months Topics include: home set up, play, solids, sleep, toys, language, and more! INTERESTED? Sign up here: www.thepeaceprogram.org.

Because it's her 150th Birthday, here is one more! We are so proud to be a Montessori school, most especially when we contemplate her great vision for all children and our world! If you like a little story, this is her great granddaughter speaking about her legacy with lots of lovely footage of Maria Montessori and her work. A very inspiring message of peace and social justice.

Happy 150th Birthday Dr. Montessori! <3

Happy Monday! A short piece including some ideas for helping children to read facial expressions behind masks.

Week two of GLM's Essential Care is off to a great start! We are so grateful for the beautiful weather and our lovely outdoor spaces. Our fruit trees are laden and the children are enjoying harvesting and eating blueberries, blackberries, figs and apricots! But, not without safely washing up first! We notice the children being especially drawn to lots of art, water and outdoor activities in nature. They seem very happy and we notice their pace to be relaxed and slower than we are used to. This feels good for all of us!

GLM opened our campus this week, welcoming back our Essential Worker families! It's truly wonderful to have the children at school and together again. We have been amazed at how easily they have adapted to mask wearing and playing more independently. They are invited to take little breaks from their masks, when they would like and at a distance. While doing so they have enjoyed soaking up the sun and nature and drinking from their water bottles. Their resilience and joy brings with it much hope for us all!