What’s on the menu today?
Fresh greens and vegetables from the garden, hand-picked and prepared by our very own Kiwi toddler students. Complete with fresh lettuce, parsley, basil, radishes, grape tomatoes, hand-tossed in a vinaigrette dressing. This, along with fresh, steamed carrots, complemented the pizza perfectly!
A BIG thank you to our entire community for coming out to our recent Fall Festival; we had a record turn-out this year! This has always been a successful fundraiser for us. It gets better and better every year. Thank you all for coming out and supporting our school!
Face painting, henna art and hair/nail salon was a big hit!
Thank you, Ms. Insiya for creating such lovely henna for our guests! Visit Insiya’s Temporary Body Art homepage for background on her beautiful work.
Of course, everyone’s costumes were nothing short of amazing.
Our First Annual Chili Cook-Off was a huge success! Congrats to Ms. Maya for winning on overall presentation and flavor of chili! Thank you to all of our participants!
Thanks to Jay’s help, our concessions this year included smoked ribs, chicken, and hot dogs…yum!
The petting zoo came fully equipped with chickens, roosters, a calf, piglets, bunnies, and a few other furry friends.
Mr. Monty was the “tractor conductor” and towed the kids in the barrels all night. They absolutely loved it!
We had THREE bounce houses this time, which included obstacle courses and slides.
Another “congratulations” goes to all of our silent auction basket winners. With your help, we raised over $1,800!
Plenty of smiles to go around! This had to have been one of the funnest fall festivals yet.
On behalf of the entire HBMH community, thank you to all who came out and supported our school. This event is always the largest fundraiser of the year for us. With your continued support, we raised funds that will go towards the growth and improvement of our school!
Today, I had the opportunity to witness a few of our primary community members prepare the tables for lunch. Although they carried out this work flawlessly, it did seem quite challenging. They are required to take one item at a time, carrying it from the cabinet to the table, which can take several minutes. It truly did resemble a form of art, placing each item carefully on the table in the correct order.
What impressed me most was the dialogue that was shared between our two, pre-selected lunch helpers.
“Can you help me tie my apron, please?”
“Here, you lay out the napkins while I do the spoons.”
“We need to get the water from the refrigerator, but I need your help.”
“Would you hand me the napkin?”
I enjoyed hearing these two young people interact and collaborate with one another. It was truly delightful! They found pure joy in the work they were doing, and carried themselves in such a way that they knew this was important and purposeful work.
Not once did I see the guides intervene because it was simply not necessary. She didn’t step in to correct their errors, or straighten a napkin that was slightly offset. The task was carried out in full by the two friends, who relied on one another for help.
Setting the table can be defined by many adults as a “chore”, but for a child, it is a purposeful, meaningful, and fulfilling work that stimulates all of their senses. Through this work, they enhance their concentration as they focus on each minor detail, self-control as they learn to carry one item at a time, critical thinking through exploring and manipulating different styles of place setting, collaboration, delegation, and leadership skills, care of environment and care of others, and they develop a healthy self-image because the work is real and necessary. And because of this, we cannot call it a “chore” since it is joyful, purposeful work. Just like an artist carefully and meticulously paints or sculpts his masterpiece, so do our children carefully and meticulously complete their work.
They understand that this is important work, and gain self-confidence as they see the outcome of their efforts; a room full of happy children eating and socializing in a well prepared environment.
This month was dubbed “World Hunger Prevention” Month at HBMH, in honor of World Food Day, October 16. All throughout the month, our students have been learning about ways we can prevent world hunger. Among many things, we hosted a canned food drive to collect donations for those in need; our charity chest is overflowing with food! Charity is a key component to the foundation of our school, and something that we celebrate every day. Our children learn a strong sense of community at a very early age, practicing grace and courtesy through each act of charitable kindness. Similar to Dr. Montessori’s beliefs, in order to create a better future and end world hunger, we must start with the children.
Pictured below: our young toddler friends dropping off their donations at the charity chest. Thank you, friends!
“The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.” – Dr. Maria Montessori
What can your family do to prevent world hunger?
Healthy Beginnings Montessori 