Cowles Montessori Crier

“Human flourishing, as Maria Montessori put it, means becoming a person of one’s time and place with the means and wherewithal not only to function within but to shape society (NCMPS, 2019).”

“All humans (CHILDREN and ADULTS) flourish in society (ENVIRONMENT).” - Cowles Montessori Vision

This week, we honor Montessori education's 114th trip around the sun! Montessori education is more than just the name of our school and the curriculum we use to educate children; Montessori is a mission and a movement:

• "From its humble beginnings more than 100 years ago as a single schoolroom for a group of underprivileged children in Rome, Italy, Montessori education has taken a firm foothold on the education landscape. In the U.S. alone, approximately 5,000 Montessori schools now serve over one million children from infancy through adolescence. Thousands more Montessori schools exist worldwide (AMS, 2021)."

Montessori education calls on us to serve each other as humans (adults and children):

• "The evidence is clear: Montessori is not only here to stay, but it is also growing at a rate that would have gladdened the heart of its founder, Dr. Maria Montessori—a woman who dared to reimagine how we learn and recognized the dignity and capacity of all human beings (AMS, 2021)."

Montessori education demands us to take care of our environments (schools, classrooms, home, online, cities, countries, continents, and the Earth):

• "Utilizing scientific observation and experience gained from her earlier work with young children, Dr. Montessori designed unique learning materials for them, many of which are still in use in Montessori classrooms today, and created a classroom environment that fostered the children's natural desire to learn (AMS, 2021)."
• "Children show great interest in working with puzzles, learning to prepare meals and clean their environment, and engaging in hands-on learning experiences. Dr. Montessori observed that the children exhibited calm, peaceful behavior, periods of deep concentration, and a sense of order in caring for their environment (AMS, 2021)."

Montessori education exists for the World to flourish:

• "Human flourishing, as Maria Montessori put it, means becoming a person of one's time and place with the means and wherewithal not only to function within but to shape society (NCMPS, 2019)."

May you flourish as Montessori education flourishes on!

Sources:

American Montessori Society (AMS)

• https://amshq.org/About-Montessori/History-of-Montessori

National Center for Montessori in the Public Sector (NCMPS)

Our first chance to be ALL together as a school is coming up! Let's have some fun while raising money for the unique needs of our Montessori School!

Who: Cowles students past and present, Cowles staff past and present, families, friends and all Montessori enthusiasts are invited!

What: A virtual pep rally to celebrate our community featuring the B2wins and our very own Cowles talent (see details below).

When: Monday, March 8th at 6:00 p.m.

Where: Virtual meeting. Details to come.

Why: Raise funds for Montessori materials and anti-racism work at Cowles.

Cowles Got Talent! We need your talent to build school spirit. We seek short (about 90 seconds or less) video submissions of spirited performances to celebrate Cowles Montessori. Some ideas include:

• A Montessori cheer

• Music performance

• Shout out to staff

• Shout out to any that have received top honors

• Skit to highlight our Montessori roots

• Spoken word poetry

• Something goofy – think pie in the face, crazy costume, etc.

• Interactive game for the virtual setting

We are also looking for a few youth willing to be MCs – it will be pre-recorded and scripted. For questions and for instructions to submit a video, please email TevaLee@gmail.com. All submissions need to be sent in by Friday, February 26.

We haven't seen many of our Cowles family this year. This will be a great chance to see familiar faces and celebrate together as a school.

Teva Dawson

CMPG Board Member

• Monday, March 8th at 5:30 p.m. on Zoom

Virtual Pep Rally

• Monday, March 8th at 6:00 p.m.
• B2wins will perform live!

Spring Break

• Saturday, March 12th through Sunday, March 21st
• School resumes on Monday, March 22nd

5. The Morning Song - Dwayne Reed

• https://youtu.be/YWDr5zVhvaQ
  

4. Three Little Birds - Bob Marley

• https://youtu.be/F4sNi2PUiWM

3. Hey World - Michael Franti

• https://youtu.be/O-oETzPKRX8
  

2. Celebration - Kool and the Gang

• https://youtu.be/xvX_5ym_ajI
  

1. I Am The Earth - Glyn Lehmann

• https://youtu.be/TNtmqStVRo0
  

February is National Children’s Dental Health Month. Tooth decay is the single most common chronic disease in childhood in the United States. The resulting pain from tooth decay also known as dental caries can distract children from learning and playing, as well as limit their ability to speak, smile and eat.

Tooth decay is preventable. In addition to fluoridated water, good oral hygiene can help prevent tooth decay by:

1. Brushing twice a day with fluoride toothpaste

2. Flossing between teeth daily

3. Eating nutritious and balanced meals and limit snacking

4. Seeing a dentist at least 1-2 times per year for regular dental check-ups.

Please enjoy the FREE printable calendar from the ADA aka American Dental Association to encourage your child to brush and floss daily. See attached.

This Thursday, February 24th and Friday, February 25th, superhero, FLOSSIE the CAVITY CRUSADER, will be visiting the COWLES Preprimary and LL classrooms to talk about the importance of dental health. (please see the 4 principles above) She is looking forward to it!

Iowa law requires all students in kindergarten and 9th grade to submit proof of a dental screening.

This Friday, February 25th, Courtney Wolterman, Smile Squad Program Director from Dental Connections will be at Cowles and will be conducting dental screens on our 8th grade students. Let me know if you have any questions or concerns.

There are still a few preschool students that do not have a dental exam on file in the nurse’s office for the 20-21 school year. If your child still needs one on file, I have contacted you via email. Please have your dentist fill out the certificate of dental screening attached to this letter and turn it into me asap. If you have questions, please let me know. I am always happy to help.

Hearing screens for students in preschool, kindergarten, first, second, and fifth grades will be conducted by our DMPS Audiology team on March 11th and 12th at Cowles. See the DMPS parent letter attached to this letter for more information.

Please remember to notify us if anyone in your family tests positive for COVID-19 or is in quarantine. You can reach me by calling the main office at 515-242-7818 and leave a message or you may email me at ann.humphrey@dmschools.org and I will get back to you.

Dress for the winter! We will be going outside for recess whenever weather permits. Please make sure your child has a warm, coat, hat, mittens, snow pants, boots, etc. at school. Thank you!

Kindness Challenge: Did you know Kindness is a muscle? It’s important to “work it out every day.” Some of my greatest teachers have not only been my own children and grandchildren, but all the children that have touched my life in some way. I love this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP4gLX8FBDA

Have a great week!

Be well! Stay safe!

Nurse Ann

If parents want to book an appointment time to speak with Nurse Ann, click on the link below:

Nurse Ann's Office Hours

In many ways, Dr. Maria Montessori modeled how to be a social reformer. During her time living in multiple countries, she was an advocate for marginalized persons with feminism, social justice, and race, to name a few. Today, we are responding to the call to be social reformers in the form of active anti-racism. Black history is our history, and we are excited to celebrate this month and beyond. Here is a list of what we can do to celebrate as a community:

Adults:

• Speak up for our students by sharing ideas on social media.
• Explore your history, experiences, and personal thoughts about race.
• Engage in learning about anti-racism through literature, media, and organizations.

Environment

• Create brave and safe spaces for your family members to talk openly about race.
• Engage in peaceful anti-racism rallies virtually and/or safely in-person.
• Make mistakes and learn something from those mistakes.
• Remind yourself that with practice, patience, and determination, we grow.

Children

• Read or share books with children and engage in discussions about race (See the Des Moines Public Library Black History Month Challenge below, begins February 13th).
• Explain race concretely (e.g., reasons why skin tones are different, how society labels individuals base on race, etc.)
• Allow children to engage in brave and safe discussions about abstract concepts with race (e.g., historical concepts regarding slavery, "Black Lives Matter," why individuals choose to kneel during the National Anthem, etc.).

The Education Bill Tracking webpage provides regular updates during the Iowa legislative session on bills related to education in Iowa. Information about new bills, including names, numbers, and sponsors are provided.

As the session continues to move forward, there are certain session milestones that bills need to clear to stay alive. These milestones are listed within the session timetable

Early Childhood Department/School Readiness Goals & Learning Targets – 2020-2021

• 85% of 4 year-olds will meet or exceed kindergarten readiness in the Literacy Domain of GOLD including concepts of print, alliteration, letter names and letter sounds.
• 80% of 4 year-olds will meet or exceed kindergarten readiness in the Math Domain of GOLD including counts, quantifies and connects numerals with quantities.
• 90% of 4 year-olds will meet or exceed kindergarten readiness in the Social/Emotional Domain of GOLD, follows limits and expectations.

District Board Goals

LITERACY

• Goal 1: The percent of all third grade students on track in reading will increase from 52% to 72% by June 2023, as measured by FAST.
• Goal 2: The percent of black male third grade students on track in reading will increase from 35% to 72% by June 2023, as measured by FAST.

ALGEBRA

• Goal 3: The percent of black male students earning a ‘B’ or higher in Algebra 1 by the end of 9th grade will increase from 17% to 35% by August 2023.

SOCIAL EMOTIONAL LEARNING

• Goal 4: A goal will be developed once a baseline measure for social emotional learning is determined.

Cowles Montessori School Improvement Goal

Goal 1: The percent of all third through eighth grade students proficient and/or on track for college and career readiness in math will increase from 81% to 85% by Spring of 2023 as measured by state assessments:

• By 2020 - 82%
• By 2021 - 83%
• By 2022 - 84%
• By 2023 - 85%

Email: shannon.hines@dmschools.org
Website: cowles.dmschools.org
Location: 6401 College Avenue, Windsor Heights, IA, USA
Phone: 515-242-7818
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CowlesMontessori/
Twitter: @CowlesDMPS