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Dear Laura,
Having served Montessorians in the Pittsburgh area
since 1979, Greater Pittsburgh Montessori Society
(GPMS) presents the Fall 2007 issue of our
E-Newsletter, Montessori Messenger. We
hope
you'll enjoy our communication format.
Read,
click and explore!
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Spring 2008 Meeting
The Importance of Community in Montessori Settings for Adults and Children
The Center for
Montessori Teacher Education/New York is
hoping to bring their Montessori training program to
the Pittsburgh area in 2009-10. It will take 20 firm
commitments for the Early Childhood certification and
20 for the Elementary certification to make this
program a reality. Says CMTE/New York's Michelle
Hartye, "By sending several teachers to this course,
you will be preparing your school for the future."
Join us at The Garden
Montessori School from 9:00
AM to Noon on Saturday, March 29 to learn more
about this Montessori training program, and to make
your voice heard. That morning, CMTE/New York
Executive Director Carole Wolfe-Korngold and
Associate Director Deirdre Fennessy will join us to
discuss their idea that "Montessori education is
growing in Pittsburgh and the need for trained
teachers is paramount to creating quality Montessori
schools."
You'll also be treated to a presentation about
Montessori communities, which Fennessy and
Wolfe-Korngold will deliver.
According to Wolfe-Korngold, "It's relationships, not
only programs, that help us transform and grow. A
great program creates the environment for healthy
relationships to form. We thrive when we care about
each other, when we have a sense of belonging to a
community, and when we know we are making a
strong contribution to our community. (Inspired by
John Gardner, Maria Montessori, Bill Milliken).
"Without community a Montessori program is missing
its reason for being. We will discuss what community
is, how it is created, and the benefits it provides for all
constituents. Deirdre and I will share the various
components necessary for Early Childhood teacher-
training to become a reality in Pittsburgh starting in
2009. The support of GPMS members is paramount
to the viability and success of this future program."
For current GPMS members, there is just a $10
charge to attend ($20 for non-members) so click
here to renew, or
apply for, membership today.
When you e-mail us here to
RSVP, please include the following information in the
body of your message:
NAME
ADDRESS
PHONE
EMAIL
SCHOOL
ROLE (teacher, assistant, administrator, student,
parent, other)
LEVEL (infant/toddler), 3-6, 6-9, 9-12, other)
Any QUESTIONS you have that you'd like our speakers
to address during their presentation
Make checks payable to: Greater Pittsburgh
Montessori Society (GPMS) and mail
to:
Greater Pittsburgh Montessori Society
C/O Seth Johnson
1154 Goe Avenue, FL 1
Pittsburgh, PA 15212
The Garden Montessori School (724-778-0111) is
located at:
204 Commerce Park Drive
Cranberry Township, PA 16066
Click Here to RSVP!
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Executive Board Message
Introductions, Media Library and 2007 Member Ballots
Your new board members are pleased to be working
with you to support Greater Pittsburgh Montessori Society's
mission. Here is another of our introductions;
you met Chair Daisy
Klaber, Treasurer Seth
Johnson and Recording Secretary Roberta
Coutinho in the Fall 2007 issue of Montessori
Messenger, and you'll meet Vice
Chair Jennifer
Sekerchak in the Fall 2008 issue. We encourage
you to
contact us with any questions or suggestions you
might have. We're here to help!
Corresponding Secretary Mindy
Forsythe became
interested in Montessori education "before [she] had a
name for it." She was married at age eighteen and
immediately began offering child care from her home
as a registered provider in Virginia. With little-to-no
training, she went with whatever felt natural and
seemed to work best for the children. It was always
part of who she was to be respectful to each of them,
and they taught her more every day. "It was the perfect
Montessori education for me: follow the child," she
says.
Soon, her daughter was born and, before she and her
husband knew it, she was ready for her first preschool
experience. That is when Mindy's formal Montessori
education began. They were a young Navy family, and
money was not in abundance. Forsythe observed at a
local Montessori school and fell in love immediately.
She offered to be an aid in return for her daugher's
education. Thankfully her mentor, Diane Dennis, had
room for both of them. She later sponsored Mindy's
training at the Michigan Montessori Teacher Education
Center in Rochester Hills, MI.
Since that wonderful experience, she's had two other
children go through Montessori programs, and she
continues to expand her Montessori knowledge
through conferences and reading. She also began
her own small program,
Cornerstone Montessori,
which continues to offer her the best education a
teacher can ask for. She is currently enrolled in an
online program to further her credentials, and would
love to continue her formal Montessori education as
that becomes possible.
We've started a new GPMS Media Lending
Library, which we exhibited at the April 21 Spring
2007 Meeting. Let us know what
you'd like us to
purchase next!
GPMS Members, please contact Immediate Past
Chair Peggy Ward to receive, or cast, your
2007 ballot.
Click Here to Ask About the GPMS Ballot!
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Local Activities
Montessori Children's Community's Exhibit
Montessori Children's Community created an
eight-case display at the Sewickley Public
Library.
It started with the history of Maria Montessori and then
depicted the history of their school, followed by two
cases about Children's House, two cases about
Lower Elementary, one case about Upper Elementary,
and lastly an exhibit about peace education and
famous graduates.
Each case featured printed information, actual
Montessori materials, and photos and samples of
children's work.
Immediate Past GPMS Chair Peggy Ward said, "I took
my daughter and a friend who'd gone through a
three-to-six Montessori program. They stood at the
exhibit noticing all the ordinary things of their school
life that are so extraordinary to others. The display
was well organized, beautiful, and informative. I'm
sure it piqued the curiosity of many, and gave people a
chance to make sense of something they may have
heard of but didn't really know about."
Click Here to Tell Us What's Happening at Your School!
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Erdkinder Field Trip: The Montessori Adolescent
Fall 2007 Meeting
On Saturday, October 27, we gathered for the
GPMS Fall
2007 Meeting. We continued to honor the first
hundred-year cycle of Maria Montessori's method in
action while anticipating the next. Celebrating the
beauty of Montessori's creation, and sowing the
seeds of the future, we enjoyed a private tour and
presentation at Hershey Montessori Farm
School.
After the two-hour drive, we arrived at The Farm
School at 10:00 AM, and our guide, Assistant
Head of School Laurie Ewert-Krocker, helped us
reflect on the first century of Montessori education, and
envision the next.
As a longtime teacher and program designer, Laurie
had deep and powerful insight to share with us about
the experience of the adolescent whose school is
based on Dr. Montessori's belief that education
should include "the two forms of work, manual and
intellectual, for the same person, and thus make it
understood by practical experience that these two
kinds complete each other and are equally essential
to a civilized existence."
We had lunch together after the two-hour visit to
discuss our observations, and then returned to
Pittsburgh, arriving at approximately 3:30 that
afternoon. Feel free to visit
http://198.173.74.231/Farm/index.htm
for more information about Hershey Montessori Farm
School in Huntsburg, Ohio.
For current GPMS members, there was no charge to
attend so click here to renew, or
apply for, membership today.
Click Here to Join GPMS!
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It's our pleasure to serve you and Greater
Pittsburgh Montessori education.
Sincerely,
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