LAST CHANCE TO GET DISCOUNTED TICKETS TO

GTS Family and Friends Day at SESAME PLACE

on MONDAY, JUNE 11th

Buy your discounted group tickets by completing and

returning this form NO LATER than MONDAY, MAY 21st!

“It was very hard for me to learn how to read.  It did not seem logical for the letter ‘m’ to be called ‘em,’ and yet with some vowel following it you did not say ‘ema’ but ‘ma.’  It was impossible for me to read that way.  At last, when I went to the Montessori school, the teacher did not teach me the names of consonants but their sounds.  In this way I could read the first book I found in a dusty chest in the storeroom of the house.  It was tattered and incomplete, but it involved me in so intense a way that Sara’s fiancé had a terrifying premonition as he walked by: ‘This kid’s going to be a writer.’”

                               Gabriel Gárcia Márquez

                             Nobel Prize recipient for Literature

Moveable Alphabet

After a child learns the sandpaper letters, she is ready to make words with the large moveable alphabet.  For this activity the teacher prepares a collection of miniature objects or picture cards representing three letter words with the short vowel sound, such as a bed, a lid, a fan, and a cup. 

First, the child selects an object or card, such as the bed, and says the name of it very slowly so she can hear each sound – b…e…d.  She then selects the letter to represent the first sound and places it beside the object on a mat.  Next she selects the letter for the second sound and finally the third.  Montessori called this activity “word building.”  The fact that the child is manipulating material at this stage is important because she still concentrates best on something she is doing with her hands.  The child usually continues the word building process for a long period of time.  The classroom offers a wide variety of small toy-like figures and pictures for which she can build names.  Gradually the difficulty of the nouns increases from three-letter words like pig, to four-letter words containing a consonant blend, such as flag, to longer words with special sounds like chair  and silent “e” such as skate.

Adapted from A Parent’s Guide to the Montessori Classroom by Aline Wolf

An adult works to perfect the environment…

A child works to perfect himself…

                        ~ Maria Montessori

Thanks to Alex V and Anna C for taking some of the pics you see above!

Thank you to all who helped make our 45th Anniversary Picnic a great success!

To the 45th Anniversary Picnic Committee: Miriam H. and Nick S., Karin and Mike D., Tiff R.,  Jessica S., Hina S., Julie K., Alex V. and Kristy M-M. And, Cliff G. for clean-up assistance.

To the entertainment:  Giovana and Josh R. and their friends and Mark S. for bringing the generator.

To our cupcake bakers:
Gabrielle and Leslie, Lemon with Lemon frosting

Simone and Nicole, Red Velvet and Greene Velvet

Caroline, Julia and Meredith, Cookies and Cream

Sophia  and Jessica Sharp, Cinnamon Chile Chocolate Buttercream

Lila and Laura, Pinkalicious

Margaux and Dabney, Rocky Road Moon Pie

Saanvi and Shital, Eggless Chocolate Chip

Charlotte and grandma Monica, Pink Lemonade

Finn and Jennifer, All Sports

Leah and Rachel, Butterflies

Liora, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Patty, Red Velvet Cats

ALL the cupcakes were delicious and beautiful and the judges noted how difficult the decision was.  The winners were…
Best Simple flavor, Eggless Chocolate Chip

Best Fancy flavor, Rocky Road Moon Pie

Best Simple decoration, Pinkalicious

Best Fancy decoration, Butterflies

People’s Choice, Rocky Road Moon Pie

Thank you to Betty’s Speakeasy www.bettysfudge.com and Kitchenette www.shopkitchenette.com (which has just moved to a new location at 13th and Sansom Sts.) for donating the prizes.

To our panel of cupcake judges:
Robin Barg, owner/operator of Day by Day Restaurant and Caterer and GTS alum parent of Molly and Michael.

Liz Begosh, owner/operator of Betty’s Speakeasy and Fudge and GTS alum from the mid 80s.

Joel M., chef and culinary educator and husband of HoS, Helena Grady.

Andi W., longtime GTS teacher known to all for morning drop-off assistance, movement classes and Toddler music and a consummate foodie.

Aya A., GTS alum class of 2005, namesake of Aya’s Café, cupcake aficionado!

And to everyone who came out to celebrate!  Enjoy the pictures!

If you did not pick up a Greene Towne soft flyer, be sure to stop by the desk for one.

On Sunday, May 20th, 11:00 am to 3:00 pm, Greene Towne School is hosting a craft table at the upcoming Seger Park Playground Spring Festival.  The festival raises money for park improvements and maintenance.  Wear your Greene Towne t-shirt and come say hi or parents can help at the craft table!  Whatever help you can bring is much appreciated, all day or just an hour.  Please let Erika know if you can come out and what time: egoldberg@greenetowneschool.org.  Make it a family affair: one parent can enjoy the fair while the other helps at the craft table! For more information on Seger Park Playground, visit www.friendsofseger.org

Featured Art: O'Keefe Flowers

Our Kindergarten students have been quite busy this spring learning about many great 20th century artists. Currently, the school hallways are full of Georgia O’Keefe inspired flowers, Eric Carle inspired creatures, and Gees Bend inspired quilt collages.   Currently the Kindergarteners are working on prints inspired by Andy Warhol - born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he helped to develop Pop Art, one of the best-known and perhaps most fun periods of Art History.  To learn more about these artists check a book out from the library, or visit the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  Please take a moment to enjoy the children’s work, it is truly remarkable!

Greene Towne School

45th Anniversary Birthday Picnic

Saturday, May 5, 2012

11:00 am - 2:00 pm

Lemon Hill, Fairmount Park

directions below

Bring a picnic lunch and a blanket

We’ll provide drinks and cake

Games and Crafts ~ Entertainment ~ Cupcake Competition     

Directions to Lemon Hill:  From the Art Museum circle, follow Kelly Drive and go to the second light - to the seated statue of Lincoln, opposite the Waterworks. Turn right on Sedgeley Drive and make a sharp left to Lemon Hill. The mansion is at the top of the hill and we’ll be in the picnic area behind the mansion.

Greene Towne School

45th Anniversary Alumni Open House and Picnic

Schedule of Activities

9:00 – 11:00 am ~ Alumni Open House at Greene Towne School

Tour Greene Towne today with current parents.

11:00 am ~ Birthday Picnic

Arrival at Lemon Hill, Fairmount Park

Make a Birthday Crown

11:30 am ~ Balloon Volley ball/Keep it in the air

12:00 ~ Cupcake Judging

Relax and enjoy your picnic lunch

12:30 ~ Birthday Circle 

12:40 – 1:10 ~ Poetry Jam and Performance

(GTS parents Josh and Giovana Robinson and their friends)

1:00 – 2:00 ~ More Field Games

~ Red Light Green Light

~ Relay Sack Race

“The objects surrounding the child should look solid and attractive to him, and the ‘house of the child’ should be lovely and pleasant in all its particulars…It is almost possible to say that there is a mathematical relationship between the beauty of his surroundings and the activity of the child; he will make discoveries rather more voluntarily in a gracious setting than an ugly one.”  Maria Montessori

THE NEED FOR ORDER 

Montessori believed that a child comes to internal order through external order and that this internal order is prerequisite to intellectual expansion.  When children come into the world, it must appear to them chaotic.  They must learn to classify, categorize all the objects they see, learn the names and uses of these objects.  We can help by making their home environment as orderly as possible, not constantly shifting things about, and by giving them an opportunity to keep their own possessions in order.  There should not be so many toys that children cannot possibly arrange them or care for them.  The toy box is not very helpful along this line because it encourages children to throw in the doll on top of the truck and the stuffed rabbit on top of both of them and the ball on top of all that, with out regard for the preservation of their individual beauty and repair.  Low shelves can be constructed and a place designated for each toy.  Clothes rods can be set down where children can reach them to put away their clothes.  A place can be set aside where they may work with crayons or paints.  It should be possible for children to keep their space in order by themselves if we provide tools that fit their small hands and they are capable of using without help.

If all these needs are met in the environment of children from birth to three – that is, movement, language, independence, love and security, discipline, and order – and they arrive in the Montessori class at the proper age near 3, they will be ready for expanded development in the prepared environment of the Montessori class.  They will have here the opportunity for social development, for living in a community with older children and younger children.  They will have the materials and the equipment they need to classify their impressions and the keys to learning in mathematics and language.  They will have the opportunity to further their development in independence and the control of their movements.  They will have the opportunity to work with materials leading to precision and concentration.

THE LOVE OF ORDER

One can watch a small child in a Montessori class taking out a mat and unrolling it on the floor, ready to start to work.  She observes a fleck of dust, gets a broom, and sweeps it off.  Then, with increased satisfaction and enjoyment, she proceeds to lay out her material.  This orderliness is jealously guarded and carefully promoted in the class room.  Montessori teachers are told, “All the apparatus must be meticulously in order, beautiful and shiny, in perfect condition.  Nothing must be missing, so that to the child it always seems new, complete, and ready for use.”    To show you what lengths we go to in aiding the construction of children’s minds and helping their ability to classify, a shoe polishing set might have a red ribbon, a red apron, a red applicator, a red brush, and a red buffer.  It will be obvious that these things belong together.  The silver polishing set has a pink basket with a pink mat, a pink sponge and so on.

When children have finished with any of these polishing exercises, they put soiled cloths in a laundry bag (another child will wash these later), discard any used cotton or paper, replace all these items with fresh, clean ones, and return the basket to its place on the shelf, ready for the next child’s use.  This kind of order is not mere fussiness but genuine respect for the materials with which they work and a generous consideration for the other members of their small society.

Excerpted from The Normalized Child available to borrow from our parent  library.

Coxe Park Cleanup day this Sunday, May 6th at 9:00 am 

Coxe Park is a neighbor-maintained park and has been kept clean over the years through community involvement. The Friends of Coxe Park is organizing monthly cleanups to continue the Logan Square legacy of working together to create a better community.

Cleanups will be held at 9AM on the first Sunday of every month through December.  Brooms, garbage bags and gloves will be provided. Just bring yourselves and lots of energy!

Please email us if you think you might attend to get a head count on volunteers. This is a fantastic opportunity for school age children to get community service hours. All ages are welcome!  For more information check out www.friendsofcoxepark.org.

Pete's Famous Pizza Fundraiser has begun!

35 Cents of every pizza ordered in May will be donated to the Friends of Coxe Park.  Please order lots of Pizza from Pete's in the month of May and encourage your friends to order too!

Pete's delivers:

Sunday to Thursday - 11 am to 11 pm

Friday and Saturday 11 am to 12 am covering a really wide part of the city and delivers to Coxe Park!

To view the menu go to www.petesfamouspizza.com or call 215-567-4116

Thank you Pete's !

Become a member Friends of Coxe Park!

Memberships are $25 per person and $25 per business/organization. Members will be posted on our website.
Send your check, made payable to Friends of Coxe Park to: c/o Marisa Piccarreto, 2121 Cherry Street, Philadephia, PA 19103 or donate by paypal at www.friendsofcoxepark.org.

For more information check out www.friendsofcoxepark.org.

Thank you!

You've given for the chicks, for the auction, for classroom gifts, for snacks & flowers. Make it a home run and give to the Annual Fund. It only takes $1, $5 OR $$$. It's all about participation--don't leave the Pink Tower empty! Thank you. 

Replies were due by April 26th.  If your child’s dismissal plans will be different this day, you must complete the Change of Dismissal form enclosed with the invitation and return to GTS before May 4.  Children are not permitted to leave GTS with their guest if we do not have the plan in writing from parents. Children will be dismissed from school only once.

Please note, there is NO PARKING directly in front of the school.

Thank you for helping us have a safe and special day for everyone.

April 29 – May 5 is National Screen-Free Week!   

SHARE YOUR TV-FREE STORIES WITH US!
Did you take the challenge to be TV-Free?  How did it go?  What was your greatest challenge and your greatest success? 

We promise to honor your privacy when sharing these stories!

To inspire your participation in TV-FREE WEEK read this poem OUTLOUD by British author, Roald Dahl:

The most important thing we've learned,
So far as children are concerned,
Is never, NEVER, NEVER let
Them near your television set --
Or better still, just don't install
The idiotic thing at all.
In almost every house we've been,
We've watched them gaping at the screen.
They loll and slop and lounge about,
And stare until their eyes pop out.
(Last week in someone's place we saw
A dozen eyeballs on the floor.)
They sit and stare and stare and sit
Until they're hypnotised by it,
Until they're absolutely drunk
With all that shocking ghastly junk.
Oh yes, we know it keeps them still,
They don't climb out the window sill,
They never fight or kick or punch,
They leave you free to cook the lunch
And wash the dishes in the sink --
But did you ever stop to think,
To wonder just exactly what
This does to your beloved tot?
IT ROTS THE SENSE IN THE HEAD!
IT KILLS IMAGINATION DEAD!
IT CLOGS AND CLUTTERS UP THE MIND!
IT MAKES A CHILD SO DULL AND BLIND
HE CAN NO LONGER UNDERSTAND
A FANTASY, A FAIRYLAND!
HIS BRAIN BECOMES AS SOFT AS CHEESE!
HIS POWERS OF THINKING RUST AND FREEZE!
HE CANNOT THINK -- HE ONLY SEES!
'All right!' you'll cry. 'All right!' you'll say,
'But if we take the set away,
What shall we do to entertain
Our darling children? Please explain!'
We'll answer this by asking you,
'What used the darling ones to do?
'How used they keep themselves contented
Before this monster was invented?'
Have you forgotten? Don't you know?
We'll say it very loud and slow:
THEY ... USED ... TO ... READ! They'd READ and READ,
AND READ and READ, and then proceed
To READ some more. Great Scott! Gadzooks!
One half their lives was reading books!
The nursery shelves held books galore!
Books cluttered up the nursery floor!
And in the bedroom, by the bed,
More books were waiting to be read!
Such wondrous, fine, fantastic tales
Of dragons, gypsies, queens, and whales
And treasure isles, and distant shores
Where smugglers rowed with muffled oars,
And pirates wearing purple pants,
And sailing ships and elephants,
And cannibals crouching 'round the pot,
Stirring away at something hot.
(It smells so good, what can it be?
Good gracious, it's Penelope.)
The younger ones had Beatrix Potter
With Mr. Tod, the dirty rotter,
And Squirrel Nutkin, Pigling Bland,
And Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle and-
Just How The Camel Got His Hump,
And How the Monkey Lost His Rump,
And Mr. Toad, and bless my soul,
There's Mr. Rate and Mr. Mole-
Oh, books, what books they used to know,
Those children living long ago!
So please, oh please, we beg, we pray,
Go throw your TV set away,
And in its place you can install
A lovely bookshelf on the wall.
Then fill the shelves with lots of books,
Ignoring all the dirty looks,
The screams and yells, the bites and kicks,
And children hitting you with sticks-
Fear not, because we promise you
That, in about a week or two
Of having nothing else to do,
They'll now begin to feel the need
Of having something to read.
And once they start -- oh boy, oh boy!
You watch the slowly growing joy
That fills their hearts. They'll grow so keen
They'll wonder what they'd ever seen
In that ridiculous machine,
That nauseating, foul, unclean,
Repulsive television screen!
And later, each and every kid
Will love you more for what you did.

To learn more about work being done on the impact of electronic media on our children, please visit Center on Media and Child Health, Children's Hospital Boston.  To access this site go to: http://www.cmch.tv/mentors_parents/default.asp

·      Celebrate Greene Towne’s 45 Years on May 5! 
To volunteer as a host at GTS from 9-11 am, photograph the festivities or help with a field game or craft, contact Erika at .

·      Send in your child’s guest’s RSVPs for Grandparents and Special Friends Day (please fill in complete names on the RSVP forms so we can keep track of all of our guests.)

·      Order your tickets for Greene Towne Family and Friends Day at Sesame Place on June 11th.  Details and order form in last week’s email message.

THANK YOU TO ALL OUR EARTH-ARBOR DAY PARENT VOLUNTEERS! 

STAY TUNED FOR PHOTOS IN NEXT WEEK’S BULLETIN.