A New Year! Our Second Year!

We are six weeks into our new school year and what a journey to be here a year later looking back. A year ago, we were getting to know one another, learning carline, learning new schedules, making new friends, and trying to adjust to this new adventure of Holy Trinity Montessori. Now, a year later, we are still doing some of the same things but with such ease. However, what a year makes!!

As we begin this new year, we are in the final planning stages of our first annual Art of Whine, our fundraiser headed up by an unbelievable committee of HTM parents, we are planning for school expansion and most importantly we are watching our 18 plus returning children SOAR!

It is so great to see what a year means in a Montessori environment. We have Toddlers who are so independent in their process they have mastered toilet training, mastered independent care and are now the role models to their new Toddler friends. We have seen our oldest Toddlers move to the Primary classroom which such joy, excitement and ease. We have seen our returning Primary children learn their sounds and now begin to read! We also have children working on letter/sound recognition, early reading, addition, skip counting, Spanish, art and music. We have seen the children return with such a calm and grace that even Maria Montessori would be proud. Our returning children have become our role models to our new friends showing them lessons and greeting them with such respect and kindness.

Our faculty and staff, all returning faculty, have been one of our biggest gifts. To work each day with such talented and amazing women, I am truly blessed. Our school has grown and succeeded in such an amazing way and I attribute this all to the faculty. Going to "work" is a joy and a blessing each and every day!

So, after many months of being very busy and not reflecting, I am pleased to say that all I can do is be continuously grateful for the blessings that HTM continues to receive. The children, faculty, parents and supporters of HTM are an amazing group of people and I look forward to the day when our HTM family can grow even larger!

Updated Website ...

Things are quite busy as many can imagine. In mid March, we completed our Admissions process for the Fall of 2010. We are excited to announce that we have full enrollment for next year. At this time, we will not be expanding for the 2010-2011 school year. With the church being in transition it is a difficult time for the congregation to make a decision about our school growth, so our HTM board and the HTL church members came to the difficult decision to not expand in the Fall. As we move forward we are in the planning stage to expand for the Fall of 2011. We hope to serve more of the families in the area that are looking for a Montessori Education for their child. We have been amazed at the interest in the area, and we are very excited about what this could mean for the future of HTM.

To continue our story and to expand our information, I have updated the website with more photos and information.

Please visit our updated website to see more about Holy Trinity Montessori! Feel free to come for a visit or a tour, we would love to show you our classroom communities and our newly planted Spring garden. We are looking forward to enjoying the Spring and celebrating the end of our 1st year!!!!

www.holytrinitymontessori.org

Winter Updates

We have returned to school starting our second semester! After two snow days that surprised us all the first week back, we are off and running for our second semester at HTM. We have started our Admissions Process for the 2010-2011 school year and we are excited about the interest we have for the school. We currently have a waitlist and we anticipate more interest as the school year continues. The growth and interest is such a testament to the unbelievable staff we have at HTM. I feel so fortunate to have such wonderful and talented women that surround me. I could not have been where I am this year without the support of April, KaToya, Cara and Sarah. We have created a great team and "family." We look forward to a great Spring and a wonderful summer!

We are excited to announce a Summer Program as well!! I have included more pictures of the children working and the Toddler exploring the outdoors!

Updates!

So, for everyone who has been following our progress... here is an update. We are loving each and every moment of our time at HTM. We have completed our first 8 weeks and we feel wonderful with the progress and developments of the school. The children have transitioned in beautifully to the new school year and we are off to an amazing start. The fence around the playground will be complete tomorrow and the fall weather has provided us amazing walks, garden visits and beautiful wildlife each day! Thank you to all the families who have attended our parent nights, parent conferences and work days. The children are working and we would invite all to visit the classrooms and see our Montessori communities in action.

A few pictures of the children working!

More to come..

Building the Path

Believe it or not, we built the path! Today, despite the rain and mud, we completed the path to the playground. After a cut tree and mulch were donated, the tree discs were placed along the path by a wonderful group of high school students, from CPA on Friday. Having planned our Outdoor Work Day months ago, who would have known that we would be at records levels for rain at this time of the year. So, despite the forecast we thought we would go ahead and work outdoors today. Two dedicated teachers, April and KaToya arrived with rainboots, gloves and shovels in hand, while a wonderful family the Fornes braved the weather with us! Their two daughters, one from Toddler and one from Primary joined in on the fun digging in the mud and spreading mulch. The day was a great success with the end result being a small group of VERY muddy people and a beautiful path of mulch and tree stepping stones to guide the children of HTM to the playground!

Thank you to everyone who helped today... the path is your hard work complete!

Language and Math Shelves..

Language and Math Shelves to view.....

Shelves, Practical Life and Sensorial

Practical Life and Sensorial Shelves for you to view.....

Set up Begins..

July 2009
The post of the Open House should be after this post... but now, it was time for set up! After working in Montessori for 12 years, finding materials that are affordable and beautiful is very difficult. I have found a company that I LOVE!! I need to tell the Montessori world about Alison's Montessori. Working with Alison's Montessori all summer to preview materials, work through material orders and finally recieve the materials has been great. The customer service is unreal, always speaking to an actual person, which is unheard of in this world. The family owners always welcome feedback and support the buyer in their classroom orders. The Montessori materials are beautiful! Thank you Alison's !!

I look forward to working with you as I grow HTM.

Shelves and More Shelves..

July 16, 2009
Well... the shelves are here.. The truck arrived and WOW! When the accordion door to the Uhaul opened....it was a moment that I will NEVER forget. This moment made everything feel real, and I do not think there was a dry eye in the parking lot. I was amazed. Farrell Eaves and Mike Vaughn spent hours, days and weeks making our beautiful shelves by hand. All the small hands that will use these shelves...Farrell and Mike will never know the impact their work will have on the children of HTM for many years to come. After we unloaded all the shelves, the crews arrived and more work began. Family, friends, faculty and parents of HTM arrived to help out. What a crew! We worked for four straight days and nights to finally deliver the shelves into the classrooms on Saturday. As the shelves were being moved to the classrooms, family and friends, were planting flowers, painting church walls and adding mulch to the grounds. I thank each of my wonderful, special family and friends who have dedicated weekend after weekend to help with HTM. We are almost there... now, the Montessori work begins. Time to "prepare the environment" as Dr. Maria Montessori states. Now, for my true passion.... preparing for the children.

Open House- July 25, 2009

So, I am a little behind on the blog, as many of you can imagine why. We had our first Open House in July, and it was amazing. We had our journey posted on a Journey Wall, by dear family friends, the Mannings. Meg and Matt worked together

to write and post the HTM story. The Open House was an amazing moment for me. After all the work throughout the last 10 months, I was able to share my joy and excitement with family, friends, colleagues and most important the parents of HTM. The Open House could not have been more memorable and wonderful. I want to truly thank the parents of HTM for trusting in me and in believing in my dream. It was a great joy to share this day with everyone, and I was lucky enough to board a plane after Open House to NC to meet my new niece, Lucy!

My First Shelf

Ok. so it is not the official shelving yet, but this is the first shelf put together at HTM! This is the shelf that will be used as our dish "hutch", being the place for our snack and lunch dishes! All I missing are the napkins and tablecloths which are being handmade by my mom!

Looks pretty great! Can't wait to get the rest of the room ready!

Montessori Little Things

Just a few photos of the fun Montessori "little" things that I have been collecting!

My Mom

My Mom... where do I begin .....

I have to thank my mom for all her hard work for HTM! My mom, Karla, is like no other mom, she is a great combo of her mother and father. My grandmother, Sally who we were all very close to was a seamstress for years, making all kinds of things with her sewing talents. Mom, taking after Sally, has made all the curtains for HTM, she is working on the vestments, sewing work rugs, making polishing cloths, tablecloths and napkins. And, taking after her father, Carl, my dear grandfather who was a woodworker, Mom has helped with

ANY project that we have come across from putting together all the chairs, building closet shelves in the office, building storage in the classroom, laying

tile for the flooring and "fixing" any loose screw, bolt or nail! She is amazing. Working every day with my mom over the past few months has been an amazing process. I feel very lucky to have my family's support in HTM, but to have my mom's help and to learn from her each day in all of our projects brings me great joy. I hope someday I can teach Maggie and Jane as much as I my mom has taught me. I have learned so much from my mom as I have grown up, but I also have learned so much over the past few months. I have learned that moms are very special people that no matter how old or "grown" up you are.......your mom will always love you and support you!

The Bathroom Shelving, Mirror and Supply Rack that Mom put together AND the beautiful curtains!!

Thank you Mom for all your help...HTM is a special place because of you!

Tree Trimming, Car Windows & Poison Ivy

As you are all reading in this blog, the process of Holy Trinity Montessori forming has presented me with so many blessings. Blessings that are far beyond my dreams! Well, however, last weekend, July 4th weekend provided me with my first "hard" weekend!! I wish I had taken a picture of what happened, but I did not. Mike and I planned to spend July 3rd at the church cleaning up brush, poison ivy and dead limbs on the trees. The property at Holy Trinity Lutheran is so beautiful, but a large undertaking for any soul. It is 7 acres of beautiful "farmland" that has old, large oak trees. The grounds are so perfect for a Montessori school, however the poison ivy and weeds are not! So, my family packed up for the day, headed to the church to WORK!!! Well, after being at the church for a bit, we realized we needed a few rakes from home. So, I went home grabbed the rakes and quickly returned to the church. I got the girls out of the car, took out the rakes, leaned the rake against the left side of the car and proceeded to close the back hatch of my SUV. WELL, when I closed the back, the rake fell and went THROUGH the back window SHATTERING the window!!!!!! I was covered in glass standing behind my car thinking.....I do not think I could have done that if I tried and WHAT JUST HAPPENED!!!!!

So as Mike and I spent the rest of the morning cleaning up glass and TAPING my window we realized we were not going to get much done! We ended up returning later in the day to finish our work.

After we worked the rest of the day and a couple of other times over the weekend, I broke out in poison ivy on my arm, leg and back!!! My mom ended up getting spots of it also! My mom, Karla, has been an unbelievable help through this whole process! So, the weekend ended with a taped window, poison ivy (with a prescription) and trimmed trees!!!

We are hoping to have more luck this next week !!! The shelves are coming... look for more after Thursday..... all shelves will be here by Thursday!

My Logo

Many of you have seen my logo, which I just added to the blog...but I wanted to make sure that I give Chris Veit the credit he deserves in designing my logo. Chris is a great family friend, who sat down with me to hear my vision for the logo. Here is what Chris had to work with.... "ok..no primary colors, no children hands in a circle and no cheesy preschool "stuff", that's about all... oh and can we have a trillium somewhere in there..." and, Chris said.. " I got it " and designed this. Unreal!

Now, there was a story to the flower which is called a trillium. One evening before the HT church vote, we ( meaning my family) were sitting at my mom and dad's trying to brain storm idea names for the school. We were all over the place with ideas about Montessori, Italy, threes( which is a Montessori thing) ect. Mike was on the internet searching, and said out of nowwhere there is a flower that represents the Trilogy..it is called a trillium. We all thought for a minute and went through some names with the trillium. I somewhat tucked this idea in my head... The next week HTL voted and their ONLY request is that I kept HT somewhere in the name, which I was more than happy to do! So, once we had the name Holy Trinity Montessori it made perfect sense to add the flower in the logo. A few weeks passed and I sat down to research the meaning of the trillium, and a Native American Legend popped up in my goggle search. What I found was amazing..

I can't write the whole legend, so you have to google it and let me know what you think. I was very moved and knew that the trillium would need to be in the logo, so like I said earlier... no this, no that.. and oh my what Chris created is beautiful and perfect! My mom and I came up with the tag words, which again was not hard to do.. it says it all PEACE, KNOWLEDGE, FAITH!! So, between, my fam, Mike, Chris, my mom and a great legend I have a logo that I LOVE!! Thanks all! And Chris you are very talented!! Thank you for vision, patience and hard work. I LOVE IT!!

Road Trip- Vol 2- Atlanta-IKEA

After our great lunch and visit at the Eaves house, we traveled on to Atlanta to IKEA. We arrived about 4:00pm and stayed until the lights went out at 9:00pm. I have to say that Mike, my husband, was such a trooper to not only go to IKEA, but stay 4 hours.... and not even shopping for us! We got everything from pitchers to baskets, small bowls to buckets. IKEA is a great resource for any Montessori Classroom or school! We had a great time filling two and a half carts! I do have to say that I received LOTS of interesting looks pushing two carts! I think people were a bit concerned about how many items we were purchasing! I had to keep saying, "Oh, I am opening a school in the Fall" and then I would get, " I was wondering WHY you had three carts!!" Thanks to Mike for hanging in there with me... and helping me make a lot of little, but big decisions for the classroom!

Road Trip- Vol 1- Signal Mountain

This weekend, Mike and I packed the girls for an overnight with my Mom, Dad and Lollie and set out for a trip to Chattanooga and Atlanta. We left Nashville at about 9:00 on Saturday, and arrived at Signal Mt. around 12:30. The drive was beautiful despite the heat and the traffic was easy, which is rare! Why were we traveling to Signal Mt.? Well, Farrell Eaves, the woodworker and father of my friend, Meg Manning was ready for us to visit his place to see the shelving "in process". I know as I write on this blog, I discover many realities as a type... the reality of my dream coming true, the reality of the work behind me, the work ahead of me and the 27 smiling faces that will begin school on Aug, 17th. But, what I felt when I walked into Mr. Eaves's 4000 sq ft. woodworking shop was beyond words. All I can say is that I was truly brought to tears. My eyes welled up with tears, my heart sank and my mouth dropped open. You cannot imagine this beautiful wood shop nested in this amazing garden/woods on top of Signal Mt.

I felt as though I was entering a retreat center... it was beautiful. The wood shop in itself was amazing, and the work that Mr. Eaves and his dear friend, Mike are completing on these shelves is amazing. The shelving, as seen above, is beyond any drawing or picture I could provide. After we toured the wood shop, Fern, or Mrs. Eaves had prepared a great lunch of sandwiches and coleslaw. Thanks Fern for the yummy lunch! While we were at The Eaves house we heard more about the shelves and what has gone into the process.....

The work that these men have put into these shelves is unbelievable. It is hard to express to all that have helped my true appreciation for these "gifts". As much as I say Thank you to everyone involved in the HTM process, it feels as though I can never show or say how truly grateful I am. I get teary-eyed when I think about all those that are helping me daily and it is overwhelming. Why me is what goes through my head each day? How have I been given such a wonderful gift? I am and will always be grateful to Farrell and Mike, and all the others who have helped with the shelving. Many "little" hands will touch these shelves for years to come, what a gift you have given the children. Thank you always, your dear friend, Kate.

Sinks and Toilets !!

Check out the sinks and toilets!!!

I thought for all of those who were thinking how great can toilets and sinks be... you have to see these pictures! Have you ever seen a sink that small... It is great! You have to see it in person to truly appreciate what creating a "children's house" means.

Thank you to the wonderful gentlemen from the "construction team" who donated their time, energy and dedication to seeing this construction project to the very end! The appreciation that I feel cannot be expressed in words. The joy and independence that the children will experience will last a lifetime..... Thank you to all those who have given so much!!