It was good to see everyone-thanks to all who attended, and if you had other commitments, we missed you!
Attendees were: Erin Woo, Judi Cofrin, Gail Bannon, Chris (Claremont), Cathy Chamberlain, Debbie (Newport),
Lory (Claremont), Heather Parkinson, Claire Doody, Coleen Gage, Christy Whipple, Ruth Reed, Gayle Sicco,
Bonnie (Claremont), Chris Brown and Laura Mammarelli
- Christy described the history of the Newport Montessori School, some of their procedures, and their
plans for expansion, of both the building and the program to add the elementary levels.
- We discussed the web site-next step.
- Heather P will write an intro to Montessori for the home page.
- Ruth R will compile a list of the advantages of belonging to NHMA.
- Laura will summarize the meetings for the site.
- Everyone will email photos of children in Montessori, which have unrestricted permission to be used.
- Anyone can send a summary of information that others may find useful. As Heather suggested, she would
like to write about their experience with eco art a la carte at their program for other teachers.
Another subject would be reflections on the Washington conference.
- These items are due to Chris B three weeks after the meeting, and four weeks from the meeting
Chris will have the information on the web site.
- Web site-future work.
- Chris will look into creating a blog for teachers to hold discussions.
- Possible blogs would be for teachers, heads of schools and parents.
- The map will be kept updated, so when a school joins, a visitor can click on the dot representing
their program and be connected to their school web site.
- We discussed the two goals of the web site. We want it to be useful for families who want to learn
about Montessori in NH. Also, we want it to be a forum for schools and teachers to communicate and
to share resources. Some information may need to be handled a certain way on the web site, so it is
accessible to the appropriate people. We will need to plan for that as we move forward.
- Jobs-both positions open and teachers looking-could also be posted on the web site.
- It will be good to update the web site to keep it interesting, perhaps with changing articles
about Montessori for parents.
- We could have further discussion about the various ways to discuss topics on the internet,
emails, listserves, blogging, etc.
- Erin introduced an idea about school newsletters, created for parents.
- If nine teachers agreed to write about a Montessori topic over the course of the year,
those essays could be shared though out the group, and participating schools could
incorporate them into their own newsletters.
- Christy has newsletter experience form her previous work as an English teacher.
- We made progress with planning for the Open House.
- So far, the following schools have committed to holding an open house:
- MVMS-Chris Brown
- Country Village (Amherst)-Claire Doody
- Bedford-Gail Bannon
- Concord-Heather Parkinson
- White Pine (Bethlehem)-Erin Woo
- Claremont-Lory
- Newport- Christy Whipple
- Laura will send the letter inviting all schools in NH to participate.
The letter will include those schools, and say we are going to send press
releases to our local papers. The letter will also include a little hand
written note in the margin inviting them to join us.
- Chris B will have a press release written and send it to Laura, to be
forwarded to the group to be submitted to the local paper, with a photo from
your school.
- Judi wants to try to get air time on community calendars on WMUR and/or WZID
or other local radio stations. I thought these might cater to a wider range of
people rather than just public radio.
- There was a brief but enthusiastic discussion about planning a retreat for next year.
- Christy proposed we have it in May, in Newport where there are great resources,
including a pool and a local bed and breakfast.
- Chris suggested we plan activities to be nurturing and restorative for teachers,
rather than school and policy focused.