Welcome to the spring term Lyonsgate families.

We’ve been happy to hear that many good times, fun times, and restful times were had over the March Break. It’s always great to see all of the students back at school, and to see how much the Toddlers have grown in just two weeks.

Your children’s Montessori guides have introductions to the spring term for you.

This week, the $10/day child care agreement — Canada Wide Early Learning and Child Care System (CWELCC) — was signed and announced. Lyonsgate’s Primary (Casa and Toddler) campus is required to operate as a licensed child care centre. At this point, there are many steps and details to come. Here’s where we’re at:

  • The program will be administered through the City of Hamilton’s Early Years division. We have been told they will receive information on eligibility and the enrolment process in “Spring 2022” and will then communicate details to us.
  • The deadline for child care centres to enrol is September 2022. Centres can choose to opt out of CWELCC and continue charging their own fees. For example, if Lyonsgate would not be able to continue offering authentic Montessori education at the capped funding level, we could choose to opt out. Until we know what the actual funding amounts are we cannot make that decision.

We will keep you up to date as we learn more. If you have any questions, please email us at childcareagreement@lyonsgate.ca.

Lyonsgate will continue to require masks until at least April 8. Please continue to screen each day, before arriving to school, using the provincial school screening tool:  https://covid-19.ontario.ca/school-screening/ (you can also use this tool to see what the latest requirements are depending on different circumstances). The screening tool and other COVID resources are available on the Home page at lyonsgate.ca.

We have an updated “Letter to School Communities” for you that contains a link to instructions on how to do both oral and nasal swabs when using rapid tests. Please click here for the updated letter.

Toddler

Welcome to the Spring term toddler families! This week seemed to switch abruptly from Winter to Spring, and back again. This back and forth can sometimes persist for a while so please continue to consult the weather report and send the appropriate gear. We will be spending more time outside as the weather becomes warmer. With less outerwear to put on the children are able to get themselves ready more quickly! We will have our afternoon snack in the playground whenever possible.

We were so excited to have that warm blustery day this week. The wind seemed like a new character in our lives. One child pointed up to the top of a tree and laughed and said, “Windy.” I commented to one child how the wind was blowing his hair around and he agreed and added, “And my eyes!” We watched in amazement as one of our riding cars seemed to be driving itself!

If you have time this weekend I encourage you to take a walk with your toddler in your neighbourhood and see if you can spot some signs of Spring. The early spring flowers have begun to poke through, crocuses and the leaves of daffodils and tulips. Other signs of Spring might include seeing people out riding bicycles or out digging in their gardens, puddles of rain water to splash through. Go at their pace and see what they notice. Let them lead the walk and the conversation! — Ms. Gervais.

Casa North

Welcome to Term 3, Casa North — between the upcoming Mother’s Day and Father’s Day celebrations, Parent Observations, Summer Concert, Graduation Ceremony, and meeting our end-of-year academic goals, we find this is our fastest semester of all!

By now, we are hoping you have heard about the re-introduction of our Food Prep activities. The students are very excited to peel clementines, slice apples, squeeze juice, make tea, pit cherries & olives, make butter, and assist with baking as we prepare to move back into Food Prep full force for the 2022/2023 school year. We are always looking for new small batch recipes, so if you have any favourites from home that you’d like to pass on, please do!

As you all know, our Montessori program aims to “follow the child,” meaning that we have gotten to know the students, we have observed them, and we are able to set individual academic goals for each child to reach before our school year ends. The three-year commitment to our Casa programme means we have time to reach new concepts as each child becomes ready, and allows us to work at a pace that’s attainable & unique for that student.

With these individual academic goals in mind, we can share that collectively our 1st years are continuing to work with Sound Games (hearing phonetic sounds in words) and number symbols to 10 daily, and are refining their fine motor, gross motor, and control & coordination of movement through their Practical Life work. Many of our 2nd years are working with Teen Numbers (11-19) and beginning Ten Boards (10, 20, 30, etc.). They are also continuing Sandpaper Letters and Chalkboard work to help them cement the phonetic sounds they know with their matching letter symbol; in many cases, our 2nd years are working with or observing Moveable Alphabet and Phonetic Cards (as introductions to reading and writing). Our almost-graduates (3rd years) are reading, focusing on Functions of Words activities (the parts of speech), and working hard to gain a variety of exposure to the math operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, short & long division) before leaving the Casa classroom.

We trust that each & every child will arrive where they need to be exactly as they’re meant to, and we committed to providing the right tools so they can accomplish that.

Looking forward to finishing the year stronger than ever!

Best,

Ms. O’Sullivan

Casa South

Greetings from Casa South.

Is it Spring yet? We’ve noticed very early signs including bird sightings and snowdrops and are eager to see the end of winter …snow pants, mitts, hats and heavy boots.

We are in the preliminary stages of gardening; discussing what we would like to grow, when to begin, and how to take care of young plants. So far there is interest in carrots, daisies, beans, watermelon, tomatoes, and ice cream. Further discussion appears to be warranted. This has led to conversations about seasons, characteristics of each, and how one leads to the next.

Another topic of interest currently is the human body. We added a terrific book all about this with detailed illustrations. It’s generated questions and conversations about bones, organs, the five senses, and blood and muscles. This has led to learning more about vertebrates and invertebrates, similarities and differences between five classes of animals, as well as how parts of our bodies work. Signs of growing awareness abound — overheard in the classroom, “I fell and bumped my skull, hope my brain is okay!”

Of course, not all children show similar levels of interest in these or any other given topic. One of the beauties of an organic curriculum is having the freedom to go deeper into subjects that interest both children and adults and to go around those that do not. There is always something that catches the attention of every child. When this occurs, we use materials to support it to enable children to work at a level that challenges them in ways that build their knowledge and skills, whatever their age.

Here’s hoping for a faster transition to Spring! 😉

Ms. Robinson.

Elementary

Spring has sprung! The Elementary students were thrilled to return to campus after the March Break and eager to use our outdoor classroom space as we anticipate the return of warm weather. We have been preparing our garden beds for planting season, and are planning our vegetable garden. Our younger students have been busy setting up experiments to explore the fundamental needs of plants, as well as the functions of roots, stems, and leaves. Upper level students are learning to classify plants by phylum and class using the Tree of Life material. We look forward to more work in botany throughout the term!

Wishing you a wonderful weekend ahead,

Michelle and Marissa

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