Montessori Lab School at Grand Center
Parent Handbook
Revised: October 27, 2016
3854 Washington Blvd.
St. Louis, MO 63108
314-833-5330
The Montessori Lab School at Grand Center
2016 Parent Handbook
The Montessori Approach
Founded in 1907, by Dr. Maria Montessori (1870 - 1952), the Montessori Method created a new
paradigm in education. The idea was to educate children for life rather than develop specific skills for an
existing mentality. The Montessori method is based on the concept of respect--for self, others, and the
environment. The Montessori room for “intellectual growth” is prepared to meet the developmental
needs of the age range within an environment prepared to provide everything necessary for optimal
development. The materials and activities are scientifically designed to appeal to the child’s natural
curiosity and love of learning and the environment supports and sustains a deep ecology for sustainable
living.
Montessori Lab School at Grand Center
The Grand Center facility houses a “laboratory school” for children 5 months-6 years of age. Enrollment
is limited to 30 children in the Children’s House and 8 in the Young Children’s Community. Those
children enrolled will be provided a state-of-the art authentic Montessori education.
Because these classrooms are a part of the adult students' training, the Montessori Training Center of St
Louis (MTC of STL) will oversee all aspects of the Lab School to ensure that the program is of the
highest quality.
The Training Center uses many of the Montessori schools in the St Louis area for observation and
practice teaching. The Grand Center Montessori classroom will be one of the sites used by the training
center. Clear, strict Guidelines are given to observers, as it is important this is done without interacting
with the children. The ability to Guide children's development based on keen observation of children's
activity and is an essential quality of a Montessori teacher. The Montessori Training Center’s Lab
School will also be used as a Practicum site for MTC of STL students.
The Montessori Lab School at Grand Center will be made up of a community of families who share the
mission to nurture the child’s natural desire to learn and grow in a quality Montessori environment
leading to a harmonious and peaceful world. As a laboratory school, it will be an authentic Montessori
school, benefiting from continuous pedagogical oversight by the Training Center and offering parent
education and other outreach programs within the St. Louis community.
The vision is to create a 21st Century, world-class, cross-cultural learning center that employs high
fidelity Montessori methodology to prepare children to achieve at their highest levels academically, as
well as to enjoy social, emotional and physical wellness.
The Young Children’s Community
Our Young Children's Community is carefully designed to serve children who are comfortably walking
(approximately age fifteen months) to age three, in a small and intimate group of eight children and two
trained staff persons. It has two program options, either half-day or full day, four days a week. The
environment conforms to the physical and mental needs of the children, both in the size of the
furnishings and in the opportunities for development. There is an observation window for adults,
minimal furniture, tiled floors, lots of natural light, and selected art placed low on the walls. An
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adjacent bathroom has a toilet and sink sized for very small children. There is a toddler-sized kitchen
sink and defined spaces to challenge coordination of movement, including an accessible outdoor fenced
play space.
The Children's House
Inside the Montessori Training Center of St. Louis facility on Washington Blvd., you will also find a
specially created environment for the child from age 2 1/2 to 6+. The mixed age class encompasses
preschool and kindergarten. The Montessori Lab School directress is trained to connect the children to
the hands-on materials designed for this age. She also has AMI1 elementary training and so can guide
children of kindergarten age and up.
From age 2 ½ to 4 1/2, children participate in a half-day academic program with an option for
supplemental care. From the age of 4 ½ to 6, children who are ready to participate in a full day of
academics are invited to attend the afternoon session. Children below the age of 4 1/2, whose parents
need the service, will be provided a comfortable and quiet place to nap, an afternoon snack, and Guided
activities within our carefully prepared environments, indoors and out-of-doors.
THE CURRICULUM OF THE CHILDREN’S HOUSE INCLUDES THE FOLLOWING AREAS:
Practical Life
This area of the Montessori environment includes lessons in daily etiquette along with exercises in
carrying, pouring, balancing, washing, polishing, and preparing food. These tasks, which are attractively
designed, interest the child and provide a motive for purposeful activity. The exercises help the young
child to acquire practical skills, build attention span, create an inner sense of order, and build muscular
coordination and perseverance. Having gained a measure of concentration, control and coordination the
young mind is free to explore academic interests. This area is the foundation of the Children’s House
program.
Sensorial
Dr. Montessori devised this group of activities to help the child develop powers of observation and
discernment. In these exercises, many of the abstractions of the adult world are made concrete for the
classroom. The child is offered materials representing various forms, colors, dimensions, textures,
sounds, tastes, and smells. While working with these specially prepared materials, the child gains
perception and the ability to classify. This leads to higher reasoning skills while extending the scope of
imagination.
Language
Language exercises begin casually with the child's oral vocabulary development. Sounds of various
letters become the focus of impromptu language games as children show an interest. Symbols for the
1 Association Montessori Internationalle is headquartered in Amsterdam, NL, and is an International NGO with the United
Nations. AMI was founded in 1929 by Dr. Maria Montessori for the training of Montessori teachers around the world.
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sounds are introduced and the child begins analyzing words that are already part of his oral vocabulary.
As word-building activity grows, advanced letter sound combinations are introduced. Before long,
children explode into reading and writing. Precise words relating to various concepts in mathematics,
geometry, biology, geography, history, and science are presented. The functions of parts of speech and
sentences are presented to children who have begun reading. The child delights in these exercises and,
without realizing it, gains knowledge that will pay dividends throughout the later school years.
Mathematics
Foundations of mathematical thought are established through work with practical life and sensorial
areas. The young child is given exercises that aid him in understanding quantity, symbol and counting.
As the child masters the introductory lessons, the decimal system and the four basic operations are
introduced. While the child is happily absorbed in his tasks, certain mathematical functions including the
numerical value of squares and cubes are being imprinted on his subconscious.
Art and Music and Cultural Studies
Lessons in drawing, painting, music and singing are incorporated into the daily activities of the
classroom. Through use of the maps, flags, and books, the students learn about world geography and
people of the world.
Foreign Language
With a native Spanish speaker as the classroom assistant, the children experience a bilingual
environment at the perfect age for the acquisition of a second language, that is, when they are in a
Sensitive Period for language. Research has shown that children in bilingual environments maintain
their plasticity in the auditory language center of the brain and take in a second language as easily as
their mother tongue. Our foreign language program provides meaningful communication, i.e.
conversational Spanish. Your child will absorb the second language naturally and effortlessly, at
absolutely no expense to their development of spoken and written English.
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Outcomes
The Children’s House Program is designed as a 3-year program. If a child enters at 2 ½ or 3 and stays
through six years of age, the following developmental outcomes, given individual differences, are
anticipated:
Optimal Developmental Outcomes
Social Outcomes:
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self-discipline
increased independence derived from new skills and competencies
knowledge of appropriate and specific pro-social behaviors
patience and the ability to share
respect for others
and a willingness to abide by rules to create social order
Moral Outcomes:
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perseverance, good work habits
ability to choose
self-discipline
independence
mental balance
sublimation of the possessive instinct (empathy & sharing)
care and respect for the environment and for others
Intellectual (Cognitive) Outcomes:
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the clarification and classification of ideas
increase in knowledge/ vocabulary
refinement of sense perception/discrimination
logical/ linear thinking
new skills and competencies (life skills, reading, writing, arithmetic)
sustained interest
augmentation of intellect
internalization of symbol systems: language (semantics, grammar, syntax)and mathematics (arithmetic tables,
numeration and counting, the decimal system and place value)
concrete operations (+, -, x, /, sentence analysis)on the above symbol systems with Montessori materials
Introduction to social studies, biology, geography, history, geometry, music, art, dance
Emotional Outcomes:
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pleasure in purposeful activity
serenity, calmness, satisfaction, emotional equilibrium
happiness, joy
an anxious concern for all life
love of people and things
emotional wellness
warm, expressive, outgoing, and optimistic personality
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Daily Schedule
7:30 a.m.
Doors open for early arrival
8:00 - 8:30
Children come in and slowly settle into their morning work period. They hang
up their coats, change to their indoor shoes, and choose their first activity of the
day.
8:30-11:30
11:30 – Noon
Morning uninterrupted work period (this includes work outdoors in good
weather).
Noon
Noon – lunch for children who stay in the afternoon
12:30 p.m.
Dismissal of 15 months - 4 1/2 year olds to parents who elect for the ½ day
option.
1:00 – 3:30
Outdoor time for all.
2:00
Nap time for younger children and uninterrupted work period for those older
children who no longer need to nap.
3:30
Dismissal
3:30
Late Stay
5:30
Please pick up your child by or before 5:30 p.m.
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Tuition Schedule
Half Day Primary or Young Children’s Community*
(8:30 – 12:30)
$7200 or $800/ month
Full Day Primary or Young Children’s Community*
(8:30 – 3:30)
$8550 or $950/month
Early Arrival Option (7:30 – 8:30 a.m.)**
Late-Stay Option (3:30 – 5:30 p.m).*
$900 or $100/month
$1800 or $200/month
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Tuition is for a 9-month academic year, September through May. Tuition will be pro-rated for
second semester enrollment.
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For all students, we require a signed Enrollment Agreement and an annual non-refundable
Enrollment Deposit by March 31st of the current year or upon the new child’s acceptance. The
signed Enrollment Agreement and Enrollment Deposit is necessary to secure a place for your
child for the school year.
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Families may elect to pay in full, in two equal installments, or in nine monthly installments. If
payments are not received by the third day after the due date, the school will assess a $20.00 late
fee. Tuition can be paid by check or credit card with automatic withdrawal. All credit card
payments will incur a 3% card fee.
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Families with more than one enrolled student will receive a 15% tuition discount for each
additional sibling.
* The Young Children’s Community is conducted Monday through Thursday.
** Early Arrival and Late Stay are not available for the Young Children’s Community.
Montessori Lab School at Grand Center admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin
to all the rights, privileges, programs and activities generally accorded or made available students at
the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in
administration of its educational policies, admission policies, assistance programs and any schooladministrated programs
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Policies & Procedures
Communication Between Home & School
School Contact Information
Montessori Lab School at Grand Center
Phone: 314-833-5330
Web: www.mtclabschool.org
Any school employee’s email address will be [email protected]
e.g., John Doe would be [email protected]
Annette Haines, Executive Director
[email protected]
Julia Kohlberg, Administrative Secretary
[email protected]
Lakshmi Shekhar, Primary Directress
[email protected]
Lisa Fioretti, YCC Guide
[email protected]
Office Hours
The front desk is staffed from 7:30 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday throughout the school
year. The school office is closed on national holidays, during the weeks of Winter Break and Spring
Break. The school year runs from after Labor Day in September to the end of May and a full school-year
calendar is posted on the website.
Communication from School
Changes to Contact Information
If you have any change in your contact information, i.e. address, email, or phone number, please call or
email the office to let us know. It is vital that we have current contact information, especially phone
numbers, to be able to reach you if there is any emergency, such as early school closing due to snow, or if
your child is ill.
The Weekly News:
The school publishes a newsletter for parents every Wednesday during the school year, containing
information about Montessori education, upcoming school events or announcements regarding members
of the Montessori Lab School community. The Weekly Bulletin is emailed in digital format to each
family.
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Website:
Our website includes the school calendar, this Parent Handbook, Admissions Applications forms, staff
information and other parent resources.
Communication with Second Families:
In situations where parents are separated or divorced, please advise the school of additional addresses
for mailing purposes so that everyone is fully informed about school functions, parent- teacher
conferences, etc. The non-custodial parent must have a signed release form in the office if they intend to
pick up the child.
Contacting Your Child’s Teacher
We will use multiple ways to communicate with you, including phone, email, newsletters, written notes,
conferences, parent gatherings, etc. Your child’s Guide will let you know how best to contact her.
Formal individual conferences between Guides and parents occur twice a year. Guides or parents may
request additional meetings when necessary.
Because the Guides work with the children without a formal break, they are unavailable to answer phone
calls or speak to you in person during the school day.
Emergency calls should be routed through the main office.
Evening parent gatherings are held throughout the year.
Changes in Home Situation
Please inform your child’s teacher by note or personal conversation if there is a change in the home
situation: death, divorce, or relocation (even within St. Louis), a new baby, extended visits by friends or
relatives, a new baby-sitter or care-giver, a change in carpool or in the child’s daily routine, or any fears,
bad dreams, or fantasies. A change at home will often be reflected simultaneously or subsequently in
behavior at school. Communication from parents will enable the Guide to help the child as need arises.
Proper Lines of Communication
There are certain lines to follow in communicating with the school about your child’s experience at The
Lab School at Grand Center.
Parent to Guide
Communicate directly with your child’s Guide. Many times a child’s development presents challenges
to both parent and Guide. Working directly with the Guide in a spirit of collaboration is the most
effective way to resolve any issue and to build a solid partnership between school and home for future
work on behalf of the child. Speaking to anyone else about the issue may be tempting at the time, but it
is not in the best interests of your child, the Guide or your child’s community.
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Some popular literature asserts that to advocate for their children, parents must take an adversarial
relationship toward their school. In fact, our experience is that such an approach is always
counterproductive. You are, by definition, your child’s advocate. At the same time, the school is also
an advocate for your child; we each bring our own view of what is happening and what is in the child’s
best interest. The Guide’s experience and training help her to evaluate and make sense of her
observations of your child. We want to work together with you—on the same side of the table rather
than from opposing sides—to develop mutual understanding in the interest of your child. The children
of our Montessori community approach their own problem solving in this collaborative way, and we,
their adults, owe it to them to model the same productive behavior.
Parent to Executive Director
Issues that cannot be resolved by the parents and Guide working together may be
referred to the Executive Director. This step can be initiated by the parents or the Guide. Please contact,
Mrs. Julia Kohlberg, the Assistant to the Executive Director, to schedule a meeting with the Executive
Director.
Attendance at the Children’s House
For the children to self-develop and self-educate, they must experience the rhythm of regular attendance.
They must be present for the day-to-day events in the prepared environment. They need to experience
the unfolding of the individual children and the evolving of the community. Much of the development of
the children in Children’s House is subtle and indirect. Although most of the activities are individual and
the guide works with each one individually, there exists a web of unconscious interconnectedness in the
community. Montessori calls this ‘society by cohesion’. The individual child cannot be a part of this
social cohesion unless he is present regularly.
Each individual child is important to the whole group. Each moment of the group’s life is important to
the individual members. For this reason, we ask that your child attend school regularly. If your child will
be absent, please let us know. If there is some compelling reason for your child to be absent for an
extended period of time, please consult with the guide. When a child of this age-level is absent, it may
be difficult for her to reconnect and resume her self-development and self-education.
The absorbent mind and the sensitive periods that characterize this stage of development require a
predictable flow of days, a predictable sequence of events within those days, and a predictable response
to the urges and drives that so strongly direct development. For this reason The Montessori Lab School
at Grand Center provides a 5 days-per-week program. We ask that you make every effort to avoid
absences if at all possible.
Policy: After the guide has sent the attendance policy and called the parent about absences, a
corresponding letter will be written on school letterhead and signed by hand by the executive
director.
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Coming to School
There are only a few things your child will need to bring to school. As a Montessori school, we do not
ask for school supplies, as everything that is needed is provided by the Center. However, your child will
need some “indoor shoes” to be kept at the Lab School. These should be shoes that are easy to walk in,
easy on and off, similar in style to Toms Slippers or canvas slip’ons. Please check periodically that your
child has not outgrown the shoes he or she has at school and please do not send Crocs, as these make
walking very difficult.
Your child will need a lunch box with a nutritious lunch (see below).
Also, please send an extra set of clothes in a plastic bag, including underwear or socks. This is
necessary (obviously) for the bathroom accidents that will occur with very young children but it is also
helpful for older children to have an extra set of clothing in case there is a spill or some unfortunate
event regarding water, mud, or paint. The extra clothes will be stored in your child’s cubby.
There is no need for the backpacks or wheeled suitcases so popular with school children today. Please
do not send this kind of thing as it only creates a storage problem.
Food and Nutrition2
Breakfast
The children’s work at school is directly affected by the nutritional quality of their meals. Please
provide your child with a nutritious breakfast each morning.
A high-protein breakfast that includes a generous portion of meat, eggs, cheese, nuts, or beans is
essential to the child’s development, learning, and enjoyment at school. This is both the universal
experience of our Guides as well as the finding of well-respected public health research studies. A child
who has not had a high-protein breakfast is not ready to come to school.
Read the labels of the foods you buy, and avoid sugar, corn syrup, artificial sweeteners or coloring,
artificial flavoring, and other additives. Most nutritionists believe that these substances interfere with
the child’s ability to learn and ability to have acceptable behavior. Such things as Pop-Tarts, sweet rolls,
and pre-sweetened cereals may be convenient, but not only are they very poor foods, they may be
hazardous to your child’s emotional, mental, and physical growth. Good nutrition directly affects a
child’s health, concentration, and behavior.
It is suggested that each parent read “Sugar Blues”, by William Duffy, published by Warner Books.
Snacks
In the Children’s House, the school provides a snack of pure fruit juice and sunflower seeds, cheese
cubes, raisins, or something similar, for morning refreshment. Guides also welcome snacks contributed
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From the Austin Montessori Handbook, courtesy of Donna Goertz.
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from home. Your child’s Guide will provide you with the desires of that community. Children bring
their lunches from home and eat together family style. The articles below provide information and
Guidelines for lunches at school.
Box Lunches at School
In our school, the Guides have lunch with the children. Lunch is a social experience and an
opportunity to refine manners. It is a time to enjoy pleasant conversation and good food. Children,
Guides, and assistants all bring their lunches from home.
We help the children become consciously aware of flavors and textures of their food. This expands
their vocabularies as well as their eating pleasure. We may discuss the sources of the foods we eat. If
it comes from a plant, we discuss the part of the plant we are eating: stem, leaf, fruit, or root. Other
discussions may cover the way the food product is made, where or how it grows, its nutritional value
or group, etc.
Although we bring our lunches, we do not eat out of our lunch bags. Lunch is set up pleasantly with a
centerpiece, table linens, china plates, and cloth napkins, glassware and stainless cutlery. The
children enjoy learning to prepare for, serve, and clear away after a meal. They learn to wait for
everyone to be ready before beginning to eat. The children are helped to peel and pour for
themselves. They also learn to offer help to one another and to request, accept, and decline help as
needed.
Each child is encouraged to eat only as much as his/her hunger requires, although generous time is
provided. When a child is through eating, s/he wraps uneaten food and returns it to his/her bag or
box. Cores, pits, and peelings are put in the compost bucket. If you find old peelings or unwrapped
leftovers in your child’s lunchbox, it would be a helpful reinforcement if you would make an
appropriate comment reflecting your understanding of the lunchtime procedure.
We send home all leftover food so that you and your child can determine from it the amount
appropriate for the following day. Continue decreasing portions of any food left over each day. When
no food comes home, you will know for the present time that you have determined the proper
amount. Of course, there will always be fluctuations. If for days your child continues to bring home
an empty lunchbox, ask if s/he would be hungry for a slightly larger lunch, or try
sending a little something extra. Continue to increase the size of the lunch until something leftover
comes home; then cut back just a bit.
We hope these suggestions will help us to be sure each child has enough, but not too much, for his/her
own individual needs. The more we do, taking lead from the needs shown to us by the child, and the
less we say about the size of his/her appetite, the better we will be able to help him/her to eat what is
really needed.
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LUNCH SUGGESTIONS:
Protein: Meat, fish, chicken, boiled egg, yogurt*, cheese, natural nut butters on whole grain bread,
beans and rice, tofu, seeds, and nuts.
Grains: Whole grain bread, tortillas, or crackers.
Vegetables: A slice or wedge of one or two different fresh vegetables, raw or cooked, such as carrot,
celery, cucumber, lettuce, or avocado.
Fruits: One or two different fruits in small portions: banana, apple, orange, grapes
Drinks: Water, milk, whole fresh fruit or vegetable juice
Please do not confuse quantity with quality. Send only as much food as your child will eat. For
example: half a sandwich, half a banana, wedge of vegetable.
*Plain yogurt with no added sugar or other additives but fresh fruit is the only yogurt to be included
in your school lunch.
Please do not send “fast food,” candy, cupcakes, cookies, potato chips, carbonated drinks, fruit rolls
(“fruit leather”), pudding, Jell-O, snack packs, or gum. These will be returned home unopened.
Some Guides invite children to bring leftover foods for re-heating. Please do not send frozen foods,
TV dinners, hot pockets, or other uncooked or highly processed “convenience” foods.
Children who forget their lunches do not call home to have their parents bring them a lunch. Instead,
the other children in the community offer them small portions of what they brought, and the
cumulative effect of this generosity is a balanced lunch.
Teaching your children the importance of good eating habits while they are very young will benefit
them for the rest of their lives. It is very important to practice these food habits in the home for the
sake of consistency and for your child’s well-being.
How to Take the “Drag” Out of Bag Lunches
Sandwich Ideas
Egg:
Chop hard-cooked egg and mix with salad dressing.
For variety, add one or a combination of the following:
onion
bean sprouts
chopped raw spinach
celery
lettuce
grated cheese
raisins
grated carrot
green pepper
chicken
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Cheese:
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Sliced or grated with salad dressing. For variety, add:
chopped nuts
chopped onion
nuts
Cottage Cheese: For variety, mix with:
cucumber
tomatoes
applesauce
chopped fruit
green pepper
caraway seeds
Peanut Butter: Plain or with one of the following:
Raisins
molasses
Nuts
sliced apple
shredded carrots
sprouts
nuts
sliced banana
chopped prunes
sliced banana
Baked Beans:
Plain or mashed with chopped onion and a small amount of chili sauce or raisins.
Fish:
Tuna with salad dressing; add chopped celery, peanuts, apple slices or raisins.
White Fish with chopped celery, catsup, salad dressing.
Salmon with salad dressing; and chopped celery.
Sardines plain or with salad dressing.
Meat:
Chicken sliced or chopped with salad dressing and shredded raw greens.
Beef sliced or chopped with salad dressing, mustard and shredded raw greens. Turkey sliced
with nuts, celery, pineapple or apple slices.
Leftovers:
Rice and veggies from last night’s supper
Couscous and veggies, casseroles, beans (stored in lunchbox, these warm up to room
temperature by noon)
More Ideas for Lunches
From: “What Do You Hand A Hungry Toddler,” by Laura Tze; NAMTA, Vol. 1, No.2.
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Canned pineapple pieces (in own juice)
Dates stuffed w/peanut butter, cream cheese, or natural cheese...topped with a nut or piece of
fruit.
Carrot stick dipped in peanut butter (100% nuts, no sugar)
Cucumber rounds spread with farmer’s cheese or cream cheese (covered with another round
for a sandwich)
Melted cheese on whole grain toast (rolled and cut in circles) or buttered toast, sprinkled with
grated parmesan (a very high protein cheese) and toasted in the oven.
Raw Mushrooms
Avocado Strips (in season)
Dried apples, apricots, pears or peaches
Dates, figs, prunes (pitted, not too many!)
Sprouts-alfalfa or other (easy to do yourself)
Bread sticks from homemade whole wheat dough, rolled in logs, baked and frozen defrost and
serve. Or croutons made with whole wheat bread crusts.
Brown rice crackers, Whole wheat matzoh ,Onion matzoh
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Rye crisp (lots of fiber)
Whole wheat pretzels (the low sodium kind)
Oven crisped tortilla chips (corn tortilla cut into wedges and baked until crisp - a homemade
chip)
Liver strips, sautéed - perhaps first dipped in whole wheat flour or wheat germ - or seasoned
with soy sauce
Slices of nitrite-free hot dogs
Large wing joint of leftover chicken (try adding sesame seeds or wheat germ to whole wheat
flour or bread crumbs before cooking)
Melon balls, strips, or cubes - fresh in season
Fresh grapes
Citrus Fruit (orange, pineapple, grapefruit), peeled sectioned
Oranges cut in half (peel on)
Grapefruit segments (first peeled whole like and orange
Non-processed, natural cheese-grated, in cubes or cut with a cookie cutter (white cheese has
no artificial coloring, Swiss is low in sodium)
Pitted olives (sliced or placed on a carrot) Monukka raisins (larger and naturally sweeter)
Fruit butter (100% fruit, no sugar) on crackers or toast, or spread inside halved whole wheat
pita
Fresh peas, straight from the pod
Lettuce shreds
Cold, cooked eggplant
Leftover sweet potato cubes or slices
Green or red bell pepper strips (red is sweeter and has more vit. C) Hard boiled eggs, deviled
eggs, leftover cold scrambled egg pieces Grated carrot (may be tossed in garlic powder),
Cherry or plum tomatoes, Raw zucchini in strips or rounds, Drained tuna chunks
Tuna and ricotta cheese mix, for dip or spread - with raw veggies or whole grain crackers
Tuna and crushed pineapple, mix or blend serve as above
Tuna topped or mixed with grated cheese, on toast (broiled if there’s time)
Ricotta or cottage cheese with dates, dried apricots, and sunflower seeds (great color and
texture)
Cottage cheese mixed with raisins, cinnamon, and vanilla on bread or toast, broiled until
bubbly
Softened cream (or other) cheese, in balls or logs - rolled in nuts (salty) or granola (sweet)
Pancakes (leftover, frozen, reheated)
Waffles or French toast - the same (spread with 100% fruit butter and rolled up if they’re to
thin)
(For older children) Peanuts in the shell, walnuts and raisins, soy nuts, sunflower or pumpkin
seeds, corn nuts
Vegetable juices
Blender drink - orange juice and milk or orange juice, milk and banana (add at will a little
yogurt, wheat germ, vanilla, frozen strawberries or blueberries)
Buttermilk blended with crushed pineapple and a bit of honey
A cup plain yogurt blended with frozen strawberries (or any fruit) - perhaps with a dash of
vanilla
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Plain yogurt mixed with apple juice concentrate or orange juice concentrate to sweeten
Fresh coconut, in strips or grated
Apple sandwich - two pieces sliced apple filled with peanut butter or cheese. Apple faces,
open sandwich decorated with raisin face.
Health
Health Forms
Prior to the first day of class, the office must have your child’s completed health form. He or she will be
unable to attend school until the completed health form and immunization records are received.
Medications
Prescription Medicine
Please send the dosage needed for one day only, in the original container from the pharmacy with the
child’s name on it, and a dated note from the parent listing the times and amounts to be given that day.
Prescription labels are not a substitute for the note. A child may not carry medication; a parent or other
adult must personally hand it to the Guide or assistant. This medicine needs to be handed directly to the
Guide (or bus driver for bus children), so that the medicine can be properly stored out of reach. When
you have your prescription filled, you may ask the pharmacist to put the medication into two labeled
containers, explaining that you need one to keep at school.
Non-Prescription Medicine
In general, we strongly discourage the sending of over-the-counter medicines. Medicine, including
children’s Tylenol and cough drops, may not be given to a child by a staff member, except when it
absolutely must be taken during school hours, and the parent has given the Guide written instructions.
The note must include the amount, time, duration, and under what circumstances the medication is to be
administered. Send only the dosage needed for that day in the original container (so we know what it
is).
Illness Policy
A child with any of the following symptoms be isolated and the parent(s) notified and asked to remove
the child from the school as soon as possible.
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Fever of 100.5° F
Diarrhea (more than one abnormally loose stool per day)
Vomiting
Nausea
Severe cough
Unusual yellow color to skin or eyes
Skin or eye lesions or rashes that are severe, weeping, or pus-filled
Stiff neck and headache with one or more of the symptoms listed above
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Difficult breathing or wheezing
Complaints of severe pain
If your child is not feeling well in the morning, please observe them closely before sending them to
school and risking the health of other children.
Children must be free from symptoms for 24 hours before returning to school. If your child develops
any of these symptoms while at school, you will be called immediately. If a child has mild cold
symptoms that do not impair his/her functioning, the child may remain in the classroom and the
parent(s) notified when they pick up their child.
If your child is diagnosed with any communicable disease (chicken pox, whooping cough, fifth disease,
pink eye, etc.) or head lice, please report this at once to the office as well as your child’s Guide.
Arrival and Dismissal
Our staggered arrival and dismissal schedule is designed to create easy and friendly arrival and
dismissal. Parents are asked to park in front of the building in the 15 minute parking spaces and walk
with their children, holding their hand, into the building. There, you and your child will be greeted by a
staff member. At that point, please say a brief goodbye and return to your car. Your child will be
helped to make his or her way to her classroom, take off her coat and hang it on a hanger, switch to
indoor shoes, and enter into the prepared environment. This first lesson in independence sets the stage
for the rest of the school day, where the child will be Guided to learn to choose his or her own activities,
and have many new lessons.
At dismissal, once again parents are asked to park in the 15 minute parking spaces on Washington Blvd.
and come into the building. Stand quietly at the classroom door and your child’s directress will shake
his hand, signaling a transfer of responsibility from her to you.
If someone other than yourself is picking up your child, make sure that individual’s name is on a signed
release form in the office. For obvious reasons, we cannot dismiss a child to someone who is not on the
release form.
We have acquired the adjacent property and plans are underway to create a drive through. This will
eventually ease congestion on Washington Blvd. and make arrival and dismissal even more convenient.
This, unfortunately, awaits a capital campaign and raising the needed money for the improvements.
Until that time, please be patient.
Snow Days
The Montessori Lab School at Grand Center informs families on Snow Days by 6:30 a.m. by email. If
no announcement is sent by 7 a.m. it is a regular school day. The school does not have a late arrival
policy for snow. However students will not be penalized for late arrival in inclement weather. In
making the decision to call a Snow Day, the Montessori Lab School at Grand Center takes into
consideration the advice of the National Weather Bureau. We have a responsibility, as a school, to
insure the safety of our community and make decisions about Snow Days based on ice, snow, extreme
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cold, blowing wind, road conditions, and snow accumulation. If you have any questions about the
Montessori Lab School at Grand Center Snow Day policy, please contact Dr. Annette Haines, Executive
Director at [email protected].
Clothing
The child should be dressed in comfortable clothes that he can self-manage for the bathroom. Although
aprons are worn for some activities to protect clothing, please realize this does not always prevent
clothes from becoming stained. Soft-soled, practical shoes allow for a maximum range of safe
movement. Therefore, cowboy boots, thongs and clogs may not be worn at school. Please label with
your child’s name or initials, all removable garments such as coats, sweaters, scarves and gloves.
Guidelines for School Clothes that Promote Safety, Comfort, and Concentration
The Montessori classroom is a prepared environment. The materials, furniture, pictures and posters, the
books and music have all been selected to create an ambiance that is conducive to long concentration,
higher-level thinking, and creative expression. Our intention always is to incorporate only the finest and
most enduring manifestations of our culture.
The clothing worn by the children becomes a part of the classroom environment and has an effect on the
ambiance. Just as we would not hang posters of popular movie, TV, or video themes, characters, or
scenes on the walls of our living rooms, we also ask that you reserve clothing with such depictions for use
outside of school. We prefer plain T-shirts, but those depicting ecology, nature, the environment, flora
or fauna, the arts, sports or travel that are in keeping with the spirit of serious study are also welcome.
We are confident that the children will not be deprived of fads and pop culture by their exclusion from
the classroom. Many of us enjoy party attire, clothing for just hanging out, neighborhood playwear,
haute couture, and cutting-edge fashions, but we wear them elsewhere.
Please save the following for enjoying outside of school:
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Double laces, long shoelaces, or cord or leather shoe laces, which are very hard to keep, tied.
Cowboy boots, jellies, flip-flops, clogs, girls’ slip-on dress shoes, rain boots, dress sandals, light
up shoes, socks that have beads or other adornments that make noise, shoes with more than one
inch heels, or any other shoes inappropriate for a casual athletic activity.
Buckles, belts, or suspenders children cannot handle by themselves.
Baggy sleeves or sleeves that are too long.
Bracelets, dangling jewelry that distracts, or headbands that won’t stay on.
Super-hero, cartoon, concert, and advertising T-shirts.
Costume-like clothing such as army camouflage, dance clothes, and clown shirts.
Jumpsuits and overalls.
Clothes so expensive you’ll get upset if something happens to them.
Sports uniforms.
Straps or neck openings that fall off the shoulder
Trendy fashions that are short or tight.
Fun fashions or other fad clothing that have bare midriffs.
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*The general principle for clothing and shoes is that they should be:
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Safe and appropriate for running, jumping, hiking, climbing, and playing.
In the spirit of the serious working environment of the classroom.
Easy in and out for independent toileting.
Not so expensive/fancy that the child or the parents will get upset if the child gets dirty or spills/wets his
clothes.
After the younger children have lunch and some free play time outdoors, they may stay to hear a story,
sing, listen to music, take a nap, or just rest.
Each child will be asked to bring his or her own bedding, which should reflect the Guidelines
outlined in the Clothing section of the handbook. Just as nothing cartoony or trendy would be
appropriate for the classroom, it is also not appropriate in the Young Children’s Community.
Birthdays at The Lab School:
The Lab School at Grand Center recognizes that birthdays are special days for children. If your child’s
birthday occurs during the school year, we will celebrate it at school. We have a special ritual where the
child walks around the ellipse as many times as his or her age, symbolizing the number of trips the earth
has made around the sun since he or she was born. We sing a special little song, “The earth goes around
the sun.”
We invite parents to participate in this special ritual and it is helpful if they bring a few pictures of the
child at various ages, i.e. when he or she was an infant, when they were one, two, etc. If you have a
special snack for that day, we will serve it to celebrate the birthday. Guidelines for birthday snacks are
one very small cookie per child (the size of a gingersnap, perhaps, or a vanilla wafer). No icing, please.
If you have questions about what is acceptable, please ask.
There is a second birthday custom we are cultivating: Your child can “give something” on his or her
special day (instead of getting something). Buy a book for the school from our list of “wish-list of
books,” read it to your child before their birthday, wrap it up in pretty birthday paper and he or she can
give it to the class during the special celebration. We will put a book label in it with your child’s name
and birthday, eg. ”This book was given to the Lab School on _______’s fourth birthday, October 25,
2016. The birthday book will remain in the school’s library collection, a fond reminder of the special
day. Research has shown that giving is better than receiving.
Birthday celebrations are done towards the end of the morning work period-- usually around 11:00 a.m.
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Late Stay
3:30 - 5:30 pm
Children whose families require a longer day can sign up for Late Stay. The Montessori principals and
practices will be implemented in a way that maintains consistency throughout the day. Individual
activity, free choice, games and small group lessons and outdoor play will be provided, along with a
late afternoon snack.
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A Short History of Montessori in St. Louis
Montessori has a long history in St. Louis. As early as 1913, a small class of children was created in the
home of McKitrick Jones in Westmorland Place in what is now the Central West End. The children are
working with classic Montessori materials: dressing frames, pink tower, stereognostic materials, etc. and
the two adults seemingly were trained Montessori guides. On the wall there is a diploma with the iconic
Roman emblem of Romulus and Remus. Dr. Maria Montessori’s very first international course for
teachers was in Rome in 1913. Presumably one or both of the women in the picture had attended
Montessori’s first class. In 1913, Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Helen Keller endorsed
her method of education.
For reasons beyond the scope of this discussion, Montessori lost popularity in the U.S. from the time of
this picture (before the first World War) until after the second. But in the nineteen sixties, there was a
revival of interest in the United States. In 1964 Mrs. R.E. Felling founded Countryside Montessori on
Ladue Road as an AMI (Association Montessori Internationale) school and in 1967, she brought Pearl
Vanderwall, a young woman who had trained with the dottoressa herself in 1944, to St. Louis.
Mrs. Vanderwall and her husband Will, were willing to leave their beloved Ceylon because of the
political unrest and civil war there. She worked for Mrs. Felling for several years but left to start her
own school, which she named Villa di Maria. For many years Villa di Maria was a struggling little
school, surviving in church basements but it gained a reputation for the little miracles that happened
with the children. Families and parents were absolutely loyal to Pearl. Over time the little school grew
from one classroom to two, and so forth, as she moved from Incarnate Word on Olive Rd. to Des Peres
Presbyterian on Clayton Rd. to Mercy Center. By that time the school included children from 2 ½
through the elementary.
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Before coming to the United States, Mrs. Vanderwall had worked as a course assistant at the Good
Shepherd Maria Montessori Training Centre St. Bridget's Convent in Colombo, Ceylon. When Mario
Montessori, Maria’s son, asked her to take on a second task, that of training teachers in the U. S., she
balked. But always loyal to AMI and the Montessori ideals, she founded the AMI Montessori Training
Center of St. Louis in 1971, which was recognized as a 501(c)3 non-profit organization in 1972.
The little Montessori Training Center of St. Louis trained teachers and followed Villa di Maria as the
school moved from the Olive address to the Clayton Road address to the Mercy Center facility and
finally to the Kirkwood property where Villa di Maria is still an AMI Montessori School today.
In 1991, after 20 years of training teachers, Mrs. Vanderwall retired, leaving Annette Haines as the
Director of Training. Annette, an AMI 3-6 teacher, had begun the AMI Training of Trainers Programme
in 1982 and apprenticed under Vanderwall for the eight years it took her to become a fully qualified
AMI Teacher Trainer. During that time, she earned an AMI Elementary diploma as well as a Masters
and Doctorate in Education. From 1991 until 2001, The Montessori Training Center of St. Louis
conducted courses at Villa di Maria in Kirkwood.
From 2001 until the present time, The Training Center rented space at what is now the Chesterfield
Montessori School on Ladue Road. During this period, the training center also gave three AMI Primary
satellite courses for Montessori teachers in Kansas City for the Kansas City Missouri School District.
Today, The Montessori Training Center of St. Louis continues to train teachers in Missouri and from
around the world. Students come from all over the United States and from as far away as Taiwan,
Romania, Sweden, Russian, China, Korea, Mexico, etc. to attend its AMI course, which offers the most
in-depth, complete, and authentic course on Montessori education available anywhere. As of this
writing, the 2014 course is completely sold out; there is currently a waiting list at the new, state-of-theart, soon to be completed, facility on Washington Blvd. at Grand Center.
Montessori education in St. Louis has a long history; it has a longer future ahead of it.
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