From the Director’s Desk:

I spent an exciting, albeit bittersweet, weekend with my daughter selecting her wedding dress!  Where did my baby girl go who only felt comfortable in her softball uniform?!?  My 84 year-old mom was along for the ride.  I wish you knew my mom; she was an educator for over 30 years and currently teaches English to non-English speaking adults during the week.  She continues to be a teacher for my brothers and me, for neighborhood kids, and for anyone else who walks by!  She never did my homework for me, and she quit teaching her beloved fifth graders rather than be dishonest about occasionally taking time to travel with my dad when the district passed new leave policies.  That’s the environment in which I grew up.  Knowing that children take their cues from the adults in their lives, we are privileged to operate in loco parentis each day as you leave your children with us at Satori.  It is an honor to model high standards of academic and social growth.  It is “parental” pride and joy to feel their hugs in the morning, to watch their joy singing the state song, see them jump excitedly to get their math journals, and hear that our students were the best behaved class on a field trip!  I am one proud “parent!”

Calendar of Events:

9/30—Open House, 5:30; see below for pot luck dinner assignments.

10/1—Friday, dismissal at noon; teacher half day work day.

10/4—Monday, Parent Teacher Conferences; be sure to sign up.

Pot Luck Dinner Assignments:

Kindergarten—Main Course

First Grade—vegetables/salad

Second Grade—Desserts

Third/Fourth/Fifth—Drinks

Lower School News:

Students will begin to study the letter F—flags!  Ms. Roy still needs picture of the family dog or pet.

Middle School News:

Star student of the month is Emma Howrey!  Emma has been an exceptional student this month; she has been on time every day, turns in her homework on time, and is kind to all of her classmates—great qualities for a Star Student!  Great job, Emma!  Don’t forget to check out her pictures on the Star Student poster!

Upper School News:

Upper schoolers had a wonderful Show and Tell experience with items from the Ganesh Chaturthi festival as we studied about India and its traditions last week.  We finished the Snow Spider, and have started reading Summer of the Storm.  We also have aligned ourselves with a second-sixth grade group of students in Australia, nine of whom will be pen pals this year.

PE/Spanish:

In Spanish, students continue to work on greetings; next, they will start to explore Spanish speaking countries (I hope food is involved!). Thanks again for getting students “shoe” ready for PE—we have almost 100% compliance with proper footwear.  Hand/eye and foot/eye coordination skills are next!

Music:

Students continue to prepare for Thursday night’s Open House—they are a joy to sing with!  We are also looking for a portable sound system that can be used outside for our performance; please call Mrs. Woodlock at 409-789-3496 if you have access to one.

Phonics:

Middle schoolers are near the end of the review phase, while Upper School is at the midway point of review.  A number of intervention resources are being used to reinforce concepts and to fill in the gaps.

Odds & Ends:

• www.starfall.com is a great website for reading practice!
• Kudos to Sharon Mims for her organization of Satori participation in the parade on Saturday—and there was the cutest Satori kindergartner, Zoe McClure, in the paper!

What I Overheard Today:

“I am so in love with spaghetti, and I never want to leave Satori School!”

From the Director’s Desk:

I have had the pleasure over the years of attending many workshops with noted child psychologists, one of whom is John Rosemond.  In his many books, he reminds us that there are no excuses for poor behavior (it wasn’t my fault!).  No discipline feels good at the time, but it is necessary in the development of a conscience.  We should feel badly when we behave badly; it will eventually qualify us as adults.  As Rosemond points out, prisons are full of people who never developed a conscience or grew out of toddler behavior.  In fact, Rosemond cites a self-esteem study that states criminals have the highest sense of self—a reflection of a sense of entitlement and very toddler-like!  This makes the correlation that low self-control can be a by-product of a false sense of self.  Of course, we as educators know that a child who feels good about him or herself is more apt to learn successfully; we work deliberately each day at Satori to provide an arena in which a child will feel successful, whether in academics or enrichments, or on the playground.  We believe as well that a healthy, happy, confident child who grows up to be a healthy, happy, confident adult is one who learns to take responsibility for his or her own actions and learns from it.  In this post-modern era where self is supreme, isn’t it wonderful to have a place like Satori that fully partners with parents in holding “self” accountable while loving learning and each other?!?

Calendar of Events:

9/24—Museum School, “Map It”

10/1—Early Dismissal 12:00

10/4—Parent Conference/Report Card Day

Lower School News:

Lower School has gone to the “dogs” this week—please have your children bring a picture of their dogs (and any other pet) to share.  Pictures are just fine, as we have no need to have the actual pet visit school this week!

Middle School News:

Mrs. Alloway reports that finally, in week four at Satori, she has managed to stump the stars in her class!  Reviews are now over and the challenges of second grade have begun!  She also reports how fortunate she is to have such a fabulous class where each student is unique and brings something exciting to the table—what a fantastic year is ahead!

Upper School News:

Upper school is enjoying reading the first novel, A series of unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket, The Bad Beginning.  Their listening book is Jenny Nimmo’s The Snow Spider, a book by a Welsh author and sent to them by a pen pal school in Wales.  In Science, they are working on “The Science of Energy,” a unit on the forms and sources of energy as well as energy transformation.  Look forward to student demonstrations of the learning in late October.

Art:

New paints are here so get ready for some color!  Now, let’s look for leaves!  Find some fresh leaves and some dried leaves, put them in a baggie, and bring them to share.  Different shapes and different sizes will be combined with the new colors for an exciting project ahead.  Many thanks to Mary Beth Smith and her mom for their creations of new art aprons for the Satori students—they are fabulous!

Spanish:

Students are still hard at work on numbers and letters, and will begin learning greeting phrases.

PE:

Thank you, parents, for making sure your children are wearing the correct PE shoes—please remember no Crocs or sandals—this is simply a safety issue so that students will be safe and have fun in PE.

Music:

All of the classes continue to prepare music for Satori’s Open House as we practice singing together as one group.  The steady beat and fun continue in each class as we sing and learn together.

What I Overheard Today:

Upper schooler discussing her bad luck in staying up late and having to get up at 7:30 a.m.!”  That is sleeping late at my house!

Middle schooler doing word problems—“this make take awhile!”

Lower schooler informing me that 1,000 + 1,000 is 2,000; “aren’t I so good at math, Mrs. Wilkins?”