Happy Wednesday MCS Community!
Staff Continuing Education in Washington DC – WE NEED YOUR HELP!
Each year key members of our staff are encouraged to travel for an annual Montessori conference to further their education and bring back valuable knowledge to implement on our campus. This year’s conference is in Washington DC over Spring Break, and we are fundraising to help with travel expenses to make this a reality for our teachers and staff. We are hosting a bake sale this week, a PJ Party February 14th, and we also have an online donation going. Here is the GoFundMe link to donate – please pass along to anyone you think would be willing to support us! Thank you for your generosity.
This Week @ MCS
Pictured:
1. Cocoplum friends visit Bahama Village for Art in Public Spaces with Ms Kassandra
2. A Gumbo Limbo friend celebrates his birthday with his Walk around the Sun
3. Cocoplum friends perform with Ray McNiece during his on campus poetry workshop
Upcoming Events (more info below)…
PRO TIP: Click the date to save the event to your personal calendar on your phone!
Thursday & Friday January 22 & 23: Bake Sale to Benefit Staff Education
Thursday, January 29: Parent/Corporation Meeting via Zoom @ 6PM
Sunday, February 1: RESCHEDULED! Pirates & Princesses Event by Sunset Sail Key West, Perry Marina 2-4PM
Thursday, February 5: Grown Ups Only Fundraiser @ Mary Ellen’s @ 6PM
Friday, February 13: Grandparent/Special Friend Day
Saturday, February 14: PJ Party in Support of Staff Education to AMS Conference
Saturday, February 21: Love & Play Community Event, On Campus 9AM-12PM
Bake Sale to benefit Staff Education in Washington DC
As part of our ongoing fundraising efforts to send key staff members to the AMS Conference in March we are holding a bake sale Thursday & Friday, January 22nd & 23rd, from 2:30-4 on the Front Lawn. We can accept payment by cash, Venmo, or we can invoice you.
Everyone can bake! Donations of baked goods count toward Work/Pay hours. Sign up here: Bake Sale Sign Ups
Parent/Corporation Meeting
Throughout the year we hold three Parent/Corporation Meetings (we are all members of the Corporation at Montessori Children’s School.) The second of the three meetings this year will be Thursday, January 29th at 6PM, this one is via Zoom and easy to attend. The meeting typically lasts 45 minutes, it’s ok if your kids are in the background. Meeting attendance is worth 1 work/pay hour. This is a great opportunity to learn more about high level plans for the school (including expansion of our campus, programs, and other exciting goals) as well as a chance to interact with other parents and our staff outside of school hours.
Pirates & Princesses Special Fundraising Event by Sunset Sail Key West!
Dear MCS friends and families,
At Sunset Sail Key West we are fortunate to be the custodians of two very special historic vessels – the record-breaking 1930 racing schooner Malabar X and General George Patton’s 1939 transoceanic cruising yacht When And If. Also known as Pirate Ships.
We love to inform, engage and inspire young minds and are delighted to be able to offer a Pirates and Princesses event for children ages 5 and above! Each Pirate or Princess will need to be accompanied by a guardian – this is an opportunity to make beautiful core memories together on this adventure.
For those friends able to join us, we invite you to don your finest pirate/princess garb and join us for our rescheduled day and time: 2PM on February 1st at The Perry Marina. We will start with a treasure hunt! Designed to familiarise friends with the ship and lend some structure to their exploration on board, clues will teach them the names of parts of the boat and lead them to a treasure treat to get us started!
The more musically-minded of our multi-talented crew will induct our guests in a few encouraging sea shanty choruses to help encourage their companions as they haul away because there’s no electric winches here! Friends and family are encouraged to help set sail and there’s more than enough sails for everyone to have a go!
Once the sails are set our ships will head towards a predetermined starting point and a (very loud) cannon shot will announce the commencement of hostilities! A race under sail is a thrilling affair with ships leaning into the wind and water rushing along the scuppers; friends are encouraged to help out wherever possible with tasks such as coiling and setting lines ready for the next maneuver. Our conch horn is our standard signalling device and anyone who wants to will be welcome to have a go!
The race winner will fire their cannon and raise their colors in a declaration of victory, and the ships will cruise in tandem back to the dock as friends help to strike and furl sails and ready the ship for safe harbour. On disembarking every pirate and princess will receive a commemorative certificate thanking them for their service!
We hope you’ll join us for this great adventure – all proceeds go to our wonderful Montessori Children’s School!
Best wishes
Captain Seth and Crew
Sunset Sail Key West
PJ Party
Help our staff get to Washington DC AND enjoy an evening to yourselves, on Valentine’s Day no less! From 5:30-8:30PM on February 14th our Toddler & Primary programs will host a PJ Party – drop your children off for games, crafts, dinner, and a movie with their pals. $60/child – we can invoice you. Sign up by emailing office@montessorikeywest.com or texting 305-294-5302.
Love & Play
Next month we have one of our longest standing and most beloved events happening- Love and Play. It will be held Saturday, 2/21.
This year we are looking for a group of parent volunteers to be our planning/hosting committee for this event. If one of your strengths is party planning and/or hosting this would be a great opportunity for you to get some work pay hours completed ❤️
Tasks Include the Following:
– coordinating breakfast food buffet. We have found that sign up genius works great for this!
– creating and supplying a variation of crafts for our arts and crafts table. 3-4 seems to be a great number in past events. We have found card decorating and friendship bracelets to be a huge hit!
– Ordering and hanging of decorations
– Setting up a food area with the school provided picnic tables
– setting up and overseeing the donation table.
– All cash donations will need to be counted and handed to Ms. Amy at the end of the event.
– Cleaning up campus after the event concludes aka making sure no decorations, crafts, food or trash is left behind.
Please reach out to Ms. Ashley Simons (Lead Mangrove Guide, ashley@montessorikeywest.com) if you are interested in helping with this event. Thank you in advance and we hope for another magical event on our beautiful campus. 🩷
Weekly Miracle Makers
Oftentimes it feels like our school is powered by Miracles. Miracles large and small happen each week to pull off all that we do here. Those miracles appear in acts of love and kindness and service by parents, children, staff, alumni, community members, and more, and each week we highlight a special one here.
This week’s Miracle Maker is Emma Harlow, mom of Elenie, who has saved the day and helped with accommodations for our upcoming IMC Accreditation site visit. This visit is 3+ years in the making, and the primary hurdle was the cost of accommodations during prime season – but Emma and her family came to the rescue and offered the perfect solution for us. THANK YOU EMMA! We can all support Emma on the upcoming opening of her new store on Fleming Street, Keyfillery!
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