Being a part of the KMCP family is a really special opportunity. We highly encourage parent involvement and interaction!
We start each school year in August with an “Ice Cream Social” which is a chance for our newly enrolled families and their children to meet our returning families and to “meet and greet” your child’s new teacher; all in a relaxed setting, on our playground and under the picnic shelter.
The first week of September, we host our annual “Parent Orientation” which is a more formal introduction to the school staff and the classrooms, and it is intended for the parents only. It is at this meeting that you will receive a more complete explanation of “The Montessori Method” as it relates to our school as well as an overview of our planned school year.
We have many class parties/special events over the course of the year. Every year in September, we celebrate the “International Day of Peace” by meeting on the playground, hanging a banner and singing the Moravian benediction, “Go Now In Peace”. Also, we have two Field Trips per year, and we always LOVE to have as many parent chaperones as possible.
October is when we have our first field trip and we go to the Pumpkin Patch, where we listen to the ‘pumpkin lady’ tell Halloween stories, take photos and choose a small pumpkin to keep. The children tremendously enjoy this event and we look forward to it every year! Also in October, we have “Fall Fun Day” when the children come dressed in their favorite costume. We have a party where we eat ‘special snacks,’ pass out all kinds of goodies, read pumpkin stories and just have FUN! Parents are invited to attend.
We then have our annual “Child Lead Conferences” at the beginning of November. This is an opportunity for parents to come and observe our classrooms. It gives parents the chance to get a view of our classrooms in action. A frequent comment we hear from parents is: “I never realized my child could do all of that!”. We also celebrate Thanksgiving with simple parties in the classrooms.
December is an especially exciting month. Our children love our annual Christmas Nativity Pageant where they perform their version of the Christmas story, celebrate the Moravian Love Feast, and have a visit from St. Nicholas.
Each year in January, we host our annual “Registration Round-Up” where our current families re-enroll their children for the following year. This event kicks off our enrollment drive for the following school year. We follow up this event with an Open House, held the last Sunday of February, in which the public is invited to attend. We open up our classrooms and we have current students giving demonstrations of Montessori Lessons. Interested parties are invited to ask questions about the Montessori Method and registration materials are made available. Parents and children are invited to this event.
In February, we have an annual “Stone Soup” party to help celebrate Valentine’s Day when we all bring in vegetables to make and eat our very own pot of stone soup. The first week of March the children have an especially good time celebrating Dr. Seuss’ birthday with “Wacky Wednesday.” We mimic the Dr. Seuss book of the same name, and the children are invited to come to school in pj’s or with their clothes inside out and the classrooms are themed “wacky” on that day! What FUN!
Springtime welcomes new life and we begin our classroom study of “The Life Cycle of a Bean Plant.” We cap off our study of flowers and plants with a trek to Kernersville’s Botanical Gardens, where the children enjoy the lovely display of thousands of blooming tulips and also get to sample unusual vegetables from the resident “kitchen garden.” Parents are invited to come and help chaperone this event. Springtime also brings us Easter and we celebrate with class parties and an Easter Egg hunt the day before we let out for Easter break.
April is when we have our annual Spring Fling which is our biggest fund raiser of the year. It includes a Dinner-Theater and a Silent Auction. The children have a great time each year, putting on a mini-theater production which is a way of retelling what they have learned in our Science and Cultural Arts Studies.
We finish our year with a graduation ceremony & party for those children graduating out of our program. And the last day of school is always held at Triad Park where we have Field Day and bid everyone a “fond farewell” or “see you in the Fall.”