Parent Involvement At The Learning Tree
We have been around for more than 30 years! Many families from those first years still get together, even though their ‘children’ are now young adults. Frequently we hear about how the ‘sense of community and support’ from The Learning Tree was what they treasure the most from those preschool years. We have been able to accomplish so much more by involving parents in our goals and vision.
Family support is not just a component of the Learning Tree Montessori, it is at our core. Our motto states: “Working in partnership with parents to Nurture and Challenge tomorrow’s world citizens”. These are not just words to us. We truly live this motto in our daily work.
All our families are required to participate in our parent committees. This is a requirement that is clearly explained during the prospective parent’s observation tours and during the enrollment process. Most parents are very appreciative of the opportunity to be so involved in their child’s school.
Our committees consist of 8-10 families each, plus at least two staff liaisons who help keep them focused on their goals. The main purpose of our committees is to enhance the community spirit of our school. They meet in each other’s homes and quickly form friendships between the families. Children are always welcome and they delight in having a friend from school over to their homes for what they think is a “party!”
Each committee has a different function, so the parents join the one that best matches their interests. Take a moment to read through the following committee descriptions. Once you have decided on a committee for your family sign up for it during the first week of school in the cubby room. Act fast, there is a maximum of 12 families per committee and they fill up quickly.
We are excited to work with you all this coming year!
Sarah Marshall
Learning Tree Office Manager
Admissions Director
Celebrating our Diversity
This committee helps us follow our Anti-Bias curriculum goals. They will focus on cultural events that are important to our current families.
We’ll plan and put on the quarterly diversity forums.
Parents who want to help us celebrate our wonderful diverse world should definitely join this committee! We’d love your enthusiasm.
Parent Support /Networking
This committee provides a safety net for our busy working families. Projects include baby-sitting co-ops, carpooling, weekend breaks, single parent support, social get-togethers, parent’s night out, new family mentoring and resource lists.
The Parent Support Committee also puts on our annual Teacher Appreciation luncheon each spring.
This committee is good fit for parents who would like to coordinate sharing opportunities for our families.
Events
This is our community building committee. The Events committee is in charge of the planning, set up and clean up of our school-wide events. These events include our Curriculum Nights, Classroom Open Houses, New Family Potluck, End of Year Picnic and more. The Events committee has creative license with these school wide events. Pick a food theme, decorate, advertise! Round up the troops. Keep our families excited about coming to the all-school events.
Community Outreach
This group teaches the children to “give back” to their community by projects such as collecting food/clothes to give away. In the past, this committee has worked closely with such organizations as Child Haven, Tree House, and The Fred Lind Manor. Last year we planned weekly trips to the Jewish Community Food Bank, adopted our street and cleaned it up. This committee also organizes a Fundraiser Breakfast which raises money to support an organization of our choice. In the past we have used the money to support a Montessori School in Uganda, the TINFA (Technology Information for All) foundation and the Heifer Foundation. For two years in a row, we have raised over $1,500 for these organizations.
Garden Committee
If you love to work with plants and get your hands in the dirt, this committee is for you. With the completion of the CA room, (the new covered area on the side of the house), we are now ready to surround it with native plants that will extend out to the playground to create a more natural environment for the children to commune with. This new environment will need lots of care and maintenance. The project has a design and the funding-- now we need to implement!
Building Committee
“This Old House” needs lots of TLC. It gets heavy-use and is in constant need of repair and maintenance. If you have any level of skill with small carpentry, we could use you. Even if you have no small carpentry skill, but you like to “jerry rig” things, enjoy interior painting, have a passion for scrubbing walls, patch wall holes etc. we would love to have your help. This committee would plan all school work parties after consulting with Vinnie about what needs to be done. Some of the work parties will be planned projects; others will be planned miscellaneous small jobs around the school.
Summertime fieldtrips at The Learning Tree are lots of fun. Our children each have their own LT field trip shirts and our trips include everything from story time to munching on watermelon.