Special Presentation by Dr. Steven Hughes on November 30th

Join us the evening of November 30th as Countryside Montessori hosts a special presentation by World-Renowned Pediatric Neuropsychologist, Dr. Steven Hughes at the Glenbrook South High School auditorium.

Dr. Steven Hughes will be coming to Northbrook to talk with parents about what the study of the brain tells us about learning environments for young children.

Dr. Hughes says:
“Children now in school will face adult life as “independent agents” to a degree never before seen in our history. They will not be tied to a single job, employer, or even industry, and will experience career paths that were unimaginable as little as 20 years ago. This is occurring even as the trend toward rigid control, high-stakes academic testing, and limited school curricula has robbed them of the opportunities necessary to develop the broad-based problem-solving skills necessary for happy, productive, interesting lives.”

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Do you know...
Most critical periods for brain development
are over by age 6?

Join us for a special presentation by Dr. Steven Hughes
World-Renowned Pediatric Neuropsychologist

Monday, November 30, 2009 7:00p.m.-9:00p.m.
Watson Auditorium at Glenbrook South High School
4000 West Lake Avenue, Glenview, Illinois
Sponsored by Mothers of Countryside Montessori School

Open to the Public, All are Welcome
Call Now to Reserve a Place 847.769.4889

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About Dr. Steven Hughes

Steven J. Hughes, PhD, LP, ABPdN is Director of Education and Research for The TOVA Company, and assistant professor of pediatrics and neurology at the University of Minnesota Medical School.

Dr. Hughes completed his PhD in clinical psychology at the University of Minnesota and his post-doctoral fellowship in pediatric neuropsychology at the University of Minnesota Medical School, where he joined the faculty of the Division of Pediatric Clinical Neurosciences in 2001.

In his clinical work, he has specialized in neuropsychological assessment of children and adolescents with a wide range of learning, developmental, and medical disorders, and assisted in the supervision and training of future neuropsychologists. Himself a Montessori parent, Dr. Hughes has helped many families from the Twin Cities Montessori community understand their child’s special educational or developmental needs. He is a frequent guest lecturer at the Montessori Training Center of Minnesota and a Montessori schools around Minnesota and Wisconsin.

His research interests include measurement of attention and executive functioning in children and adults, the effects of living in poverty on child development, and the neurodevelopmental benefits of classical Montessori education.

For more information on Dr. Hughes, visit his website www.goodatdoingthings.com.

Elementary Overnight

Elementary class (1 - 6 graders) at Countryside Montessori School enjoys their annual school overnight. The overnight starts on Thursday afternoon and continues until Friday afternoon. The kids play together, have pizza, sleep in the gymnasium, and then walk to the Village Green Park. Countryside believes that a school is only as strong as its sense of community. The overnight is offered so that the first grade children joining elementary get to know and be more comfortable with those who have already been in the class. Further fostering a sense of community is the responsibility of the older children. They rode school bicycles to Sunset Foods to buy the fixings for a sack lunch to bring along to the park. They also set up a sandwich making station and supervised the younger children as all 47 of them made a lunch to take on the road.

Posted on TribLocal.com

Educators explore all-year Montessori program in Northbrook

More than 70 teachers travelled from 13 states, Chile and Brazil last weekend to learn about Countryside Montessori School’s All Year Montessori class. They came to listen to veteran Countryside teacher Michele Aspinall talk about the unique program she helped create a decade ago.


Workshop attendees had the opportunity to tour the school and examine Aspinall’s famously beautiful indoor and outdoor environments.

Aspinall spoke honestly about the challenges an AYM program presents for teachers and administrators. She also shared her conviction that children benefit tremendously from the continuity and quality of care offered in Countryside’s AYM class.

Educational consultant Carol Alver agrees. Alver traveled from her home in Nashville to participate in Aspinall’s workshop.

“We need to come to grips with the needs of the young child,” Alver said.

“Children need to work,” she said, emphasizing that the young child’s work should be constructive, joyful and offered to each child as “an affirmation.”

Alver also noted that AYM programs are difficult to implement, and many programs fail within a few years.

“Michele is a great mentor now,” Alver said. “She took a great leap of faith when she started this program. Her first years were very hard.” Alver said Aspinall’s workshop presentations demonstrate that her class has been a dramatic success, and that Aspinall is a confident, leading educator.

The AYM program seeks to meet the needs of families with children between the ages of two and a half and six years old who need a full day of care. Aspinall’s class is open from 7:30 until 5:30, 245 days a year. Her class and the workshop she leads have an international reputation.

Countryside Montessori School’s enrollment is typically 150 students. The school has a toddler environment, three primary classes, upper and lower elementary classes. The school offers an AYM program at the elementary level. This year Countryside will also begin offering optional extended academic hours for all elementary students.

Director of Education Wendy Calise said Countryside teachers embrace a philosophy of joyful teaching and learning, and often find traditional school hours are too short. Learning in a stimulating environment surrounded by a community of friends is energizing and exciting for teachers and students of all ages, Calise said.

Michele Aspinall agrees. She has been at Countryside for 20 years, and has worked in all areas, toddler, primary and elementary. She is dedicated to Countryside’s philosophy and mission, and very proud of the AYM program.

“The All-Year class is almost 10 years old and in a really good place. This environment has become a home away from home for me and for many children. I love my job.”

See related article in the TribLocal

GRADUATION AND AWARDS ASSEMBLY AT COUNTRYSIDE MONTESSORI SCHOOL IN NORTHBROOK

At the 42nd commencement ceremony at Countryside Montessori School on June 10th, Elizabeth Shank, Jackie Cortopassi, Austin Doughty, Riley Delaney and Alex Alwan, received certificates attesting to their successful complettion of the Montessori elementary program.

Also honored at the ceremony, were Corianna Jensen, who received the Eleanor Jordan award given to the student making the most progress in physical education, and Alena Alwan, who received the Petrea Coelho award for sportsmanship.

Good Neighbors

Twenty-four piano students from Countryside Montessori School performed for their neighbors across Techny Road at the Covenant Village of Northbrook’s retirement community on Sunday, June 7th 2009. Their teacher Joseph Francavilla arranged the recital. He wanted to offer his students another opportunity to perform and to provide Covenant residents the pleasure of two dozen children on the stage of the Fellowship Center auditorium of their lovely facility.

Mr. Francavilla introduced the program, explaining that the children ranged in age from five or six to 12 and some had been playing for only a few months, while others had studied with him for 6 years. The younger children played songs such as the traditional “Row, Row, Row Your Boat,” while one 6th grader played Scott Joplin’s difficult “The Entertainer” to rousing applause. There was one duet and the final song by three graduating 6th graders was a piece for six hands.

In addition to residents in the audience, all 300 people living in the Covenant Village campus had video and audio feed to the auditorium and had the opportunity to listen in. Before the concert began, one resident took a half-dozen piano-player parents on a short tour. It was a neighborly afternoon.

Opera Etiquette for 3-Year-Olds

The professional soprano Genevieve Thiers enjoys singing for kids, because of the big smiles on their faces. On Wednesday evening, May 13th, Ms. Thiers along with Joseph Francavilla on piano performed for Countryside Montessori School kids and their parents in Northbrook. It was the final of three A Little Night Music concerts of the school year. Mr. Francavilla is Countryside's piano teacher as well as a soloist and seasoned performer.

Head of School, Annette Kulle, conceived of A Little Night Music more than five years ago. "My original idea was to expose the families to the talent of Mr. Francavilla." The concerts are free, made possible by the school's Jena G. Fund. Mr. Francavilla puts together a 45-minute program to appeal to children of all ages that teaches them "concert etiquette and exposes them to music from many eras in history. When I say of all ages," he explains, "I mean students as young as 2 or 3 are welcome." Before the concert begins, Annette Kulle clearly states expectations. All are welcome to stay as long as they are enjoying the concert and not disruptive. Front rows are reserved for the youngest children, who might get restless. If a child becomes unruly, all parents are encouraged to help.

When selecting the program for these concerts, Mr. Francavilla tries to "portray composers from long ago as real people. All of the world's most famous composers began as children attending their first performances," he says. Over the years, he has invited a cellist, harpist, oboist, flutist, and saxophonist. Wednesday evening's performance is the second vocalist.

More than one little girl's eyes widen when tall, elegant Ms. Thiers enters the gym-converted-into-theater, wearing a deep blue satin gown with a black boa draped across her shoulders, and a huge smile. How can the children and their parents not return that smile? The program consists of eight songs. Before beginning, "When I Have Sung My Songs" by Ernest Charles, Ms. Thiers explains it is a parlor song and says, "I hope you kids won't think it's too mushy." All are breathless at this soprano's strong, stunning voice.

Ms. Theirs takes a break for the third selection, in which Joseph Francavilla delights the audience with "Cosmic Wind" by George Crumb for amplified piano, in which he never once plays a key! Instead, after warning listeners not to try this on their own, he uses a wire brush on the strings inside the piano. It is an eerily beautiful song. "These are not typical children's concerts," Mr. Francavilla says, "I try to expose them to music not only by the great composers of previous eras like Bach and Mozart, but also more contemporary composers."

After "Cosmic Wind," Ms. Thiers returns to her position in front of the piano, ready to resume, when horrors, a cell phone rings. Annette Kulle later says she realized she didn't tell the audience to turn off their phones! But the phone doesn't belong to an audience member. It belongs to Ms. Thiers. So much for concert etiquette. The performer removes her cell phone from the piano, looks at the number of the caller, and with a glance of consternation to the audience says, "I'm sorry. I have to get this."

"Hello. Hello," she sings into the cell phone. "I'm not feeling very well." By the time Genevieve Thiers lightly coughs into the phone, the audience has caught on. This is the fourth selection, "Telephone Aria" by Gian Carlo Menotti, which includes the lyrics "How is the dog?" plus staccato singing that transforms into peals of laughter. After the song ends, Ms. Thiers, sporting a coy smile, says, "Sorry," to the audience. When she announces the song is part of the Menotti opera she will perform in Elgin the first two weekends in July, at least one eight-year-old begs, "Please, please, can we go?" of her mom.

The concert holds a full range of emotions. Ms. Thiers removes her fanciful boa and her expression is somber when she sings from the second movement of Henryk G�recki's Symphony No. 3, a piece composed in 1976 from a poem written during World War II. It is, Ms. Theirs says, the first song she's performed in Polish. In the audience is mom of two students, Majka Jaromin from Poland, who later says, "It was hard to tell that she's not a native. It brought up tears in my eyes."

After the final bow, children are encouraged to talk with the performers, and occasionally allowed to play instruments. An endnote to this last performance of the school year, aside from that one errant cell phone, etiquette was exemplary. All the children stayed the entire performance. Their only sounds were laughter and applause.

Internationally Renowned Conductor Honors Countryside Montessori Elementary Students

Students present funds raised for Venezuelan Music Program, El Sistema

NORTHBROOK, Illinois - April 2009 - The Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela conducted by renowned Maestro Dudamel ended it's U.S. Tour with a sold out concert at Chicago's Symphony Center and surprise award ceremony for Countryside Montessori students. Elementary children from Countryside Montessori had attended the night-before open rehearsal, in the hopes that they would have the opportunity to present someone in the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra organization with funds they had raised to support El Sistema, a Venezuelan music-education program.

Unforgettable Experience
Following the open rehearsal, after the crowd of fans had dispersed, the students approached the stage to tell of the funds they had raised. They then had the opportunity to present their donation to both Dr. Jose Antonio Abreu (founder of El Sistema) and Maestro Gustavo Dudamel (a product of El Sistema and world renowned conductor). Touched by such generous and unexpected consideration of the El Sistema organization, Dr. Abreu invited the students back to Symphony Center the following day where they were individually honored by Dr. Abreu, Mo. Dudamel and Jesus Rodrigues, Consul General of Venezuela and invited to attend the sold-out evening performance of the Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra.

Dr. Abreu, founder of El Sistema, praised the students contribution as "this is a sample of the great thing which is the United States and of how to achieve the objectives of music in the children. For that reason we invite, the students to Venezuela, where they will be received with honors."

Inspired to Help Others
The Countryside elementary students were inspired to support the El Sistema program in Venezuela after watching an informative episode aired on CBS 60 Minutes. Learning that the core idea of El Sistema consists of the formation of community-based youth orchestras by providing free instruments and tuition to children living in dangerous, poverty-stricken areas and children with disabilities, Countryside students wanted to reach out and help those children by raising money to buy instruments for them.

Starting in 2008, through a series of student planned and organized bake sales, pancake breakfasts, and school movie nights, to date, they have raised $2,512.

The story does not end here, however. A family in Caracas, Venezuela saw a story about Countryside Montessori's donation in their local Venezuelan newspaper, and immediately recognized the name of the school - both of their children had attended Countryside when the family lived in the Chicago area. This family has offered additional help for the Countryside students' efforts.

What began as a heartfelt fundraising for children thousands of miles away has brought the Countryside Montessori students closer than they ever thought they would be to this organization they sought to help. The final chapter of this story is perhaps yet to be written.

About El Sistema
El Sistema is a publicly financed voluntary sector music-education program in Venezuela, originally called Social Action for Music. In 1975, Venezuelan economist and amateur musician Jose Antonio Abreu founded Social Action for Music and became its director. He received the National Music Prize for this work in 1979.

The purpose of El Sistema is to use music for the protection of childhood through training, rehabilitation and prevention of criminal behavior. The program is known for rescuing young people in extremely impoverished circumstances from the environment of drug abuse and crime into which they would likely otherwise be drawn.

About Countryside Montessori School
Founded in 1967, Countryside Montessori (Northbrook, Illinois) has been teaching children 16 months old through 6th grade respect, responsibility and resourcefulness. Countryside's elementary curriculum includes traditional course selections designed to spark the child's imagination with awe and wonder and inspire him to learn more.

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Countryside Montessori Makes International News

El Nacional (Venezuelan Newspaper article) Analitica (Venezuelan Newspaper article)

More about El Sistema and Gustavo Dudamel

Official Site - El Sistema MAESTRO DUDAMEL, VENEZUELAN SOFT POWER AND LESSONS FOR AMERICA Maestro Gustavo Dudamel, The Economist (Jan 15th 2009)

Countryside Montessori students perform in school Opera

On May 1, Countryside Montessori School students performed this year's opera, "Pearl," for classmates, staff and family members in the school's gymnasium. An annual tradition for the past 24 years, students push books and homework aside and work solely on their operatic performances, and for some, debuts.

Sanford and Judy Jones of Savannah, Ga., once again joined the students this year as the composer/accompanist and choreographer. The Joneses bring their experiences and accomplishments to the table, which include: Founding director of the American Montessori Teachers Association and director of 13 children's operas for Sanford Jones; an accomplished ballerina and director/owner of the Montclair Academy of Dance for Judy Jones.

The Joneses also brought Stacy Stephens with them to play the role of Sirenia. Stephens has performed as a soloist with the Savannah Symphony.

"Pearl," an underwater story, takes place in the colonial south. Sirenia, the river goddess and her daughter, Pearl, are returning to their "family" of underwater creatures (played by Countryside students) ranging from crayfish to river reeds to a worm.

Through song, the story of Pearl's kidnapping by the Oyster King and the underwater creatures step up to help, only to be defeated by the Oyster King and his evil sea currents. In the end, a water nymph rescues Pearl, leaving the story to end happily.

Around 60 students ranging in ages from 6 to 12-years-old performed a song and dance number in the opera. Cast members received compact discs of the opera's musical numbers a few months ago, and were able to listen and memorize the music/story before rehearsals, which began only four days before the performance.

The week of April 27-May 1 was solely dedicated to singing, dancing and rehearsing the show, which debuted on the evening of May 1. Costumes and set design were all results of the efforts of Countryside parents and faculty.

"The opera is not only an enjoyable part of the year, but it builds the childrens' confidence," Sanford Jones said. "It also teaches them to have an appreciation for the opera at a young age. For kids, singing is as natural as speaking, so it wasn't difficult to produce the show."

Countryside education director Wendy Calise said the opera is not only beneficial for the students, but for the faculty, staff and parents as well.

"It definitely builds community here, everyone pitches in," Calise said. "The older children are always eager to help the younger ones, which is something that's common here. They can show them the ropes since they've performed in the operas before."

By: Jessica Cantarelli/Triblocal.com staff reporter 05/01/09 04:42 PM

Hurray for the Red, White, and Blue

Cars honked and people waved in Northbrook as Countryside Montessori students, teachers, and parents, wearing red, white, and blue marched in their annual Memorial Day Parade on Friday morning, May 22nd. The route went north on Pfingsten from the school at the corner of Techny to Koepke and back. Countryside has been marching to honor Memorial Day for over 40 years.

"I’m an old flag waver,” Head of School, Annette Kulle, says, “and we have done it since 1967, starting in Glenview when the school was there.”

The parade ends in the school parking lot, where marchers gather under the flag for the Pledge of Allegiance and “The Star Spangle Banner,” followed by patriotic songs from “America, the Beautiful” to “You’re a Grand Old Flag.” After the last song, “O Countryside,” the school’s anthem, the party moves to the playground for red, white, and blue popsicles. It’s a grand way to mark the day.