We have just left a walk through of the land. It was so much fun to see the buildings all staked out. After four years of dreaming and planning we were able to stand in our new offices for the first time! What an exciting time.
This week: The sewer and water lines were installed. The footings are dug and we were told this morning that the concrete may be poured before Monday. The materials have begun to arrive and we are full force ahead.
At this point we have no new information about the timing of our opening. We will continue to update you as new information becomes available.
***WE ARE PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THAT WE HAVE ARRANGED TO RENT TWO ADDITIONAL CLASSROOM SPACES FROM THE HILLSBOROUGH UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST (THE BUILDING IMMEDIATELY ADJACENT TO THE CURRENT LITTLE SCHOOL IN OUR PARKING LOT) TO BE USED TO OPEN OUR HALF-DAY PROGRAM. WE ARE AWAITING FINAL DETAILS AND THEN WE WILL GO AHEAD AND BEGIN TO DECORATE THE SPACES. THE TEACHERS HAVE BEEN HIRED AND THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE, WELL-QUALIFIED, WONDERFUL PEOPLE WHO WE ARE VERY PROUD TO HAVE AS A PART OF OUR STAFF. WE WILL BE ANNOUNCING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION OVER THE COMING WEEKS BUT PLAN ON A SEPTEMBER 1ST OPENING AT THIS TIME.
WE WILL BE TAKING AN INITIAL ENROLLMENT OF 12 CHILDREN (TOTAL) FOR THESE TWO CLASSROOMS. IF YOU ARE PLANNING ON STARTING WITH US ONCE WATERSTONE OPENS BUT WOULD LIKE TO GET STARTED EARLY IN THE HALF-DAY PROGRAM YOU CAN CONTACT MARY AT: mailto:MARY@THELITTLESCHOOL.net FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE VERY LIMITED REMAINING SEPTEMBER 1, 2009 OPENINGS IN THE HALF DAY PROGRAM.
Glimpse: The Little School has always been committed to embracing the diverse traditions of all of our children. The problem has been that we are a nearly homogeneous community and have been since our inception. We have been so pleased to have many families with diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds applying to join us in the coming year. We are so very excited to get to know these new families and to hear about their experiences while learning about their particular cultures. To date, families from eight countries and five continents have joined the
school. We are so pleased to be a school that is rich in community and culture.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Monday, July 6, 2009
We have all of our permits!
We received our last permit Thursday afternoon ten minutes before the close of business for the long holiday weekend at the county! That means that we are ready to begin building our buildings on Monday! If you have not been over to the site it is worth the trip. The land is cleared and flat. It has been tamped down and the building pads are ready to accept the concrete for the foundations. The retaining walls are completely finished. The retention pond is also finished. The footing locations have been identified and flagged. You can actually see where the buildings will be now.
In the coming weeks:
1) The footings will be poured and inspected.
2) The foundation will be poured and inspected.
3) The framing and trusses will be installed.
After that it is all finish work- siding, roofing, drywall, etc.
Thank you all for your incredible support these past (extremely stressful) weeks. We are so grateful for your care, concern, and encouragement.
Glimpse: We conducted an experiment in looping this past year. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, looping refers to the movement of teachers with children from classroom to classroom. We decided to move one of the teachers from each classroom last year. In theory, this teacher moves with the children as the expert on the children while the other teachers stay behind as the classroom experts. We read a fair amount of research on this subject and in the end decided that the only way to know if this would work would be to give it a try. This last movement was a large success. We have decided to continue to loop at least one of the teachers when the majority of the children move to the next classroom. This time, we asked the teachers who would like to make the move with the children. This is an excellent opportunity for our teachers to spread their wings and experience a different age group that they may consider working with in the new school. We began this process last month with teacher visits to their new classrooms. The teachers will officially be in their new classrooms beginning tomorrow.
In the future, we intend to continue to work with this system until we find a combination of movements that is unique and best suited to the Little School.
In the coming weeks:
1) The footings will be poured and inspected.
2) The foundation will be poured and inspected.
3) The framing and trusses will be installed.
After that it is all finish work- siding, roofing, drywall, etc.
Thank you all for your incredible support these past (extremely stressful) weeks. We are so grateful for your care, concern, and encouragement.
Glimpse: We conducted an experiment in looping this past year. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, looping refers to the movement of teachers with children from classroom to classroom. We decided to move one of the teachers from each classroom last year. In theory, this teacher moves with the children as the expert on the children while the other teachers stay behind as the classroom experts. We read a fair amount of research on this subject and in the end decided that the only way to know if this would work would be to give it a try. This last movement was a large success. We have decided to continue to loop at least one of the teachers when the majority of the children move to the next classroom. This time, we asked the teachers who would like to make the move with the children. This is an excellent opportunity for our teachers to spread their wings and experience a different age group that they may consider working with in the new school. We began this process last month with teacher visits to their new classrooms. The teachers will officially be in their new classrooms beginning tomorrow.
In the future, we intend to continue to work with this system until we find a combination of movements that is unique and best suited to the Little School.
