November Newsletter

"It will be necessary to look to children for help if the world is to be made better." - Dr. Maria Montessori

A heartfelt thank you to our amazing room parents for all your kindness and support this year. Huge shout out to our P5 and Movers families who hosted last month's Happy Hour on October 25th. It was so lovely and the guides truly appreciate it!! We want to express our gratitude in advance to our P4 families who will be providing a Staff Appreciation Lunch later this month. We are looking forward to it!

Cultural Fest is a school-wide potluck that celebrates the rich cultural heritage of the Athena community. Families are invited to share a dish that tells their cultural story and enjoy performances from local artists!

We look forward to celebrating with you on campus on November 9th!

“I’ve been considering the phrase ‘all my relations’ for some time now. It’s hugely important. It’s our saving grace in the end. It points to the truth that we are related, we are all connected, we all belong to each other. The most important word is all. Not just those who look like me, sing like me, dance like me, speak like me, pray like me or behave like me. ALL my relations. It means every person just as it means every blade of grass, rock, mineral and creature. We live because everything else does. If we were to collectively choose to live that teaching, the energy of that change of consciousness would heal all of us – and heal the planet. We do it one person, one heart at a time…we are connected, we are the answer.” –Richard Wagamese, Ojibwe author

It’s November, and that means the start of the holiday season. At Athena Montessori, we look forward to celebrating our bounty with family and friends. We host our annual Cultural Fest, a community potluck where we are all welcome and encouraged to bring a dish that speaks to our roots, our heritage, our culture. Later in the month we take a week off to welcome loved ones into our homes, or to travel. We gather to break bread, to raise a toast, to make memories, to share hugs and laughter. We give thanks. Thursday, November 28, is set aside as Thanksgiving Day. For a community practicing antiracism and striving to be grounded in justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion, the history of Thanksgiving is problematic. For many people native to this land, Thanksgiving is a day of mourning. For many people whose forebears came to this land from Europe, “The First Thanksgiving” is a lie we were trained to believe as children, and believe we did. Until we didn’t. But what do we do with the truth now that we know it? Do we eschew the holiday altogether? Do we celebrate and gather, but teach the children of today nothing about the history of the holiday, just gloss over it because we are deeply uncomfortable?

We would like to share with you all, our community, one Indigenous perspective from Sean Sherman, known as “the Sioux Chef,” who is probably the most high-profile advocate for Native foodways in the United States. His Minneapolis restaurant, Owamni, which showcases modern Indigenous foods, won a 2022 James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant. More recently, he made Time magazine’s list of 100 Most Influential People and was named the 2023 recipient of the prestigious Julia Child Award. In Summer of 2023, he launched the Indigenous Food Lab, a “professional Indigenous kitchen and training center” with an ambitious goal — establishing a new Indigenous food system that supports tribally operated kitchens across North America. Chef Sean wrote the following article for TIME magazine, and it was originally published on November 19, 2018.

Please click to read the article below.

This year’s fundraising initiative focuses on continuing our relationship with Watchmen Protective Services. In case you missed it, click below to read the letter from our Founder, Lisl Friday, detailing our fundraising efforts and their impact.

Thank you for your ongoing support and for being a part of our Athena family!

This past month in honor of Indigenous Peoples Day, classrooms participated in celebrating and discussing the Indigenous community in various ways. Our Primary 4 classroom introduced a Tribal Nations puzzle and discussed what it means to be an Indigenous or Native person in our world. In Primary 2, Ms. Lisa used the peace corner to display various photographs of Indigenous Peoples in ceremonial garments and in day to day clothing. She also had a circle time with the class and they talked about Keres Learning Center, a montessori school in New Mexico!

This year, our Athena community worked together to display our very own Ofrenda. An Ofrenda is an altar created to honor and remember loved ones who have passed away. It's usually decorated with photos, candles, flowers, favorite foods\drinks, and personal items of those who have passed. For this holiday the language we used was that this is a time to celebrate and say "thank you" and "I love you" to the people we love. Various classrooms created paper candles, decorated sugar skull images, as well as making some paper marigolds and papel picado to decorate our display!

A special thank you to the Ayala-Cerrete family and Tots 3 classroom for sharing their family's traditions with us and creating a space to celebrate together, and thank you to Ms. Janey for her generosity, creativity, and consideration in using her space for this.

Nov.1st- Dia de Los Muertos Celebration at Waterloo Greenway

Nov. 9th- Equality Texas 6th Annual Gala

Nov.23rd- Austin's Annual PowWow 31st Annual Celebration

For Small Hands carries a wide variety of items for children, all child-sized, fun and developmentally-appropriate! Use our code below, and Athena will get a percentage of the sale to apply towards materials for school. We will be passing out For Small Hands catalogs next week for details.

CODE 165595

Thank you to Sarah Ponder of Real Wealth Planning, for hosting such and informative session for Athena families on October 25th. We were grateful for all her insight and tips on how to have financially literate children!

Dear Parents,

We want to extend our heartfelt thanks for your participation in our Parking Lot Etiquette initiative! Your commitment to keeping our parking area safe and organized makes a significant difference for everyone in our community.

By following the guidelines, you not only enhance safety for our children but also foster a respectful environment for all families. We truly appreciate your support and cooperation in making our school a better place.

Thank you for being wonderful partners in this effort!

Athena has been partnering with each of our extracurricular programs for a number of years, and we love being able to offer them to your children. Throughout the fall session, the children have been able to express themselves by showing interests in activities outside of the classroom. They are also building social skills while interacting with other students in our community. Spring is just around the corner and enrolled families will be receiving a registration link email soon with more information on how to enroll in the next session. You can also visit the extracurriculars program page of our website if you're curious to see what extracurricular programs we currently offer.

Current Families

Re-enrollment for the 2025-26 school year will begin at the end of this month, and sibling enrollment will follow in December. Joy will be in touch with you this fall if we expect to have a mid-year opening for your child.

If you have younger children you hope to enroll at Athena at any point in the future, please be sure to complete an application for them if you haven't already.

Waiting Pool Families

Our Admissions Director will be in touch with you individually should a spot become available for your child throughout this school year. General enrollment for the 2025-26 school year will begin in January.

Our continued goal in the admissions process is to be as transparent as possible, and we strive to give you the most accurate information we can during each step of the deliberate process of enrollment. We respect that decisions related to your child's education are important and timely ones, and we will continue to send you general enrollment updates via this monthly newsletter. Thank you for your continued interest, and we encourage you to reach out with specific questions related to your child's enrollment at any time.

Please direct admissions & enrollment questions to our Admissions Director, Joy Jacobson. You can email her directly at Admissions@AthenaMontessoriAcademy.com.