"The land is where our roots are. The children must be taught to feel
and live in harmony with the earth."

-- Dr. Maria Montessori

Casino Night Silent Auction will be live and ready for viewing THIS FRIDAY!

We are just over one week away from the big night on campus! Have fun shopping our auction in support of our efforts to raise funds for our upcoming work with Embracing Equity. The auction ends at noon on Sunday, April 7th, the day after the event!

A huge THANK YOU to all of our donors who have contributed to this amazing selection of auction items and a special shout out to our casino table sponsors, in-kind donors, cash donors, and those of you who have bought tickets for yourselves or teachers!

STILL NOT SURE WHAT’S GOING ON??

Line up your childcare, dust off your dancing shoes, and come feel the rhythm of the night with us and Afro-columbian funk band SUPERFONICOS, eat some tasty tacos (and veggies and salad!) from MASA y MAS, enjoy an open bar, and try your hand at the six Casino Knights casino tables with real dealers!

Visit the Events page of our website to RSVP, and read an excerpt from our Founder's letter below to learn about our upcoming partnership with Embracing Equity. This is where our fundraising dollars are going and we could not be more excited!

Can’t wait to see you on Saturday April 6th at Athena!

Holi- March 25, 2024

Known as the festival of colors, Holi is celebrated on the last full moon in the lunar month of Phalguna. This ancient tradition marks the end of winter and honors the triumph of good over evil. Celebrants light bonfires, throw colorful powder called gulal, eat sweets, and dance to traditional folk music.

These photos are from the Holi celebration held by the P2 classroom. They honored the holiday with the help of some parents, led by Sabina Bharwani! Other Primary classrooms also celebrated. Thank you to all the parents who helped bring Holi to our Primary classrooms!

César Chávez and Dolores Huerta Day-March 29th

Core to our values at Athena Montessori Academy is the practice of fostering a deep appreciation for all the beautiful differences that make us who we are. Sometimes, though, beautiful differences are turned into marginalized identities. We live in a society where certain ways of being are exalted. We call this ‘being in the center’ or ‘being centered’. Another way of saying this is that certain identities are normalized, or considered ‘normal’.

Lives that fall outside the center are marginalized or ‘othered’. We are aware that systems in our country are built to exclude certain groups from what we know as basic human rights: housing, health care, education, nutritious foods, and the agency to build a life.

Last Friday, March 29, was a celebration of marginalized identities very near and dear to our hearts here at Athena. César Chávez and Dolores Huerta Day calls us to be aware of human rights as they pertain to laborers, and the essential, but sometimes invisible, work they contribute to the world.

“When the man who feeds the world by toiling in the fields is himself deprived of the basic rights of feeding, sheltering, and caring for his own family, the whole community of man is sick.” -César Chávez

“Giving kids clothes and food is one thing, but it’s much more important to teach them that other people besides themselves are important and that the best thing they can do with their lives is to use them in the service of other people. -Dolores Huerta

Click HERE to learn more about César Chavez

Click HERE to learn more about Dolores Huerta

Courtney Campbell, songwriter and stroyteller, performs for all Primary Classrooms!

Courtney Campbell is an award winning singer, songwriter, master storyteller, writer and musician. She has traveled world-wide for many years giving concerts and workshops for children, parents and teachers. She created wrote and starred in the PBS award winning TV/Video series Mustard Pancakes (now available on many streaming services). Courtney has a remarkable way of engaging students the moment she steps on stage. They sing and participate with joy, great enthusiasm, and remember the songs long after she has gone.

We had the honor of having Courtney visit our Primary classrooms last week! The children participates in role play, call-and-response song play, and a sing-a-long!

Transgender Visibility Day- March 31, 2024

What does it mean to be visible? What does it mean to be seen for who we are? What does it mean to feel safe and comfortable, to be accepted? Are these questions ones we have to ponder as we move about the world? If not, then we have the agency to step up to the plate and go to bat for those who must hide, who cannot be seen for who they truly are for fear of repercussion.

Ramadan 2024

Athena Montessori acknowledges that being Muslim in America is fraught. Depending on where people of the Muslim faith live in this country, being open about one’s faith and religious identity can mean to be othered and discriminated against.

Even in more liberal cities such as Austin, or more diverse cities like Houston, being openly Muslim can invite biases and misconceptions to surface and cause harm. We stand with our Muslim community members and their right to practice their faith unhindered.

Ramadan began in early March this year and will end with Eid Al-Fitr presumably April 10th depending on the sighting of the crescent moon. We wish you a fruitful month of peace, prayer and family. Ramadan Mubarak, y’all!

CLICK HERE TO RSVP. IT WILL REDIRECT YOU TO A FULL VIEW OF THE NEWSLETTER WHERE YOU WILL NEED TO SCROLL DOWN TO THIS SECTION TO SEE THE RSVP.

The Gates of Life dates are here! If you haven’t been to a Gates of Life ceremony at Athena, you are in for a treat! Gates of Life is our graduation ceremony. We honor each transition a child makes, whether it be from our Movers and Shakers program into the Tots program, Tots into Primary, or moving on from Primary to what is next for your child. We honor the work and growth each child has done, along with their special relationships with their classmates and guides. We love to have families (and extended family members) attend these joyful (and sometimes teary) celebrations.

Following are the dates and times for each ceremony:

Movers and Shakers – Fri 5/17 2:30pm

T1– Fri 5/24 11am

T2– Fri 5/17 2:30pm

T3– Fri 5/24 11am

T4– Fri 5/24 11am

P1– Tue 5/21 9am

P2– Fri 5/24 10am

P3– Fri 5/24 9:15am

P4– Wed 5/22 10:30am

P5– Fri 5/24 9:15am

Current Families
Sibling enrollment for next year is complete at this point.

If you have any 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
We are fully enrolled for the 2023-24 school year.

Enrollment for the 2024-25 school year is well underway. You will hear from Joy if she is able to offer your child a spot, as well as with updates as to where we are in the process. Our goal is to complete enrollment by the end of April, but it is not uncommon for rolling admissions to occur up to August. You only have to submit an application one time. Your child will remain active in our waiting pool until a space becomes available.

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.

Students:

4/5- Bowie H.

4/13- Mirren S.

4/18- Josephine B.

4/19- Lennon B.

4/23- Hudson B.

4/25- Sunny T.

4/26- Aurelius D.

Staff:

4/1- Candice B.

4/9- Mandy W.

4/11- Ana W.

4/12- Kimberly L.

4/15- Ben K.

4/18- Meghna G.

4/28- Sam H.