October Newsletter

-Maria Montessori

Conferences are coming up on October 31st and November 1st! Please note that child care will be provided only during your scheduled conference time. Keep an eye out for sign-up times from your child’s guide to reserve your slot. We look forward to connecting with you!

Fall parent conferences are a great time to get an idea of how your little one is transitioning into the new school year. Your guides will be sharing their observations of your child and letting you know what goals they are setting for and with your child. Your guides would appreciate knowing what is on top of mind for you, so they can be sure to cover those topics. Feel free to email your guides before the conference with any topics or questions that you want to discuss. We hope you walk away with a glimpse of what your child’s day looks like and what their favorite things are in their classroom.

We are pleased to announce that we will be working with Paige Wilks, of Austin School Portraits, to capture our school photos this year.

Here is the revised schedule:

• October 28: P1, P2, P3
• October 29: T1, T2, T3, T4
• October 30: Movers & Shakers, P4, P5

TBD: Make Up Day

A heartfelt thank you to our amazing P3 families for making last month's Staff Appreciation breakfast so special! Your delicious goodies were a delightful treat, and everyone enjoyed the thoughtful spread. We truly appreciate your support and generosity—your kindness made our team feel valued and appreciated. Thank you for making our school community shine!

Hispanic & Latine Heritage Month: September 15th - October 15th

September 15th marked the beginning of National Hispanic and Latine Heritage Month in the United States, celebrating the many cultural, historical, educational, political, and artistic contributions of the generations of Americans whose ancestry stems from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central, and South America.

According to the National Hispanic Heritage website, hosted by the Library of Congress, beginning in the middle of the month of September is symbolic as Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Chile celebrate their freedom from Spanish colonialism on September 15th, 16th, and 18th.

Here at Athena we celebrated using crafts, music and books! In Primary 1 they had Mila P's mom, Mariana, join the children at circle time. She talked about what it looked like to grow up in her country of Mexico, using colors to describe the many kinds of food, the clothing, and celebrations they have in Mexico. In Tots 1, they incorporated various spanish songs into their Friday dance party, "La Gata" by Mariana Mallol, being a class favorite!

Here are some book recommendations that celebrate Hispanic Heritage:

Last week, students and staff took part in our monthly fire drill. We practiced safely moving to the designated classroom areas in the parking lot and wrapped up the drill with our Fire Truck song!

Current Families

Re-enrollment for the 2025-26 school year will begin in December, and sibling enrollment will follow. 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.