Dear Parents, Friends, Neighbors, and Community, 

It's a beautiful time of year and our kiddos are enjoying school, both inside and out.  

We have many new and many returning students, so we have spent many mornings learning about grace and courtesy.  As you may remember from last year, we learn a conflict resolution script, greetings and introductions, and how to offer a snack to others.  These are important skills that will allow our little ones to thrive as community members, whether making a good impression or handing disagreements.  We'd like to encourage you to ask your child to teach you how to introduce a friend, and enjoy their explanation!  

Thank you! 

We have so much to be grateful for! 

Our volunteer day was such a success.  The students have been loving the sandbox - it continues to be the most enticing and popular place to be in the outdoor play area.  Thank you to everyone who donated materials, time, and skills to get it built!  As a quick reminder, our next volunteer day is Nov 9.  

The Grape Stomp was also a HUGE success!  We received heaps of great publicity throughout Bell County, over 80 participants stomped grapes, and the money earned will go far in helping Salado Montessori reach its sustainability goals!  

And, we had a wonderful time at the Sirena Fest and Parade this year!

Two mermaids and part of Team Zissou showed up to represent Salado Montessori :-)

Native Gardening and Foraging

Many of you have commented or complimented our native landscaping at the school. 

Currently, we have many pollinator-friendly flowers blooming, as well as our native grass mazes and edible lawn (do you eat your dandelions and ground cherries?)

We are actually in the final week of waiting to hear about a grant from Keep Texas Beautiful to convert our center circle into a butterfly garden.  Fingers crossed that we get it, but it's been such a pleasure to meet and work with folks from Keep Salado Beautiful, Bell County Master Naturalists, and the Bell County Master Gardeners Youth Coordinator.  

DONOR RECOGNITION

This year, Brookshire Brothers went WAY above and beyond and donated 100% of the grapes for our Grape Stomp and Harvest Festival!  This allowed even more of the proceeds raised during the event to go directly to Salado Montessori.  Their generosity is DEEPLY appreciated by us here, and we hope that each of you can take the time to thank them.  If you get a chance to say hi to their manager (new this year), please do.  It was such a generous gift and we are blessed to have such a supportive community grocer. 

 If you had a chance to come to the Grape Stomp, you might have noticed the beautiful decorations.  These were DONATED by our wonderful new partner Fiesta Fanny  Please look her up for any party or event props and design you may need for the upcoming holiday season.  She will even decorate your Christmas Tree!

Another person who made the day extra special was Misty Perryman of Farm Wife Flowers who donated ALL of the beautiful, locally grown and foraged native wildflowers that adorned our tables.   If you ever need flowers for a special occasion, you will be in good hands with her.  (find her on Facebook)

There were truly so many people involved in making our Grape Stomp a success - please visit our Community page on SaladoMontessori.com to see them all. 

Finally, and most importantly, the day could not have been possible without the generosity, guidance, support, and leadership of June Ritterbusch and Salado Winery Co.  It was June's idea to donate the proceeds of this year's Grape Stomp to Salado Montessori, an incredibly kind offer.  We look forward to partnering again each year and hosting successful grape stomps again and again! 

Thank you all!

Did you hear the awesome news about Jeff Bezos's philanthropic venture?  Mr. Bezos is the founder of Amazon and has recently announced he is devoting $1 Billion to develop a network of high-quality, full-scholarship, Montessori-inspired preschools in low income and underserved communities!  He plans to build an organization to directly operate the schools based on the Amazon principle of intense customer obsession, with each child being the customer.  

Have a lovely weekend!

Ms. Webb, Ms. Alissa, Ms. Hammond, and Ms. Ashley