Happy New Year from our MCC family to yours! At Montessori Children’s Centre we had an abundance of celebrations and special days filled with special guests, holiday parties, and crafts to celebrate this joyous time of the year.

Every year the children of Montessori Children’s Centre begin practicing for our annual Holiday Program, which takes place mid-December. Our Holiday Program includes songs to celebrate the many different celebrations during this time of the year. The children work very hard to learn these songs, which include sign language for some of the songs! They then perform for their families on stage at Normal Community High School. The children take pride in learning the songs and performing them and their families of course enjoy watching their little stars shine on the stage! It truly is a gift to witness the little minds of our school accomplish so much. They are so capable!

Our Holiday Program is just the beginning of our celebrations at MCC during the holiday season! Every year each classroom has a holiday party complete with volunteer parents (thank you!!!) who help direct crafts, snack, and holiday activities. We absolutely LOVE and encourage parent involvement at our school – this is a great way for the parents to get to know the other parents and children in our classroom as well and celebrate as a whole!

Each year the teachers assist the children in making a keepsake for their parents to cherish forever. This year’s keepsakes included hand-painted/hand-made ornaments. The children are always so proud and so excited to gift their parents!

This year there were many other holiday events that took place for the very first time. Mrs. Harcharik from our Room 2 classroom started a new holiday favorite with making hot cocoa for the children as they listened to a reading of The Polar Express while riding the “train” in their classroom. Another new favorite is a science experiment (also brought to us by Mrs. Harcharik – we just love her!) that showed the children how the Grinch’s heart grew; we completed the experiment after viewing How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Special guests included a book reading by a student’s nanny from Germany and Ms. Mariani’s (room 2 teacher) brother who visited all the way from Switzerland! He brought his self-made renaissance instruments for the children to discover and listen to. They were very excited to have these special guests at our school!

Last but certainly not least we said a big THANK YOU to all of our families who donated gifts to our Giving Tree! Our tree was filled with hats, gloves, and so many wonderful games! All gifts were donated to the WJBC Brotherhood Tree and delivered to the homes of our less fortunate neighbors in McLean County.