Montessori School serving students food for thought

At Monroe Montessori School, students are learning more than just reading, writing and arithmetic. They are also learning how to serve their community.

Students from the school donated 502 pounds of food to the Sky Valley Food Bank last week, walking it to the food bank in small wagons. Held every year, the school’s Thanksgiving food drive invites family members to donate nonperishable food items that are delivered to their child’s classroom. At the end of the drive, one classroom is selected to collect the food and pack it into wagons.

Tristi Moody’s preschool class did the honors this year, retrieving the food items from each classroom, walking it down to the food bank and helping food bank volunteers unload the items.

“What an amazing way to educate youth about compassion, empathy and giving back to families in need,” said parent Jaymie Weber.

Headed by Thea Heineman, Monroe Montessori serves preschool, kindergarten and elementary school children. Located on Village Way, the school employs an education model that recognizes kids are better able to flourish with individualized learning plans.

Community service is an important part of the school’s framework, and the annual food drive is not the only way students serve. Once the food drive is complete, the school shifts its focus to Christmas, holding a toy drive that also benefits the Sky Valley Food Bank. The toy drive runs Monday, Dec. 5, through Monday, Dec. 12, with parents and family members invited to donate.

Other outreach efforts take place throughout the school year, including the annual “Pizza Friday” micro business, where students sell pizza to other students at the school for $2 a slice. At the end of the school year, the students donate the proceeds to a local nonprofit or charitable organization. 

The micro-business model not only supports the local community, Heineman said, it gives students a way to practice working with money, sorting and counting the bills and coins collected for the pizza. This hands-on, interactive educational experience is an element of the school’s outreach efforts that manages to combine charitable engagement with traditional life skills.

Once, during a coin drive the school held for hurricane victims in Haiti, students rolled hundreds of dollars worth of coins.

“When the coins were rolled, we walked to the bank for a tour and purchased a money order, which we then took to the post office to mail,” Heineman said. “At the post office, we were able to tour behind the scenes, so that students could become more familiar with the mail system.”

Something as simple as a coin drive was instrumental in fostering the pride that comes with supporting a worthwhile cause, Heineman said. Additionally, students were able to practice working with money as a part of their math studies, while also learning from members of the community firsthand about the inner workings of the banking and mail services.

For more information about Monroe Montessori School, visit www.monroemontessori.com.