Mountain Village School News

It's that time of year again when everyone's nose starts running... and running... and running. In the scope of children's daily lives, how we keep those noses clean might seem like a trivial thing, but at MVS we think it's actually a pretty big deal. Sometimes when an adult tries to help clean a child's nose, the adult holds the child's head still and quickly swipes a tissue across their face, then both child and adult continue on their merry ways. But if you were the child in that situation, how would that make you feel? Your nose is clean but having someone touch your face is a rather intimate interaction; it's just been rushed through and you're expected to brush it off and move on. The good news is that there is another way. Rather than hurriedly imposing our priority of nose wiping on the child, we can instead offer to help, invite the child's participation in the task, and share in the comfort of helping someone in a way that is respectful ...

November Comes  And November Goes With the last red berries And the first white snows. With night coming early, And dawn coming late, And ice in the bucket  And frost on the gate. The fire burns, And the kettles sing, And the earth sinks to rest Until next spring. -Clyde Watson News and Reminders: If you use cloth diapers, we have installed a diaper sprayer in the bathroom in the infant II classroom. Please feel free to use it if you need to before heading home. The 2nd Annual Stowe Lantern Parade will be Friday, December 1st at 4:30 pm. It will begin at the Stowe Elementary School and head up to Main Street. There will be snacks and time to play in the SES gym after the parade. Beginning at 5:00, Helen Day Art Center will have the Festival of Trees and Lights. Finally, at 7:00 pm Stowe Theatre Guild is putting on a production of "Every Christmas Story Ever Told... and Then Some!" (this is mostly for older children). Here's the link to Stowe Vibrancy ...

Thank you all for joining us at the Stick Season Social! It was a fantastic afternoon of music, food, and a lot of fun. A BIG thank you to the Parent Collaboration Committee for putting it all together. It isn't easy to pull off an event this big and this fun. Thank you also to all of the local businesses that donated some wonderful prizes. Here are a few snapshots from the event: Fittingly, another commentary was published this week that honed in on the connections between early childhood education and our community as a whole. Con Hogan, a prominent Vermont social and health policy expert, wrote this piece  (first published in the Caledonian Record) about the effects of child care on Vermont's economy and general population health. Economically he framed our current situation this way: "Many people pay as much for child care as they do their mortgage, even while providers earn, on av...