North Shoreview Montessori

North Shoreview Montessori (NSM) offers many special programs to its students.

Art in Action

NSM is extremely fortunate to have a dedicated, fully equipped art room that includes its own clay kiln. Students at our school receive art instruction through Art in Action -- a volunteer parent-run program that teaches children about the language of art and artistic techniques using famous works of art for inspiration and instruction. Each lesson teaches art history, art skills, and art appreciation. With the grade-specific programs, students learn the fundamentals of portraits, landscapes, still life, and abstract art, while gaining experience with tempera, watercolor, oil pastels, chalk pastels, clay, printmaking, and collage. Skills are developed sequentially lesson by lesson, year by year. An amazing Art in Action exhibit of student work takes place at the end of the school year, with the gym transformed into a beautiful art gallery. For more information on the Art in Action program visit their website at www.artinaction.org. If you would like to help out with the program, please contact NSM's Art in Action site coordinator Susan Kling-Freedman.

Broadway By the Bay

NSM has been fortunate to be partnered with Broadway By the Bay’s educational program for children. In this series of optional after-school workshops, students learn about various dramatic techniques, practice script reading and acting skills, and learn group songs and dance choreography. Past workshop themes and performances have included "Little Red Riding Hood," "Mime," "Dance Styles from the 1920s to 1940s," a radio drama, "Robin Hood," and "Songs and Dances from the 1960s to the Present". The performances are put on for the whole school, with evening shows for parents, relatives, and friends. We are proud to share that in the fall of 2007, our Broadway By the Bay students performed a show choir routine in a Radio Disney School Dance Contest and won $1000, which has helped keep this program going at our school. In addition, these same students performed for "Spot Light on the Arts," a Bay Area Cable Access program. Broadway By the Bay offers opportunities for students to perform in many different venues, which contributes to self-esteem and skills for working in a group.

Computer Lab

NSM has a dedicated computer lab with eMacs sufficient for an entire class at one time. Students have weekly lessons in the lab to learn computer operating basics and typing skills, conduct research, work on individual projects, or reinforce learning through educational software. Classrooms are also equipped with up to four computers, a black and white printer, and a digital camera that students may use for special projects and to complement other curriculum resources. Each student has his or her own computer user account to electronically store individual school projects and monitor computer usage. The school also has a wireless network for Internet and intranet communications and access to the online school library collection. The computers have been configured to display slides and movies on classroom televisions, and all computers include software to aid in math, language arts, typing, music, and geography instruction.

Field Trips

Experiential learning is very much a part of the curriculum at NSM. However, we limit the number of field trips to protect our instructional time. All of our children have the opportunity to participate in field trips. Over the course of the year, the following field trips are made available to our children: Peforming Arts and Youth Society (PAYS) concerts and plays; the San Francisco Symphony; Filoli Gardens; Coyote Point Museum; Hiller Aviation; California Academy of Sciences; Exploratorium; San Francisco Zoo; The Tech Museum of Innovation; Edgewood Park; State Capitol; Point Reyes; Elkus Ranch; San Mateo County History Museum; Hidden Villa; various book stores; and Camp Gualala (an overnighter for the fifth grade).

Gifted and Talented Education (GATE)

The GATE program is administered by the San Mateo-Foster City School District. Students are identified for the GATE program based on a teacher recommendation, a parent recommendation, STAR test results (given statewide in second grade and above), and district GATE screening testing conducted once a year. A full description of the identification process as well as options available to students identified as gifted is found at the district's website. At NSM, the special needs of GATE students are addressed through differentiated learning, which is a centerpiece of the Montessori educational method. GATE students in the Montessori classroom may learn at an accelerated pace with the teacher adjusting curriculum or adding other academic enrichment, so that learning needs are met at appropriate depth, complexity, novelty, and rigor.

Greens and Grounds

The Greens and Grounds program encompasses a wide variety of activities and enrichment programming for our school. The Grounds portion of the program is managed by parents, whereby the school grounds are maintained and improved beyond what the San Mateo-Foster City School District provides. The Greens portion of the program highlights classroom ecology, botany, and conservation by providing outdoor classroom activities which include a garden for each classroom. For more detailed information see the Greens and Grounds webpage.

Lunchtime Clubs

NSM offers a variety of lunchtime electives. The particular electives in any year depend on parent or teacher volunteer interest and willingness to oversee the clubs. In past years these clubs have included a student newsletter, chess, knitting, computer lab, Legos, African hip-hop, Brazilian samba and tech club.

Model United Nations

The Model United Nations program is offered to interested sixth through eigth graders. Students participate in meets with other schools, learn debate and research skills, and discuss issues of world relevance.

Music for Minors

NSM participates in the Music for Minors In-School Docent program. The program places trained volunteer music educators (docents) at NSM to teach children in grades kindergarten through three. Docent-led classes provide children with a variety of musical experiences, including singing, movement, theory, dance, musical games, and use of rhythm and Orff instruments. Lessons are 30-minutes long and take place once a week per class during the school day. Some of the docents are NSM parents, and more are needed! If you are interested in being trained as a docent, please contact Music for Minors at (650) 237-9130, or visit www.musicforminors.org.

Noyce Foundation Every Child a Reader and Writer (ECRW) Initiative 

The Noyce Foundation ECRW initiative aims to improve the literacy of students in grades kindergarten through five by providing teachers intensive professional development and fresh approaches to teaching reading and writing. Student activities directly related to the Noyce Foundation program include application of different writing genres, daily writer’s workshop, reading logs, writing of reading responses, reading buddies (upper-grade students read to younger students), book of the month, and literacy month in March.

Performing Arts for Youth Society (PAYS)

PAYS is an educational non-profit organization founded in 1971 by parents and educators to bring live symphony, opera, theater, and dance to elementary and middle-school students of San Mateo County and other nearby Bay Area communities. The goal of PAYS is to instill a love and appreciation of the performing arts in students, inspire them to use their own creative abilities, and appreciate those of the performers. By presenting programs of the highest quality, PAYS strives to enrich and enhance arts education in the schools and to build future audiences. Each year professional quality performances are held during the school day. PAYS is highly respected by teachers, administrators, and parents, as exemplified by the participation of more than 28,000 students each year. We at NSM are extremely supportive of the program, and our students attend at least two shows per year. This program provides education through entertainment that some students may never get a chance to participate in otherwise. Visit their website at www.performingartsforyouth.org.

Stage Committee

Recently, the NSM stage was renovated with new audio visual equipment and esthetic improvements. Managed by a parent, students may join the stage committee to be trained and then be responsible for running and maintaining the stage and its brand new equipment.

Steel Drum Music Courses

Originating from Trinidad, steel drums are 55-gallon oil drums hammered to produce a whole range of chromatic tones. These unique pitched percussion instruments can be used to play a wide variety of music. NSM students (fourth grade and up) can learn and perform the steel drums as an elective.

Team Sports for Middle School

All middle schools offer physical education and athletic sports, and NSM is no exception.We are currently developing a sports program in partnership with the Small Schools Intermediate League, which focuses on the developmental needs of students in these crucial years, when so many quit sports. Above all, the program strives to balance:

• Traditional and nontraditional sports
• Competition and teamwork
• Skill building and skill use

In keeping with our commitment to inclusion and participation of competitive sports, the NSM Team Sports program is open to any student who wants to and commits to playing. We have no tryouts or cuts.