SWIMS September Newsletter 2026

Mark Your Calendar

September

4th…Half Day!

11:30 – 11:45 dismissal:

Ducklings Infant Class, Bumblebees & Sunflowers Toddler Classes, Ladybugs & Turquoise Early Childhood Classes 

11:45 – noon dismissal:

Owlets Infant Class, Chickadees & Tadpoles Toddler Classes, Bluebirds Early Childhood Class 

12:00 – 12:15 dismissal:

Wasatch & Evergreen Elementary & Bridgemont Secondary Classes 

7th…No School – Labor Day!

9th…Happy Birthday, Heidi!

10th…Happy 100th Birthday to Grandma Frances!

10th – 11th… Fall Family Campout for Wasatch  & Evergreen Classes at East Canyon Reservoir. Campout packets will be coming home soon!

13th… Happy Birthday Audrey!

21st…International Peace Day. Remind your student to wear white to Sing for Peace at 11:00am.

22nd-24th…Fall Photos!

Information to follow.

25th…Health & Safety Fair on campus during regular class time. If you have health and/or safety information you’d like to share,  email leah@soaringwings.org.

29th…Back-to-School! 

Last names beginning with:

A-M  2:45-3:15pm

N-Z  3:30 – 4:00pm

Families with multiple students, pick a time that works for you!

Come see the special lesson your student is practicing just for you! Overflow parking at Matt Knoop Park and on Shadow Mountain Drive.

October 

7th…Happy Birthday, Norma!

Montessori 101

9 – 10 am. New to Montessori or just have questions? Join our school leaders for a discussion on what it’s all about!

9th & 23rd…Parent/ Teacher Conferences – No School

Sign-ups to follow shortly.

11th…Happy Birthday, Vung!

14th…Half Day!

   11:30 – 11:45 Dismissal for Owlets Infant Class,  Bumblebees & Sunflowers Toddler Classes, Ladybugs and Turquoise EC classes.

     11:45 – 12:00 Dismissal for Ducklings Infant Class, Chickadees & Tadpoles Toddler Classes, Bluebirds EC Class, Wasatch & Evergreen Elementary and Bridgemont Secondary Classes.

15th-16th…Fall Break – No School

23rd…Happy Birthday, Nathy!

24th…Happy Birthday, Millie!

Western Montessori Collective (formerly UMC)  Fall Workshop! Our faculty will help to host this professional development event for Utah and surrounding states. SWIMS founded this organization 23 years ago and just this year, handed the reins over to several other Utah Montessori school directors. We are still in it – still attending, hosting, and enjoying inspiration from across the region.

26th…Rainbow Giveaway begins

Information to follow.

30th…Party Day in all classes! Costumes welcome – no bloody or violent characters, no weapons, no sugar or nuts, please.

And Away We Go!

It was a beautiful and productive summer! Faculty travelled, studied and refilled their tanks full of happiness, knowledge and enthusiasm. We are all glad to be back and into a routine again after so much adventure. 

The new school year is off to a mindful start. We keep noticing how respectfully everyone moves through the parking lot, through the halls, remembering to stop at the door to the classroom to let the children enter on their own, supporting our school events and reminding us of how grateful we are to have you with us. 

You may have noticed we turned in the UTA van for a van of our own, saving money and the planet.  The teachers who ride up from the valley together every day call themselves “The Family” and take turns driving and caring for their vehicle, and are often among the first ones at school in the morning. With our solar panel array we can easily power more faculty cars if they can get them. If you have an electric car you are thinking about trading in, consider offers deal to  our teachers! 

The Soaring Wings Parent/Teacher/Student Organization is our support group that complements our school by helping with events like the Cider Social, the Rainbow Giveaway to benefit Adopt-a-Native Elder, Angel Trees to benefit Peace House, refreshments for Parent/Teacher Conferences, and yearbook. If you’d like to be a Room Parent, just let your child’s teacher know and you will be among the first we ask when help is needed.

Give us a call at the Teacher Hotline, 435-659-1725 if you are running late or if your student will not be at school for any reason. Montessori teachers are great at details, but we rarely remember vacation dates, so please send us an email with these details. 

We expect that we all (young and old) will be needing more sleep as we adjust to the school routine and the change in seasons. And as we make the transition into fall, the pace will pick up with preparations for winter holidays and events. The seasons go ’round and we look forward to taking time to enjoy each one with your students.

From the Administrator’s Desk

by Leith Strachan, CGMS, MCB
 
Our Upper School is tucked away on the second floor, but at the top of the stairs our oldest students are beginning another year of exploration, big ideas, ambitious projects and experiences that will take them far beyond the walls of the classroom.
 
The Montessori elementary years, ages 6 to 12, are referred to as the Second Plane of Development when they develop a growing desire for intellectual independence. They are capable of increasingly abstract thought, they are intensely curious and deeply interested in questions of fairness, morality and justice. Students study foundational materials in class and then go beyond the classroom walls each week on field trips to confirm in the real world what they have learned. This is an extraordinary manner of learning that has worked remarkably well over the century that the Montessori philosophy has been in place.  
 
Field trips start out simple and close – the park, the library, bike rides, hikes, the planetarium – and expand in ever widening circles. This year we are going to tour an Amazon facility. (Jeff Bezos was a Montessori child, too!) We’ll camp and explore a variety of museums, factories and national parks. We like to say “The world is our classroom.”
 
We can take this time away from school because our students excel beyond what peers are doing in conventional schools. Another class motto is, “We work harder and play harder, too!”
 
We’ll raise a little money with our Super Soups and donate it to organizations who are working for the betterment of children and the planet through our Children’s Planet Fund. One student commented last year, “It feels good to make money and give it away.”
 
You have probably heard about some of the notable figures who have benefitted from this type of education. The list is long and diverse, but you know of many of the leaders, scientists, authors, entrepreneurs, celebrities, and athletes.  Why have these people done so well? Google founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin attributed their success to Montessori, as did Taylor Swift and Steph Curry, to name only a few. We teachers know that it’s the opportunity to learn at their own pace in a rich environment that supports their interests with humans who care about them that motivates these students to move more quickly and joyfully than the rest. A Park City local recently said, “You not only taught my son to read, but you taught him to THINK!” That boy is a happily successful business man, living his best life and doing what he loves. Our graduates have joined every walk of life and we don’t know of one who is not happy and successful, continuing to excel intellectually, socially and emotionally.
 
We worry about the popularity of AI schools. Sure, there will be an initial spike in learning, especially with the stickers, candy and extrinsic rewards. But research shows that social skills can be affected and that retention and lifelong enjoyment of learning is maximized in a Montessori setting.
 
We are delighted that you have found this to be true as well. The world is a troubled place but as Dr. Montessori saw over 100 years ago, students who are educated for life, not just for grades, are the ones who can make a difference, as those “famous Montessorians” have demonstrated.

Infant and Toddler Impressions – News from the Duckings and Owlets Infant Classes and the Bumblebee, Chickadee, Sunflower and Tadpole Toddler Classes

In September our curriculum includes Health & Safety, signs of fall, members of our family and community, primary colors, the Food Rainbow, singing for peace on the 21st and hosting Back to School on the 29th. All along the way our youngest students are making steps toward their own independence in practicing setting places, serving snack and washing dishes.

You can support this growth at home by providing a low table and chairs in the kitchen (Check Sprout Kids for furniture ideas – https://sprout-kids.com/collections/montessori-kitchen-furniture) where, as soon as they can walk,  your child can have a snack or work on an activity while you cook. As soon as a child can sit sturdily they can sit in a chair with sides so they can feel secure while strengthening their core muscles and practicing eating with utensils and drinking from a cup. These young children can help with family meals by tearing lettuce for a salad or spreading butter on bread or mixing the salad dressing. (Check Montessori Services for child-sized cooking and cleaning utensils: https://montessoriservices.com )

If your child has a low hook and a bench by the door, where they hang up their backpack and take off their shoes when they come home, they will find their shoes and backpack ready to go in the morning. As soon as a child can walk they can find their clothes in a drawer or on a low rod in the closet and practice dressing skills. Add a few books and activities on a low shelf in each room of your house so your child can always find something to do. If you keep choices to just a few and model how to put things away when done, they will soon do it, too!

If your child is sleeping on a floor bed, they can get up in the morning, look at books, explore toys, maybe even find a simple snack waiting for them, giving you some extra sleep!

A routine of bath-book-bed begun now will give them a consistent routine to get them into bed on time for years to come. And this is a good time to begin a tradition of reading aloud together as a family. As your child grows, the stories you will share grow, too, until you are sharing your books with them. This comes in handy on long road trips and when just cuddling together is necessary. 

Our teachers are happy to advise you in creating spaces for your children to enable them to be more independent. And along with independence comes confidence and joy!

Infant and toddler students become progressively more independent in school, setting places, washing dishes and caring for the plants and animals in their environment.

Excellence in Early Childhood – Every Day in the Bluebirds, Ladybugs and Turquoise Early Childhood Classes

Early childhood students are already familiar with finding their cubbies, their lockers, their own water cup and how to use the bathroom, wash hands, prepare a snack, enjoy it with a friend and clean up the space, leaving it fresh for the next person. Classes are fully normalizing – a term we use to mean that the children are choosing and focusing on productive activities as they settle into the school routine. Stepping into a class in session you might see the class at work with each child engrossed in an activity. We call their activities “work” to infer a respect for whatever it is that they are focusing on, and also to lend a positive connotation to the word. Teachers practice matching a child to a lesson and when we successfully make that match, it is rewarding to see them fall into the flow of a purposeful work cycle. The work might be matching and naming wooden fruits, using play dough, painting, counting beads from 1 to 1000, practicing reading words , building sentences or tracing the continents of the world. And along the way the children are refining large and fine motor control, building social skills and growing as individuals in a community. 

In September we will practice what is safe and unsafe, the Food Rainbow, the layers of the Earth, what is living and non-living, the parts of a book and how to care for books, a simple art history timeline including cave art, Egyptian art, and Roman art. We will fashion models of the layers of the Earth and learn how the Earth got its shape. We will grow Protocotista in class (living things that are neither plants nor animals, like mold and moss balls) and prepare for our Back to School lessons on September 30th.

Every day will include inside time and outside time, and choices in art, science, music, math, language, geography and history, always at the child’s own pace. Teachers make a point of greeting you at the patio door each morning and afternoon to exchange tidbits about the day. They will send a class email at least once each month and are happy to schedule a conference whenever more time is needed. They return emails and phone calls after school and look forward to learning more about you. Stay in touch. We are here to support you and your family.

The EC classroom is a busy place. There is always a snack available, dishes to wash, math problems to solve, reading and writing of stories, science experiments, social relationships to build...no wonder these students test so much higher than their peers in conventional schools. They are always learning!

Updates from the Upper School -Wasatch Lower Elementary, Evergreen Upper Elementary  and Bridgemont Secondary  Classes 

While the curriculum in the Upper School follows that of the rest of the school, these big kids take it to high levels of academia. Their curriculum includes all the classics and ties into student interests. Wasatch and Evergreen have begun the year with team building exercises and a review of Health & Safety and practical life skills in preparation for their Fall Family Campout during which they will set up camp and serve their families.

Our secondary school program is off to an incredible start with rigorous online classes with instructors and students from all over the world. They spend about two hours in class each morning and the rest of the day working together  and leading school events. To this are added in-person class experiences with faculty, collaborative projects and field trips. All three classes continue to enjoy Friday field trips aimed at confirming the lessons they have learned in class. They are also planning their end of the year trips and strategies for raising the money to make their dreams come true. 

With  Audrey, Leith and Maribel and leading the Upper School there are plenty of plans for the year ahead. These include cooking classes, building the World Peace Game, fire building, entrepreneurialism, engineering projects and collaborating with other Montessori schools. Among our faculty and parents of students are Montessori graduates who have their own success stories to tell as do our own graduates, and their children. The joy in Montessori comes from being intrinsically motivated to become absorbed in work you truly enjoy. Students can dream up a project and bring it to life at the maker spaces. They can invent a product, market it and use the proceeds to fund their own interests. They can make a delicious dinner and bring it home for the whole family! Becoming independent in life also entails a mastery of academic subjects in order to make wise decisions. So the academics come first, then the imaginative projects build on a solid foundation. Whatever these students dream about they have the opportunity to make it happen. 

The day begins with a journal prompt and continues through the academic work of one's choosing. If you worked on middle school level grammar yesterday do you want to do science, art, math or geography today? Students move at their own pace through their own interests, not through rewards or other extrinsic motivation.
The 2-hour online Bridgemont classes are with faculty and students from all over the world and the rigor is just what these high achieving middle and high school students thrive upon. One of them sent an experiment into space. Because the sky is the limit with Bridgemont.
We work harder and play harder, too!