Week of August 31, 2026

Happening this week:

  • Monday (Specials: A-Day)

    • Dine-out at Jeni’s, 2:30-5:30PM

  • Tuesday (Specials: B-Day)

  • Wednesday (Specials: C-Day)

  • Thursday (Specials: D-Day)

    • 4PM School Improvement Team Meeting + Title I Annual Meeting

  • Friday (Specials: E-Day)

From Principal Jenn:

Good Evening Families!

We had a GREAT first week of school! Students have engaged in learning and community building all week, and the smile and laughter have brought a lot of joy back into the building! From a logistical perspective, thank you for the ways you supported safe and efficient morning arrivals and afternoon dismissals. We are quickly reducing the time it takes to get kids into cars and your support is a huge help! One reminder–we can only load and unload students from the passenger side in the carpool line. This is to ensure safety–carpool small collisions do happen, and we do not want students or staff to be in the middle. If you need to unload or load your child from the driver's side, please park and walk up. 

As we go into this week, we will support our students as they gain independence by saying goodbye outside the building. We will have lots of staff ready to support as kids transition to class.

We have few important updates for the upcoming week: 

First, I hope to see many of you after school tomorrow at Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream. Enjoying a scoop of ice cream will be both delicious and all sales between 2:30 and 5:30 on Monday, August 31 will support the George Watts Montessori PTA.

Second, our school improvement team will have its first meeting of the year on Thursday at 4PM. This week’s meeting will include sharing the state data release (expected Wednesday, September 2), the Title I Annual Review, and the development of our Parent-School Compact, a shared agreement for the ways parents, students, teachers, and school leaders will partner together to ensure a strong learning community. We want your voice as we create our partnership to support student learning and community this year, so please join us in the media center. 

Speaking of Title I, we are looking for 3 volunteers to serve as the George Watts Montessori parent representatives for the DPS Title I steering committee. You can learn more about this opportunity HERE. If you are interested in volunteering, please contact assistant principal, Christine Bertson (christine_bertson@dpsnc.net).

We believe George Watts Montessori is a safe place to learn and teach! Durham Public Schools ensures we have plans to keep everyone safe in the event of an emergency. Learn more about DPS School Safety, Security, and Emergency Information. This first week of school, we conducted our first emergency evacuation drill (aka: fire drill). Students and staff quickly exited the building in a safe manner. In the coming month (September), in addition to our monthly evacuation drill, we will also have a severe weather drill (aka: tornado drill) and a lockdown drill. Our consistent message to students is, “We believe George Watts is a safe place to learn, and the adults have a plan for emergencies. Today we practiced one of those plans.” If you ever have questions about the required safety drills or want support with how to talk with your kids about school safety, I encourage you to reach out to me (jennifer_aguilar@dpsnc.net) or our school counselor, Melissa Parfitt (melissa_parfitt@dpsnc.net).

We are looking forward to a great start to the school year! Have a great week, and we hope to see you around George Watts Montessori soon!

Principal Jenn

This week in your Family-Connect Folder. 

Tomorrow, look for a FULL family-connect folder, as all of the following will be included:

  • The 2026-27 Family GWM Welcome Packet

  • A GWM September Calendar

  • A grade-level band newsletter

Other Announcements

Third grade families: The Panorama student life skills surveys provides important information for our team regarding social-emotional learning and development. If order for your child to take the survey, we need a completed opt-in form. Opt-in forms went home with third grade students at meet the teacher and will also be included in Monday’s family connect folder. Will you make sure to complete and return the form by Friday–your child’s voice matters!

Are you new to Montessori?

We want to share some “lingo” to ensure you know what we mean. Over the next several updates, we’ll share each one of the five core components of Montessori Education.

This week’s core component of Montessori education is the “child-directed work”. American Montessori Society explains it as follows:

“Montessori education encourages children to select meaningful, challenging work that sparks their interest, fostering engagement and intrinsic motivation. The classroom design supports this with calm, uncluttered spaces for both individual and group activities, promoting curiosity. Children are free to move and explore, while teachers guide their learning and ensure a respectful, orderly environment.” (https://amshq.org/the-ams-difference/core-components-of-montessori/)

Child-directed or child-led work is often misinterpreted as “kids can do what they want.” The teacher plays the important role of the guide, ensuring students have meaningful and challenging work options to grow and achieve. 

At George Watts Montessori, child-directed work is guided by individual student work plans. Each day/week, students use a work plan to support the management of their work and learning. Students have agency to choose what to work on when and often have choices between activities to meet their learning needs–for some, a math material is used to demonstrate understanding of a math concept such as multi-digit subtraction, and for others, they are ready for demonstrating their understanding through abstract equations. Ultimately, while students have agency to direct much of their time during the work cycle, they are still expected to complete their work plans (even the parts they might find less appealing).