Glossary of Terms

After School Activities (ASA) – Activities offered after school to students who are in Primary
Extended Day and above. Notifications for sign up will be sent during fall & spring enrollment.

AMI – Alcuin School’s Early Childhood Program is recognized by Association Montessori Internationale (AMI) and all guides from Toddler through Lower Elementary are AMI trained. Association Montessori Internationale’s objective is to uphold, propagate and further the pedagogical principles and practices formulated by Maria Montessori for the full development of the human being.

Annual Fund – As a private school, Alcuin does not receive tax dollars for our operations. Tuition revenue alone is not enough to sustain the quality of an Alcuin School education. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of tuition revenue is for faculty salaries and benefits, leaving only twenty-one percent (21%) for technology, facilities, classroom and administrative expenses. In order to continue to provide excellence in programs and facilities, the School relies on donations from the Annual Fund. Every private school has one. While capital campaigns provide funding for buildings, the Annual Fund has a direct and significant impact on what happens within
them.

Assistant Guide – Toddler through Lower Elementary classrooms have an Assistant. This person assists the Guide in the classroom observing, interacting with the children and helping to prepare the classroom environment. In Upper Elementary this is referred to as an Academic Coach.

Auction Projects – Each classroom designs a project to be auctioned off at the annual auction. Your Room Parent or Auction Project Coordinator will ask each family for a $20 voluntary donation, so items can be purchased to complete the project. Proceeds from the Auction Project go back to the school.

Before and After School Enrichment (BASE) – A term used to describe our after school care for working parents with Elementary and older children.

Best Party – Parent-sponsored parties with varied themes held throughout the year. The hosts put the party together, the community is invited to purchase tickets and attend and the ticket proceeds go directly to the school.

Camp Brain – Alcuin’s sign up page for registering for after school activities, summer camps, etc.
www.alcuin.campbrainregistration.com

Dads’ Club – Dads of Alcuin students are automatically members of the Dads' Club. Dads' Club hosts various community building events throughout the school year which promote school spirit, foster cultural enrichment, encourage fellowship among the community, and fosters opportunities to spend time with their children. These events include: Sweetheart Ball, Top Golf Outing, Poker Tournament, etc. The Dads’ Club also supports the Parents' Club and school initiatives.

EoMs – Exhibition of Mastery for Middle and Upper School students where they show the projects they have completed in fine arts and performing arts.

ERBs – Comprehensive standardized tests produced by the Educational Records Bureau (ERB)
that assesses student performance in several academic areas including verbal reasoning, reading
comprehension, writing skills, and mathematics achievement and ability. At Alcuin, students in grades 1 through 9 take the ERB test every spring. The data from the tests are evaluated each year to further examine the curriculum as well as faculty and parents gaining additional information about the student’s individual progress.

Garden Party – Garden Parties are events that occur in Toddler through Lower Elementary classrooms. Each classroom has an outdoor garden and the children typically spruce it up in the fall and in the spring. How this is done varies by classroom, but a common event is to have a garden party.

General Parents’ Meeting (GPM) – Parent meeting held the first Friday of the first week of school each year. The meeting begins in the Gym where you will learn valuable information that applies to the entire Community followed by small meetings in your individual classrooms with your child's Guide. A Parent social follows the classroom visits, which includes food and beverages. This is an adult only event.

Giving Tree – It takes everyone at Alcuin to make your child's experience a great one. In lieu of individual gifts (faculty and staff are not allowed to accept individual gifts from parents), Giving Tree was set up so that monies could be equally given to those who play a role in your child's experience - faculty and staff. Donations are collected beginning in December and each member of the faculty and staff receives this gift before the holiday break.

Grace and Courtesy – Students are taught the social skills that allow a group of children to function independently but also respectfully, not only at school but throughout their life: how to excuse yourself when stepping in front of another; saying “please” and “thank you”, how to wait rather than interrupt, how to request assistance, and greeting guests warmly. In this way the children gradually build the social skills of a polite society.

Guide – In traditional schools a Guide is known as the teacher. Montessori uses the term "Guide" to reinforce the role students play in their own education.

Hawk Shop – Our School Store located inside the Gymnasium on Alcuin campus. Various Alcuin gear like shirts, coolers, water bottles, pencils, etc., are available to purchase. Hours are Wednesday and Friday from 7:45 am -8:30 am and often during events. You can also access the Hawk Shop online from the resource page within the Online Portal. 

Heat-Ups – Children who stay for lunch are able to bring lunch items that need re-heating. The Guides call these "heat-ups" and so will your children. 

Human Development Class – Curriculum to provide 4th – 8th level students with accurate, age-appropriate, evidence-based information that will strengthen their character, enrich their understanding of their own development and foster a sense of physical and emotional confidence and well-being. Human Development curriculum, led by Miki Johnston, MSW, LCSW, is designed to help students develop knowledge and respect for themselves and others.

Innovation Studio (aka The HIVE) – Alcuin’s Innovation Studio is a high-tech, state-of-the-art facility open to Lower Elementary through Upper School students and is designed to promote educational success through a high-tech interactive learning environment that stimulates imagination, creativity, innovation, and leadership exploration.

International Baccalaureate® Organization – International Baccalaureate® (IB) Organization offers an education that focuses on teaching students to think critically and independently, and how to inquire with care and logic. IB programs prepare students to succeed in a world where facts and fiction merge in the news, and where asking the right questions is a crucial skill that will allow them to flourish long after they’ve completed the programs. IB programs are introduced during the spring semester of the 6th grade year and continue through 12th grade. Grade 6th through 10th are authorized by the IBO Middle Years Programme (MYP) and grades 11th through 12th are authorized by the IBO Diploma Programme (DP).

Journey & Discovery – Commonly referred to as J&D, this is a daylong event for parents that occur on a Saturday in the fall where you journey through all the levels at Alcuin. 

Lower Elementary – First through Third level students.

Lunch Bunchers – A term used for Primary Extended Day students who stay until 3:00 pm.

Middle School – Seventh and Eighth level students.

Montessori Primary Care (MPC) – After school care for working parents with children in Primary.

Motor Development Lab (MDL) – MDL is open for Primary children on a daily basis. It is staffed by a member of the Physical Education Department and is designed for children to experience a variety of gross motor activities - from walking on the balance beam, jumping on the mini-trampoline to climbing the rock wall. The children go by twos from each classroom for a 20-minute period of exercise. This is a child-directed activity and an opportunity for the children to exercise freedom with responsibility as they walk on their own from their classroom to the MDL.

Outdoor & Environmental Experiences (OEE) – OEE trips are a part of the Upper Elementary through Upper School curriculum. These activities are curriculum-based and are an integral part of Montessori and IB classrooms. Included as part of these trips are leadership training, planning and organization, an important academic component.

Parents’ Club – Parent involvement is an important element of the school community. Our families come together frequently throughout the year for celebration, planning, and education. These gatherings are made possible through Parents’ Club volunteers and staff collaboration. Parents' Club meets the first Wednesday of every month after drop-off at 8:30 am to 9:30 am.

Planes of Development – Four distinct periods of growth, development, and learning that build
on each other as children and youth progress through them: ages 0 – 6 (the period of the “absorbent mind”); 6– 12 (the period of reasoning and abstraction); 12 – 18 (when youth construct the “social self,” developing moral values and becoming emotionally independent); and 18 – 24 years (when young adults construct an understanding of the self and seek to know their place in the world).

Practical Life – The Montessori term that encompasses domestic work to maintain the home and classroom environment; self-care and personal hygiene; and grace and courtesy. These activities are of great interest to young children, help toddlers and preschool-age children learn to work independently, develop concentration, and prepare for later work with reading and math. Older children participate in more advanced activities.

Prepared Environment – The teacher prepares the environment of the Montessori classroom with carefully selected, aesthetically arranged materials that are presented sequentially to meet the developmental needs of the children using the space. Well-prepared Montessori environments contain appropriately sized furniture, a full complement of Montessori materials, and enough space to allow children to work in peace, alone or in small or large groups.

Primary Program – This is for children 3 years old through 6 years old (kinder)

Primary Parent Work Night – This takes place one evening each semester where parents come into the classroom with their child. Their child will walk them through several things that they are working on in class.

Progress Report – Reports are used as a means of evaluating student’s progress and usually cover work habits and social and personal development. Except for toddlers, Progress Reports will be provided prior to scheduled conferences. For Elementary Students, Progress Reports are mailed once mid-year. For Middle and Upper School students, Progress Reports are mailed midterm for both 1st and 2nd semesters.

Room Parents – Parents assigned to each classroom that work with the Guide to organize classroom events. They help organize garden parties, coordinate the auction projects and often send reminders of school happenings and classroom specific knowledge.

Rubrics – Rubric is commonly defined as a tool that articulates the expectations for an assignment by listing criteria, and for each criterion, describing levels of quality. IB uses rubrics as a grading system; at Alcuin, rubrics come in to play during spring semester of 6th grade year through 12th grade. In education terminology, rubric means, "a scoring guide used to evaluate the quality of students' constructed responses". Rubrics usually contain evaluative criteria, quality definitions for those criteria at particular levels of achievement, and a scoring strategy. They are often presented in table format and can be used by teachers when marking, and by students when planning their work.

Sensorial Exercises – These activities develop and refine the 5 senses—seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling—and build a foundation for speech, writing, and math through the use of sensorial materials. The exercises also bring order to the barrage of sensorial impressions the child experiences from birth onward.

Specials – You'll hear this word starting in Lower Elementary. It's referring to their language
classes, art and music.

Toddler Program – This is for children 18 months up to 3 years of age.

Upper Elementary – Fourth through Sixth level students.

Upper School – Ninth through Twelfth level students.

Work – A purposeful activity. Maria Montessori observed that children learn through purposeful activities of their own choosing; Montessori schools call all of the children’s activities “work."