Just the Dictionary, Folks
sterling 1
sterling (stûr´lîng) noun
Abbr. ster., stg.
1. British money, especially the pound as the basic monetary unit of the United Kingdom.
2. British coinage of silver or gold, having as a standard of fineness 0.500 for silver and 0.91666 for gold.
3. a. Sterling silver. b. Articles, such as tableware, made of sterling silver.
adjective
Abbr. ster., stg.
1. Consisting of or relating to sterling or British money.
2. Made of sterling silver: a sterling teaspoon.
3. Of the highest quality: a person of sterling character.
[Middle English, silver penny : possibly sterre, star. See star + -ling, diminutive suff. (from the small star stamped on the coin). See -ling1.]
Sterling (adjective); from the Thesaurus 2
genuine, no other, as represented
authentic, veritable, bona fide, valid, guaranteed, authenticated, official, pukka
sound, solid, reliable, honest, TRUSTWORTHY, truth
natural, pure, hallmarked, true as steel
kosher, simon-pure
trueborn, by birth
rightful, legitimate
unadulterated, unsophisticated, unvarnished, uncolored, straight from the shoulder, undisguised, undistorted, unexaggerated
Montessori, Maria 1
Montessori (mòn´tî-sôr´ê, -sor´ê), Maria
1870-1952
Italian physician and pioneer educator who proposed a method of teaching young children that stresses the development of initiative and natural abilities.
charter 1
charter (chär´ter) noun
Abbr. char.
1. A document issued by a sovereign, legislature, or other authority, creating a public or private corporation, such as a city, college, or bank, and defining its privileges and purposes.
2. A written grant from the sovereign power of a country conferring certain rights and privileges on a person, a corporation, or the people: A royal charter exempted the Massachusetts colony from direct interference by the Crown.
3. A document outlining the principles, functions, and organization of a corporate body; a constitution: the city charter.
4. An authorization from a central organization to establish a local branch or chapter.
5. Special privilege or immunity.
6. a. A contract for the commercial leasing of a vessel or space on a vessel. b. The hiring or leasing of an aircraft, a vessel, or other vehicle, especially for the exclusive, temporary use of a group of travelers.
7. A written instrument given as evidence of agreement, transfer, or contract; a deed.
verb, transitive
chartered, chartering, charters
1. To grant a charter to; establish by charter.
2. To hire or lease by charter: charter an oil tanker.
3. To hire (a bus or an airplane, for example) for the exclusive, temporary use of a group of travelers.
[Middle English chartre, from Old French, from Latin chartula, diminutive of charta, paper made from papyrus. See card1.]
- char´terer noun
academy 1
academy (e-kàd´e-mê) noun
plural academies
Abbr. A., acad.
1. A school for special instruction.
2. A secondary or college-preparatory school, especially a private one.
3. a. The academic community; academe: "When there's moral leadership from the White House and from the academy, people tend to adjust" (Jesse Jackson). b. Higher education in general. Used with the. c. A society of scholars, scientists, or artists.
4. Academy a. Plato's school for advanced education. b. Platonism. c. The disciples of Plato.
[Latin Acadêmìa, the school where Plato taught, from Greek Akadêmia.] 1
Morrisville Who, What, When, Where?
Morrisville, North Carolina
A small town strategically located between Cary, North Carolina and the prestigious Research Triangle Park. Morrisville is unlike any other town in the country; the planning board itself cannot quite describe its unique position. It is neither a "walking, college town" or a booming metropolis. The nearby Raleigh-Durham International Airport provides unprecedented economic opportunity. We chose a six acre site convenient to Church Street en route to RTP for our new school. The school opened in February, 1997 to a warm welcome from the Town of Morrisville.
directions: from Raleigh, take 40 West towards RDU airport. Exit 285 Morrisville, turn left at the top of the ramp onto Aviation Parkway, go about two miles into Morrisville. Cross Highway 54 and the RR tracks, turn right on Church Street, go one half mile. Turn left onto Treybrooke Rd. and right into the driveway. The office is in Bldg B.
Morrisville was recently discovered to be the site of the last skirmish in the Civil War. A few cannonballs were found by a group of boys playing in the woods. Historians have determined that they were fired after the actual end of hostilities, for the confederacy surrendered in Durham some 20 miles away. A small display has been set up in the Town Hall. No Civil War artifacts were uncovered at our site.
What?
In Montessori, we begin formal history teaching in first grade with the "Five Great Lessons." History continues to be an important subject at our school, as does the prehistory of man and evolution. We do not teach "Scientific Creationism" or any formal religion. Religion is, however, an important subject that individual teachers are free to discuss as appropriate; most of our elementary teachers observe various religious holidays and discuss them in cultural context. Religion is "taught" in relationship to geography, for example, Buddhism is discussed in the study of Thailand. Geography itself is taught in preschool at age three.
Meanwhile, a "Kirk Corner-Notched Point" fragment was found on April 19, 1997 during the planting of evergreens at the school. It was very near the existing mailbox, right next to the parking lot. This fragment was broken and re-worked by either the same person, or another member of the same tribe, but it retains its distinctive corner notch. Frank Kenan Barnard (Arrowheads And Other Indian Artifacts, 1991) dates this point to 7900 BC. This date is really astounding. The Great Pyramid, for instance, is quite young with a date of about 2680 BC.
Our spearpoint
Very little is really known of the Archaic Period that preceded the Woodland Period of the North American Indians. These peoples were hunter-gatherers and probably are the ancestors of tribes that were in North Carolina in historic times. We have been honored to have enrolled at Sterling members of various tribes, notably a member of the unrecognized Lumbee tribe centered around Pembroke, NC. Here follows a blurb from the encyclopedia:
"Americas, prehistory of the
… It is generally agreed that the first humans to inhabit the Americas crossed the BERING STRAIT from NE Asia in migration waves beginning before 30,000 BC By 8000 BC, humans had spread throughout the Americas. Major Paleolithic cultures were created c.20,000 BC by seminomadic big-game hunters of the Great Plains of North America. Earliest evidence of human occupation in Middle and South America dates from 30,000 BC Between 5000 BC and 1000 BC, agriculture, pottery, and complex social systems throughout the Americas marked the end of the STONE AGE and the rise of the high civilizations. See MIDDLE AMERICA, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF; NORTH AMERICA, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF; SOUTH AMERICA, INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF; and articles on individual peoples. 3
North America, indigenous peoples of
…This article deals with the peoples who inhabited North America before the arrival of the Europeans. Now often called Native Americans, they have long been called Indians because it was initially believed that COLUMBUS had reached the East Indies. Migrating in waves from Asia (see AMERICAS, PREHISTORY OF THE), these peoples spoke widely varying NATIVE AMERICAN LANGUAGES, but all had Mongoloid straight black hair, dark eyes, and yellow- to red-brown skin. In 1492 they numbered 1 to 2 million N of Mexico, in six major cultural areas: Northwest Coast, Plains, Plateau, Eastern Woodlands, Northern, and Southwest....
Eastern Woodlands. In the Eastern Woodlands, Algonquian-Wakashan and Hokan-Siouan speakers predominated. Peoples from the Atlantic to the Mississippi (e.g., DELAWARE, HURON, IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY, MOHEGANS) were deer hunters; the women also grew corn, squash, and beans. Their houses included the dome-shaped wigwam and the longhouse; they used the birchbark canoe. Males wore deerskin clothing, face and body paint, and scalp locks. Peoples in the area from the Ohio R. to the Gulf of Mexico (e.g., CHEROKEE, CHOCTAW, Natchez, SEMINOLE) developed a farming and trading economy featuring a high technology and excellent pottery. A stratified society observed elaborate rites including sun worship; burial mounds (see MOUND BUILDERS) were unique to these groups.
Northern Tribes. In the semiarctic Northern area, covering most of Canada, Algonquian-Wakashan and Nadene tongues predominated. Nomadic hunters (e.g., Kutchin, MONTAGNAIS AND NASKAPI) followed caribou migrations for food, clothing, and shelter; the snowshoe was important to their material culture. Their religion centered on the SHAMAN.
Contemporary Native American Life. After the long struggle (see INDIAN WARS) between whites and Native Americans came to an end in the 1890s, Native Americans settled into a life dominated by poverty, poor education, unemployment, and gradual dispersal. US government policy, administered by the Bureau of INDIAN AFFAIRS, encouraged converting tribal lands into individual holdings, many of which were sold to whites. The Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 aimed at revitalization of Native American economic life, but also at assimilation into white society; the policy of the 1950s to terminate tribes aggravated the situation. In the 1970s the AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT was organized, and various tribes filed suits to reclaim formerly seized lands from the US Government. Of approximately 1.9 million Native Americans in the US today, most live in the Southwest and mountain states. Survivors of many Eastern tribes live among whites in OKLAHOMA, while unassimilated native culture is strongest among the Pueblos of Arizona and New Mexico and among some tribes of the Pacific Northwest. See also articles on individual tribes." 3
1The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition is licensed from Houghton Mifflin Company. Copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Selected Illustrations from the Concise Columbia Encyclopedia. Copyright © 1991 by Columbia University Press.
2Roget's Thesaurus of English words and phrases is licensed from Longman Group UK Limited. Copyright © 1962, 1982, 1987 by Longman Group UK Limited. All rights reserved.
3The Concise Columbia Encyclopedia is licensed from Columbia University Press. Copyright © 1991 by Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.