Week Three

Sep1

I hope you all have enjoyed the three day weekend. I think it’s just what the kids needed before the long haul to fall break.

We have spent the last 2 weeks getting to know each other, building connections and strengthening our relationships through a variety of cooperative games and engineering design challenges. We have a lot of problem solvers in our classroom!

This week we begin our modified work cycle. We will spend a lot of time organizing and learning the procedures for planning our work day and recording our work. Organization is very important to your child’s success, the more externally organized your child, the more organized their mind will be as well. Though the time spent doing this could be used in lessons, the foundations we lay now will benefit your student greatly as the year progresses.

In the morning, we will begin reviewing parts of speech, punctuation rules and the hierarchy of numbers. In the afternoon, on Tuesday, we have our first science lesson. Fourth grade students will be attending science with Mr. John, fifth grade students will remain with me, and sixth grade students will attend science with Ms. Kirsten. Wednesday-Friday in the afternoon we will begin our Geography unit, and Friday morning we will have our first physiology lesson.

Wednesday we begin P.E. Please ensure your child has the proper footwear and clothing to participate. While the weather is nice, P.E. will be held outside which means sunscreen is a must! The class length is 40 minutes and this is far too long to be outside without sun protection. Feel free to send your child with a hat, that is free of logos and characters, that they can wear too, these are always allowed outside.

We have several additional activities happening this week. On Tuesday, our 6th level students have a meeting to discuss volunteer opportunities as well as the 6th grade field trip, Wednesday afternoon we have our first studio assembly, and Thursday night is back to school night from 6:30-7:30.

Please be on the lookout for the studio flyer to come home with your child. This must be filled out and returned on Thursday. If this is not returned, your child will be placed in an available class rather than in a class of their choice. I will also have the studio course descriptions posted on the blog Tuesday night if you would like a preview.

~Cheers

Field Trip Information

Aug29

At Maria Montessori Academy we feel that “going out” experiences, aka field trips, are vital to your child’s educational experience. Buses are extremely expensive; therefore, we rely on parent drivers. The more certified parent drivers we have, the more field trips we can take. If you are interested in being a certified parent driver you will have an opportunity to become one at back to school night. The fee is $60 which covers the cost of the background check and fingerprint scan. Your certification is good for 6 years.

If you are currently a certified driver, please drop me a line so I can add you to my list.

Being a driver does count toward your 40 hour annual family requirement.

Again, we appreciate all the volunteer time you provide to support your student’s education.

Silent Reading

Aug25

Today we began our silent reading. Each day after recess we have fifteen minutes of silent reading. It was awesome looking around the classroom today seeing all of the children reading.

Although we haven’t discussed the details of our first book report yet, the genre we will be reporting on for the month of September is fiction. Your child can bring any book they would like to read, but it would be a good idea for them to bring the book they are planning on using for their book report.

Several students did not come with a book today. We have a few books in our classroom library that they are free to read, but it would be helpful if they come to class with something they are excited about reading. If your child has a book at home that they would like to use for their silent reading, please be sure they bring it with them to school each day. This will ensure they have a book of their choice, as well as save a lot of time browsing our library shelf.

Take Home Folders

Aug22

Happy Friday!

Today your student is bringing home their take home folder for the first time. Inside this folder you will find some flyers, possibly an engineering design challenge solution (some students chose to put this in their portfolios) and a work tracker evaluation form.

Because we have been doing team building exercises this week, we have not yet used a work tracker. In an attempt to form good habits right away, I sent the folders home today. I asked your student(s) to answer the second part of question number four about goals for next week. Most students did this in class, as is the expectation. In the event that they didn’t (we were doing this at the very end of the day), please have them complete this at home and sign the evaluation.

Your responsibility, as a parent, is to review the work in the folder, keeping everything with the exception of the work chart evaluation form which needs to be signed and returned on Monday with the take home folder. If you have any comments or questions regarding work that came home, please record them on the evaluation form and I will address them by Tuesday start of school.

If your student has unfinished work from the week, this will also come home in the folder and will need to be completed and returned on Mondays.