Ms. Amy's Montessorians

We started our spelling / vocabulary this past week.  We will start a new unit every Tuesday.  Your children will write a spelling list to take home each Tuesday.  Please ask them for the list so they can study throughout the week.  Last week we talked about prefixes, this week we will be learning about suffixes and synonyms.

Fieldtrips are a large part of the Montessori philosophy.  I believe in the power of learning outside the classroom.  I have scheduled the following fieldtrips and celebrations for the school year:

September 21st – “Freedom’s Light” Celebration of the Constitution (all students)

October 4th – American West Heritage Center (4th only)

October 25th – NEWSIES Weber High Play (all students)

November 8th – Class Gratitude Feast – 10am – 1pm

November 27th – ASTROCAMP (all students)

December 12th – Clark Planetarium (6th only)

December 21st – Holiday Class Party – 1pm – 2:30pm

January 8th – America First Credit Union (5th only)

January 18th – JA BIZZTOWN (5th only)

February 8th – Pobanz Orthodontist (all students)

February 14th – Valentine’s Day Class Party – 10:30 – 12:00

March 5th  – Dr. Seuss B-Day – 1pm – 2:30pm

April 30th – Bird Refuge (all students)

May 5th – May 10th – Alliance Redwoods Fieldtrip (6th only)

May 17th  – Crystal Hot Springs (all students)

These dates are subject to change.

Field Trip Behavior: Since field trips take place during the school day, it is the expectation that students follow all school policies concerning student behavior, while on a field trip.  In addition, student safety and respect for our community are of the utmost concern, therefore, students who violate the outlined rules may have their field trip privileges suspended and may face further consequences.  The following are general field trip expectations and guidelines, although each individual field trip has unique hazards and will therefore constitute varying expectations.  Students must stay with their assigned group throughout the field trip.  Students shall respect personal and public property.  Students who do not exhibit respectful and appropriate behavior may be denied participation on a field trip if past behavior has given reason to expect that the student may not behave appropriately during the trip or if the student has not participated in class or is missing excessive assignments in any class.  Field trips may be cancelled for the whole class if students are not exhibiting respectful and appropriate classroom and field trip behavior.

Heidi Bradley is our room mother this year.  She will be coordinating the chaperones and transportation to and from the fieldtrips.  Prior to each fieldtrip she will contact you directly via e-mail.

Hello Families,

Our  classroom book club with start on October 1st.  I am in need of parent volunteers to help facilitate this book club.  They will be each Monday starting at 8:45 a.m. and go until about 9:30 a.m.  I try to do it as close to the beginning of the day so parents can drop off their children and stay at school.  Please let me know if you are interested in helping with this classroom event.  Please no younger siblings if possible.

Thank you, I look forward to hearing from you.

Ms. Amy

I will give your children the information for our first home project of the year tomorrow.

Native Americans occupied the Northern Hemisphere long before “America” was discovered. Who were the people who were the Native Americans? Where did they live? What did they eat? What customs did they observe?  “Who were the Native Americans?”  These are the questions your child explore as they do this project.  I have attached the project packet below for your information.

Native American Research Project Native American Research Project Rubric

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask,

Ms. Amy

We had a wonderful week getting to know eachother, learning new math, language and social studies lessons.  There are a few upcoming events you will want to be aware of:

Sept. 13th – Back-to-School Night – 6 – 8 p.m. – I look forward to meeting new families and seeing old families.  I have been working hard preparing the upcoming field trip permission slips.  Please come sign them at Back-to-School Night and get this years flip book full of a lot of important information.

Sept. 21st 2018 – Field Trip to Freedom’s Light, Celebration of the Constitution – This permission slip was sent home last week.  Please send it back as soon as possible.  If you need another one have your child get one tomorrow at school.

We are in need of a small cordless stick vacuum for our classroom.  I tried to fix the one I purchased last year, but I could only get part of it to work. 🙁  If anyone has a way of purchasing one at a decent price please let me know.  It’s much easier for the children to restore after lunch and at the end of the day with a vacuum.

Thank you to our amazing families.  One family volunteered to take our broken vacuum home to try to fix.  Another family ordered one for our classroom.  THANK YOU for listenning to our classroom needs.  You are awesome!

Thank you,

Ms. Amy

Your child should have brought home a permission slip yesterday for you to sign for our upcoming field trip.  Please sign and return to school as soon as possible.

I will be giving a list of all the parent e-mails to my room mother,  if you do not want her to have your e-mail please let me know.  She arranges the transportation to and from most of our field trips.

If you did not receive a permission slip your child can get another one from me at school.

Thanks,

Amy

This week we learned about the first Montessori Great Lesson: The Birth of the Universe.  We read stories from different cultures around the world and how they believed the Universe was created.  We read stories from Melanasia, the Islands of New Guinea, Russia, Samoa, the Native Americans, China, and Greek Mythology.  Today we had a special treat, some of the students came prepared to share how they believed the Universe was created.  It’s been a fun week full of learning.

Your children started their Original Works project today.  Ms. Rachel will be picking to our class to pick up the artwork for this awesome fundraiser on Oct. 3rd.  Your child’s art needs to be finished by this date.  This year parents will be able to order their children’s artwork online, so children can sumbit more than one picture.  YAY!

If your child wants to create art for this fundraiser at home please remember the following guidelines:

• Must be 8.5 x 11″
• Must be original.  No copyrighted images or anything close to it will be accepted.
• Student name and teacher name must be on the back of art
• On front, names/dates/important images should be 1″ from the edges
• Create a colorful border
• Fill the whole sheet with color
• Be bright and bold.  Markers and paint are best.
• Use the paper they provide or cardstock for durability
• No glitter, 3-D art, or anything that smudges

Thank you, if you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask.

Ms. Amy

Snack

We have had a wonderful first week of school.  I have loved getting to know the new students in our classroom and catching up with the students who have already been in our class.

We have been practicing our Grace & Courtesy and learning new procedures we are implementing into our classroom this year.  Ask your child about the ready to learn positions we learned today.  We are all getting to know the new students in our class through team building and get to know you activities.  I love learning something new about each student.

Your children received their planners today.  This is an essential part of our classroom.  Your child is required to write down what he has accomplished in the classroom everyday.  Every evening please sit down with your child and discuss what he did that day, then sign the bottom of the planner.  This is your way of keeping track of what your child is doing and will help your child learn responsibility.  He will be responsible for reminding you to read and sign his planner each day.  The school provided these planners for your children.  If the planner is lost it is your responsibility to purchase another one.  They may be purchased for $15.00 at the front office.

Please take a minute to subscribe to our classroom blog, click here.  I post on the blog on a regular basis.  It is very important that you subscribe to receive updates.  Please click on the link in the left column to subscribe by e-mail.  You will receive an e-mail with a link to confirm your subscription.  You must click the link in order to be subscribed and notified of blog updates.  This is how I communicate with parents throughout the year.  If you read the classroom blog you will be aware of what we are doing in the classroom.  You will also want to subscribe to the school blog too, click here.

If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask,

Ms. Amy