Connections January 15^th– February 22^nd

Spelling Bee February 26^th   

The theme CONNECTIONS is what your child will be studying during our fourth thematic unit.  During this time, we will be focusing on growth, division, reunion, and industrialization in the Americas mainly during the 1800s but not limited to this time period.

During this theme our school will celebrate a Spelling Bee week which will include class spelling bees, lower and upper el spelling bees, and a school wide spelling bee. All students are encouraged to participate in the spelling bee that will be held in their classroom. We want all students to work with the words used in the spelling bee to help build their vocabulary and spelling knowledge.

However, if your child is not comfortable participating in this event, they can also participate in other ways. If your child decides not to take part in their classroom bee, they will need to use the spelling bee words in another way to share with their classmates. Some of these ways include but are not limited to writing a story using as many of the spelling bee words as possible, creating multiple funny sentences using the words, create a board game using the words, create a game involving good, physical activity with the words, create a classroom scavenger hunt with the words.

When words are involved, the possibilities are endless!

Scripps National Spelling Bee lists were sent home today.  Please check with your student, you will need these words in hard copy form, since we are not authorized to post these words digitally.

We have computers every Thursday. All the lower el. students use the headphones through the week. These are not being restored properly and some of them have become tangled. Also, there is hygiene to consider with multiple student use. If you would like to purchase earbuds or headphones for your child, we would be happy to store them in the classroom in a zip lock bag for them to use during computer time. Please don’t feel obligated because we can problem solve this issue if you don’t have the means to purchase headphones.

We have also noticed that many student’s slippers are falling apart and wanted to give you a heads up if you see any on sale to buy for your child.

Have a great long weekend in honor of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy. Never underestimate the power and impact you can have to make a difference for the good in the world.

Greetings,

We have a fun filled week with STEM assemblies, lessons, and student projects. This week the upper elementary classes are displaying their projects in the front hallways. Lower elementary will be displaying their projects next week. Level 3s (3rd graders) on Tuesday or Wednesday, level 2s (2nd graders) on Thursday, and level 1s (1st graders) on Friday. We would like to have the projects coming in this week and no later than Friday, January 18th. If you need more time, please communicate with me.

Have a wonderful day!

Ms. Holly

We don’t have school on Friday due to a teacher professional development day.

On January 10th from 6-7:30 PM, MMA will be screening the documentary SCREENAGERS for all interested parents, students and friends of the school in the Junior High commons area.

SCREENAGERS – The average child in America spends more time consuming electronic media than going to school, with many teenagers going online “almost constantly.” In SCREENAGERS, physician and filmmaker Delaney takes a deeply personal approach as she probes into family life to explores parental struggles over social media, video games, academics and internet addiction. Through poignant and funny stories along with insights from authors, psychologists, and brain scientists, SCREENAGERS reveals how tech time impacts kids’ development and offers solutions on how adults can empower kids to best navigate the digital world and find balance.

The winter concert will be located in the new gymnasium December 17th at 6:30 pm. Orchestra students need to arrive by 5:45 pm. All other students should arrive no later than 6:15 pm.

Students should wear a solid color top and black bottoms.

If you have any questions contact clunt@mariamontessoriacademy.org

We are excited to announce that we won the door decorating contest for red ribbon week. We will be celebrating tomorrow with a pizza party. They will only get one slice of pizza, so make sure to provide your child with other food if this will not be substantial.

We have made some small changes to the project expectation which will be due Friday, January 18th.  The changes are as follows:

Level 1: Will research and present on a scientist

Level 2: Will do a project using the scientific method

Level 3: Will present on either simple machines or forces of motion

I will include the original write up below.  Your child’s project will be set up in the hallway for a day for it to be seen school wide during STEM week starting January 22nd. They will also present their project to their classmates.

Please note, they will likely not be ready to explore their ideas until the foundation lessons have been presented.  I would suggest opening the conversations once we enter the month of December.

Structure November 26^th-January 11^th

Stem Fair January 14^th

The theme STRUCTURE is what your child will be studying during our third thematic unit.  To relate the theme STRUCTURE to our STEM Festival the week of January 14^th, STRUCTURE can mean certain processes scientists use or explore such as the scientific method, the physical structure of matter or the structure of the universe, the structure of the classification of living things and so much more. There’s a lot to explore!

For the STEM Fair home project, we will ask that your child create a science presentation based on Utah state science standards they’ve been studying in class.  We want to treat our STEM Fair not as a general “Science Fair,” but rather a celebration of science.

A science celebration presentation is not limited to just a tri-board.  Listed below are ideas your child can choose from (but are not limited to) for the STEM Fair.

Some ideas include, but are not limited to:

• Poster or tri-fold board
• Brochure
• Hands-on experiment with write-up
• Experiment demonstration by student (must be able to show over and over)
• Create a board game
• Video (Example: Make their own Bill Nye)
• Performance or skit
• Diorama
• Create a book
• Create a lesson or work

Below is a list of state standards that your student should be familiar with by the second half of the year when we hold our STEM fair:

1^st grade- Scientific Method on Earth/Space sciences, Life sciences, or Force and Motion

2^nd grade- Scientific Method on Earth/Space sciences, Life sciences, or Force and Motion

3^rd grade- Sun, Earth, Moon relationship, Living and Non-living within an Environment, Forces and Motion, Gravity, Heat and Light