Hello Everyone,
I am happy to be writing this blog/email on a Friday afternoon. It makes things feel a little bit more normal than they have been these past couple of weeks.
Next week is Spring Break! We made it. I will be completely honest when I say that these past… has it only been 2 weeks, have been the most stressful of the school year for me. It was definitely out of the norm to research online works and find and print mostly non Montessori works for all the kids. It is much easier to follow the lesson plans that I have been following for the past 9 years. I am also greatly missing the kids and seeing and working with them daily. I am also finding that, for me, it is much easier to be a full time teacher in the classroom than a part time teacher to my own daughter. Thank you all for all the effort you are putting into teaching your own children. I know it can be challenging and I greatly appreciate your efforts.
I am sharing this with you because I want you to know how much I really miss working with your kids. Breaks are nice, but the one-on-one with the students is so missed. With that being said, I am excited to share that we will be doing some online “facetiming” of sorts after Spring Break. Tiffany and I are missing the students and hope they miss us a bit as well. We also figure that they must be missing each other. After Spring Break we will have two designated times a week when we will use Zoom to chat with the kids and let them talk to each other as well. One of the times will be in the morning and the other in the afternoon/evening. I will have these times for you by Sunday, April 5. I am hoping that each child will be able to get on at least once during these times, but if not, we understand. Thank goodness for electronics in this time of social distancing.
I am also excited to share that we finally have everything figured out with Reading Horizons, which is what we have been using for one of our reading groups in class. Students can now get on and be given new lessons virtually so they can keep progressing in our reading groups. I wish I could give them the lessons myself, but this is a good second. You can find the instructions for getting on Reading Horizons on the blog under the Language Arts tab. I will also include them here. Go to mariamontessoriacademy1.rhdiscovery.com. Your child will log in using their SSID number. From here they will be allowed to start their lessons. One or two of the lessons will be reviews of what we have done already, but since we haven’t had our groups for a while, I wanted them to do a review. I know that using digital resources has been tricky for many of you, but if you cannot get on any website but one, I would ask that it be this one. This will help their reading and it is something they are familiar with from using it all year with Ms. Tiffany and myself.
We will also have Heggerty videos for you to use after the break. Wonderful Ms. Mikaela is working to make a Youtube channel for the Heggerty lessons we are on. Ms. Tiffany and I helped record some, so if you are able to do Heggerty with your child after the break, they will get to see us. When this is ready it will be updated on the lower el blog and I will let you know as well.
We have also been able to get the classroom codes so your children can access all the the Scholastic reading issues online. The instructions for this are also on the blog under Language Arts Additional Resources as well as here. Just go to scholasticnews.scholastic.com and click on the grade level you want. After doing that, click Login located at the top right of the screen. When you click that you are a student, you will then need to put in an access code. Here are the codes for all our lower el levels:
Scholastic News 1 PHEMHMA
Scholastic News 2 PHF8977
Scholastic News 3 PHG7VQM
This should give you access to the magazines, fun videos, and other resources that we as teachers can use in the classroom with your students. We will also provide you with hard copies when we can.
If you are not able to pick up your child’s belongings and new packet by 5 pm today, you can do so after the break, so no worries.
I apologize for the length of this. I really have missed the normalcy things like this bring. Next week is Spring Break. I encourage you all to use next week as a break. Truly take a break from the worry of teaching your children. Allow them to have a break, but don’t discourage if they want to do some work. Allow them to do what they choose. I would like to ask that you still read with them daily during the break. I will be unavailable during next week. Please feel free to email me if needed, but know that I will not answer until Sunday the 5th.
Again, I greatly appreciate you all. You are wonderful parents and your children are lucky to have you. Please let you kiddos know they are loved and missed by Ms. Tiffany and myself. We look forward to seeing them via digital resources after the break.
Take care. Stay healthy and stay safe.
Jalee