Hello All,
A big thank you to all who were able to donate something for our class feast. Just a reminder that our feast is tomorrow. We will be setting out tables and setting up at 11. We would like to start eating at 11:30. That will give us about an hour before we need to clean up at 12:30.
I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow.
Have a great night!
Jalee
Monkey 
Beaver 
Hawaiian Monk Seal 
Rattle Snake Habitat
Ladybug 
Tarsier
Zebra 
Panda
Deer 
Dolphin
Salt Water Alligator
Otter
Black Panter
Coyote 
Panda
Cheetah 
Fox 
House cat 
Orca Whale
Maria Montessori Academy Parents Association (MAPA) is very excited to announce that effective December 1, 2017 we will be using Track it Forward to schedule and record volunteer hours.
We feel that using track it forward will help us provide the most positive experience possible when signing up for and recording volunteer hours. This program will allow families to track their hours on their own electronic devices, send out reminders for sign ups and help us become a more centralized Montessori family.
Families are asked to donate 40 volunteer hours a year per family to the school. As a member of MAPA (all parents are automatic members) the MAPA presidency is trying to provide as many opportunities to complete this act of service yearly and Track it Forward will allow families to sign up to volunteer.
In sending your children to a Montessori school you are taking the initiative towards bettering your children and families. MMA’s mission statement is “Education for a better world” and by volunteering you are providing opportunities to help make this a better world.
The reason I volunteer is to provide my children with opportunities they may not get at other schools. “Only a life lived for others is worth living.” — Albert Einstein. By volunteering you are giving of yourself to your children and the children of others. Volunteering does not have to be a big sacrifice of time away from the family or money spent, many teacher at the school offer opportunities to volunteer at home and MAPA has opportunities to volunteer where you can bring your children.
Ways you may be volunteering and not even know.
· Attending a MAPA meeting
· Room mom calls and asks you to cut something out or bring something to the class
· Coming into the school and reading with children
· Bringing in food for an activity
MAPA in cooperation with the MMA is trying to say “thank you” to those that have sacrificed time and volunteered this year by giving those families with 10 service hours completed an “act of service.” The details are still in the works but we want everyone to know that we appreciate and value all of those that have volunteered.
How Track it forward works:
You can sign up in one of two different ways. On the website https://www.trackitforward.com/site/mapa or email mapa@mariamontessoriacademy.orgwith your family’s last name and the names of your children and we will send you an invite. Once in you can track your family’s hours and sign up for volunteer hours.
Again we appreciate all that our wonderful MMA families do!!!
“Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart.” — Elizabeth Andrew
Hello Everyone,
Monday is our Nutcracker field trip. We will be leaving for the ballet at about 11:15 after we meet the parent drivers at North Shore. The ballet will last about 1 hour and 45 minutes. After it gets over we will meet the parent drivers and come back to school for the rest of the day and you can pick your children up like normal. If you are taking and picking up your own child, you can also meet us at North Shore or just pick them up at the school. Since we will be leaving before lunch, we will have an early lunch at about 10:30ish. We will them have a snack when we return from the ballet. Because this is a fancy type event, the children can wear best dress, such as a dress or skirt for girls and a dress shirt with a tie for boys. If they choose to wear best dress, it does not have to be in school uniform. The dresses don’t need a collar and can have a design and the boys shirts can have stripes or something of the sort. Please email me with any questions.
If you have not signed your child up for a ride and they will need one, please do so immediately. Here is the link https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/dkyhd.
We have had some wonderful home project presentations this past week. If you child has not bee able to bring theirs in yet, please send it next week. We would still love to see what they have made and learn from them. I will create a second post with picture of all the fun projects we have had that I was able to take before some were taken home.
Next week is also our holiday feast. Throughout the next couple of weeks, we will be learning about the many holidays that take place around this time of year such as Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. This feast is to celebrate all holidays that everyone celebrates. The feast will be Friday, December 8th in the school’s gym. We will start setting up at 11 and plan on eating at 11:30. The feast will last roughly an hour, after which, we will clean up and go home. This is a half day so the school day will end at 1 p.m. If you have signed up to bring something, please send it with your child, bring it when you come, or just make sure it is there at 11:15. Thank you in advance. Here is the sign up link if you haven’t had a chance to sign up and would like to: https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/asamr.
Lastly, the school’s International Festival is coming up the week of December 18th. This is a chance for your child to display a home project based on the continent we have been studying, not just for our class but for the whole school and any family members that come. Jr. High will be presenting in the gym on Tuesday the 19th, upper el will be presenting in classrooms on Wednesday the 20th in the afternoon, and lower el will be presenting Thursday, the 21st from 1 to 2:30. I would like the projects turned in the Friday before if possible, December 15, so the students can start practicing their presentations in front of the class.
The continent we have been studying and learning about is Asia. Your child will need to choose something about Asia (a country, a landmark-man made or natural, an animal, etc) to create a home project on. Many students choose to create a tri-fold presentation board with some information and pictures. However, they can create a diorama, a sculpture, or anything else they would like to. For this project, I do not recommend a power point as sometimes a laptop to present it is not available. They can also bring any props that they may have. If your child chooses to bring a food to share, this year I am requesting that they bring enough for the class and share the food when they present to the class before the actual international festival. Please do not send toothpicks to be used to serve the food. Feel free to email me with any questions.
I hope you have a wonderful weekend and that we get snow soon.
Thanks for all you do!
Jalee
Hello All,
I hope you have all had a wonderful holiday. We are back to school tomorrow, ready or not. We have our field trip to the Nutcracker Ballet coming up Monday, December 4th, if we have enough rides for everyone. I will be sending home the permission slips tomorrow. You keep the top sheet and INITIAL and sign the second page.
Don’t forget that the animal habitat diorama is due this week. This project will be a small diorama of an animal’s habitat. The diorama can be made using a small shoe box or a bigger box, or anything you and your child would like. Along with showing the diorama, students should be able to tell us a little about the animal like what they eat and some behavior. They should also be able to tell us about their habitat, like if it is a tropical rain forest, tell us about the rain forest and what is it like.
We will be having our class Holiday Feast on Friday, December 8. It will be from 11 to 1. I have already heard from some of you who will be coming, please let me know by Wednesday if you or any of your family will be attending so I can have a wejoinin page ready that day.
Thank you for all that you do.
Jalee
Hello All,
What a busy, crazy week, but still a great one. Thank you to anyone who was able to help with the community gratitude feast. Our class was able to work with Ms. Kirsten’s class on thank you cards and then we made some place mats. Today we got together with Ms. Marleen’s class to make some gratitude wreaths. It was loud with almost 60 kids but a lot of fun working with them all. I wanted to take some pictures but I got distracted working with the kids.
In the next couple of days there will be a wejoinin page set up for rides to the Nutcracker ballet. Please watch for that and sign your child up for a ride if they need a ride.
We do not have school all week next week for Thanksgiving break. I hope you all have a wonderful time with your family and have a safe holiday. I will have another blog post next week before we come back.
Thanks.
Jalee
Hello,
Happy Veteran’s Day and a big thank you to all our veterans who served in the past or are currently serving! We made a remembrance wreath yesterday with painted poppies to help the kids remember all who gave and still give so much for our wonderful country. I hope I was able to help them understand a little more about why we should appreciate those who serve our country.
First reminder, Monday is the last day to order original works. Remember, the proceeds from this go directly to our classroom and your children all worked very hard on their art.
This Thursday, the 16th is the Community Gratitude Feast that the school does for those who serve in our community. This will not be the one that the kids will be feasting at, but it is to thank all those who serve in our community. Here is the link to help: https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/seweq. Please help if you can. Our Holiday Feast will be on Friday, December 8th from 11 to 1. We would love all to attend. I will be asking for numbers no later than this coming Thursday so we can get the food we need.
We do not have school next week for Thanksgiving break. The following week is when our animal diorama home projects are due. We also have the International festival coming up mid December where your child will need a home project presentation based on Asia.
Our class will be attending the Nutcracker performance on Monday, December 4. Unfortunately we have a limited number of tickets for chaperones and these will be offered to the room mothers. We do however, need rides for all the students. If you are able to provide transportation for students, please let me know and how many spots you have. We will be creating a wejoinin link for parents whose kids need rides to sign up. We will be leaving North Shore about 11, going to the Egyptian Theater on Washington Blvd, and returning to the school when it ends around 1:45. If you are available to drop off and pick up, please let me know.
Thanks for all you do!
Jalee
Hello,
I cannot believe it is November already. We hit our 50th day of school on November 1st. We had a fun and busy week with the Halloween holiday. Tuesday morning we got together with Ms. Kirsten’s class and made “x-rays” of our hands and learned about our skeletons as a tie in to Halloween. I will include another blog post with pictures of this activity. Tuesday afternoon we had our class Halloween party. Thank you to all who were able to come or to donate things for the party. It was a lot of fun and turned out really well. The kids had a good time and I was able to just float around the room, enjoy the kids, and take pictures. I will include these pictures in the other post as well.
We have been working hard on our narrative writing. Level 3s have been typing their’s up on Utah Compose. We will be using this site a lot for level 3 writing. This grades their essays for spelling, grammar, voice, etc. It allows them to pre-write and create many revisions as they work on bettering their writing skills. They can use this at home as well.
We have also introduced level 1s and 2s to a program called Imagine Learning. This is a site they can use at home and school. We are using this to help with literacy. The kids loved both of these programs and I hope to have them all on them at least once a week and as much at home as you are comfortable with. We will also be using a site called prodigy that aligns with the math common core. All the logins and information for these sites will be sent home and available to you all later this week.
This Friday, November 10, is a half day for teacher professional development. Please make sure your child is picked up by 1 p.m. The school gratitude feast for the community will be Thursday, the 16th. When I get more information and sign ups for donating food, I will let you know. Our class doesn’t do a gratitude feast. We will be having our holiday feast to celebrate all holidays in November and December on Friday, December 8th. This is a half day and our feast will go from about 11 to 1. We love for all parents and other family members to join us. Put this on your calendars and the week after Thanksgiving break I will ask for names of anyone able to attend.
Our next home project will be due the last week of November. This project will be a small diorama of an animal’s habitat. The diorama can be made using a small shoe box or a bigger box, or anything you and your child would like. Along with showing the diorama, students should be able to tell us a little about the animal like what they eat and some behavior. They should also be able to tell us about their habitat, like if it is a tropical rain forest, tell us about the rain forest and what is it like.
Thank you for all your support.
Take care.
Jalee
