Ms. Jalee and Ms. Vanessa

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

Hello Everyone,

If you haven’t already, please read the email sent to all lower el families from the school.

I just wanted to add a thing or two on top of that. You can come pick up your child’s belongings tomorrow or Friday. The times for this have been updated to 9-11 am and 3-5 pm. You will find the bags from our class in the north kiva (the area with the kitchen outside our classroom). Each bag has a child’s name on it. Please make sure you only take your child’s bag. If you requested a hard copy of work, it will be in the bag with the supplies. If you have picked up your child’s things prior to today, you can find your child’s packet in the basket at the front. You can also put work charts for me in the basket at the front.

Thanks for all you are doing!

Jalee

Dear Wonderful MMA Lower El Families,

We hope this email/post finds you and your family well. As your teachers and as a school, we have been thinking about you and working hard to support you as you undertake this new distance learning adventure with us. Thank you for all your hard work and patience as we get everything figured out and put together. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and does not go unnoticed. So thank you.

As a lower elementary team, we are sending this to give you updates and reminders about what we are doing for your child’s education at this time. Please continue to check our lower elementary blog for online resources to use with your child. The blog site is http://blogs.mariamontessoriacademy.org/lowerel/. Here you will find the main digital resources we are utilizing as a team to monitor your child’s work and progress. The main ones we will monitor are Imagine Learning Reading and Math, Reading Horizons, and Khan Academy. We encourage you all to take advantage of these as much as you can. You can find all the login information under the Language Arts and Math tabs at the top of the blog site. You will also find lots of other great resources under the other tabs. 

While we are excited to use these sites, we also understand that for many of you there are limitations in regards to technology use. We know that some of you only have access to one computer to share among many children or have limited access to the internet. To help with this, we are also providing hard copy packets for you to work on with your child. These include math, reading, writing, and other fun ideas. With the news of our school continuing soft closure until May 1, we will be making packets for the month of April. At the beginning of last week, you were asked to let your teacher know if you wanted one of these packets. A new packet for all 4 weeks of April will be made for all who already requested a packet. We are working hard to have these packets available for pickup starting this Thursday, March 26. If you are able to pick up your packet this Thursday or Friday, that will be great. Otherwise, you can get it after spring break. As a reminder, school office hours are Monday-Friday, 9 to 11 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m.

If you did not respond in needing a hard copy packet and have changed your mind, please email your teacher. If this is the case, your packet may not be ready until after spring break.

We have also created a new work chart that will be included in the packet and will be posted on the blog. We are not asking that you turn in any of your child’s completed work but that you mark off on the work chart when they have done a work. We have also included a suggestion of how many times a week to do the work as well as a suggested amount of time for it. You can turn these in every two weeks by bringing them to the school and putting them in your teacher’s basket, taking a picture and emailing or sending it to your teacher via Remind, or just sending a message with the works your child has done. This is how we as a lower elementary team will be keeping track of your child’s completed works as well as monitoring online progress. Just be mindful that as teachers we are not going to be in the school daily so we may not get your hard copy work chart the day you turn it in. Please use the work chart to guide which works you use from the hard copy packet.

We will also be touching base with you weekly to provide you and your child with feedback. Please watch for an email or blog post from your teacher as to how they will be doing this. It may be through an email just to you or even a phone call. Each teacher will decide the best way for them and your class.

As always, we are available to support you through email and the Remind app. If you contact the teacher with a question or concern, you should hear back from them by 4:00 p.m. during regular school days. Since next week is spring break, we ask that you as parents take a break with your child and allow for time to relax. As teachers, we will not be available during this week so please do not expect replies or feedback until the break is over. 

As always, thank you for all you do. Stay healthy and safe. 

Sincerely,

Lower Elementary Teachers

Hello,

One the the additional resources we have for reading during this time of school closure is called Epic. For some reason in order for many of you to join my class on epic you have to sign up for a 30 day trial. However, Epic is being offered for free until June 30. I will be sending you an invite that will allow you to have the free Epic until the end of June. The only info that I have put into epic about your child is their first name.

If you would like to utilize Epic for reading resources since the library is closed, please do so. It is not required. I will be monitoring this and sometimes assigning things for the students to read that would relate to cultural areas we would be doing in school.

Thanks for all you are doing.

Jalee

Hello Everyone,

I know not all of you are using Khan academy as an online resource, but if you are or are planning to will you please email me. I would like to assign the kids certain things to do. Also, if you already signed your child up, please tell me their user name. Some of the usernames are not student names and I have not figured out how to see who they are yet.

My plan is to make an account for those who do not have accounts yet and start assigning things next week.

Thank you!

Jalee

Hello Everyone,

Hello Everyone,

I hope this post finds you well. I know things have been stressful in this unknown time with new things that we have never experienced. It is definitely a strange and even stressful situation we are in. I hope you are all able to take some time to relax and take care of your families.

With our temporary school closure, as a lower el team we have put together some amazing resources for you and your child to help ensure that they can continue learning and progressing as they have been this year. As a lower el team we have created a blog that will have all the digital resources for you to use at home. Please take advantage of this and use it daily. We will also use this blog to update you on any info we have and any new resources we have. The link for the blog is: http://blogs.mariamontessoriacademy.org/lowerel/. Please register for the blog using the Subscribe to this blog link to the right of the page. You may still receive updates and emails from your teacher via their personal blog, but during this time of school closure, this will be our main way of communicating. 

For those of you that also requested physical works to do with your children, you can pick those up beginning tomorrow, Wednesday, March 18. You can pick them up between 9 and 11 a.m. or between 4 and 6 p.m. These are the times the school will be open during regular school days. 

Please utilize the workchart to track the work you are doing with your students. This is something we use at school and will help keep them slightly normalized through all this chaos. We appreciate all your help and work with this. 

Take care and stay safe and healthy.

Jalee and Tiffany

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend and find yourself and your families safe and healthy.

As a school we are working hard to come up ways to support you and your children academically. As we are putting resources together, we need some quick information from you ASAP.

We are putting together some digital and physical resources for you. I need to know if you will only be using digital resources, if you will only be using physical resources provided for you by the school, or if you would like to use both. Please email me by tomorrow, Tuesday the 17th, morning at 9:00 am.

Thank you and best wishes for you all in this chaotic time.

Jalee

In case you missed the email from Mr. Mike. We will have more information regarding works for your children to do during this dismissal by Tuesday.

NOTICE OF SCHOOL DISMISSAL

Effective until March 27, 2020

Parents and guardians,

The Utah Department of Health, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the Governor’s Coronavirus Task Force and the Utah State Board of Education have been actively monitoring the outbreak of COVID-19 and coordinating efforts involving preparedness and prevention with school leaders throughout the state.

This afternoon, the Utah State Board of Education and Utah Department of Health have directed all schools in the state to dismiss school from Monday, March 16th through Friday, March 27th. Prior to re-opening our school, we will work closely with these state agencies to re-evaluate the situation and determine the appropriate next steps.

During this dismissal period, students will remain at home, but the school facility will be kept open and staff will be allowed to continue to work. In addition, small groups of students may be invited to the school under limited circumstances to provide services or support that are needed. We will contact you early next week with additional information on the educational resources and support that will be provided to your student(s) during this dismissal.

As you are aware, the health and safety of our students and faculty is our top priority. We recognize the burden this will place on many of our families, but we encourage you to continue to follow the recommendations and protocols established by state and federal health agencies. Additional information on COVID-19 can be accessed at: https://coronavirus.utah.gov, https://schools.utah.gov/coronavirus, and https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/index.html.

We are grateful for the network of support that has been provided by our state and local leaders. In addition, we are so thankful for the dedication of our faculty, and the outpouring of support we have received from families. We will continue to provide you with updates as they become available.

Maria Montessori Academy will be closed Monday March 16 and Tuesday March 17 for Professional Development.

Mike Geilmann
Interim Director
Maria Montessori Academy

Just a reminder that we do not have school tomorrow, Friday, March 13.

Thanks.

Jalee