Ms. Jen's Blog

Parents,

Our class is having a great time learning all about how to solve problems using character! Make sure to check in with your student today to see what they’ve been learning through MindSpark Mystery Lab!

I wanted to give you an update on our class’s progress! Our class has reached $32 on our Pledge O Meter. We think we can make it even further to help our school!

Will you help us by reaching out to one or two more sponsors tonight?

If you haven’t yet registered your student on funrun.com, don’t worry, there’s still time to do it! Plus, once you’re registered, you’ll find lots of fun, easy ways to reach out to sponsors like our Easy Emailer, Facebook Share button, or even the Student Star Video!

I have had some questions about dress code on Friday.  Your child is welcome to wear athletic wear to run in.  The schedule for the fun run is as follows:

Glow Run Schedule:
8:45am – LE (Christina/Karen/Mikaela/AM Early Childhood)
9:50am – LE (Brittany/Holly/April/Kaley)
10:55am – UE (John/Laura/Amy/Shanan)
12:05pm – UE (Amity/Kirsten/Kotie)
1:05pm – LE/EC (Jalee/Krista/PM Early Childhood)
2:00pm – Junior High

Thank you for your support of our school!

Let me know if you have questions!

-Jennifer Hall

Parents,

I apologize for not posting last week.  Here is a recap of what we did.  We talked about some of the animals that live in the midnight zone of the ocean.  We looked at some of the different types of fish that there are.  We also redid our sink and float experiment but used salt water to see if it made a difference on an objects buoyancy.

This week we will be doing a close read on a book called Under the Sea by Fiona Patchett.  Each day we will focus on a different animal (Seahorses, Sharks, Angler fish and an animal of their choice). We will be doing some writing along with this close read as well. We will be talking about some of the animals that live in the trench and we will wrap up our study of the ocean biome by watching a portion of an ocean documentary.  I wish I could take our whole class to the ocean or even the aquarium but that will have to wait for another time.  Friday will be the Fun Run.  The morning class will run at 8:45 and the afternoon class will run at 1:05. You are welcome to join us.  The fun run will take place in the big gym.

We have several events coming up that I want to make you aware of.

100 days of school celebration

We will celebrate being in school for 100 days on February 6th.  We will have several activities that center around the idea of 100.  One of the activities we have for the kids is to come and count with me out in the hall.  We use this as one of our assessments.  A standard for kindergarten is that students will be able to count to 100 by 1’s and 10’s.  We have been practicing in class but it wouldn’t hurt to do a little practice at home as well. We could use some donations/parent help on this day.  Here is the link to sign up

Morning class https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/457931

Afternoon class https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/457932

Valentines Day

I know that valentines is not for a few weeks but I wanted to give you an heads up on how that day will look for our class.  Over the years I have done many different activities to celebrate this holiday.  One day some of my students were asking me how I celebrate Valentines day.  It got me thinking about what most adults do, go out for a nice dinner.  As a result of this and trying to incorporate Montessori grace and courtesy we have a formal snack on this day.  The students help set the tables with cloth table cloths.  They set the tables, arrange the flowers for the center of the table and serve each other.  We talk about what kind of manners people use at a restaurant like putting their napkins on their laps and not talking with their mouth full.  Every year that I have done this the kids have loved it.  We will be having a waffles with fruit and whipped cream. We will have each child make a Valentine bag at school so you do not need to worry about making one at home.  If you are sending your child with Valentines to deliver please just address them by who they are from not designating who they are going to (this makes delivery much easier 😉).  Both classes have 25 students.  We will be needing a little help on this day as well here are the links to sign up

Morning class https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/457934

Afternoon class https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/457935

Parent Teacher Conferences

We are trying something a little different with our conferences this time.  We typically only have students attend the last conference of the year  but we want to have students attend the mid year conference as well. We will be showing you your child’s portfolio and talking about what they have accomplished so far this year.  Here are the links to sign up

Wednesday https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/457936

Thursday  https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/457937

Friday  https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/457938

Parents,

Our class is having a blast preparing for the Maria Montessori Academy Fun Run coming up soon! We’ve also begun to learn how to solve problems using character through Boosterthon’s character theme, MindSpark Mystery Lab. While they’re teaming up with the MindSpark Kids to solve mysteries, your students will learn five 21st-century character traits that will help strengthen themselves and our world. Make sure to ask your students what they’ve learned each day, and together you can watch the story unfold on funrun.com!

Remember, we need your help connecting to sponsors who can make a pledge to help our school! Please make sure all pledges for the Maria Montessori Academy Fun Run are entered on funrun.com. The more pledges we get, the more incentives our class earns on our Pledge-O-Meter.

Thank you for your generosity and support of our school. If you have any questions, please let me know.

Have a great day!

P.S. Make sure to register your child on funrun.com. Use our school registration code: 747234

Parents,

This week we will talk more about habit 4 – think win win, we will introduce the twilight zone of the ocean as well as talk about the parts of a fish.  In art we will talk about the artist Pablo Picasso and focus on the line drawings he did.

One aspect that many adults notice when they enter a Montessori classroom is the order that exists.  This order is present not only in the layout of the materials on the shelves but also in the way the presentations and lessons are given.  There is an underlying reason for this.  Maria Montessori said “To help the development of the intelligence is to help put the images of the consciousness in order”.  One job of a Montessori teacher is to provide the child with an ordered environment so they are free to order their intelligence. As adults we take for granted that we already have so much information ordered in our minds.  It can easier for us to take in new information when we have some context for it.  Our children are learning new things everyday and creating how this information will be ordered in their mind.  We aid them when the environment around them is ordered.  This does not mean that our homes are perfectly clean with nothing left out.  Order to a child can mean that they know their daily routine  or that they know what consequences to expect.  It can mean knowing where to find their clothes and toys or what responsibilities they have.

Here is the link to volunteer https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/ubkra

Have a great week!

Ms. Jen, Ms. Jess & Ms. Kimber

Parents,

This month we will begin our study of the ocean biome.  This week we will be focusing on the sunlight zone of the ocean.  This is the uppermost layer of the ocean and goes down to about 650 feet.  We will talk about some of the plants and animals that live there.  The vertebrate we will focus on this month are fish.  We will begin by talking about what makes a fish different from other vertebrates, such as having scales, fins, and gills as well as living its life underwater.

The element of art we are focusing on this month is line.  We talked about several of the different types of lines that there can be in art such as zigzag lines, looped lines, broken lines, vertical lines and horizontal lines to name a few.

We are on habit 4 of the 7 habits of happy kids.  This habit is “Think Win Win”.  In this habit we will be moving from the private victory to the public victory.  Our first 3 habits were all about bettering ourselves and improving our own lives.  With “Think win-win”  we will learn about 4 outcomes that are available when you interact with someone else; win-win, win-loose, loose-win, and loose-loose.

Win-Win-  “Let’s find a solution that works for both of us.” People who search for solutions that make them happy and at the same time make others happy. People in this category have both the courage to say what they want and the consideration to work toward mutual benefit.

Win-Loose- “I am going to beat you no matter what”  People who fit in this category are only concerned with themselves they want to win and make others loose. They have the courage to say what they want, but are low on consideration. With win-loose you think of competition, comparison, power, and position.  This is actually a very common interaction in our society.  As parents we naturally have position over our children and sometimes put our agenda over theirs.  We must remind ourselves to constantly be on guard for situations in which we can change a win-loose to a win-win when interacting with children.

Loose-Win- “I always get stepped on”  People in this category have lots of consideration of others but they lack the courage to express and act on their own feelings and beliefs.  Too much time in this category creates the victim mentality and people who just follow the crowd.  They may bury a lot of their feelings, have no demands or expectations of others, and they are quick to please others even at the expense of themselves.

Loose-Loose- “If I’m going down, you’re going down with me.”  People in this category are low on courage and consideration they envy and criticize others.  They put themselves and others down.  This situation can be the long term result of a win-lose.

In class we will talk about ways to make situations win-win, we will think of cooperation, communication, and seek for mutual benefit.  These are great topics to discuss at home in your family.

We will be juicing oranges as one of our practical life activities this month and could use donations of whole oranges.  We appreciate your help in advance.

No school on Friday.  We will not have school on Friday for professional development.

Here is the link if you would like to volunteer this week https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/tcdtj

Have a great week!

Ms. Jen, Ms, Jess & Ms. Kimber

Parents,

I hope you and your families had a wonderful holiday, I know I did!  Ms. Jess, Ms. Kimber and I wanted to thank you for the holiday gifts.  We are spoiled and appreciate all the gifts we received!

As we come back for the new year I wanted to take the time to remind you of a few things. Please remember that your child needs to be in dress code each day.  If you need a refresher here is a link to the dress code. https://mariamontessoriacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Dress-Code-Policy-MMA-signed-04.08.14.pdf

The biggest thing we notice in class is students wearing patterns on their clothes and wearing jeans.

We have snack in  class each day.  The snack is provided by you.  Parents sign up to bring snack for the entire week.  You do not need to send your child with an individual snack to eat in class unless they have specific dietary needs (please speak to me if this is the case).  We anticipate that each family will sign up for about 2 slots throughout the year. We have several openings for parents to sign up to bring snack – especially in the morning class.  Here is the link to sign up https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/events

It is my goal to take the class outside each day.  There are only a few things that restrict us from going outside.  They are red air quality days, if there is thunder or lightning in the area and if the temperature is below 20 degrees.  We will go outside in the snow, rain etc.  . Please be aware of the conditions and plan ahead and dress your child accordingly .  Gloves, boots and snow pants seem to hide if you wait to find them until right before you walk out the door.

We look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Have a great rest of your week!

Ms. Jen, Ms. Jess & Ms. Kimber

Parents,

I forgot to post the volunteer sheet for this week.  Here it is… https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/trdzf

Parents,

This week we will finish talking about holiday traditions.  We will look at some of the stems we eat, talk about the plants and animals that can be found in the forests of North America and do our last experiment with air.  On Friday we will be making pancakes as a part our holiday traditions.

Winter break will begin on December 22nd and will go through January 2nd.  We will return to school on January 3rd.  I hope all of you have a safe and happy holiday.

Ms. Jen, Ms. Jess & Ms. Kimber

Parents,

This week we will be talking more about North America and one of the groups of people that live in the forests of North America, the Amish.  We will talk about the 2 main types of stems, woody and herbaceous, as well as do an experiment with crystals like frost on a tree.  We are still talking about holiday traditions and would love to have some parents come in and share a holiday tradition from their family.

Many people often wonder about the idea of having a 3 year age range in the same classroom.  It is something that is considered a hallmark of Montessori education.  Paula Polk Lillard, a respected authority on Montessori with over 50 years of experience said “The indirect learning that occurs among children is a primary reason for placing of children of different ages in one environment.  The youngest children are guaranteed models for more mature behavior than they themselves are capable of preforming.  The older children have opportunities to develop their potential for leadership and social responsibility.  This indirect learning occurs in the intellectual areas as well.  Younger children observe the older children work with material that they will use in the future.  Older children spontaneously help the younger ones with materials that have already been introduced to the younger child but which they have not yet mastered”.  It has been my experience that in a classroom with children spanning 3 years in age there is more cooperation as compared to a classroom of same aged children which can often have more competition.  Having a 3 year age span is one of my favorite aspects of Montessori education.

If you would like to come in and volunteer this week here is the link https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/dwkjr

Have a great week!

Ms. Jen, Ms. Jess & Ms. Kimber

Parents,

A big thanks to all the parents who donated items, time and showed up for our feast!! We appreciate all of your support.  We could not do this without you!

This month we will be talking about holiday traditions.  We would love to have parents come in and share a tradition with our class.  This can be something simple like making gingerbread houses or having a special breakfast during the month of December.  Please email me to schedule a time if you would like to come in.  We will also continue our study of North America this month.  We will look at what a forest is, introduce the stems of plants, do some experiments with air as well as talk about snow.

If you would like to volunteer this week here is the link https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/mqtvj

Have a great week!

Ms. Jen, Ms. Jess & Ms. Kimber