Hello!

Some information from the Office!  Thursday November 21st is our school’s Gratitude Feast.

To help with our Gratitude Feast please sign up below!

This field trip does require a $2.00 fee.  The Office has conveniently given us a payment link so you can pay from home!  Please follow the link below and post a comment or email me that you have submitted payment for your child! Thank you!

Nutcracker Ballet Field Trip Payment Link: https://secureinstantpayments.com/sip/cart/event.php?EID=1151

Don’t forget that the November Home Project has been posted!  Please have them due the week of the 18th.  Please HAVE them in ON the 18th, but if a child forgets, you have a few days.  It takes that week to have all the kids share.

On November 22nd the student’s do not have any studio.  That Friday I wanted to use to educate the kids on the history of Thanksgiving during the morning.  In the afternoon I have found some fun Thanksgiving projects.  Please let me know if you would like to volunteer to help or help with supplies!   I would like to have a helper per craft 🙂 I am going to oversee the corn painting wreath, but I would like a helper.

Supplies: No supplies needed for poem/hand turkey craft

Supplies: Gumdrops, mini-marshmallows, nerds, toothpicks, gummy worms (enough for 25 students)

Supplies: Clear plastic gloves (nobody has a latex allergy), Cheerios, Fruit Loops

Supplies: No supplies needed

Supplies: No supplies needed

Now that our upcoming events are out of the way, this week in group lessons:

Level 1s:

Level 2s:

Level 3s:

In Cultural:

History:

Level 1s: Body Measurements/ Project Sharing

Level 2s: Galaxies/ The Milky Way

Level 3s: Ordovician Period

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Types of Fish

Level 2s: Building an eye

Level 3s: Intro to Nematodes

Geography:

Level 1s: Building a 3D Earth

Level 2s: Faults

Level 3s: Weather elements

Botany:

Level 1s: Water food chains

Level 2s: Margins: entire/indented (the outline shapes of a leaf)

Level 3s: Calyx: gamosepalous & polysepalous

Friday: Cleaning, Australian animals and crafts

Have a great rest of your weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Happy November!  Hope you all had a lovely Halloween Thursday night.

I will be posting November’s Home Project this week.  Since November is about giving thanks and family, this project’s title is called “Family Tree” and is due November 18th.  In a nutshell there are 2 choices: 1) do a basic family tree with some history of where your family came from (siblings may do option 1 together), 2) choose one of your family members to interview and do a report on.  Cannot be mom or dad.  I will post instructions soon, so please visit our Home Project tab by this Friday!  I’m planning on having things posted by Wednesday.

We shared and finished up October’s Pumpkin Book Reports this week.  They were magnificent!

Halloween was relaxed.  The students did a few works and we completed our first class book, The Witches by Roald Dahl appropriately on Halloween.  We then watched the movie to compare the book to it.  The only difference the students saw was how the movie changed the ending compared to the book.  The students wanted a book related to Christmas next, so Ms. Anna and I are on the look for something fun to read before the let out of Winter Break.  Suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Level 1 parents: Mini History project is Due Monday! Please see week 10 for instructions.

This coming Friday November 8th is an early release.  Students will be dismissed at 1pm.  Please mark your calendars!

This coming week will be primarily cold.  Please start sending a coat and warm clothes with your child.  By Thursday it will get back up into the high 50’s, but the rest of the week will not be as warm.

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Solid, surface, edges (geometry), Money introduction with penny board layout

Level 2s: Adjacent and complimentary angles (geometry)

Level 3s: Base, vertex, and altitude (measuring types of  triangles in geometry)

Open lesson: Adding fractions, subtracting fractions

In cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Timeline of my life

Level 2s: Gravity and inertia

Level 3s: Cambrian period

Zoology:

Level 1s: Fish printing

Level 2s: Platypus

Level 3s: What is a flatworm?

Geography:

Level 1s: Continents and tracing- map making

Level 2s: Graham cracker folding (Earth’s folding)

Level 3s: Defining weather

Botany:

Level 1s: Food chains

Level 2s: Set B of leaves

Level 3s: Types of Calyx

Friday: Studio, Library trip, Electricity

Have a good rest of your weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello!

We sure had a busy week!

Everything went well and the students really enjoyed their field trip and party on Friday.  Thank you to all of you who came out this past week to help out!

Our next field trip will be to see The Nutcracker on December 9th. It won’t be an all day field trip.  We will need to take a bus and each student will need $2.00 for this field trip.  I will send out information as the date approaches, but I putting in the request for us to go this week and wanted you all to be aware that this field trip will have a small cost.  If for any reason a child cannot pay, please email me and let me know.

Level 1s have a mini project.  For History, we have been discussing the calendar and also length of time.  This will lead into our large unit of telling time later on in the year.  This project is very similar to how a celebration of life works in our class, except that it is more visual.  All level 1s need to create a poster timeline of their life for every year they lived on our Earth.  For example: if your child is 7 years old, they need 7 pictures, one for each year of their life on their board.  Under each of the pictures, please help your child out with a memory from that year.  It can be something about that year from the picture they chose or just a general fact from that year.  No more than 2 sentences per picture.  I would like if level 1 students wrote the sentences themselves, but they will need help and maybe motivation.  I want them to each share to the class and then put them on display for about a week.  This project is due: November 4th (a Monday, the day we do History).

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Making halves and 3rds with fractions

Level 2s: Expanded notation

Level 3s: Perimeter

In cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Story of a Lifetime project assigned

Level 2s: Friction and Equilibrium

Level 3s: Pre-Cambrian

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Fish parts booklet

Level 2s: The eye introduction

Level 3s: Intro Platyhelminthes

Geography:

Level 1s: Globe booklet

Level 2s: Earth’s folding

Level 3s: Weather layers

Have a great rest of our weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello!

Few things to pass along to you all!

On Fridays, please no characters on shirts!  Not even sports teams.  If your child wears a hoodie, they must put them in their locker while inside the building.  I have the heat on in our room if it is chilly, but if it becomes cold, please have your child wear a sweater.

Fall Festival is Saturday October 26th.  This is the day we can wear costumes.

I am looking at having an afternoon Fall/Halloween small party for the kids on Friday October 25th.  Please let me know if you would like to participate and help out.  I have some craft and snack ideas I just need the help getting the supplies and helpers on that day for it to be successful.  Please email me if you would be interested!

October’s Pumpkin book report is up!  Please look under the Home Project tab!

Thursday, October 24th is our first field trip to Black Island Farms.  Permission slips went out Friday.  They are brightly colored.  I asked the children to try and return them by Wednesday 10/16.  That way I can work on putting together rides.  However, at the very latest, permission slips are due NO LATER than 10/22! 

Here is the information for Black Island Farms:

3178 S 3000 W  Syracuse, UT 84075
(801) 825-6236

If your child needs a ride, please drop them off at the school at normal time.  Please no later than 8:30am, so I can take roll.  Certified drivers will take your children.  If you are a certified driver, please be at the school by 8:20am at the latest!  If you wish to take your own child or want to carpool with another parent form our class, I, nor the school can have any part in your arrangement.  The carpool must take place off school ground and I can not arrange anything for you.  Please see the pink page (2nd page) for times on the permission slip.  If your child loses their permission slip, please look under the Field Trip tab.  I will post everything under there as well, as well as the permission slip so you can reprint it.  We are allotted 1 chaperone per 5 students.  Accounted for chaperones for field trips will always go to certified drivers.  If you wish to come you are welcome, but you will have to pay separately.  If you have younger children I would suggest a babysitter for this field trip.  Their numbers are limited and between our class and Ms. Jalee’s class we meet the exact maximum number of 55.  However, I would call Black Island Farms to double check, but from their emails they seem strict about their numbers.  On other field trips we go on, paying for a sibling has been okay.

In group lessons this week:

Level 1s: quadrilaterals, ways to make 10, making wholes with fractions, one step word problems

Level 2s: vertical angles and vertical angles are equal, one step word problems

Level 3s: one step word problems

In cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Birthday beads

Level 2s: Centripetal and Centrifugal forces

Level 3s: Introduction to the Timeline of Life

Zoology:

Level 1s: Fish- External parts

Level 2s: Manatees and Dugongs

Level 3s: Hydras

Geography:

Level 1s: Zones

Level 2s: Tectonic plates booklet

Level 3s: Earth’s atmosphere usefulness

Botany:

Level 1s: Use of plants

Level 2s: Forms set A- with art

Level 3s: Calyx and Sepals

Friday: Studio, Static electricity

Please sign up for Fall Conferences if you haven’t!

Wednesday I will let the kids have a free morning.  They are welcome to bring 1 or 2 board games or card games.  No electronics.  

Cheers!

Ms. K 

We had a lovely week 🙂

This coming week we will use our portfolios and they will choose a few pieces of work that they are proud of to show you for conferences.  See the post below this one and sign up for Fall Conferences!

Please remember to let me know if you are a certified driver, as I have heard from one parent.  You can comment on here to let me know.

If you don’t know how to subscribe or you did, but aren’t receiving an email from “The Enterprise” every time I make a post, then a step was missed.  To subscribe you must:

1. Go to the bottom right of our class blog where it says “Subscribe to Blog” and click on it.

2. Type in your email.

3. You will want to watch your email for a verification link.  Click the link to verify.

4. Your email is now verified and you will get an email every time I make a post.

Please send tennis shoes to keep in your child’s locker for PE!

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Curvilinear figures, numerator and denominator along with pieces of a fraction from a family

Level 2s: No level two group lesson this week

Level 3s: Triangles classified by sides and angles

In Cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Calendar and its parts

Level 2s: Cohesion and Adhesion

Level 3s: Labeling the Eras

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Comparison of vertebrates

Level 2s: Exercise and nutrition

Level 3s: Kinds of jellyfish

Geography:

Level 1s: Hemispheres E & W

Level 2s: Tectonic plates model

Level 3s: Density in the Earth’s atmosphere

Botany:

Level 1s: Plants through the seasons

Level 2s: Forms of leaves, set A

Level 3s: Solitary flower

Friday: Studio, Aboriginal art

Have a great weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

It’s the most wonderful time of the yeeeaaaarrr…

Our first conference is upon us!  Please use the we join in link below and sign up!  The teachers get a dinner break at 5pm until 5:30 for dinner, so where it says dinner, please DO NOT sign up.  The last conference will end at 4:50 before dinner and the next will commence at 5:30pm.  Conferences go from 1:30-7:00 to accommodate schedules.  It is helpful to me if every sign up is close together, but you do what is best for you!

Please be on time and be aware of other people’s times too.  

Montessori Manager will produce a report for you to see what your child has been working on.  It has been easier to input morning works into the program.  I post what we do in cultural on our blog weekly.  If you have any questions, please ask away!  I will do my very best to answer them!  Ms. Kathy, our reading specialist will also make herself available if you have a child who goes to one of our reading specialists.  Ms. Nancy has stated she will make some time as well if you have a child in social skills.  If you have a child who sees Ms. Rachel, please make a time to sign up with her too!

I hope to see everyone in less than 2 weeks!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FALL CONFERENCES!

Hello!

Please remember that September’s home project is DUE MONDAY! 9/30

I will give the details for October’s book report this coming week, so look under the “Home Project” tab at the top of our blog soon!

Thank you Level 1 parents for returning your child’s reading!  I call them book baggies…but overall, I am receiving 7/9th of them.  Please make sure you send them back EVERYDAY.  I check the box to make sure you signed off their nightly reading.  Before they went home this weekend I gave them a new book for the week.  Please make sure they are reading it 4 nights out of the week.  I saw some lovely flash cards in some of the baggies, so thank you for helping out your child!  I spoke with Nancy and even if your child finds the book very easy it is very important they still do the reading!  Nancy’s program will get harder, but the goal is to build fluency and speed!

I have been doing reading groups everyday with Level 1s and some other levels.  I call them my pink reading group.  We read in the morning right after Morning Meeting and before time test.

I read with those who are on a Pre-Primer and Primer level 2x’s a week.  Those on a 1st grade level read with me also 2x’s a week. 2nd grade level reads on Tuesdays with Ms. Jill, 3rd grade level on Wednesdays with Ms. Holly, and 4th grade level on Thursdays with Ms. Krista.  Those who are 5th and higher, which is 2 students in our class, will have their own group.  There might be a group later on for those who read at this level, but for now, I will have them read on Thursdays in our class.

We had our 1st Spelling test this week! Spelling tests are every Thursday.

Start thinking about if you would like to come to Black Island Farms on October 24th.  I’d like to know who my certified drivers are, so if you did the background check program since being at MMA, please let me know so I can start working on that.

After lunch on Mondays and Tuesdays is our Writer’s Workshop time.  We have been learning about different methods of story telling for the past couple of weeks.  This coming week we will take a break to make time for all the home projects.

This week in groups lessons:

Level 1s: Polygon drawer

Level 2s: Reflex/Convex angles

Level 3s: Classification of Triangles

In cultural:

History: No History

Zoology:

Level 1s: My vertebrate book

Level 2s: Whales

Level 3s: Jellyfish

Geography:

Level 1s: Hemispheres N & S

Level 2s: Tectonic plates map

Level 3s: Atmospheric layers

Botany:

Level 1s: Food from plants

Level 2s: Blade: Simple/compound

Level 3s: Kinds of flowers overview

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Enjoy your Sunday!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello!

This week we got a new class pet, a spotted gecko named, Mango.  This kids LOVE her and take great pride in caring and observing her.  She eats crickets and small grasshoppers.  If you have any of these wonderful critters hopping around your property, please give your child the task of collecting some and bringing them in to feed our lovely new addition 🙂

The Upper Elementary elected the new student council for the new school year!  Their first task is to involve the Lower Elementary!

Ms. Anna and I have been assessing how to manage checkoff for the morning while keeping students accountable.  We have decided to try a class checkoff board that will allow students to visually see how many works they have gotten checked off and what is left.  This board will NOT replace work charts, it is a visual tool to help students.  At the end of work cycle, Ms. Anna and I can then divide and conquer with our iPads and input who did what into Montessori Manager.  Doing this will allow Ms. Anna more time to roam and help more students.  Right now, we are consistently using Montessori Manager as we do work cycle.  If a student achieves 4 or more works, they can go outside to recess.  If not, they stay in until they can complete their work.

Starting this coming week: MOST level 1 students will start a take home reading program!  Starting Monday, most level 1’s will get a plastic baggie with a book in it and a list of sight words to work on.  This is kind of like their “special homework.”  We at MMA are asking that the books are to be read MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, and THURSDAY.  The packet MUST BE RETURNED EVERYDAY TO SCHOOL because I will be checking to see if you as the parents/guardian are signing off on their reading.  Every Monday your child will receive a new book!  The list of sight words has a lot on there.  We are asking that you ONLY work on FIVE AT A TIME.  Our lovely and wonderful, Ms. Nancy, who put these packets together for your child, explains things you can do with your child on the letter that is STAPLED to the OUTSIDE of the packet.  PLEASE KEEP AND DO NO LOSE THAT LETTER.  It has helpful information.  

There is scientific evidence that if ALL children read for 20 minutes EACH DAY, that there their reading skills, comprehension, vocabulary, and spelling improve.  No matter what level your child is on, please help us by having your child practice reading at home 🙂

This week in group lessons:

Level 1s: Circle drawer, Numerator and denominator of fractions

Level 2s: Angle introduction and obtuse, straight, acute, right angles

Level 3s: Small math shelves tour, Regular and Irregular Polygons

In cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Daily timeline

Level 2s: Colder than cold experiment

Level 3s: Rope timeline

Zoology/Physiology:

Level 1s: Characteristics of vertebrates

Level 2s: Nutrition

Level 3s: Introduction to Cnidaria

Geography:

Level 1s: Longitude

Level 2s: Earth’s crust- creative drawing

Level 3s: Seasons and sundials

Botany:

Level 1s: Importance of plants C- Things made from plants

Level 2s: Veintation of a leaf

Level 3s: Flip up parts of a flower

Friday: Studio, Simple Machines

Home projects due by September 30th! You have one more weekend!

Academica West is coming on the 25th to do background checks for field trip certified driver’s.  What was failed to be mentioned is that there was a We Join In sign up and they are only taking 9 people that night.  If you have already done the background check it is good for like 5-8 years.  If you are new and want to get it done, Academica West is located in Kaysville, just right off the exit.  They mentioned to the teachers over the summer that you are welcome to go to their office to get it done.  I would call first to double check.

352 N Flint St  Kaysville, UT 84037
(801) 444-9378

This Friday there is NO SCHOOL.  It is Professional Development Day for the teachers.

Take care & Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello Hello!

Sorry for the late post, I got home late last night and haven’t had a chance to update!  The wedding was fabulous and it was nice to get a crab cake…

I want to thank Ms. Anna and Ms. Kim Patterson, our wonderful room mother who took over for me Friday afternoon.  Anna said amongst the excitement of it being Friday, they were very good and enjoyed doing the science experiment.

Also, a thank you to Dixie Brenchley and Kim Winward for coming in Thursday to help put together math binders!  Thank you ladies!

The kiddos are getting better at work cycle and those who are first graders and who are new are getting into the routine.  Veteran students are quickly getting back into their lessons.  Normalization ends October 1st and I am happy that I am observing great progress.

Since I am posting this Monday, the start of a brand new week I will let you know that reading groups have started this week.  Some students will read with my every day, some every other, some twice a week, and some students will see other teachers based on where they are at.  If you are interested in helping with reading, please email me!  I will asking you start after normalization.  If you want to help with reading groups please make sure to commit since reading is super important and it a goal for our school to better our student’s reading levels.

In week 4 I focused on individual lessons.  Level 1s met with me for Geometry on learning about rectangles and review on triangles.  They and some other students also got a lesson on a reading work.  I spent the focus of week 4 getting everyone  caught up in their math and where they should be.

For cultural this week:

History:

Level 1s: Keeping a journal for a week

Level 2s: 3 forms of Matter

Level 3s: Clock of Eras

Zoology:

Level 1s: Story cards of vertebrates and invertebrates

Level 2s: Bats (mammal study)

Level 3s: Sea sponges (Porifera)

Geography:

Level 1s: Latitude lines

Level 2s: Earth’s crust and review of parts of the Earth

Level 3s: Day and night

Botany:

Level 1s:

Level 2s:

Level 3s:

Friday: We started STUDIO!!  It went very smoothly and our class said they loved it!  For science they did a gobstopper experiment to learn about observations and the experiment process of the scientific method.

Reminders:

Please pack your child cutlery!  We don’t have anymore extra forks and knives.  We do have some butter knives, but students are still without cutlery.

On Fridays, for free dress, please no characters on their clothing i.e., no: superheroes, sports teams (bummer, i know…), logos, and cartoons.

Please make sure your child has PE shoes for Wednesdays!

Home Projects are DUE September 30th! Please see the Home Project tab at the top of our blog for details.  I told them NO research on video games and game characters.

Here’s to another great week!

Cheers!

Ms. K

MMA Contract

When school started a student contract was sent home with each student.  I have not received a few of them back.  If you and your child has not signed this contract, please print it off and bring it in this week.

MMA Contract

Photo Release

The link below is for the Photo Release.  Signing this form will give the school access to photograph your child and post pictures for the blog and classroom projects.

Photo Release