Ms. Kaley's Classroom Room 24

Hi Everyone!

Volunteers needed:

I will be out of town beginning Wednesday.  If anyone would like to come volunteer some time to help check off works and help Misha with some afternoon activities then I am looking to 1 person during the times of:

Wednesday morning 8:30-11:00

Wednesday afternoon- 12:45-2:30

Thursday afternoon- 12:45-2:30

Friday afternoon- 12:45-2:30

Past Week and Upcoming Week:

This past week we went over the 2nd Great Lesson: The Coming of Life.  I showed them the Timeline of Life and how life began in the water and then went on to have the Ages of Invertebrates, Ages of Fish, Ages of Amphibians, and Ages of Mammals.  Birds didn’t get an “explosion” period, as other vertebrates did.  Students got the choice to color a timeline of their own.  This coming week I will talk to the students about the 3rd Great Lesson: The Coming of Man.  I don’t dive heavily into this.  I will read a story to them and talk about how their are theories of evolution and how creationism teaches these theories on how humans came to be on Earth.  Teaching them this way helps link all the Great Lessons together.

I am still working on UURC reading tests little by little.  Students worked on their Alpha Math U See placement tests and will continue to finish them and move on to Beta tests this week.

In Cultural this week: Geography

Wednesday afternoon was Geography lessons!  I was able to see the 1st and 3rd graders.  The 2nd graders Geography will be presented as a whole class lesson this coming Thursday as it will involve looking at the states in the northeast.  Students will learn what “demarcation” means and also learn about the Mason-Dixon Line.

Friday our students had their first art lesson with Ms. Trudy!  Ms. Trudy had them work on early cave drawings to tell a story- a great tie in to our upcoming 3rd Great Lesson!

Friday afternoon I read the students about Benjamin Franklin and who he was.  The students will be working on a kite follow up work where they can draw pictures of what Ben Franklin did.  These kites will be due this coming Friday.

This coming week Ms. Lana will be coming in Wednesday morning, Thursday morning, Friday morning and afternoon to teach lessons for me while I am gone.  Ms. Misha will be presenting an art lesson Wednesday afternoon and a Measurement activity.

Thursday is also Back to School Night from 6pm-8pm.  Come get your pretty parent flip book and project overviews for the year!

This coming Monday will also be our class’s 1st whole class Botany lesson with our school’s botanist Ms. Rachael Bush!  We will be at her lesson at 12:35pm-1:25.

Field Trip!

Again, if you can drive students to our field trip, please let Katie James, our room mother know!  misskt2558@yahoo.com  Please also let her know if your child needs a ride so our room mother and room mother assistant can see who needs what and who can go with who.  As your child’s teacher, I am not legally allowed to create carpools for your child.  Certified drivers will pick up in the school parking lot and drivers able to do carpools will park in the North Shore parking lot.  We need to leave at 11:45am, so if you plan on driving, please be there in the parking lots you need to be in at 11:30am.  We will do an early lunch and recess that day (Sept. 21st)

Thanks everyone!  I come back from Maryland Sunday, so we’ll see about a blog post next weekend.

Have a great upcoming week!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hello Everyone!

Permission slips went home with your child Friday.  If your child was absent I have them in the class 🙂  Please have permission slips back to me by September 18th.

Our field trip coming up to Weber State will need parent drivers in order for us to be able to go!  If you can go (even if you told me) would you please email me so I can create a list of the drivers. We are looking for certified and non-certified drivers 🙂  Thank you!  I am also looking for 1 more chaperone who is able to attend the performance.

FYI:

Good Afternoon,

We’re excited to have you and your students join us for our student matinees on September 21^st! Attached is information about parking on the campus of Weber State University at the lot closest to the Val A. Browning Center for the Performing Arts, where the performance will be held. The address of the building is 3950 West Campus Dr, Ogden, UT 84408.

Students can be dropped off by the U shape road in front of the building. If you don’t want to run into traffic with the school busses, you can drop your students off just below, as it’s a short walk up the hill into the building.

If you are planning to stay for the show, be prepared to purchase a parking pass for the few hours you’ll be watching the performance. The total run time of the show is 72 minutes, with no intermission. Seating for each performance will begin 30 minutes prior to the start of the show (9:30 a.m. seating for the 10:00 a.m. show, and 12:00 p.m.seating for the 12:30 p.m. show).

Thank you!

Marian Kedziora

Administrative Assistant

Tanner Dance

Beverley Taylor Sorenson Arts & Education Complex

1721 Campus Center Drive, Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Office: 801-587-3726

marian.kedziora@utah.edu

Hello!

Our first full week of school days went off to a great start!  This week the students were introduced to their planners, their Scholastic Daily Starter warm ups, and Spiral Math.

Click on this link to see our classroom’s planner: Work Planner 2.0 This year I added little images to help students quickly see the subject area.  This icons will be helpful reminders where to record their work.  The first graders are doing really well with the planner and it will take them a few weeks to get the hang of it.  2nd and 3rd graders are taking to it like ducks to water.  They are old pros and are doing excellent planning themselves when they plan to do their follow up works.

Reminder: if your child isn’t completing their follow up works that are due or part of their lesson I will send a kind reminder email for them to complete their work at home.

Work expectations during normalization: From the first day of school until October 1st is our period of time we call in Montessori “Normalization.”  This is a very important adjustment period for students to learn the classroom expectations.  As the weeks go on during normalization I look at the progress and adjust students work capabilities and also move them to any groups I think they need to be in.  All the groups I have cover most of the same content, but it is just the level of difficulty that is adjusted.  Some times the child is in the right group, but the work needs to be adjusted individually.  Ms. Misha and I always look to see what your child needs.

After normalization ends then I will look at putting together reading helpers.

Field Trip September 21st.: The permission slips are made, we are still waiting to see about transportation.  I have 2 chaperones who emailed me and I can take 2 more chaperone helpers (please email me if you can).  Show is at 12:30pm and should go until around 2:00.

Lessons from this past week:  There are so many lessons I give throughout the week that I cannot mention all of them. however, the schedule that I posted last week and the hard copy I handed out during Sneak a Peak went off to a great start!  I was able to try out our new lesson schedule and all the lessons on that plan were given.  I wasn’t able to complete all the UURC reading tests for the new students, so I am going to work on that this coming week.  Math U See math testing for the beginning of the year began also this week.  All 3 levels were given the 100s chart to see if the basics can be shown.  If your child wrote a number backwards then technically it is marked wrong, but a note is made that they “know” the number and need a numbers handwriting lesson.  I also made notes if your child had to use any of the concrete materials we have in our class to help them complete it.  This week, I will be giving the next tests called the Alpha and Beta tests.  Every level will be given the Alpha first.  It is a test that looks at basic  adding and subtracting using 1 digit numbers (the units).  If your child gets a passing grade on the Alpha and might be able to complete the Beta test, that test has a few parts to it: rounding, multi-digit adding and subtracting, time, and word problems.  Your child will have all of this upcoming week to complete it.

We began working on first writing prompt to see where the kids are.  Our first 12 weeks will be all about writing Narratives.  Each week I will give the class a whole group lesson and then they continue to work on their skills during their writing group and by themselves.

We did History and Zoology lessons this week.

History #1: Big Bang lesson, Story of Time

History #2: Big Bang lesson, Roman Numerals lesson from 1-10

History #3: Big Bang lesson, Clock of Eras

Zoology #1: Living and Non-living

Zoology #2: 5 classes of vertebrates review

Zoology #3: 5 classes of vertebrates review and intro to invertebrates chart

Whole class science Fridays– Intro to Scientific Method and 5 senses walk outside.  Recorded then shared what we saw, heard, tasted, smelled, and felt.

Next week, the students will be introduced to their next daily expectation work called Word Work.  It is a work that each student has in their binder and walks them through daily activities with word exercises.  The next expectation after that will be Text Time.  Another work that will be in their binder. They will be reading passages to work on for the week and answer reading and comprehension skills.  By the week of September 17th, my hope is to have all 3 expectations going simultaneously.

Have a great long weekend!  Happy Labor Day and upcoming week!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hello Everyone!

Clark Planetarium/Discovery Gateway Field Trip- April 26th

I’m going to start with important field trip information that has been recently updated!

Jalee and I met and UTA has recently updated their train schedules.  Please read carefully as to what time your child needs to be at the UTA Train station on Wall Ave next to Union Station.

Arriving to train station in AM- Please plan on having your child arrive at 8:10/8:15am.  This will give children time to get their wristbands from their teacher and so we can make sure we have everyone.  If you are planning to come and help chaperone, this will give you the opportunity to get your ticket on time.  I will have extra wristbands for a few chaperones.  Those who plan on coming, please email me to let me know you are coming.  I will see how many extra wrist bands I have.  First come, first serve!

Train LEAVE Wall Ave at exactly 8:37am.  We do not wait for anyone who is late.  If you are late, you can drive your child to The Gateway in SLC.  We get off at the North Temple Station and we walk to the Gateway.  It is a short walk and we’ve never had a problem doing this walk.  This eliminate the need to catch the light rail.

Lunch- There are a few options for your child.  We are at The Gateway in Salt Lake City.  There are limited food buying option, but there will be 3 food trucks by the fountain.  Last year, the whole food court was under construction.  I am waiting to hear back from one of our parents to see if it is rebuilt and accessible.  We still were able to eat outside last year at other restaurants, but the students who brought money to buy food had to eat at the bigger restaurants.

Ms. Kaley’s class will begin at The Clark Planetarium.  It normally opens at 10am, but they will allow us inside a little early when we get there.  The Planetarium is free to go in.  We are not seeing an IMAX movie.  Students are free to explore the exhibits until 11:30 or a little earlier if a chaperone’s group is ready to eat sooner (recommended).  There is a fantastic gift shop at the Planetarium if you decide to give your child money for this field trip.

Our whole class will need to be at Discovery Gateway at 12:00pm.  We will be attending the roller coaster workshop from 12:00-12:30.  Please be on time back from lunch!

Students may have some limited time to explore the rest of Discovery Gateway after the workshop.  We will need to gather and leave by 1:10pm.  It is a short walk back to the train station, but it does take a few minutes to get there.  Our train back to Union Station on Wall Ave in Ogden will leave to head home at 1:31pm.  

Arrival back from SLC to Ogden-  Our train gets back home at 2:24pm.  Please pick your child up at the train station or arrange a carpool to pick your child up.  Please remember to pick your child up on time or have your carpool pick up your child on time.  Jalee and I will have our assistants with us for this field trip, but we do not leave until every child is picked up.  This makes it important to be on time and for us to see that your child gets their ride safely.

Past Week:

This past week in mixed group lessons we had the Antelopes language group work on learning homonyms and creating sentences with a few of them.  The Badgers language group did a great job learning about similes and metaphors.  The Crocs worked on their parts of speech review.  We will continue revisiting each part of speech for review for a few more weeks.

In leveled math groups the 1st graders revisited money.  I showed them some new money works I picked up at the Denver conference I attended.  They are working coin naming and amounts, but also learning to add up coin amounts.  The 2nd graders are continuing to practice graphing skills and learning how to solve differences in amounts with items graphed.  We will spend some more time on graphs for a little bit more practice.  The 3rd graders are working on a mini project for area and perimeter.  I am having them design their own house using graphing paper and they have to solve the area and perimeter for each part of the house (ie: door, windows, roof etc.).  There in class project is due to me on Wednesday.

In cultural this week:

Level 1s: Time to the 10 minute, 5 minute, and 1 minute mark.  Many first graders need practice with these last minute marks

Level 2s: Saturn and Uranus planets

Level 3s: What is a fossil and Paleontologist

We had Scales and Tale come by Thursday afternoon to present the bird show.  It was a great in school field trip to see the different kinds birds and learn what each does!

Friday- our class had music practice for the concert this past Friday and we also snuck in some Earth Day activities

Upcoming Week:

We will complete the Problem of the Month this week and also plant our plants for the April/May in class project.

Thursday is our all day field trip!  Please see above info for details

It looks like beautiful weather this week, so I’m going to do a STEM boat building challenge Friday.  We can test the built boats outside in a bucket.  The kids will learn about water displacement, sink and float review, and learn how/why large ships float and not sink.  They will then build their own boat in small groups to see whose can hold the most amount of weight.  They will only be allowed limited provided building materials and I will use fake class money too for money/budgeting skills as each material has to be “bought.”

Looking ahead:

I am out of town May 3rd-7th and also May 17th-21st.

3rd grade SAGE Writing is May 1st.  Breakfast will be made that morning.

May 7th is SAGE Math.  Breakfast will be made that morning.  I will not be there for this test, but Mr. James and Ms. Megan are proctoring the tests.  I will need more help in the morning to have the 3rd grade breakfast made and served.

I will be getting together the food items wanted for 3rd grade testing breakfast.  Ms. Leigh in the Jr. High provides us with fresh eggs from our MMA chickens.  We have scrambled eggs for every breakfast, but we will need fruit, plates, cups, drinks, and some other breakfast food(s) item.

The Last PTC will be on Track It Forward- not We Join In.  Please make sure that you get yourself signed up for Track It Forward when I get the sign up ready.  It will be new (as it is for me) and I know we are used to We Join In, so if you have any questions once I have the sign up ready, I will try to answer your questions the best I can.  Once you sign up for Track It forward it may take 24 hours, I believe, to be accepted before you can sign up.  I want to have the sign up sheet ready by the 1st week of May.

Thanks to everyone who came and attended the Spring Concert.  There will be 3 more classes of Music for this year.

Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week.  See some of you on Thursday!

Ms. Kaley

Hi Everyone!  There is important field trip and SAGE information below!  Please read carefully and mark your calendars!

Happy April!  Hope you all had a great Easter and Spring Break!  I’m going to start with all the important updates and reminders as we will have an eventful week back from Spring Break.

Upcoming Week:

*Please return all white colored permission slips for the Hill Aerospace Museum by Wednesday at the latest.  I have extras if your child misplaced it.

Tuesday- Class pictures and Spring pictures.  If your child wasn’t here at the beginning of the year they need to get their picture done for the yearbook.  If you wish to purchase your child’s school picture that is up to you.  Also, if you want to your child to get Spring pictures taken this is also that opportunity.  At 2:20pm our class will get their class picture done.  This is a picture that won’t need to be purchased it is for the yearbook.

Wednesday- 3rd grade parents!  This is our first SAGE testing day.  It will be the ELA test and it will be in the Library from 12:00pm-3:00pm.  Students are not timed on their tests.  Please help me by helping them understand that they can take their time and if they need breaks or don’t finish they can pause their test and pick back up on another day.  This is true if your student happens to be absent on this day.  There will be makeup dates.  The nice thing about this year is that I don’t have to proctor the tests.  Ms. Megan and Mr. James will be monitoring most of the tests so the teachers can stay back with the 1st and 2nd graders.

SAGE testing dates are as scheduled for our class:

1. SAGE ELA- April 11th 12pm-3:00pm Library
2. SAGE Writing- May 1st 9:00-12:00pm Computer Lab
3. SAGE Math- May 7th 9:00-12:00pm Library.  *I will not be here on this day.

Our class has a 3rd grade privilege and that is to have breakfast on the day of testing.  Since our first one isn’t until noon, we will focus on the other 2 tests that are in the morning.  If any of the 3rd grade parents  (or even 1st and 2nd grade parents too!) would like to help contribute to the breakfasts and help cook on those mornings, please let me know.  I make scrambled eggs for the 3rd graders, but the other items are needed for donation.  As we get closer to the May dates I will get “menu ideas” from the 3rd graders and we’ll get a sign up ready!

Please make sure you 3d grader gets a good night’s sleep Tuesday night and has a good breakfast.  Students may pack a snack to have during testing and they may bring their water bottles.

Thursday- Spring Trash Pick Up Outing!  I need a few parents to help chaperone students (email me and let me know) around the school property and nearby neighborhoods.  The Fall pick up was a great success and rain or shine we will do our Spring pick up Thursday afternoon.  If you are looking to help chaperone please be at our classroom at 12:45 at the latest.  This will give us the time to make sure both our class and Ms Steph’s class are divided and ready to go.  Groups will return back to MMA at 2:30 and put their trash bags away and restore their classrooms.

*Please pack weather permitting attire just in case!  Umbrellas, rain boots, sweaters, gloves, hats, and a waterproof jacket may be needed!

Friday- Hill Aerospace Museum day!  Please let Katie James (misskt2558@yahoo.com), our room mother, know if your child needs a ride.  We are meeting at the Aerospace Museum at 9:30am.  Those who have made carpools or are driving their own child can meet us there at the museum, but please let me know if you are choosing this option and who you have with you so I know who not to wait around for at MMA.  If your child does need a ride, please let Katie know if you have an extra seat and can take a child.  Carpools made through our room mom who need to meet at MMA need to be in the North Shore parking lot at 9:15am at the latest.  We will be out at 9:30am to make sure everyone can find their ride.  Parents, please let Katie James know your child’s ride situation by Wednesday 5pm at the latest.  This will give me the time to look over who is going with who.  Students who choose to come back to MMA after the field trip is over will be leaving the Museum at 1pm.

*Please pack weather permitting attire just in case!  Umbrellas, rain boots, sweaters, gloves, hats, and a waterproof jacket may be needed!  A sack lunch is also needed as we will be eating lunch at the Museum.

April’s Project: This project is an in class project on a seed experiment.  We will be talking about kindness and again and how there is power is kind words and negative words.  We will be testing out how a plant can grow when it receives kind words vs a control plant that won’t receive any kindness at all.  The students will be watching their level’s plant over April and partly into May.  Students will log observations and do a writing piece in the end.  This is the last project of the year!  Students who don’t keep up with their in class work on this project will have to finish up at home.

Looking at April and May calendaring: 3rd grade Upper El shadowing dates TBA.

*May Spirit week and end of school activities TBA

April 10th- Class pictures 2:20pm

April 11th- SAGE ELA 12:00-3:00

April 12th- Spring trash pick up 1:00-2:30

April 13th- Hill Aerospace Museum 9:30-1:00

April 19th- In school presentation: Scales and Tales bird show after lunch

April 20th- Early Release 1pm

April 26th- Discovery Gateway Museum and Planetarium Field Trip.  UTA train will be rode.

May 1st- SAGE Writing 9:00-12:00 and 3rd grade breakfast. Breakfast from 8:20-8:50

May 3-7- Ms. Kaley out of town

May 7th- SAGE Math 9:00-12:00 and 3rd grade breakfast. Breakfast from 8:20-8:50

May 10th- 3rd Grade Party 1:30

May 11th- Eat lunch with Steph’s class

May 17th-21st- Ms. Kaley out of town

May 18th- Eat lunch with Steph’s class

May 22nd-24th- PTC 1pm Early Outs

May 25th- Last day of school for students Early release 1pm

Have a great rest of your Sunday and upcoming week!

Ms. Kaley

Hello Everyone!

Past Week:

Thank you for a great Fall Parent Teacher Conference!  Our early outs were busy getting in as many lessons as we could before Fall Break began.  We were able to get everyone’s Fraction lessons, math facts, and everyone’s language group in.

I checked in on our October writing prompt: Tell me a time you were scared.  1st and 2nd graders are writing and 3rd graders are typing on Utah Compose.  Utah Compose can we worked on at home as well.

1st graders got an introduction to numerators in a fraction, 2nd graders identified the fraction through a word problem, and 3rd graders began identifying fraction segments on a number line

We got our one day of Botany in on Tuesday morning.

Level 1s: Plants through the seasons.  They drew a tree going through it’s transitions through the 4 seasons.

Level 2s:  Simple and Compound leaves.  A simple leaf is a a single leaf and a compound leaves are multiple leaflets

Level 3s:  Solitary and Inflorescence flowers.  A solitary flower is one flower that grows and inflorescence are when multiple flowers are grown off one stem

Upcoming Week:

This upcoming week is Red Ribbon Week.  It a national recognition educating students on how to say no to drugs and be a healthy you.

Monday morning we will have a speaker.  Lower El’s time will be 9am-9:40am.

Tuesday: We will go over 2 more peacemakers when the students come back from PE.  We will go over, briefly, on Gandhi and the Dalai Lama.

Thursday: Back Island Farms field trip!  Please remember to meet at Black Island Farms at 9:30am.  The chaperone cost is 4 dollars.  All our students are covered.  Please make sure your child is dressed for being outside.  They can wear jeans and non collared shirts on this field trip.  They should have comfortable shoes, a back pack, water bottle, lunch, and sweater/jacket.  For those needing to return to MMA, we will be leaving at 2pm.  If you have your own child with you and you are not needing to drop another student back at MMA, you don’t have to return to the school.

Friday- No studio this day.  We will share the October peacemaker projects.  Throughout the morning and afternoon we will decorate our door for Red Ribbon Week.

Classroom reminder:  Ms. Misha and I have seen multiple students with holes at the knees in their pants.  If a child has hole on their pants, they cannot wear those pants to school.  Please check your child’s pants and if they can be repaired with a patch or sewn, then they can wear them back to MMA.  If not, please do not let them wear them to school.  Also, a lot of students need a water bottle.  This reduces our students needing to leave the classroom and to have their water needs nearby.  We keep our water bottles in our kitchen and we only have a few of them there.  Please make sure your child is using a refillable water bottle.  Thank you!

Class update: we will be getting 2 new 1st graders!  We are expecting one of them to begin Monday and the other Nov. 6th.  This will put us at 30 students.  We moved our large table outside our our room on Wednesday afternoon and rearranged some desks and shelves around to help accommodate more floor space, but also the need that some students either want or need a more personal space.  We will also be able to spread out into the kiva a bit more with our table outside our room.  This will help when it’s math facts time for a group, or when we need to cultural lessons.  Ms. Nikki and her assistants can also have the space to work at when she’s servicing students.

Thanks everyone!  Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!  Looking forward to seeing some of you at our field trip.

Ms. Kaley

Hello Everyone!

Past Week:

This past week we began Geometry with Level 2s and 3s and introduced the penny and nickel to Level 1s.  All Level 1s are working on our penny box 1.  Working with pennies and skip counting by 5s with nickels would be great home activity to do with your child.  Almost all first graders also began learning preprimary sight words.  Some of our Level 1s are working on knowing 3 at a time and some are working on all of set 1.  Sight words are words you can’t necessarily sound out and are the most often words seen in text.  A few of you have asked, “How can I help my child at home?”  Going over sight words (for any level) and reading 20 minutes a day are the most beneficial home activities you can do with your child.  Please visit the site below to work on sight words at home with your child:

Sight Words List.  Click me!  This site also has game suggestions, flash cards etc.

3rd grade Multiplication Goal: This year, the Lower Elementary team made a team wide goal to help support our school goal of improving our student’s math skills.  70% of all 3rd graders (in all of MMA) will know their multiplication times tables up to 12s by the end of May 2018.  My student goal for our classroom is to help support this team goal by having 70% of Ms. Kaley’s/Ms. Misha’s 3rd graders know their multiplication times tables up to 12s by the end of May 2018.  This will be measured in our classroom through the use of Montessori materials, flash cards, game extensions, and through our math facts and monthly multiplication assessments.  3rd grade parents, please begin helping support our school and classroom goal by working on multiplication tables at home.  Start with 0s and then progress up to 12s.  Students are considered mastered in a times table when they can pass off on flash cards on that table in under a minute and can do a times table math facts timed test in under 5 minutes.  I will give each 3rd grade family a copy of the math facts times tables to take home to work on at  Fall conferences.

Fall Conferences are approaching:  I have the Fall Conference schedule ready to go.  Ms. Misha and I have children that attend MMA and we will need to go to our child’s conference too.  I am going to check with Ms. Jen’s schedule and then once I know my time slot I will put up our classroom’s schedule so nobody is double booked.  I should have  the schedule posted by our next post (if not before).

More help/strategies for beginning readers: I attended an all day DIBLES progress monitoring Professional Development this past Tuesday.  It allowed me to look at data and learn to make goals.  My plan is to progress monitor those students who are “red” most often.  If your child is yellow, they will get progressed monitored every other week and those who are green or blue will get progressed monitored once a month.  I am hoping this schedule will help improve reading skills.  For first graders, knowing letter names and sounds were assessed for this Fall DIBELS assessment, but by the middle of the year (January), they are required to start reading a 1st grade leveled passage.  Students who are working on beginning to read really benefit from knowing nonsense words.  Another great resource to have at home to practice with your beginning reader are those nonsense words and to review the letter name fluency.  I will try to make copies for those students to have at home during conferences, but here are my two favorites to use at home

LetterNamingFluency  See how far your child can get in 1 minute.  You can do letter name and/or sounds.  Great tool to use at home for letter practice!

NSFPracticePages  These are nonsense words.  Every month it changes.  We want to see how far a child can get in 1 minute.  Students who start are working on sounding out each sound.  The goal of a nonsense word is to read the whole word.  Very useful to use at home to help beginning readers!

Permission slip: On Friday, I distributed a permission slip.  The white paper has all of our currently scheduled field trips for the year.  If you initial on all those field trips then that one paper takes care of all the field trips for the year!  The pink paper is yours to keep!  This paper is the detail for our upcoming service project with Ms. Steph’s class. Please email our room mom, Katie James, if you would like to help chaperone.  We are only going within a mile radius around MMA, so no transportation will be needed for this field trip.  Please begin thinking about our trip to Black Island Farms at the end of the month.  Carpools, drop offs, and chaperones will be needed for that trip.  Arrival at the farm is at 9:30am.  Please let Katie know if you can drop off your own child, will be a chaperone, and/or will need a ride for your child.  Katie will receive our classroom roster that has ever family’s email.  If you need a ride for your child, she will email everyone who might have an empty seat in their car.  Those who need a ride to Black Island Farms usually meet their carpool at North Shore in the parking lot.  Some families choose to do carpools on their own because they know other families in our class and they go and pick up that student.  If you don’t know any families and need a ride for your child, North Shore is the place for pick up/drop off.  Katie, I would like to know who would like to be a chaperone for our trash pick up by Oct. 9th.  For Black Island Farms, I would like to know the chaperone list and carpool, drop off list by Oct. 23rd.

In cultural this past week: History

Level 1s: October calendar, days of the week, months by season

Level 2s: Kinds of galaxies and a star’s lifecycle

Level 3s: Overview of the timeline of life and began making a timeline of life flip book to use when we begin studying each Era and Period

Friday- Knowing that some of our common foods come from the rainforest.  Some students took home a list to play a grocery store scavenger hunt.  We also had a grace and courtesy lesson on please, thank you, and socially acceptable manners such as holding a door for someone and for gentlemen to open and hold a door for a lady.  Students also began studio this past Friday.  They all said they had a great time.  I also believe this was the smoothest running 1st studio we had!

Upcoming Week:

This coming week we have:

Monday– Monthly Botany lesson with Ms. Rachel Bush right after lunch for 1 hour.  Cultural lessons will be afterwards

Tuesday– Author Gary Hogge will be visiting again!  He will be doing an assembly at 9am.  Our students will still have recess first thing in the morning and then they will go to the assembly.  At 1pm, 3rd graders will go to a writing lesson and receive the lesson from Gary.  He focuses on using details to support your story and make it more interesting to read.  He teaches students how to substitute boring words for more details that can hook your reader.  I will most likely be attending this assembly with the 3rd graders.

Phew! That was a lot of information.  Thank you for reading and have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!

Ms. Kaley

Hello Everyone!

Upcoming Week:

Monday– 1st and 2nd grade science projects are due!  We will do a few projects each day, so if your child needs a few more extra days their absolute last day to turn in their project for credit towards their progress report is Friday.

Tuesday– Fire Safety Show from our local fire department at 2:00pm.  We will do cultural lessons right after lunch time.

PLEASE READ!  Wednesday– Field Trip!  The weather calls for rain.  The museum is mainly indoors with only one smaller area outside.  However, we will need to walk outside to get there and also to go eat at the food court.  Please provide your child rain gear: umbrellas, boots, jackets, etc.  Have your child dress in layers so they can adjust to the weather and as they move about the children’s museum.

*Please be at the Frontrunner station on Wall Ave by 8:10am.  This will give the teachers time to make sure everyone is accounted for and give out wrist bands for the frontrunner. The train leaves at 8:37am and we do not wait for anyone who is late.  Please review your hot pink paper regarding our itinerary. We will travel to North Temple Station and then walk from there.  This will avoid the need to take TRAX.  I still need permission slips from Calvin and Janessa.  I need them by Tuesday.  Ms. Jalee’s class will also be traveling with us.  Discovery Gateway will move our classes to certain areas of the museum so that an area isn’t over crowded.  They will also take each class and do a presentation with them.  Adults who plan on coming will help the students travel, walk, and stay safe out in public.  We will mostly function as a whole group, but their will times where students can stay with a chaperone when it comes to lunch time and if the museum lets them have any time to go where they want in Discovery Gateway.

*We start gathering everyone around 1:15, do a head count, walk back to North Temple Station and then catch our train, which leaves close to 2pm.  This get us back to Ogden Station close to 3:00pm.  PLEASE PICK UP STUDENTS AT WALL AVE FRONTRUNNER STATION.  If you pick up other students at MMA, I recommend picking up the student at the frontrunner station first and then head over to MMA.

Thursday– Spring Concert at MMA!  Here is the email sent to me from Ms. Connie:

Past Week:

Hello Everyone!

Upcoming Week:

Kids had a good week back!  Here are a few reminders:

1. Field trip is April 26th!  A hot pink paper went out so you knew itinerary.  Please refer to that pink paper for our schedule.  If you are coming on our field trip, you will purchase your UTA ticket at the station.  The kids in our class get to ride free.  We need to meet at the UTA frontrunner station on Wall Ave by 8:10am.  It is important to be on time.  We do not wait if someone is late.  The train leaves at 8:37am promptly.  The trains run every hour, so if you miss our train, you will need to meet us there at Discovery Gateway.  The train ride is very easy and takes an hour to get there.  We all sit together and we will ride it to North Temple.  We will get off and do a short walk and then go into The Gateway where we will walk to Discovery Gateway on the corner.  We eat lunch at The Gateway at their food court.  Students may bring money to purchase lunch at the food court, if they wish.  We will start collecting everyone around 1:30pm to make sure we have a head count and then will head back to North Temple station.  We should be arriving at Ogden station on Wall Ave at 2:50pm.  Please be prompt in picking up your child.  We stay with all children until everyone is picked up.

*If your child attended the Nature Center field trip, then you signed off on the permission slip for Discovery Gateway!  I only need permission slips from Janessa, Calvin, and Lucy.  I sent them home with those students this past week.

*If you are looking to come on this field trip, please email me!

            2. This Thursday is our 3rd graders first SAGE test.  It will be the writing test that will require them to write 2 essays.  If a child doesn’t finish, they will get to finish it at another time.  Please remind you child that testing it nothing to worry about and it won’t impact their graduation to Upper Elementary.  We want them to do their best and to not rush.  Please help emphasize that they can take breaks to eat a snack, get a drink, walk around for a few minutes, and to use the bathroom as needed.  Since we provide a nice breakfast for them that morning, please pack your child a snack just for testing.  Breakfast will be right away as they come in Thursday morning.  Once they have eaten, they can run around outside on the playground once they are done.  I will take them into the computer lab by 8:55am to get settled.  Once the last 3rd grader is done I head back to class.  Ms. Anna will stay with the 1st and 2nd graders during morning work cycle.  We will pick up with our regular afternoon schedule after that.  If you are coming in to help with food, please come at 8:00am.  Please review your email for the online sign up that went on Tuesday for breakfast supplies.  If you are planning to come and help that morning, please email me, so I can let you inside.

The 3rd graders will also be collecting and washing their own eggs from the chickens at MMA for their scrambled eggs.  They will be getting a lesson from Ms. Leigh and the Erdkinder class in JR High on how to collect and wash the eggs.

Friday is an early release.  Please arrange pick up at 1pm.

Box tops is this Tuesday the 18th.  The last Box top store day will be May 16th.

Past Week:

Thank you thank you 3rd grade parents for supporting your child in our first 3rd grade Teach and Learn Science Project share.  The projects were fabulous!

Home Project for April: 1st and 2nd graders will have their science project due April 24th.  Students in 1st or 2nd may choose any area of science to do a home project on.  They may do a report, an experiment demonstration, explain how something works, or even an invention!  The options are not limited!

In group lessons:

Level 1s: Picture graphs

Level 2s: *break this week as we are ahead of schedule in fractions and geometry

Level 3s: Fractions on a number line and identifying the fraction on the number line

In cultural this week: Botany

Level 1s: Photosynthesis and flowering plants

Level 2s: Photosynthesis

Level 3s: Carnivorous plants and The Venus Fly Trap

Friday: Bee presentation from the Wadsworth family. Bronson’s grandfather does bee keeping and came in and educated the class on bees and their hives!  Thank you so much for doing this!  The kids loved it!  We are working on drone, worker, and queen bee models in class and labeling the parts.

If you celebrate Easter, Happy Easter!  Have a great rest of your weekend!

Cheers!

Ms. K

Hello Everyone!

Hope everyone is enjoying Spring Break!  Before we know it the end of the year will be here!  April will be busy, but lots of fun too!

Upcoming Field Trip!: Discovery Gateway will be April 26th.  This is a field trip we take the Frontrunner to.  If you want to be a chaperone, please email me and let me know.  Students ride UTA for free.  A donation link for the field trip will be posted soon.

Past Week

This past week, we completed the in class book report on Fractured Fairy Tales.  My heart exploded on how adorable they turned out.  We read the traditional fairy tale of The Three Little Pigs and then the Fractured fairy tale The True Story of the Three Little Pigs a few weeks ago.  This week, before Spring Break began, each student signed up to do an activity.  The choices were:

-Comparing the two books with a Venn Diagram

-Write a newspaper from the human’s perspective on the Big Bad Wolf situation

-Write your own fractured fairy tale

-Performing groups: perform the traditional story and a group performs the fractured fairy tale

-Write a letter to the Big Bad Wolf as a reporter wanting to know more about what happened

Ms. Anna recorded the performances.  If you would like to see it, please email her at ahafen@mariamontessoriacademy.org

In cultural this week: Geography

Level 1s: Finished up landforms: strait/isthmus, system of lakes/archipelago, salt dough land formations 

Level 2s: Igneous rock review, metamorphic rocks, looked at samples of rocks

Level 3s: Kinds of clouds: stratus, stratocumulus, cumulus, cirrocumulus, cirrus, and cumulonimbus 

Upcoming Week:

3rd grade Science projects and April Home Project: 3rd graders will have their science projects due this coming Friday, April 14th. Parents are welcome to come and see!  We will be in the gym from 1-2:30.  1st and 2nd graders will be picking their science topics this week for their project that will be due April 24th (a Monday).  3rd graders WILL NOT have to do another science project.  Their studio science project covers their April home project.  1st and 2nd graders will pick any area of science they are interested in and present a home project to our class.  It can be a report, experiment, model etc.  Have fun with it and get creative!  The science projects are always fun to see!

Snack: the parent that signed up for this week is no longer in our class.  If anyone would like to provide snack for us this week, please let me know.  After this week, we are good until mid May.

Have a great rest of your Spring Break and upcoming week!

Cheers!

Ms. K