Hello Parents!
According to the Montessori Moments parent newsletter that recently went out I want to update the change that I saw!
The Junior High ribbon cutting ceremony is still at 5:15. After there will be a tour. All are welcome to come see the ceremony and do the tour!
The pool party will follow, but is at 7pm-9pm. It is not at 6pm!
Hope to see a lot of familiar faces Thursday!!
Thanks everyone!
-Ms. Kaley
Hello Parents! Please read carefully below…
Welcome new students to room 24! We are a classroom on the South side of the building (near the new Jr. High hallway that connects the elementary to the Jr. High. We are located in the kiva area (kitchen area).
It’s almost the start of a new school year (already!). I hope your child has been enjoying their summer break. I miss them! My student’s information isn’t ready yet in our school Aspire system, so I will post a few tidbits of information on here:
School Events to Remember! (New Parents and Veteran Parents)
New Parents with new students to Ms. Kaley’s Classroom:
If you have any questions before the pool party please email me! See everyone soon!
-Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha
Hi Everyone!
It is crazy to think that there are 10 more school days left. This past week I have completed the student’s reading level assessments and the students have worked on their end of the year Math U See assessments. Some students may be asked to take more Math U See because their score was high enough to move on to the next level. It will be a very busy upcoming week with a very modified schedule here on out. Please help me by reminding your student to use their best grace and courtesy while at school and work on what is asked of them.
This upcoming week we will work on preparing the end of the year folders for each child’s PTC. This upcoming PTC is student led. Your child will be giving you a few lessons on shelf works and also sharing writing, and work samples. If you haven’t already, please visit www.trackitforward.com and sign up for PTC. I have blocked off a time to do my daughter’s conference right before dinner on Thursday.
This week the students also be catching up on some cultural lessons. They might be doing Zoology one day and Geography the next so that I can give as much as the cultural curriculum to them as possible.
Monday– Store Day AND Crazy Sock Day. We will be outside with Ms. Stef’s Class for Store Day (please provide sunblock!). It works like a yard sale! Students will be earning classroom dollars to use towards buying things from others during Store Day. Students may bring in things to sell:
-Sell books and toys they no longer want, but think someone else may want to enjoy
-Sell a treat: Otter Pops, muffins, cookie, etc. Must be wrapped up to take home
-Sell a service/craft: origami, play a game, make a craft, sell a craft etc.
Students should bring their own blanket to be able to set up their own store items and also bring a bag to do their shopping with. We plan on being outside if it is nice out. It could be hot so please allow them to bring sunblock, sunglasses, and hats.
Tuesday– Crazy hat or Hair Day!
Wednesday– PJ and Movie Day. Pillows and blankets allowed. We will be watching a move in the afternoon. If anyone has Wonder on DVD, please let me know I’d like to borrow it for the class to watch.
Thursday- Occupation Day! Dress like the occupation you want to be when you grow up or any occupation! Ms. Kaley out of town
Friday- FIELD DAY! It is also dress down day. We have ours in the morning. It is outside too and will be in the parking lot. Please prepare your child for running around outside and for the weather. Ms. Kaley out of town
Game afternoon on Friday!– Our students have worked hard on their grace and courtesy points and may bring a board game or card game for the afternoon. Please nothing electronic or toy wise. If you board game is electronic like Operation, for example, that is perfectly fine.
Out of Town-I will be going out of town back to Maryland for my stepbrother’s wedding. I leave early Thursday morning and will be flying back to UT on Monday. We will have the same substitute schedule as before.
Last Week of School:
Monday– Ms Kaley out of town. Last Full Day of school 8:30-3:00pm. I’d love to have an end of the year breakfast for our class. If anyone would like to come in and help do a pancake breakfast. It is going to be a very busy few days for me this coming week and I don’t think I’ll be able to get around to creating a sign up sheet for the pancake breakfast. I sure will try though! Monday is also Early Childhood Bridging. The ceremony will begin at 11am. After the ceremony the Kindergarteners and any pre schoolers are welcome to have a picnic outside with their Early Childhood class from 11:45am-12:30pm. There will not be a regular early childhood day this day just come for the ceremony. The only role our class has with Kinder bridging is welcoming them. Since our school is under construction with the Junior High, all ceremonies this year are being held in the gym.
Tuesday– Early out at 1pm. PTCs begin. 3rd Grade Bridging Ceremony from 11am-12pm. Families of 3rd graders are invited to come to see their child bridge onto the next level! After the ceremony, parents may take their 3rd graders and siblings.
Wednesday– Early Out at 1pm- PTC. Upper El’s Bridging ceremony is you have an older child at MMA.
Thursday– 3rd grade multiplication official test. Early Out at 1pm- PTC end this night
Friday– Yearbook distribution and signing. Early Out at 1pm
3rd grade Upper El placement– The list of where your 3rd grader will be going next year is still in the works. I have seen a tentative placement of where the students are going. If I feel like I need your opinion on the matter I may ask you a question so that I can relay it the office. The potential teacher will not be mentioned, but just the question I have.
Thank You– I want to thank you all for being part of our classroom and for choosing MMA for your child. I cannot describe the amount of love and care I have for the school and for our students. Thank you to all of you for the loving amount of kindness and appreciation Misha and I received during Teacher Appreciation week. Thank you to Katie James, our room mom, for being amazing and for all the work you have done for me and for the class this year. To all my 3rd grade parents, thank you for our journey together and you all are amazing with amazing children.
Thank you and Happy Mother’s Day! Enjoy your upcoming week!
Ms. Kaley
Hi Everyone!
I have made sign ups through Track It Forward! You will probably be seeing a few emails come through inviting you to sign up!
I have made both 3rd grade breakfast sign ups for May 1st and May 7th. The 3rd grade parents received those email notifications that they have been posted! For the breakfasts, the school provides me the eggs from our MMA chickens and I make the 3rd grade students scrambled eggs. The rest of the breakfast is up to you guys! Please sign up to contribute to our breakfast if you can. Thanks!
May PTC sign ups are ready! Please sign up through Track It Forward. Once you are into the program you will click on Event Sign-Up and you will see a calendar. Be careful to find our classroom sign up as ALL of the school will be posting their sign up sheets on these 3 days. So far, it is just Ms. Marleen and myself already to rock and roll for sign ups. During the dinner times there is a date where they make us a nice end of the year dinner. I might have to adjust one of the spots once I know the date!
Monday- Store Day AND Crazy Sock Day. We will be outside with Ms. Stef’s Class for Store Day (please provide sunblock!). It works like a yard sale! Students will be earning classroom dollars to use towards buying things from others during Store Day. Students may bring in things to sell:
-Sell books and toys they no longer want, but think someone else may want to enjoy
-Sell a treat: Otter Pops, muffins, cookie, etc. Must be wrapped up to take home
-Sell a service/craft: origami, play a game, make a craft, sell a craft etc.
Students should bring their own blanket to be able to set up their own store items and also bring a bag to do their shopping with. We plan on being outside if it is nice out. It could be hot so please allow them to bring sunblock, sunglasses, and hats.
Tuesday- Crazy hat or Hair Day!
Wednesday- PJ and Movie Day. Pillows and blankets allowed
Thursday- Occupation Day! Dress like the occupation you want to be when you grow up or any occupation!
Friday- FIELD DAY! It is also dress down day. We have ours in the morning. It is outside too and will be in the parking lot. Please prepare your child for running around outside and for the weather.
The 6th and and 9th graders are on their big field trips. Some teachers and SPED teachers are helping chaperone and will be out of the building. We will have Ms. Nikki’s assistant, Ms. Missy, on Monday and Tuesday of this week.
I will be leaving for Charlottesville, VA on Thursday and will be out Thursday, Friday, and the following Monday (May 7th). Ms. Lori will be subbing for me. Our schedule will run as it normally does.
Volunteers needed!- Friday the students will be doing Cinco de Mayo learning and activities. I would love to have a parent or 2 come in and help make homemade salsa for snack. If would like to help out in the morning and help the kids prepare salsa, please email me ASAP! We will also need tortilla chips donated too. If you can’t make it, but want to help donate chips, please let me know and send them in with your child this week. Please email me at kparsons@mariamontessoriacademy.org if you can help out on Friday or help donate food supplies! Thanks!
DIBLES- Our end of the year reading testing has begun! Monday (tomorrow) and Tuesday the reading teachers will be testing our students on end of the year DIBELS testing
SAGE Writing- 3rd graders will take their SAGE Writing test Tuesday May 1st. They will have their special breakfast in the morning and then begin testing at 9am. They will miss PE and Music this day.
I will be doing 3rd grade end of the year UURC reading level testing this week. UURC states what reading level your child is reading at.
There will not be any Geometry/Fractions/Measurement lessons this week as each level will work on Problem of the Month with me instead.
No blog post will be posted over next weekend. Here are some May dates to be aware of:
May 7th- 3rd grade Breakfast and SAGE Math 9am.
May 8th-May 10th- 3 3d grade students will shadow in Ms. Stef’s Upper El class for the day to see what Upper El is like.
May 10th- 3d grade party 1:30-2:30
Thank you to a lot of you who attended the field trip with us Thursday. We had beautiful weather and everyone had a great time!
Every language group this week continued to work on their parts of speech with me.
1st graders worked on learning pictographs this week, 2nd graders continued to work on their graphing skills too, and 3rd graders used Tanagrams to solve fraction problems to help their equivalent fraction practice.
In cultural this week: Zoology/Physiology
Level 1s: Endangered Animals
Level 2s: The Nervous System and the Brain
Level 3s: Arthropods and Spiders
Friday- Boat building STEM project. They loved it!
Have a great rest of your weekend, upcoming week, and next week!
Ms. Kaley
Hi Everyone!
Thank you to those who came with us on our Spring Trash Pick up. We got lucky with the weather not pouring or snowing on us! Friday went great! That was our first field trip on a Friday that Jalee and I have ever done. The students enjoyed the scavenger hunts around the museum and had a blast doing the helicopter workshop.
In group leveled lessons this week the 1st graders reviewed the lines they are working on in Geometry. The lines they are learning are horizontal, vertical, parallel, perpendicular, and intersecting. These types of lines will then be built upon when they turn second graders and we talk about different angles. 2nd graders are working on graphing skills with bar graphs and pie graphs. They will continue their practice this upcoming week too. 3rd graders are deciphering whether to use their area or perimeter solving skills to word problems. This is still tough for them, so we are going to review more skills on area vs perimeter by having them “build” a 2D house on graphing paper and they have to answer what is the perimeter and area for a door, windows, a roof, grass, and the house structure they create.
For the mixed language groups this past week, the Antelopes are worked on creating their own sentences and identifying sentences’ parts of speech. This group is working on sentences having an article, noun, verb, and adjective. The Badgers and Crocs both worked on Homophones with knowing when to use to vs two vs too and there, their, and they’re.
In cultural this past week: Botany
Level 1s: Photosynthesis introduction and reviewed all parts of a plant
Level 2s: Photosynthesis of a plant
Level 3s: What are carnivorous plants and kinds of carnivorous plants
Friday- Those students who were with me in the morning had class meeting and we went over kind words and did a compliment circle. This upcoming Friday we will plant the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade bean seed and go over how to record our April in class project
This week we will have a Fire Drill at some time on Tuesday
Wednesday we will have the COW and also Ms. Rachel will be in for her monthly Botany lesson from 1:50-2:50
Thursday Scales and Tales are back! They will bring their bird show and teach about different kinds of birds.
Friday is an early release. Please remember that students eat lunch on early outs and pick up is at 1pm.
April 26th is our last field trip. We take UTA’s TRACKS train and ride it all right to our destination. Lunch will be eaten at The Gateway at their food court. Last year it was under construction, so hopefully this year we won’t run into that problem! Students may bring money to buy lunch at the surrounding places to eat. This is a split field trip. We are with Jalee’s class and both classes will take turns doing each place. We will be going to Clark Planetarium and Children’s Discovery Gateway. The classes will then switch. These places are right next to each other in the Gateway’s vicinity. We do meet at Union Station on Wall Ave to catch TRACKs. The train platform we take is right behind the little diner. Parents who come will buy their own ticket to ride, but I will have wristbands for the kids to ride the train for free that day. I will check with Jalee this week on which class is starting where and to confirm our meeting time at the train station.
Parent Night Opportunity!
Helping Your Child with Handwriting Skills Parent Workshop
You are invited to attend a free handwriting training provided by our occupational therapist. This training will provide ways to improve your child’s handwriting skills this summer. Join us on May 10th in the MMA Library from 4:30 until 6:30pm.
Thanks everyone! Have a great upcoming week and rest of your weekend!
Ms. Kaley
Hello Everyone and Happy March!
This past week was very busy!
We had Literacy Week this past week and our week was filled with book activities and events! On Tuesday we watched as our 3 top spellers participated in the school’s annual Spelling Bee! Jax, Makiah, and Ella all did very well. Ella even was in the top 3! I am so very proud of them in what they accomplished.
We read the book Ishi, a book about a rock having a tough time, but then finds a way to bring its happiness back. Our classroom made our own Ishi book as well as a 2 page spread of our own Ishi experience for the school’s “Ishi book.”
Thursday we had our Literacy Night! I had a blast running the Harry Potter Trivia with Ms. Kirsten. If you got to come and see, the floating candles and witch hats were made by our class 🙂
On Friday we had studio and then did Dr. Seuss activities in the afternoon until the school wide Read-a-thon.
Since our week was busy with new activities and events we were unable to do cultural lessons this week. We will make up Botany this coming week.
In group lessons this week I had the Antelopes and Badgers language group work on expanding their sentences to be able to add more details and sound more interesting. The Crocs worked on how to write a letter and learned the set up.
In math, everyone worked on their Geometry:
Level 1s: Kinds of lines in polygons
Level 2s: How to use a protractor and identify acute and obtuse angles
Level 3s: Area practice
This coming week we have Scales and Tales coming on March 8th. The Clark Planetarium will also be stopping by on Friday for a presentation at 2pm
March 9th is the last studio class for the year
March 13th we have the Opera coming to do a performance
March 16th is an Early Release at 1pm
March 17th is the school’s annual Gala. Each class needs donations for the silent auction. Our class has the Golf Basket. If you know anyone who can donate golf supplies or has connections to courses, please send in supplies and/or contact our room mother- Katie James: misskt2558@yahoo.com
Tickets for the Gala are available. Join us for food, drinks, auctions from classroom baskets and leveled art work. This year’s Gala is at Union Station
Tickets can be bought online at https://squareup.com/store/mapa-9
Tickets are on sale at the school on March 9th from 3-4 at a sale price (get the sale price if bought before March 10th)
Tickets at regular price can be purchased at the school March 14th and 15th from 3-4
March 22nd I will be leaving to travel to Denver, CO for the annual AMS Montessori Conference. I will be out Thursday, Friday, and Monday. Ms. Lori Stewart is subbing. Our students will follow as much of their regular schedule as possible without me there and on Friday they will do an art activity in the morning and their normal Friday routine since studio will be over.
March’s Home Project– Students will compared their Utah life to the lifestyles of another country. A compare and contrast project will be assigned to complete. DUE Mar. 30th. We will begin talking about this project and help the students understand the expectations. Student should be researching and thinking about what country they want to focus on to compare/contrast their life in Utah to
This coming week we have Scales and Tales coming on March 8th. The Clark Planetarium will also be stopping by on Friday for a presentation at 2pm
Group lessons will also include Botany lessons for cultural, more Geometry for Level 2s and 3s, and Fractions for Level 1s
We will also work on March’s problem of the month and begin our March writing prompt
Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week
Ms. Kaley
Hello Everyone!
I’m going to start with the Upcoming Week because there are a lot of things to bring up!
Spelling Bee! This past week I tested the students who wanted to participate. Our annual Spelling Bee is Tuesday February 27th at 9am for the Lower Elementary Bee. It lasts about an hour, so on Tuesday we will go to the Bee and then head to PE which will be outside. PLEASE make sure your child has outside attire for PE and also for recess this coming week!
Our Spelling Bee’ers will be:
Ella
Makiah
Jax
*If any of our 3 Bee’ers are absent, Joseph is our alternate
Congrats to our students! Parents of these students are especially welcome to come see the Bee!
This week is going to be Literacy Week! It is a busy week filled with activities! The theme this year is “Reading gives us some place to go when we have to stay where we are.”
Book Swap: If you have any kid books you no longer want or your child(ren) are growing out of bring them in to donate for our book swap! In each kiva there will be a table where students who bring in books to donate get to leave them to other children to take. Your child can pick out a new book or two too while at the book swap!
Writing Contest: Does your child enjoy writing songs, comics, short story, memoir, or book review? If so, they may submit one of these genres for a writing contest! Writing pieces must be submitted to the office by Thursday at noon!
Monday: This year’s school wide read and activity is the book Ishi by Akiko Yabuki. Each student in the whole school will get to an activity based on the book and make their own classroom Ishi book. We will also begin our door decorating for a contest.
Tuesday: Recess in the morning, Spelling Bee at 9am, specials, work cycle in the afternoon
Wednesday: We have the COW back in the afternoon. Reading volunteers will be in this day to read with classes.
Thursday: Literacy Night! Join us from 6-8 and dress up as your favorite book character! I will be with Ms. Kirsten running Harry Potter Trivia! I hope to see all young wizards and witches attend! Lots of games and activities will be at Literacy Night. This is a great event and one of our most attended after school events. Join in on the fun!
Friday: Your child may bring some of their favorite books to read for our afternoon read-a-thon! I told the kids they may bring 1 pillow (no blankets or stuffed animals). Bring a few good books and they will be reading from 2:15- until around 3:00 dismissal. It is also Dr. Seuss’ birthday! Wear your Dr. Seuss hats if you have them! Dress in red, white, black, and blue (school clothes)! I would love a great class pic of those who do! We will be doing a few Dr. Seuss reads and activities too!
Projects are DUE by the end of the week at the very latest for full credit!
This past week we focused on beginning our February writing prompt and also worked on The Problem of the Month in the language and math groups. In cultural we had Geography this week and in leveled math groups we worked on fractions and measurement
In math:
Level 1s: writing the fraction represented
Level 2s: measuring rectangles at different points on a ruler
Level 3s: fractions on a number line and finding equivalent fractions between the two number lines
In cultural: Geography
Level 1s: Landform unit has begun! Island/Lake and Bay/Cape
Level 2s: What is a geyser and how it works. The Rock Cycle unit has begun! Igneous rocks and types of igneous rocks
Level 3s: Water cycle review and funny Readers Theater, how to read and tell the temperature on a thermometer
I think that is everything for now! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and hope to see you Thursday night!
Ms. Kaley
Hello Everyone!
Thanks so much for coming to PTC this past week!
As we round out February we will begin our February prompt on beginning to write argumentatively. We will also do February’s problem of the month for math in our small math groups this coming week
I’ve been working on types of sentences with the Antelopes language group the past 2 weeks. They’ve been identifying the punctuation and asking themselves how that sentence is read and how it come across to others. In the Badgers language group we have been working on learning what Main Idea is and how to create a main idea for small story scenarios. The Crocs language group continued their practice with plural possessives in their writing. They do a great job at singular possessives, but plural possessives are tricky.
In group leveled lessons I got everyone’s Geometry in for the week:
Level 1s: horizontal, vertical, oblique, parallel, and perpendicular lines
Level 2s: Angles in polygons
Level 3s: Area
In cultural this past week we were able to get in 2 days, since we usually do those lessons in the afternoon. This week we got some Zoology and Physiology in
Level 1s: Birds external parts, types of bird beaks, and different kinds of birds
Level 2s: The Circulatory System
Level 3s: Echinoderms family and starfish
We had a great Valentine’s Day Party this past Wednesday. Thank you for all the organizing of supplies needed and if you came to donate your time. Thank you Katie for another great party!
Also, thank you for the wonderful cards, chocolates, and flowers. It made for a great day for Ms. Misha and I. Thank you thank you!
The Spelling Bee is next week! I will be taking some time this coming week to see who our top 2 spellers are going to be representing our class at the Bee next week. I am looking to do this Wednesday afternoon.
This coming week I will have the 1st and 3rd graders do their fractions and 2nd graders will continue doing measurement practice with me.
Ms. Nikki has began a 2nd grade writing group this past week and will continue working with 2nd graders on how to do different kinds of writing. They began this past week learning fact from opinion. 3rd graders will still work with her on their writing skills too.
Friday- if anyone has finished their Feb. Service Project they can bring them in to share. I have left some time this Friday
We had the book Wonder donated to our classroom! We will begin to work in some time at the end of the day to read Wonder.
Literacy Week:
Next Week is the beginning of Literacy Week! Each day we will be doing a school wide activity. In our classroom each day will be themed with fun reading activities. The Spelling Bee is also next week! Next Thursday, March 1st will be Literacy Night! Come to MMA for some fun! There will be different “lands” to visit and lots of fun activities to do! I will be with Ms. Kirsten from Upper El running Harry Potter Trivia and Wand Making! Join us from 6pm-8pm. There are door prizes, Usborne Books usually comes, and lots of games. Mark your calendars!
Take care and have a great extra day to your weekend!
Ms. Kaley
Hi Everyone!
Chili Cook Off:
This coming Wednesday is the annual Chili Cook off! Our students will be making some chili to submit. The cook off starts at 5:30 and goes until 7pm. Kids under 5 are free! It is a fundraiser for the school and there will be gluten free and vegetarian options. If your family would like to submit a pot of chili for the contest the link is: https://wejoinin.com/sheets/WGKPP
Our students will help chop veggies and measure out ingredients while we have the laptops Wednesday afternoon.
Wednesday morning will also be an assembly on Net Safety which is an Internet safety assembly. It will be right away in the morning and go until 9:30.
Lateness: Please make sure students are on time to school. We’ve had a few students coming late often they are missing out on important instruction.
Community Goals: Our students met their first community goal this week. The goal was to achieve moments of quiet as a whole class and achieve 20 points by the end of Thursday. The next goal is Be Kind. We will be talking about noticing moments of true kindness. The students will need 20 points of quiet and 20 moments of true kindness in order to get their next achievement ticket to take home.
Winter/Mid Year Conferences: You may begin to sign up for our mid year conferences! https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/phhos
Water bottles!- Our school safety committee reviewed every classroom’s emergency bag and it used to be filled with packs of water. It made our bag incredibly heavy and the bagged water no longer was good, so they took all of it out. It is asked that every student has their water bottle at school. If we were asked to go to our North Shore safety spot, the students would have their water bottle which could be filled from either North Shore Pool or the Fire Dept. It also helps our students to not leave class as their need for a drink is right in the classroom. Please make sure your student is coming to class with a refillable water bottle, not a plastic one.
The students focused on Fractions this past week in their leveled lessons. Geography was also studied in the afternoon.
Level 1s: Continent and Ocean review and they learned our Geography game we have on the shelf. They got to the next level which has them learning about landforms- our next big unit we will cover beginning next month in Geography
Level 2s: All about volcanoes- kinds of, parts of, how volcanoes are formed and happen
Level 3s: The water cycle- what it is and how it happens
Wednesday afternoon we had the COW. We have the laptops again this coming week because Ms. Stef will be out of town.
The students who brought in their President Report all got to share. They are terrific! I hung everyones up outside our room for everyone to see.
Have a great upcoming week and rest of your weekend
Ms. Kaley
Hello Everyone!
I have some dates to edit! School will go until December 21st. I marked until the 20th. The International Festival will begin on December 19th with the Junior High, December 20th will be Upper El, and December 21st will be Lower El’s presentation day. The RED paper that went home this past week has all the information regarding the International Festival. If your child misplaced it, please visit the project tab up top and then click on the link to review the information. Remember that the project is due by Dec. 21st! Thanks!
Our Holiday Classroom Party will then be December 20th in the afternoon still. Our room mom, Katie, will email you with any details she might need for the party 🙂
I am also rescheduling our Class Feast date. I am moving it to Monday December 18th. It will begin at noon. We will have a sign up sheet to bring food to share for this event. After our lunch we will have the students share their research on December holiday/Christmas traditions from around the world. They all chose their topic this past week in class as part of their December writing prompt assignment. this week they will begin reading the research and learn to write responses based on what they read to share with you on feast day!