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

Hi Everyone!

Back to School Night is this coming Thursday night! I will be out of town for it, but please come to pick up your parent flip book and project overviews for the whole year! I will also have more physical copies of our weekly schedule if you would also like to have that too (it’s in the flip book you will get!)

I believe the time is from 6:00-8:00. Come visit Ms. Misha! She can answer questions about works, schedule, and our classroom.

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 Parents!

Welcome to the first blog post summary of our week for this school year!  We were busy this week getting to know the kids.  We worked together as a community getting to know one another through social skills lessons, grace and courtesy lessons on: rugs, chairs, snack, dishes, sitting at circle, talking to one another, hallway walking, being seated at lunch, and opening/closing lockers.  The kids are anxious to get started on lessons and our friends are very interested in the materials we have around the room.  This Monday is the start of our weekly schedule.  I gave out a black and white printable copy during the Sneak a Peak.  We are not ready to begin the red, yellow, and blue reading groups, book club, or specials yet, but they are coming!  This week I will do the 1st graders and any new student’s University of Utah reading assessment.  This reading assessment tells me what grade level they are reading at.  I will also distribute the Math U See assessment to see what skills your child is capable of.  This will help me move any children I need to into the groups I have.  I’m very excited to get back into lesson and begin our United States studying and curriculum content!

Weekly plan 18-19

Mentor Class for 2018-2019- Last year we had the privilege of being teamed up with an Upper Elementary classroom.  This year our classroom is teamed up to work with the Junior High!  This week we will be working with Ms. Leigh and her Erdkinder class on Tuesday from 1:00-2:30.  Tuesday afternoon is when we have our PE and Music specials, but they will begin soon.  Leigh and I are going to take this opportunity to talk about the first Montessori Great Lesson- The Coming of the Universe (The Big Bang Theory).  The students will get the Big Bang material presentation and then choose a work choice to work on with the older students.  Our goal is to meet up with the Junior High once a month (hopefully more).  We will be working with as many of the Junior classes as we can that pertain to what we are working on.

*Please note:  Montessori Great Lessons were created by Maria Montessori herself, an Italian doctor.  As a religious woman, she felt it was also necessary to present many viewpoints to children, so they may become aware of other worldly views, respect viewpoints, and also make decisions for what they want to believe.  During this great lesson I present what a theory is go over how over time there are many different theories as to how the universe was created.  The teachers at MMA, or any Montessori school, will/should never tell your children what is the right one to believe.  We believe in educating the whole child and this lesson is an outlet to present differences.

First Field Trip Ready to Go!-  An opportunity came up for a free field trip and many of the Lower Elementary, if not all, are wanting to attend.  It is a play performed by a children’s theater.  The play is called The Magic Lake. It is a tale from South America.  Our South America study will be towards the later part of the year, but we wanted to take this opportunity.  It will be September 21st (a Friday).  Show begins at 12:30pm.  We will have an earlier recess/lunch time that day.  This trip has chaperone restrictions, meaning, they can only take 4.  We are also communicating right now as teachers on how we are planning to get there.  Buses are expensive to rent, so we are weighing our options right now.  I will get back to you on transportation soon.  Permission slips will be ready to go soon.  If you are available to attend the play and would like to be one of our 4 chaperones, please email me at kparsons@mariamontessoriacademy.org as soon as you can.  This is a first come first serve opportunity. 

Work Expectations- As mentioned at the Sneak a Peak, your child works at their pace. I have different groups according to grade content, but I also differentiate as needed for students.  Your child will be presented a lesson according to our weekly schedule.  A follow up work will then be assigned.  There might be one choice for the follow up work or they may be 2 choices to choose from.  If there is one choice then students are expected to do that follow up work by its due date.  If there are 2 (or more) choices then students choose 1 to complete by that due date.  Cultural follow up works will be due on Fridays and Math & Language ones will be due by the next time we meet for that subject.  Since next Monday is a holiday, I have that work due next Tuesday.  Should your child not do their work or come to a lesson they need to come to.  It will be noted and be taken home for homework.  Misha and myself will address the concerns first as to why they are choosing to not complete it.  This is where differentiation may come into play for students who need it.  If that conversation doesn’t help the situation then that assignment is to be taken home as homework.  You as the parents will be contacted if work is coming home.  Please check backpacks regularly!  

Art Class– Art Class with Ms. Trudy has been scheduled!  These classes will be 6 weeks long and will happen twice a year.  We begin our first 6 weeks beginning on September 7th.  Art class is promptly at 8:40am and will go until 9:30am.  Our next rotation will be in December.

Substitute– I will be out of town September 12th, 13th, and 14th.  I have not ben able to find a sub from our subs we had last year.  I am still working on it and Misha feels comfortable running the class if I cannot find a sub.  Ms. Lana is looking to come in to present some of the lessons on the schedule so we can stay on track.  If you would like to be an MMA substitute, please notify our front office.  A background check is needed.  If you would simply like to just volunteer to help out, please email me.

Thanks everyone!  Have a great rest of your weekend and upcoming week!

Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Hello Everyone!

Sneak a Peek!

Monday afternoon is Sneak a Peek!  This means you may come into the school with your child(ren) and see where their classroom is located, ask questions, drop off school supplies, and meet the teachers.

They will run every half hour beginning at 1:30pm and ending at 3:30pm:

1:30pm-2:00pm

2:00pm-2:30pm

2:30pm-3:00pm

3:00pm-3:30pm

Hoping to see a lot of you come by!  This is a great opportunity for our new students and families to come in and see where we are.  Even for our students who have been in our classroom there is new organization to our curriculum!  Misha and I will have the parent volunteer papers available for those who didn’t/couldn’t make it to the Pool Party this past Thursday.  We will go over the Lower Elementary whole year at a glance template that pertains to our curriculum.  If you want to know more about our Scope and Sequence, a document that shows the order of lessons presented, then please ask me and we’ll go over that separately.

I have our weekly schedule too that is in a pretty solid state right now.  We are waiting to see when our class will do art classes with Ms. Trudy, but the rest seems ready to go.  Please know it is subject to change if need be, but I will keep you updated.  I am wanting to give this to you all Monday.

Back to School Night- Sept. 13th

I will not be at Back to School night in September.  I apologize for this, but I will be in a wedding back in my home state of Maryland.  Our Back to School Night usually runs like an open house, so I will have my Parent Flip book ready for you by then.  That document will have our classroom reminders, schedule, field trips, and projects.

Reminders!

Also, reminder that students start school TUESDAY the 21st.  If you have a preschooler or Kindergartener those students will begin school on August 27th.  The first week of school (the week of the 21st) are also ALL early out days.  That means dismissal is at 1:00pm.  Lunch time always still happens on early outs, so please pack your child a lunch! 🙂

Please sign up for snack for the year on Track it Forward!  Thanks everyone!  

-Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

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

Hi Everyone!

I have created a Google Doc that has our main classroom volunteer opportunities.  Opportunities such as reading, classroom parties, drivers etc.  I will print this sign up sheet for the Pool Party coming up, but I thought I could give everyone a heads up on what I have!  Thanks!

Click HERE to Sign Up!

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:

1.  I will be in and out this week of the classroom.  If you would like to drop off school supplies early (which I recommend), you will have a chance to do so.   I like to start getting all their binders organized with the things I have preprinted for the year and start getting things labeled and put away.  I will be in the building Tuesday and Wednesday for most of the day (not past 4pm).  Thursday I will be in towards the afternoon. If my door is open and I am not there I am more than likely in the printing room by the school’s office.  If I am not there, you may leave your child’s supplies by my door.  The teacher’s are also back beginning August 14th.  We will be off site on August 14th, but this is guaranteed time I will be in the building.  You are more than welcome to drop of supplies then too.  If I am not there, I am in a meeting.
2. Please make sure your child’s supplies are in a bag or box that have their name on the bag or box.  I don’t want to get anyone’s things mixed up!
3. I forgot a supply on the school list!  Please, if you can, purchase a zippered pencil case that can be put into a binder (in the rings).  Thanks!

School Events to Remember! (New Parents and Veteran Parents)

1. School Pool Party- August 16th at 6pm.  There will also be a ribbon cutting ceremony honoring the new Jr. High’s building being officially opened.  MMA families are invited to attend.  Please be there by 5:15pm.
2. Sneak a Peak (at the classroom) August 20th- this is also a great time to drop off supplies too if you can’t make it  the week of August 6th.  There will be half hour time slots to come by and say hi, drop off supplies, and ask questions.  Times begin at 1:30pm. and go until 3:30pm.
3. School begins August 21st (a TUESDAY) for students in first grade-Jr. High.  Tuesday-Friday are ALL early out days 8:30-1:00pm.  School doors open at 8:15am and the morning bell dings at 8:30am.  Please remember to provide a lunch for your child on these early outs 🙂
4. I will NOT be in town for Back to School Night.  I am in a wedding back in Maryland during this time.  Ms. Misha will be present, but I recommend coming to the Sneak a Peak opportunity on August 20th.  I might hold my own little Back to School Night by myself before I leave, but I will let you all know as we get closer.
5. Please sign up for snack for the year!  If each family is able to sign up twice then we will be covered for the year.  * I am currently working on getting the sign ups ready on Track it Forward.I have until February created.  More to come soon!

New Parents with new students to Ms. Kaley’s Classroom:

1. Welcome!  Please come to our school’s Sneak a Peak on August 20th.  This is a great time to ask me questions and see where your child’s classroom is!
2. The school’s Pool Party is at North Shore Aquatic Center (located right across from the school).  It begins at 6pm.  This is a welcome time to say hello and have fun with our school community.  Parents, please save any personal information chats about your child for a more private time.  For any new families coming to our classroom I would prefer that your child’s information remain private and not chat about him or her while others are openly there. If you would like to schedule a time to sit down and talk about your child’s needs please email me at my school email address.
3. My school supply list is located on this blog up at the top.
4. Snack is volunteered at our school.  Sign ups for our classroom are currently being worked on. I have until February created.  More to come.
5. We do all our school volunteering opportunities and sign ups (like for PTC) on a program called Track it Forward.  Please visit:  www.trackitforward.com and create a sign in for your family.  Give it about 24 hours and you will be entered into our system and you can then sign up for events in our classroom and other classrooms if you have other children at our school!
6. This is our classroom blog and I post weekly once the school year gets going.  Please subscribe to our classroom blog by clicking SUBSCRIBE to the right of my blog.  Check your email to confirm and then that should be it!  You will receive an email if any latest blog post I make.  Please know that as a parent of our classroom you are part of our classroom community.  It is the parent’s responsibility to read the blog posts I make during the year.  I post important information about what is going on, so to be in the know about things, please read them 🙂

If you have any questions before the pool party please email me!  See everyone soon!

-Ms. Kaley and Ms. Misha

Dear parents,

I want to thank you all and your children for another great year.  I feel like this year you all really helped me out with all our field trips, class events/parties, and participation.  Again, I cannot express how thankful I am to all of you.  Thank you thank you!

I will be working an extra week in June to help organize our curriculum and better facilitate a more universal and cohesive feel amongst all our classrooms and levels.  It is a topic I feel passionately about and an idea that we brought forward to our school from our time attended at the AMS Denver Conference.

The 2018-2019 supply list for our classroom has been updated and is now available for those returning to our classroom 🙂

Have a wonderful summer everyone 🙂