Hello!

Things are moving right along in our classroom!  We had a great week with lots of fun things happening.  We had two assemblies this week with two different authors.  The children learned a lot about how to be better writers and how to follow their dreams, no matter how old they are.  We also did a really amazing activity in our class on Monday.  The 6th graders were finishing up their unit on Ancient Rome.  We learned about their legal system and some of the laws of that time.  We turned our classroom into a courtroom and had a trial for a real court case from Ancient Rome.   Everyone in the class played a role in the case.  Some were jurors, some were lawyers, and some were defendants.  Everyone did a great job and we learned a lot while we were having fun!  Our Friday incentive activity for today was making play dough.  We learned about measuring and kneading dough and we had a lot of fun together while making a big mess.

Monday our class will be doing their SAGE Interim Testing for Language and Math.  Please be sure your child comes to school well rested and with a good breakfast.  Please send a water bottle and a HEALTHY snack for your child.  If you have any concerns about the SAGE Interim Testing, please contact Stephanie Speicher at sspeicher@mariamontessoriacademy.org.

Remember the food truck on Wednesday for the Jr. High fundraiser.  Also, money for pizza Friday is due on Wednesday.  It is $1.75 per slice and you can order as many as you would like.  Please send cash or check in a sealed envelope clearly labeled with your child’s order.

Our class has decided to have a Thanksgiving/Gratitude Feast on Thursday, November 20th at 12:00 PM.  Your children created a menu and I created a sign up sheet so that you can sign up to help.  Each student is allowed to invite one special guest to the feast.  They are to invite someone that they are thankful for in their life.  The sign up sheet can be found here:  http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/lrpgz

I am still waiting for some of the students to turn in their Veteran’s Day reports.  I expect to have all of them on Monday.

I got the updated list for certified drivers this morning.  I now have Sheralin Noble, Jeannie Smith, and Monique Penman on the list for our class.  Please contact Ms. April (abench@mariamontessoriacademy.org) in the office if you think your name should be on that list.  Our field trip to the Nutcracker is coming up on December 8th, so we need to make sure we have enough drivers by then or we will have to make other arrangements.

Yesterday, I sent home a letter with each student that had a spreadsheet attached showing all of the work that they have accomplished in the last two weeks.  This is meant to be another way, in addition to the planners, for me to communicate to you what work your child has been doing at school.  It is also another way for the students to be held accountable for what work they are, or are not, doing.  These spreadsheets will be sent home every other week, so if you are not seeing them, please ask your student about them.

I know this is long with a lot of information!  Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  I enjoy teaching and spending time with your children.  They are amazing!  Thank you for sharing them with me.

Kirsten

Hello!

The Veteran’s Day reports were great today!  I look forward to hearing the rest of them tomorrow.

Tomorrow and every Wednesday is the Jr. High’s food truck lunch.  Every Wednesday the Jr. High has various lunch foods available for purchase.  They have items such as macaroni and cheese, hot pockets, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, granola bars, goldfish, fruit snacks, and Capri Sun drinks.  The prices range from about $0.50 to $1.50.  This is a fundraiser for the Jr. High, so please support their efforts if you can!

Tomorrow night is our Get Down and Dirty with the Montessori Materials night.  It will be held from 6:30-8:30 PM.  I hope to see you there!

We are also starting Pizza Fridays again!  Please order your pizza lunch by Wednesday by bringing checks or cash in a sealed envelope to the school.  The pizza is $1.75 per slice.  Order as many as you would like!

Yesterday I sent home some papers for our next rotation of Studio Friday classes.  Please help your children fill these out and send them back to school ASAP.  I will be placing students in their classes on Thursday, so if I don’t have their papers, they will get whatever class has room for them.

This Friday is also an early out day, so please arrange to pick up your children by 1:00 PM.

Thanks!

Kirsten

Hello There!

We have been trying a new behavior plan in our class for the last few weeks.  I meant to write about it a long time ago, but I kept forgetting.  Some of you are already familiar with how our plan works, but here is the rundown for those of you who haven’t heard about it yet.

We came up with some basic classroom rules.  We posted them in our classroom and all of the students signed them.  The first time a student breaks a rule they are given a warning.  The next time they break a rule they are given a “time-out”.  This means they are sent to their desk or to sit right outside our classroom for a few minutes.  The third time, they are given a letter to bring home to be signed by a parent or guardian.  This is the letter that is sent home:

Dear Parent,

________________________________ broke the following classroom rules on ___________________.

1. ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­_____ We will respect each other by being kind and not bullying.  We will not touch our classmates or their things without permission.
2. _____ We will respect our teachers by following directions the first time and not arguing or talking back.
3. _____ We will respect our environment by cleaning up after ourselves and putting everything in its proper place.
4. _____ We will respect each other’s right to learn by raising our hands for permission to speak and by using quiet voices in the classroom.

It is very important that the students follow our classroom rules in order to maintain a positive learning environment.  By choosing not to follow the rules, your child interfered with the rights of others to learn and feel safe in our classroom.  Please acknowledge that you received this letter by signing below and returning it to school tomorrow.

Thank you for your support,

Ms. Kirsten

Parent Signature: ____________________________________________________________________________

The challenge has come in getting these letters to come back to school.  Many students receive them, but never bring them home.  I will try to be more consistent in e-mailing you when a letter is handed out, so that you can follow up with your children.

Another thing that we started doing this week is having incentive activities on Fridays.  On Monday, I gave the students some very clear and realistic expectations for what work they needed to get done during the week in order to participate in the Friday activity.  We talked about it throughout the week and the students were given many reminders.  Our activity for today was making and eating apple pie!  The students who were allowed to participate had a great time.  However, there were several students who were unable to participate.  The goal of these incentive activities is not to make students feel bad, but to increase productivity in our classroom.  Many students are struggling to reach their potential and this is meant to give them that extra motivation to get their work done.  We will continue to have work expectations during the week and incentive activities every Friday.  I hope that the entire class will be able to participate in the activity next Friday!

A quick reminder that the Veteran’s Day projects are due on Tuesday!

Thanks for all you do!  You have amazing children!  Please contact me with any questions or concerns at my school e-mail address:  kgonzales@mariamontessoriacademy.org.

Kirsten

Hello,

Our school has opted to participate in the interim testing for SAGE.  Our class will be testing in Math and Language on Monday, November 17th and Science on Thursday, December 4th.  If you have any concerns or questions regarding this testing, please contact our Director Stephanie Speicher at sspeicher@mariamontessoriacademy.org.

Thank You!

Kirsten

Hello!

Just a reminder about the 6th grade dance this Thursday!  It is 80’s themed and should be a lot of fun.  Please go to the 6th grade blog for more details:  http://blogs.mariamontessoriacademy.org/6thgrade/

If you haven’t subscribed to the 6th grade blog yet, please do!  It is an important source of information about all things related to 6th grade activities, fundraisers, the Redwoods trip, etc.

Thanks!

Kirsten

P.S.  A reminder to ALL parents that the Veteran’s Day projects are due a week from today!