This school year is moving right along!  It is hard to believe that we are already entering our 4th week of school.  Last week we slowly started introducing some regular work into our routine.  We began doing math fluency activities every morning.  We also received our first spelling/vocabulary list of the school year.  We did different works with our words every day to help us learn their meaning, as well as their correct spelling.  These lists will continue into this week.  We will generally assess mastery of the words on Thursdays.  August 31st was Maria Montessori’s birthday.  We celebrated with our lower elementary mentor class by creating timelines of her life.  We also continued our study of the Coming of Life last week and learned about the Coming of Humans.  This week we will continue by introducing the Fundamental Needs of Man and emphasizing the Coming of Language.  This week we will also begin going to our special classes on Thursdays.  We have computer lab, music, and PE every Thursday morning.  Please be sure your child is dressed appropriately for PE on these days.  We will continue to add more work expectations into our schedule as we prepare to begin our regular three hour work cycle.  We have completed assessments in math, writing, spelling, and reading to ensure that each student will receive the instruction that is appropriate for them.  I am excited to move forward!

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!  kgonzales@mariamontessoriacademy.org

Kirsten

We are gearing up to start our Studio Friday classes.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Studio Friday, it is a wonderful program that allows our students to sign up for different classes with different teachers on Friday afternoons.  They will have three different rotations throughout the school year.  A paper explaining the options for this rotation went home with your students on Friday.  As you can see from the paper, the choices are in a variety of topics.  Studio Friday  offers the students an opportunity to explore different interests while they experience learning from different upper elementary teachers and get to know students from other classes.  Please take some time to look over the options with your child and help them fill out the page where they make their class selections.  This paper should come back to school tomorrow.  Please be aware that not all students will get their first choice.

On Thursday, September 8th at 6:00 PM, there will be a mandatory meeting for parents regarding the 6th grade field trip to the Redwoods.  This meeting will explain expectations for 6th graders and their families, as well as logistical information and details about the trip.  Your 6th grade student may attend with you, but please make other arrangements for younger siblings.  The meeting will be held in the school’s library.