End of Year Info From the School

Please read the following information from the school:

 

Dear Parents-

 

It is hard to believe we are at the end of the school year for 2019-2020. We are so grateful to have such wonderful students and parents. We have been especially grateful for all of your support during Distant Learning as we all know this was very much not anticipated!
DISTANT LEARNING SURVEY
Moving forward as this year comes to an end, we are busy planning for the following school year of 2020-2021 and are trying to be proactive as possible. Please take a few minutes to take this SCHOOL WIDE DISTANT LEARNING SURVEY- so we can use your feedback with Professional Development planning in two weeks. Your voice and your opinion is so valuable to our community and our growth as a school. Please take the survey by next Friday, May 22 by 4:00. Again we will be using this information to help us be more prepared if we do continue Soft Closure
another time.
YEARBOOK STATUS
We still do not have a status on when yearbooks will be delivered. COVID-19 put a bump in distribution. If your child ordered a year book, you will receive an email from your lead teacher in regards to how and when they will be distributed. We do apologize.
CLASS LISTS
Class lists for the school year of 2020-2021 will be communicated by the end of July.
Thank you everyone!

It’s been a while…

I realized I haven’t updated the blog in a while.  With e-mail and Remind, sometimes I forget about the blog.  Sorry about that!

We have a lot going on this month!  Here are a few things to be aware of:

Tuesday the 10th is our 5th grade field trip to Biztown.  I sent a separate e-mail with more information.  Let me know if you have any further questions kgonzales@mariamontessoriacademy.org

Wednesday the 11th is our 6th grade field trip to the planetarium.  I will e-mail more information about that separately.

Friday the 13th is a professional development day and there will be no school for students.

Since Pi Day is on a Saturday this year and there is no school on Friday, we will move our Pi Day celebration to Monday the 16th.  This day is a favorite for students!  We spend the day learning all about circles and eating pie!  We’d love some pie donations for that day, so if you can help, please send a pie to school with your student that day.

Saturday, March 21st is our annual Gala!  It is at 6:30 PM at the Timbermine.  This is always a fun night with delicious food and great company!  There will be many baskets and pieces of student created art to bid on.  I hope to see you there!

Wednesday the 25th is maturation day for the 5th graders.  The presentation is at 9:30 AM and parents are invited to attend.

Wednesday the 25th is also the due date for our next home project.  The students all chose an ancient civilization to research and learn about.  I passed out research questions last week.  I let the students know that they can work on this research in class when we have our computer time on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Please make sure your student has their research questions in class on those days if they would like to work on them.  I would like the students to answer the questions under each topic heading in the form of a paragraph (one paragraph for each heading).  Many students are choosing to do this with their google docs account.  In addition to the research, I would like the students to create something that they can present to the class.  I would like this to be something creative and not a tri-fold board.  It can be a diorama, a model of interesting architecture, a piece of art, a food, etc.  It can be any aspect of their civilization that they find interesting and would like to share.

Spring Break starts on March 30th and students will come back to school on Monday, April 6th.

Our class has been planning on having a talent show.  It was supposed to be on the 25th as well, but will likely need to be rescheduled.  I will update you when we get that figured out.  In the meantime, have your student be thinking about what they might like to do in the talent show.  We’d like as many students as possible to participate.  If your student doesn’t want to perform, they can bring a craft, cooking project, writing sample, or piece of art to display.

February

It’s February!  Here are some upcoming things to keep in mind:

*5th Grade Engineering Fair projects will be displayed this Wednesday.  All projects need to be turned in no later than Wednesday.

*6th Grade Science Fair is this Thursday.  Students should be at school on time and set up their projects in the gym before school starts.

*The 6th Graders will have an opportunity to shadow in the junior high on Wednesday, February 12th.  This is always a fun day for the students to see what junior high will be like.

*We will exchange valentines on Valentine’s Day.  There are 23 students in our class.  If your child chooses to bring valentines, please be sure they have one for everyone.  They are allowed to bring candy, but it should be sealed and will not be eaten during school.

*There will be no school on Monday, February 17th for President’s Day.

*Our class will be going on a field trip on Friday, February 21st.  We will be going to the Utah Museum of Natural History and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City.  Field trip permission slips were sent home on Friday.   Please make sure you also sign the back of the form.  Please make arrangements to transport your student to and from this field trip.  If you need assistance arranging a carpool, please let me know.

*February 21st is also our school’s Classic Skate Night at the Classic Fun Center from 5-9 PM.

*Literacy Week will be the week of February 24th.  The school wide spelling bee will be held on February 25th.  I will let you know if your child will be participating in that event.  Literacy Night will be held on February 27th from 5:30-7:00 PM.  More information will be coming, but please mark your calendars and plan to attend!

 

 

Update

Hello!

It’s been another great week here in room 9!  Your children are working hard and making great progress.  It is so fun to see them get excited about what they are learning.  Expectation sheets went home today.  Please make sure you have a conversation with your student about all the work that they accomplished this week.  Your signature on the paper indicates that you have seen it.  The paper should be brought back to class on Tuesday.

We don’t have anyone signed up to provide snack for our class until April.  I can’t stress enough how important snack is to the students.  If you can help, please sign up here:  https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/events.  I know some of you have issues with Track It Forward.  If you are having a difficult time signing up, but would like to bring snack, please let me know.  We truly appreciate your willingness to help us with this!

We are having some issues with dress code lately. I just want to remind you of a few important things.  All of she students need to have inside shoes.  There are a few students who haven’t had inside shoes for several weeks.  Also, hoods are not allowed in class.  There are some students who complain about being cold in class, even when the heater is on.  Long sleeves or sweaters/jackets that are a solid color with no hood would be helpful.

The Chili Cook Off is coming up on January 30th from 5:30-7.  This is such a fun night and a great way to build our school community.  It is $5 per person and children under 5 can eat free.  It is all you can eat and there is a prize for the best pot of chili!  This year MAPA is providing hot dogs and baked potatoes to accompany the chili.  If you would like to sign up to bring chili, please sign up here:  https://forms.gle/kCE1GVYTmT4tLcvf8

Don’t forget that there is no school on Monday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The 5th and 6th graders have big home projects that they should be working on.  Please don’t procrastinate!  The 5th grade Engineering Fair is the week on February 3rd.  The 6th grade science fair is on February 6th.  Please let me know if you need any help or support with these projects.

I just want you to know how much I love your children and how much I enjoy being their teacher.  They are truly amazing!  I have been complimented by a few different teachers this week on how wonderful our class is.  I feel truly blessed to have this job at this wonderful school with all of these fantastic people.  Thank you for trusting me with your children.  If there is ever anything that you need, please contact me at kgonzales@mariamontessoriacademy.org.

Enjoy your 3 day weekend!

Kirsten

Back to Business!

It was so great to see all of the students this week!  I missed them over the break.  Just as I had hoped, most of the students came back from the break ready to work, learn, and focus.  We had some really beautiful work cycles this week.

Our class began using weekly expectation sheets this week.  Every Monday the students receive a paper that shows what their work expectations are for the week.  They use that paper to make a daily work plan in their planner.  As they accomplish those expectations, they get a signature from a teacher.  On Friday, the students will write a reflection on their week.  This paper should come home every Friday, get signed by a parent or guardian, and be returned to me on Monday.  Your child should have brought home an expectation sheet yesterday.  Please ask them about it.

I sent everyone an invitation to join our class on Remind.  I would really like everyone to join!  It already came in handy a couple of times this week as a quick way to communicate with parents.  If you did not receive an invitation or need help signing up, please let me know.

The school’s annual chili cook off is coming up on January 30th!  Mark your calendars and look for more information soon.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Happy New Year!

I hope all of you have had a nice break!  The holiday break is a great time to refresh, reflect, and renew.  I spent some time over the break reflecting on how much I love being part of the MMA family.  I get to work with some amazing people who inspire me every day, including your children.  I love Montessori and can’t imagine teaching any other way.  I am excited to see all of the students tomorrow and get back to work!

We do have school this week Monday through Thursday.  There will be no school on Friday.

I decided to try using Remind as another form of communication.  Some of us are better than others at checking e-mail and the blog, so I thought Remind might help everyone know what is happening in our class.  All of you should have received an invitation to join our class on Remind.  I am still trying to figure it all out myself, but if you need help, please let me know and we’ll try to figure it out.  If you did not receive an invitation by text or e-mail, let me know.

Kirsten

This week

Here’s what’s going on this week:

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are early out days.  Please plan to pick your children up at 1:00PM.

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are also Parent Teacher Conferences.  If you haven’t signed up yet, you can still sign up here:

Tuesday:  https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/510438

Wednesday:  https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/510440

Thursday:  https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/510441

There will also be a book fair happening during conferences.  Please come check it out!

Our class chose to do a secret santa gift exchange this year.  The students drew names on Friday.  They should bring a small gift to class on Thursday for their secret santa.  The gift should be around $5.  Please let me know if you are unable to get a gift so that I can make sure everyone has something.

Please check the lost and found for any missing items.  They will be donated over the break.

Our deadline for online Aspire accounts is quickly approaching. Re-registration for current students for the 2020-2021 school year starts January 6.  In order for you to register your students for next year you MUST have an online account by December 20. As of this morning, most families have not yet signed up. Please sign up before Winter Break so the office can answer any questions you have (due to privacy laws we cannot send student numbers through email).
Instructions to create an Aspire account can be found here.
In case you didn’t know, our parent organization MAPA has a blog!  You can sign up to be updated on things happening around the school.  blogs.mariamontessoriacademy.org/mapa

There will be no school on Friday.  We will see everyone back on January 6th!

Update

Hello!

There is so much happening at school right now!  We have been busy learning and having fun this week.  We finished our study of Ancient Mesopotamia.  I know that some of the students are very excited to move into our study of Ancient Egypt.  We have been working on developing character, setting, and plot in our writing.  We did MAP assessments that will be a great tool to use to track student growth.  The 6th graders worked a lot with fractions.  The 5th graders learned about how to solve algebra equations.  The 4th graders continued to work on mastering the four math operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.

This week we kicked off our Boosterthon fundraiser.  If you haven’t had a chance to do so,  please go to funrun.com and find out how you can support this awesome fundraiser for our school.  Also, please join us on Wednesday, November 13th for the fun run!  Upper el will start their run at 10:15 AM.

Also, don’t forget to go online and order your student’s art from Original Works.  Tomorrow is the deadline for guaranteed holiday delivery, but you can still place orders through the 15th.  The money from this fundraiser goes directly to our class.

Tonight is the Family Skate Night at the Classic Fun Center in Layton from 5-9 PM.  Bring your family for a fun night!

This week we had a confirmed case of Influenza B in our class.  Now we’ve had both A and B!  We’ve also had various coughs, sniffles, and sore throats.  It’s that time of year!  We are trying to be mindful of germs in class and will continue to do so.

The International Festival is coming up on November 22nd.  The students should be working on their home projects for the International Festival.  Those assignments went home a couple of weeks ago.  If you haven’t seen it yet, please ask your student about it.  Also, I asked the students to write the name of their continent and country on their assignment so that they wouldn’t forget, but if they didn’t do that for some reason, send me an e-mail and I will let you know what they should be studying.  Just to clarify, all of the students should have a tri-fold board about their continent and country that they can display and present at the International Festival.  They are free to bring extras like souvenirs, clothing, or food, but it is not required.  If they do plan to bring food, they need to clear it with me first.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Picture retakes are scheduled forThursday,  November 14th.

Enjoy your weekend!

Kirsten

Here’s What’s Happening!

Red Ribbon Week

Next week we will be celebrating Red Ribbon Week with school spirit days.  Here is the schedule:

Monday, Oct. 28th – Spirit day: ‘Show your true colors and say not to drugs’

Each grade is encouraged to dress in their designated color:

Kinder and early childhood wear RED, 1st wear ORANGE, 2nd wear YELLOW, 3rd wear GREEN, 4th wear PINK, 5th wear PURPLE, 6th wear RED, 7th wear ORANGE, 8th wear YELLOW, 9th wear GREEN, or wear rainbows colors.

Tue. Oct 29th – Spirit day: ‘Don’t get mixed up with drugs’.  Students are encouraged to show their school spirit by wearing mismatched or crazy socks!

Wed Oct 30th – Spirit day: ‘I’m wild about being drug free’.  Students can show their wild side by giving their hair a crazy style! (Please keep in mind anything too distracting or uncomfortable for the student will result in a phone call home.)

Thur. Oct 31st – Spirit day: ‘Team up against drugs’. Students can “sport” their favorite team shirts or jerseys, as long as they are school appropriate.

Fri. Nov. 1st – Spirit day: ‘Saying no to drugs is no sweat’.  Show your school spirit by wearing a sweatshirt/hoodie to school, again making sure they are school appropriate.

We will also be decorating our door for the door decorating contest.  Be looking for information from MAPA about how to vote online for your favorite door!

International Festival

The International Festival at MMA will be held on November 22nd from 1:00-3:00 PM.  Families are invited and encouraged to attend.  Each student is required to complete a project for the festival.  We have discussed this project in class and the students have all chosen the continent and country they would like to study.  I passed out the project requirements today, so please check for those in your student’s backpack.  This is a home project.  The students should present their research on a tri-fold board for the festival and be prepared to present to visitors who come around to view their projects.  Students may bring artifacts, clothing, money, souvenirs, or food from their country as part of their presentation.  Any food plans need to be approved by me ahead of time.  I will send home reminders and further directions in the coming weeks.

Distracting Items

There are many distracting items being brought to class every day.  These items include:  fake fingernails and nail glue, hairbrushes, lip gloss, chapstick, special pens, stuffed animals, sunglasses, little creatures made out of clay, jewelry (especially bracelets), etc.  Just about anything has the potential to become a distraction.  Mechanical pencils are one of the biggest culprits.  I just ask that you check in with your student in the mornings and see what items they are bringing to school and help alleviate potential distractions.