Hello!

Just some reminders for this week…

The school will be doing Pizza Fridays again starting this week.  The cost is $1.75 per slice and the money is due by Wednesday.  You can order up to 4 weeks at a time and you can order as many slices as you would like.  Remember that the school does not accept cash, so you will need to pay by check or online.

This week will be Parent Teacher Conferences on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  If you haven’t signed up for a time yet, you can still sign up here:  http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/cazxd  Remember to bring your student to this conference!  Also those days will be early out days, so make arrangements for your children to be picked up by 1:00 PM.

This week is also the school’s International Festival.  Lower El will be presenting on Thursday from 9:30-11:00 and Upper El will be presenting on Friday from 9:30-11:00.  Parents are invited to attend.  Please make sure your student has their country presentation ready for their festival on Friday.  This can include a display board, clothing, artifacts, food, etc.

The 5th grade students will be taking their DWA test on Monday, February 24th.  This is the state writing test that all 5th graders take.  It is absolutely imperative that you have your students practicing on www.utahwrite.com at home.  Most of them know their login information, but I also e-mailed it to you a while ago.  Please let me know if you don’t have it and I will send it again.  For the next three weeks until the test I would like them to be practicing every day if possible.  After they submit an essay, have them go back and correct their errors and do the suggested lessons.  We work on this at school, but they could use more practice than what we have time to do in class.

It is with heavy hearts that we have to say goodbye to Ms. Kristina this week.  Tuesday will be her last day in our class.  Her husband got a new job and they will be moving to Vernal.  I am excited for her family to have this new opportunity, but I am sad to see her go!  She has been an invaluable asset to our classroom and we will all miss her terribly.  We are in the process of finding a new assistant and hope to have someone soon.  I will keep you posted!

I look forward to meeting with all of you this week at conferences!

Kirsten

Just some quick reminders:

There is no school on Monday, January 20th.  Enjoy your long weekend!

There is no one signed up for snack next week.  Please help us with this if you can!  http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qgsbx  Most of February is also open if you want to look into that.

On Wednesday, January 22nd is the school’s ski night at Wolf Mountain.  See the school’s website for more information.  http://mariamontessoriacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/January-2014-Newsletter.pdf

The See’s Candy Fundraiser orders are due on Thursday, January 23rd.  Please support the school in this fundraiser!

I haven’t heard anything more about pizza Fridays.  I will let you know if that is still happening next week.

Monday, January 27th is the Biztown Fieldtrip for the 5th Graders.  I will pass out the permission slips when we come back to school on Tuesday.

The book reports are due on January 28th.  This is also the day that the 4th grade county reports are due.  I apologize for having two assignments due on the same day.  The 4th graders have had a few months to work on their report and the book reports were assigned several weeks ago, so hopefully the students haven’t waited until the last minute to start working on these.

The school’s International Festival is on February 6th and 7th.  The Upper Elementary students will be presenting on the 7th from 9:30-11:00 AM.  Parents are invited to attend!  These are the same days as Parent/Teacher conferences.  Be looking for a sign-up sheet for conferences in the next week or so.  These conferences are student led, so your student will need to come with you.

The science fair is on February 19th.  I passed out packets about the science fair again yesterday, so ask your students to show them to you.

Having all of these assignments due has brought up a concern for me.  Some of the students make comments such as, “Nobody will care if I don’t turn in my assignment.”   We are in a unique situation in our school because the students don’t receive formal grades.  Some of the students have the attitude that it doesn’t matter if they do their work or not because they are not being graded.  I plan to talk with the class about this, but I am asking for your support at home.  Most of these assignments are home-based projects.  Please encourage your children to work on them and do their best work.  Let them know that YOU will care if they don’t turn in their assignments, and that THEY should care, too.

Thank You for all of your support.  Enjoy your long weekend and I look forward to seeing your children again on Tuesday!

Kirsten

Hello!

Well, I must say, I think we started off on the right foot for this new year!  I feel like we had a productive week!  Lots of children got new lessons and we are making good progress.  One morning this week, the children came in and got their morning work as usual.  Most of the time, they are very chatty first thing in the morning and have a lot to say to each other.  I usually have to remind them several times that they have work to do.  On this particular morning, though, it was completely silent.  Every one of the students was sitting and working quietly.  It was so beautiful and peaceful.  I loved it!  That peace carried into our morning circle time.  I feel like we have a new spirit of productivity and peacefulness in our room.  I will do my best to nurture that spirit and help it to grow.

We have a lot of things going in the near future.  See the school’s January Newsletter for information regarding the upcoming Ski Night at Wolf Mountain.  http://mariamontessoriacademy.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/January-2014-Newsletter.pdf

The 5th graders have a field trip scheduled on January 27th to JA Biztown.  This is a really fun opportunity!  Thank you to the two parents who have volunteered to go with us.  There is still a need for more chaperones, so if anyone else would like to go, please let me know.  We would love to have you!

Because of the Biztown field trip, I am postponing the due date for the book reports until January 28th.  Your children each received a paper this week detailing what I expect from their book reports.  I am guessing that many of you did not see it.  I will e-mail it to you since I am not sure how to attach it to the blog.

Your children each received a paper today about the See’s Candy fundraiser that the school is doing.  These are due back on January 23rd.  Please support the fundraiser and help the 6th graders pay for their trip to the Redwoods.

I have heard a rumor that pizza Fridays will be starting back up on January 24th.  Be looking for more information about that in the near future.

The school’s International Festival is coming up at the beginning of February!  Each of your children has chosen a continent to study.  They need to pick a country within that continent and come up with a creative way to share that country with the rest of the school.  Most children do a 3 sided display board.  You can also bring any artifacts you have from that country.  The children love having food to sample, too.  They can also dress up in clothing from their country.  Most of you are familiar with the International Festival.  For those of you who aren’t, I will be going over the expectations with the students next week.

The other big thing that we have coming up is the science fair.  This is scheduled for February 19th.  The 4th and 5th graders got an extensive lesson this week about the science fair and some of the expectations.  (I hope to do the same thing with the 6th graders very soon)  I also gave each of them a lab journal to record all of their science fair information.  Please, please save yourselves a lot of stress and start working on the science fair now.  I sent home a science fair packet at the last parent/teacher conferences.  I hope some of you still have it.  I will try to get new copies made next week for those who need one.

I know this is a ton of information and a lot of work.  I will do my best to help the children accomplish all that they need to, but the will need your support at home.  They will need to be working on all of their assignments outside of school.

Speaking of working at home…  The spelling test scores have been pretty abysmal lately for many of the students.  I asked them all to write down their spelling words for next week today so that they could bring them home to show you and start practicing.  I have been getting their words from a spelling program called Wordly Wise 3000.  You can download a free app for this program and that might make practicing their spelling words at home a little more fun.  Here are their words for next week, in case they didn’t follow directions.  (That never happens)

Red Group:  aloft, attain, buffet, elude, flammable, hover, inflate, jeopardy, moor, plummet, pollute, propel, stationary, superb, swivel

Blue Group:  active, astound, attend, cherish, contract, eager, expose, grace, impose, modest, parallel, paralyze, pessimist, recite, respond

Green Group:  average, border, cocoon, flutter, moisture, nectar, process, span, suitable, timber

Purple Group:  oil, boil, coin, point, join, voice, choice, noise, toil, foil

I have Gracie signed up for snack next week.  The following week is open, so please sign up if you think you can help.  http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qgsbx

Thanks so much for all that you do!  We have a lot coming up in the next couple of months and I need your continued help and support!  Have a wonderful weekend!

Kirsten

Hello again!

Sorry for the long blog silence.  I haven’t had my laptop for the last three weeks.  Let me catch you up on a few things.

This Friday is our holiday program.  The Upper El students will be performing from 10:30-11:00AM.  We would love to have you come!  It is usually pretty crowded, so come early to get a seat.  Friday is also an early out day.  Please arrange for your students to be picked up at 1:00 PM.

Also, your children really want to do a gift exchange on Friday.  Everyone will need to bring a gift that costs no more than $5 to school on Friday.  It should be a gift that would be appropriate for either a boy or a girl.

I have informed your children that they should begin reading a book for a book report.  The report will be due on Monday, January 27th.  The book should be reading level appropriate and can be whatever genre they are interested in.   They will also need to prepare a 5 minute presentation to present their book to their classmates.

If you have a 6th grader, I gave them an assignment in science today.  We just started learning about the moon cycle.  They are supposed to look at the moon every night and draw what they see.  They have a moon journal sheet to record their information.  This will be due on Monday, January 6th.

Also for 6th graders, if your student is planning to go on the field trip to the Redwoods this Spring, the $175 deposit is due by Friday.  If the money is not turned in by then, the school will assume that they are not going.

Ms. Amity’s class is organizing a donation drive.  If you have any coats, hats, gloves, or blankets that you could donate, please send them with your child to school by Friday.

Friday is our last day of school before the holiday break.  We will return to school on Friday, January 3rd.

Thank You for all you do!

Kirsten

Hello!

Just a few reminders about this week.

We started taping our Phantom Tollbooth boxes together on Friday.  It was a bit chaotic and our classroom turned into a maze for a while, but it was fun!   We will be finishing those on Monday.  If anyone has any packaging tape or duct tape we could use, that would be helpful.

It is picture retake day on Tuesday the 19th.  That is also the day of our Thanksgiving Feast!  Please refer back to the e-mail I sent for more details.  Email me if you have any  questions.  Thanks to those of you who have signed up to help and bring food!  We still have a few items that we need, so its not too late to sign up.  The link for the sign up sheet is  http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/lrpgz

I would like to do the Egyptian masks on Wednesday.  If you are the parent of a 5th grader and could come and help, I would appreciate it!

Thursday is the school’s Gratitude Feast.  I know some of you signed up to help with that.  Thank You!

Please always feel free to e-mail me with any questions, comments, or concerns.

Enjoy the rest of this wintery weekend!

Hello!

Just a few reminders…

This Friday is an early out day.  Please be sure to make arrangements for your children to be picked up at 1:00PM.

Veteran’s Day written reports are due this Friday.  Presentations are due on Monday.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Our class has been reading a book called “The Phantom Tollbooth”.   It is about a boy named Milo who visits lots of interesting places by going through a magic tollbooth that gets delivered to his house.  We are getting really close to finishing and should have it done by the end of next week.  I would love for all of the children to be able to make their own tollbooths and create an imaginary place that they would like to visit.  Our room mother, Jeannie Smith, has been collecting refrigerator boxes for us to use.  She’s amazing!  If any of you have access to large boxes or would be willing to help her collect boxes from stores, we would really appreciate it!  I have told the children about this fun way for us to celebrate finishing the book and they are really looking forward to it!

The school is hosting a Gratitude Feast on Thursday, November 21st at 12:00PM.   This is for the  Mayor, City Council, firefighters, police, EMT’s, and senior citizens from the community.  If you would like to sign up to help with the food, please use this link:  http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/msyyf  If you would like to volunteer, use this link:  http://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/driob

Our fieldtrip to see the Nutcracker is on!  It will be on Monday, December 9th.  If you would like to make a $2 donation to help pay for the tickets, please use this link:  https://secureinstantpayments.com/sip/cart/event.php?EID=1150

The school has provided a way for you to pay for multiple things at once so that there will only be one charge.  Use this link if you ever need to pay for more than one thing at a time:  https://secureinstantpayments.com/sip/cart/event.php?EID=1126&Preview=1

That’s a lot of links!

If you are a 6th grader,  I need some CD’s for science on Monday.  If you have any scratched or old CD’s or DVD’s that you don’t need any more, please bring them on Monday.  We will be cutting them and using them for a project.

Fifth grade parents, I am looking for a couple of volunteers to come help us with a project next Tuesday.  We are studying Ancient Egypt and we will be making Egyptian masks!  I would need you to come at 1:15PM.  If you can help, please e-mail me at kgonzales@mariamontessoriacademy.org and let me know.

One last thing…  We are planning to have a formal Thanksgiving feast with Ms. Amy’s class!   Be looking for a sign up sheet to help with food and other supplies in the next few days.

Thanks for all you do!  You are amazing parents and I feel so blessed to be able to share this journey with you and your children.

Ms. Kirsten

Red Group                            

receipt

supervisor

microphone

wheelbarrow

auditorium

inaugurate

laundromat

sauna

somersault

exaggerate

Blue Group

possible

brilliant

compliant

extravagant

ignorant

artifact

migration

nomad

agriculture

rounding

Green Group

high

else

checked

grand

stand

energy

matter

forms

value

notation

Purple Group

steak

break

great

pear

bear

tear

wear

swear

Hello!

Our class is working on an assignment for Veteran’s Day.  I have asked each student to do a report on a Veteran.  If possible, I would like them to interview an actual Veteran and write a report based on what they were able to find out.  If you do not personally know any Veterans, you can make a visit to the Veteran’s Home, or research a person online.  The report should be at least one page long (typed).  In addition to the report, I would like them to come up with a presentation to show the class.  This can be a poster, power point, video, memorabilia to display, etc.   The written report is due on November 8th.  The presentation will be due on November 11th, which is Veteran’s Day.  I am hoping to put together a program for that day and invite the parents and some of the Veterans to come for the presentations.  More on that to come…

Also, don’t forget about our talent show this Friday at 9:30 AM!  We are still planning to do it outside on the stage, so dress warmly!

Hello!

As most of you know, our class is having a talent show!  A couple of boys from our class asked for permission to plan one and have been working really hard to get it organized.  The plan is to have it this Friday, October 25th at 9:30 AM.  You are all invited to come!  We are hoping to use the stage outside for the show.  So far, it looks like the weather will cooperate.  We’ll let you know for sure about the location as it gets closer.  We hope to see you there!

Kirsten