In conjunction with Hunger Awareness Month and the International Day of Peace on September 21st, our class is doing a food drive!  We are very excited for this opportunity to serve our community!  Flyers will be coming home with your student next week.  If you are able to support our efforts, please send food items to school with your child.  We appreciate any support you can give!  Some of the most needed items are:

Peanut Butter

Canned Fruits and Vegetables

Canned Meat, Soup, and Beans

Grains (Cereal, Pasta, Rice, etc.)

Shelf Stable Milk and Drinks

Our class is preparing to celebrate Constitution Day on Thursday, September 15th.  One thing that we are working on is memorizing the Preamble to the Constitution.  We are using the Schoolhouse Rock song to help us learn the words.  Some of the students wanted to work on it at home.  Here’s a link to the video on YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHp7sMqPL0g

Here are the book presentation choices we have been talking about in class.  The students can choose any of the 30 projects to do for their presentation.  The book should be fiction and on their reading level, not necessarily their grade level.  Their presentations/projects are due on September 23rd.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Book Presentation Choices

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.

We had a great second week!  We continued to team build and learn to work together as a class.   We are still going through the process of getting to know each other and forming friendships.  I have seen some great friendships form already!  We have been reading about Maria Montessori’s life as we prepare to celebrate her birthday this week.  She was a remarkable woman and the students have enjoyed learning about her persistence and determination.  We have also been studying the 7 habits.  We began with “Be Proactive” and the students acted out examples of how they could be proactive.  We also learned “Think Win-Win”.  This tied in well with our lesson about how to use the peace table for conflict resolution.  We begin learning the Montessori Great Lessons and spent this week studying The Birth of the Universe and The Coming of Life.  We had lessons, conducted experiments, created timelines, and did research.  It was great!

Your students should have brought home a Pizza Friday order form as well as a registration form for the school’s 5K Color Run.  Please remember that pizza order forms need to be turned in by Wednesday of each week.  You can choose to order for the entire school year, or choose only certain weeks.  Also, please support our school’s 5K!  It is a really fun event for the entire family.  Invite your friends and neighbors to come as well.  We’d love this to become a community event. It is on Saturday, September 17th at 8 AM.   A lot of work has gone into planning this event and we have some incredible sponsors offering great prizes and fun items for the swag bags!  There will also be a great pancake breakfast after the race.  Please come!  You can register online here:  https://www.raceentry.com/races/mma-annual-5k-family-color-fun-run/2016/register

You have amazing children!  It is a pleasure to work with them every day.  Thanks for all of your support.  Please don’t hesitate to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Kirsten

We had a great first week of school!  We have a wonderful class full of some really great students.  We spent this week getting to know each other and building our class community.  We made friends and worked together.  We met our lower el mentor class and did a fun team building activity with them.  Your children were great leaders and did so well!  I can’t wait to see what this school year will bring!  I am excited to continue to get to know your children and create an amazing community with them.

I really enjoyed the opportunity to meet with some of you at back to school night.  I always love talking to parents and getting your input about your children.  You are the experts when it comes to your children and I always appreciate your perspective.  It is so important that we work together as a team to support your child and help them have a positive school experience.  Please don’t hesitate to e-mail me at any time with concerns, questions, or insights.

Thanks so much for your support with the student planners so far!  Please continue to check your student’s planner every day and send it back to school signed.

A big thanks for those of you who have signed up to help our class with snack.  If you’d still like to sign up, check out the sign up sheet here:  https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/qgsbx

Kirsten

Back to school night is tomorrow, August 18th, from 6:30-8:00 PM.  From 6:30-7:00 PM there will be a Montessori 101 presentation.  This will be especially helpful for those of you who are new to Montessori.  From 7:00-8:00 PM there will be an open house for you to visit the classroom. If you are unable to attend back to school night, but would still like a chance to meet with me, please let me know and we can set up a time to talk.

We depend a lot on certified drivers to help our class go on field trips.  In addition to the back to school night, the school will also be providing an opportunity to parents to be background checked between 6:30 and 7:30. Parents who wish to be certified drivers for field trips, or will be volunteering at the school for more than 1 hour a week, will need to be background checked per the schools background check policy (Background Check Policy). There is a LiveScan required payment of $25.00 due at the time of your prints (cash or check). Please make checks payable to Academica West. A picture ID (i.e., driver’s license, state ID card, passport, etc.) is required for the fingerprinting services. A processing fee of $52.75 to Maria Montessori Academy is required in order for fingerprints to be processed. The fee covers the bill from BCI (Bureau Criminal Identification) which is billed directly to the school.

I’m so excited for the first day of school tomorrow!  I can’t wait to see all of the students and begin our new year together.  Just a reminder that school will be from 8:30 AM-1:00 PM every day this week.  Please familiarize yourself with the drop off and pick up procedures to help facilitate a smooth traffic flow.  Ms. Petra or I will be standing outside with a sign for the first 3 days of school to help walk new students to class.  Please look for us rather than walking your student inside.

Remember that students will need to bring a lunch to school every day.  We do have microwaves available for students who would like to bring a hot lunch.  Please make sure the lunches are healthy and do not send any candy, soda, or red drinks.  Use reusable containers when possible to cut down on garbage.  We have a very limited supply of utensils in our classroom, so be sure to send a fork or spoon with your child’s lunch if they need one.

I am really looking forward to getting to know all of my new students this year!  If you are the parent of a new student, please let me know if there is anything I should be aware of that will help me give your child all that they need to have a successful school year.  Also let me know of any health concerns or allergies I should be aware of.

I am always happy to hear from you and answer any questions you may have.  E-mail me any time at kgonzales@mariamontessoriacademy.org.

Kirsten