Ms. Laura's Class

Howdy!

I forgot to mention our first field trip is quickly coming up!  The entire Upper Elementary will be going to the Celebration of the Constitution in Bountiful Park on the 15th of September (next Friday).  This is a free field trip, but we are looking for drivers!  If you would like to volunteer, please contact me via email, I will pass along names to my room parent when I have one.  Driving will be first come, first serve.   I will be sending home permission slips tomorrow, and a stack will be available in my room during back to school night.

The first meetings about the 6th grade Redwoods Field Trip are coming up.  There will be  a meeting for students during lunch on Tuesday the 12th, and following that at 5:30 pm there will be a meeting for the parents.  If your child is attending this field trip, you need to attend that meeting.

Any questions, please feel free to contact me.

Hello out there!

Week 2 went smoothly, and we are moving right along into week 3.  Some top things you should know:

1. I would like to welcome my assistant, Ms. Natalie, into our classroom officially!  Coming to us live from California, and joining our classroom tomorrow! We are very excited to have her, and I would love for you to meet her as well.  I will be posting her bio next to mine above.
2. Back to School night is THIS Thursday. the 7th from 6-8 PM.  It will start with an open house to see my room and meet with me, end with that same open house, and sandwiched between is a “Montessori 101” class – an opportunity to get a crash course, or a refresher, on what this whole Montessori thing is about.  The open houses on either end of that are to accommodate all schedules, so if you can only get there at 6, or you can only get there closer to 7, you won’t miss out on a chance to see the classroom.
3. Week 3 brings us one more week closer to what our normal work week would look like.  Computers, PE, and Art start this week, as well as work charts and planners.  Your child will start bringing their planners home to be signed every evening.  Please use this as an opportunity to look over what you child accomplished that day, and discuss how their day went.  The planner will need to make it into my hands to be checked for the signature every morning.  I need your help in this.  If your child does not bring back their planner signed in the morning, your child will be calling you to bring their planner to school.   I know this is a hassle, but the planner is an incredibly important part of the day for your child and it is important that it is being utilized daily by your child, and being checked nightly by you.

Thank you! And as always, any questions can be emailed my way!

Greetings!

Our first week back went smoothly.  We saw the eclipse, started researching how to care for our soon to be coming pet bearded dragon, and did a lot of great get to know you and team building activities, both with ourselves and our Mountain Lion Mentor class!   We kicked off the year with a take home art project of a collage so we could help both mentor classes get to know each other better, and we started reading the book “Wonder” by Raquel J. Palacio which we will be writing a book report on in class.

Heading into the second week, here’s the top things to know about!

1.  The Get to Know You collage is due on Wednesday.  It needs to have a picture of your student, and your student’s name.  Anything else they put on it is up to them, but ideally it will help us get to know your student better!
2.  I sent home an “anti-permission” slip last week.  Please, only sign it if you do not wish to have your child touch the bearded dragon.
3.  This week we are starting a more normal work cycle that will include quiet reading time when they arrive each morning.  Please start looking for books to send in with your child so they are reading what interests them.  Any age and school appropriate material works great for me.  I have lots of books in the classroom as well which they are welcome to explore, but often a book that the child owns, loves, and has chosen themselves is far more powerful.
4. Please sign up for snacks!   We will need everyone to volunteer for at least two weeks out of the year.  These snacks really keep us going throughout the day and are much appreciated in our classroom.

Along with a normal work cycle comes the start of assessments.  Ms. Nicoletta, our instructional coach, will be coming in to our classroom regularly throughout the week to help me with math, language, and writing assessments.  These assessments help us figure out where to begin teaching your child, and Nicoletta is helping to guide me through them so we can ensure that your child is placed with work that will challenge him or her.

This week we will also be exploring the Great Lessons, starting with the Birth of the Universe and moving through the Story of Man.  There will be no take home projects associated with the Great Lessons, but we will be tying them into timelines.  We will be making timelines of our lives, so please start talking with your child about the events that have made up their lives.  These can be anything from the birth of siblings, to moving homes, to any significant event that can be plotted on a time line.  Please feel free to send in pictures if you have them so your child can decorate their timelines.

As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to email me.

Hello!

We are well into our first week, and things are going great.  I will post a full update of everything we got up later on this week.

I wanted you all to be aware: coming home today are 2 things.

1.  An 8X8 piece of white cardstock.  This is their first take-home project of the year.  They are making a collage of themselves to they can share who they are with their mentor class.  They will be due by 8/30 (next Wednesday).  Please assist your child by making sure they have a picture of themselves to put into their collage.  This picture can be current, a baby picture, or one with the whole family!  They also will be cutting pictures out of magazines or off the internet to fill in the rest of the things that they love.  They can bring in things to work on this project in class, but it is technically a “home project”
2. A permission form for the class pet, which this year will be a bearded dragon!  This is a weird permission form – it is in fact an “no permission” form.  So, I have requested that the students show you the form and if you could initial that you have read it so I know that you have actually seen it, and only sign if you DO NOT want them touching the lizard. This will be due by Monday.

Thanks for your support!

We are in the final countdown with less than one week to go before we kick off the new year!

Some final things to check off the list and some bonus info before the first day of school:

1. Please sign up to volunteer to bring in snacks!  You can find the signups here  along with some healthy snack ideas.  Your help is much appreciated
2. Please make sure you have subscribed to this blog as well as the MMA blog to stay up to date on all the happenings going on in and around the classroom.  You can find my subscribe link on the toolbar to the right all the way down at the bottom.
3. Double check the classroom supply list and make sure you’re all ready to go!! It, as well as instructions for putting together your binder, are all in the post below.
4. Double check the dress code to make sure all clothing is good to go
5. Tonight (the 15th) is the Annual Back to School Pool Party!  It’s at the North Shore Aquatic center from 7-9 PM.  I hope to see you all there!
6. School Shirts!!! School shirts are allowed per the dress code, so make sure you get yours! You can try them on tonight at the pool party, or you can follow this link to get yours now!
7. The 5K and Pancake Breakfast are coming up!  This is one of MMA’s biggest fundraising events, and the proceeds go to help us fund all sorts of great field trips throughout the year, including, but certainly not limited to, the 6th grader’s redwoods trip.  There are MANY ways to get involved.  Please contact brianne.mcmullin@gmail.com for more information.
8. If you want to get involved with MMA on social media, you can find us on twitter; @MMAofUT and on Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/MMAofUT/

Whew.  That was a lot of information.  Sorry about that dump there, hope you made it to the bottom of this post, because I’ve got some great news.  If you were worried about your child missing the eclipse on the 21st, WORRY NO MORE!!! We’ve got some great lessons planned around the eclipse and MMA will be providing solar eclipse glasses for each student for safe viewing.

Looking forward to having everyone in my class next week, and I hope to see everyone at the pool party tonight!  As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns at lhughes@mariamontessoriacademy.org