Ms. Laura's Class

Hello,

The cultural festival is on Friday and you are absolutely welcome to attend and tour the school with your child.

We will be having a set break schedule to ensure that students are with their projects for the majority of the time.  Please do not take your child from their project until it is their break, and help them return to their project on time.  The schedule of breaks looks like this:

I apologize for not updating last week, time absolutely escaped me: I blinked and it was Friday.

This week: It is our last week before Thanksgiving break!

Tuesday: Take home projects are due.  Please have students bring in their tri-fold boards.  They will be presenting these projects to the school and parents on during the Cultural Festival on FRIDAY from 1-3 PM.  Please come support the school and your child.

Friday, we will also be participating in a book feast with our Mentor class, please have your child bring in a favorite book (or three) that they will want to read during this hour long read-a-thon.

Next week, the entire week is off for Thanksgiving break.

Coming back in after Thanksgiving:

Tuesday the 27th we have our Astrocamp field trip: stay tuned for more info on that.

As always, questions, comments, concerns, shoot me an email.

We are planning to meet about 6:30 pm at the memorial site on Washington Blvd. Tuesday evening to honor Troy and Molly.  Please come if you can.  Mike would love to have as many as possible there.

Please spread the word.  I will see you all there.

Hello all, pretty quick update about the week to come.

This week:

Tomorrow, students will be given a copy of the rubric for the home project which is due November 13.  You can find it digitally here: American History Report

The American History Report will be showcased on Friday, November 16.  Please come in and tour our research of American History from 1-3 on the 16th!

Wednesday, we will celebrate Halloween with a class party,  PLEASE be aware that costumes are not allowed at MMA on Halloween, students must come in dress code.

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, please email me.

Hello all,

I hope you took time to grieve last night, but also to sleep and eat and take care of yourselves.   I am feeling so grateful for all of your children and I am looking forward to having them brighten the classroom today.

One of the most amazing things about Montessori is that we are given the responsibility to teach the whole child, which means that we have an opportunity to focus on the skills of learning to cope with grief and all the feelings and frustrations that come with that.  I am changing our goals of the next few weeks from focusing on leadership and organization to a focus on providing support and building a strong community in the coming weeks.  Please know that I will be following the child through this: providing whatever support and love your child needs in this time.

We will be working our way back towards normalcy, but this tragedy does change what our week will look like slightly.

Today: Children will be offered the opportunity to mourn however they need to.  We will provide opportunities to make cards and do art and team build, while simultaneously offering the opportunity for children to complete work and move forward as though today were any other Wednesday.  In the afternoon, we will be joining the Jr. High in an art project to honor Molly and Troy.  Again, students will have the option to either attend that art project or continue working in the classroom.  Lessons on dealing with grief and loss will be happening through out the coming weeks, and opportunities to meet with the crisis counselors will be happening throughout the day.

Thursday: The field trip is still on.  I think it is important that we keep this field trip so we can retain that normalcy as best we can.  We still need drivers.  Please sign up here: https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/441046

Friday: We will play Friday by ear, typically this is our love of learning day and right now I see no reason to change that.  Students will have the opportunity to do and study the things that they love, which I believe is its own form of healing.

Thank you so much for the outpouring of love and support.  As always, any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions, please email me at lhughes@mariamontessoriacademy.org

Greetings!  It was great to see everyone at Parent Teacher Conferences last week.  Busy week ahead for us in the classroom.  I hope everyone is rested after the short break!

Field Trip Thursday to see the Newsies.  WE NEED DRIVERS! Please sign up here.  Unfortunately there is no extra tickets so you will not be able to attend.  We will leave from North Shore at 8:30 and will be ready to be picked up by 11:45.

Some fun talking points with your kids this week:  Tuesday, the 6th graders will have an assembly about ecology, and the entire class will attend a botany class with our resident botanist: Ms. Rachel.  Thursday, of course is our field trip.  Friday, we have our first art class, an assembly to learn about the new service dog that is coming to the school, and a celebration of life for Carsen.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns.  Thanks!

Hello! A quick look at a quick upcoming week!

Thank you all for your understanding as I was out of the classroom Thursday and Friday of last week.  I was able to complete my Upper Elementary Grace and Courtesy and Special Education classes over the weekend and am excited to apply what I have learned in our classroom.  I hope everyone had fun at the Fall Festival while I was gone.  I look forward to seeing everyone’s faces and hearing all about the costumes that were worn and the fun that was had.

This week we have Parent Teacher Conferences!  You can find the sign ups here if you haven’t already signed up for a slot.  If the times left don’t work for you, but you would still like to set up a meeting with me, please contact me and we will work something out.

Late notice, I know, but there will be a book fair happening during PTC so bring your dollars! My classroom is always accepting donations of books, and I appreciate your continued support of the learning environment and the students contained within it.

As a reminder, we only have school Monday thru Wednesday of this week, and all days are early out.  So please remember to pick students up at 1:00

I look forward to checking in with you all over the next three days!

In an effort to get students on board with personal responsibility, the warm up today was to make a list of all outstanding works so they would have a plan on what was due.  IDEALLY, they have come home with that list to complete anything that was not done in the class.  If they did not bring their list of works home, let me know.  I have not had the opportunity this week to go through what has been turned in, but I will look this weekend and have a more accurate list of outstanding works by Sunday at the latest.

Looking forward to next week:

Monday is the Redwoods meeting.  Students will meet during the day from 12-12:30 and parents will meet that evening from 5:30-6:30 (the MMM was wrong, please arrive at 5:30 for the meeting).

Friday from 4-7 is the fall festival here at school, you can pre-purchase tickets to that event.

I will be out of the classroom Thursday and Friday to attend a class for my certification.  I will be back the next Monday.  Mr. C will be taking over the class in my stead.

Parent Teacher conferences are the 15,16, and 17th.  Early release those days.  Please sign up for a slot here: https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/events 

Students may have gone home with their packet for original works today: it was bright yellow and contained 4 pieces of paper – the order form, the price sheet, the catalog, and the art itself.  Please order and return those to school before October 12.  online ordering will be open from today to the 12th, then reopen on the 22nd-29th.  If your student didn’t come home with that packet, it is likely because they haven’t finished their art yet.  Students will have an opportunity to complete work over the coming week.  Please return the packet WITH ALL FOUR PIECES OF PAPER.  These will be needed to complete your order! Ms. Rachel has put together a FAQ which you can access here:  Original Works Q&A

As always, questions, comments, concerns, please email me: lhughes@mariamontessoriacademy.org

Welcome to October!  It’s shaping up to be a busy month.  This month’s at-a-glance:

3-first home project due

4- American West Heritage Center Field trip (4th only) PLEASE BE AWARE that it is forecast to rain and we will be outside.  Please make sure that students are dressed for all weather and have a lunch/snacks.  We will leave via bus at 8:30 AM and will return to school by 2:15. It sounds as though we do not need any parent chaperones for this trip.

8- student Redwoods field trip meeting from 12-12:30 (6th only) parent Redwoods field trip meeting from 5:30-6:30.

12- Fall Festival 4-7 PM.  Wristbands $8, Tickets 4/$1  Presale bundle: wristband and 12 tickets for $10

15-17 – Early release due to Parent Teacher Conferences.  This one will be mainly led by myself, students are encouraged to attend.  Sign up for your slot here: Monday Tuesday Wednesday

18-19: NO SCHOOL (fall break)

21 – Carsen’s Birthday

25- Newsies field trip

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.  Please remember that if you respond to this blog post it goes to an email address that does not get checked often.  Please email me at lhughes@mariamontessoriacademy.org

Greetings!

As a reminder, the first take home project is due October 3.  Please reference the rubric here: Native American Research As a reminder: The assignment is to research a North American Native American tribe and learn about the following:

• food
• water sources (many are having issues finding this.  It is just a suggestion)
• the biome they lived in
• the clothes they wore
• religion or religious practices
• shelters
• tools
• travel (and if they were nomadic or stationary)
• language,
• social information (games, social structure, etc.)
• types of art,
• weapons
• etc.

I expect the tribe to be fully researched.  Student’s research can be presented however they choose: poster, traditional report, 3D model, diorama, etc.  Students will present their project to the class and will explain the different aspects of the tribe they chose.  I am in the process of developing a rubric and will post it on the blog when it is created.  due October 3.

A BLUE permission form went home yesterday for the America West Heritage Center field trip.  This trip is for fourth graders, on the 4th of October.  There is no need for drivers as students will be taking a bus down, but chaperones are appreciated.  Please get permission forms back to me no later than MONDAY, October 1st.