Category Archives: October 2017

10.30.17 Classroom Experiences

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Dear Families,

We have such a beautiful community of learners. November is the month we focus on being thankful for many things we have in our lives. Since the beginning of the year, we have practiced giving community gratitude at the end of each day. As the weeks have gone on, we are beginning to hear in-depth gratitude. We would encourage you to practice at home as well.

Highlights From the Week

  • We saw progress on our student’s spelling test this week, even on Halloween! Thank you for practicing with your student at home.
  • Fire Safety Assembly
  • The students have been hard at work practicing their lines for our Parent Presentation in two weeks. This week we focused on getting those lines down along with learning movements to the play. We are excited to present this to our families!

Upcoming Events/Reminders

  • November Home Projects will begin on Monday, November 6th, 2017. Please see the post labeled “November Home Projects” to see when your student will be presenting.
  • We have our spelling test on Tuesday, November 7th, 2017. Please make sure your student is prepared.
  • Our Parent Presentation will be held on Wednesday, November 15th at 1:30pm. Invitations will be sent out at the end of this week. Please save the date as all students will have a part.
  • Picture retakes will be held on Wednesday, November 15th, 2017
  • Original Works: This is a fundraiser that goes directly into our classroom and helps support supplemental materials for our lessons.  All orders will be delivered to the school on December 1st.  Ordering instructions were sent home last week. If you have questions, please let us know via email.
  • If your student is part of the Royal Reader’s program (blue reading packet), please make sure they are turning these in on FRIDAYS. Many students have not been returning them.

As always, thank you for all of your support at home. Please let us know if you have any questions, concerns, or comments.

With gratitude,

Ms. Lana and Ms. Carolyn

 

10.23.17 Classroom Experiences

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Dear Families,

Week 10 has come to an end. We cannot believe that November is almost here!

Highlights From the Week:

  • Red Ribbon Week was a blast. Our students enjoyed listening to our guest speaker, ADD NAME, competing in the Owl coloring contest, hanging red ribbons from the fence, and decorating our door. We hope these activities help your student make good decisions in the future regarding drugs.
  • In Peace Education, we began on study of Habit #4: Think Win Win. We reviewed the previous habits and discussed our progress with how we are using them in our daily lives.
  • On Friday, we teamed up with Ms. Shanan’s Upper Elementary Class, our Mountain Lion Mentors, to discuss Day of the Dead. This holiday aligns with our study of North America. Together, our students were paired with an older student to color their own Day of the Dead Skull.
  • We were lucky to have Officer Child visit our classroom on Friday. Our students had a great discussion with him about Halloween Safety, when to call 911, and different uses of signs (i.e Stop, Railroad Crossing, No Biking, Walk, etc). Ask your student what they remember from our presentation.

We are in need of…

  1. Letter size lamination sheets
  2. A parent volunteer to laminate and cut materials at school (flexibility of time)

If you are interested in providing lamination sheets or being a volunteer, please email Ms. Lana at LPas@mariamontessoriacademy.org.

Friendly Reminders:

  • We have our spelling test on Tuesday, October 31st. Please make sure your student is prepared.
  • Original Works: This is a fundraiser that goes directly into our classroom and helps support supplemental materials for our lessons.  All orders will be delivered to the school on December 1st.  Ordering instructions can be found on the front page.  If you have questions, please let us know via email.
  • November Home Project: if you have any questions regarding this project, please let us know.
  • Dress code: please make sure your student is following the dress code for our school. We have noticed violations over the past week. Here is the link to our policy: https://www.mariamontessoriacademy.org/wp-content/themes/MariaMontessoriAQ/downloads/policies/MMA_Dress_Code_Policy.pdf

Kindly,

Ms. Lana and Ms. Carolyn

10.16.17 Classroom Experiences

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Dear Families,

We really enjoyed meeting with each one of you to discuss your student’s progress over these past eight weeks. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us. A common topic we found ourselves discussing was handwriting. Practicing at home will benefit your student within the classroom. This link, http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev110.shtml, offers information on how to teach handwriting. Here are a few links to different handwriting sites that you can print off/purchase:

  1. Make your own handwriting sheets: http://tools.atozteacherstuff.com/printable-handwriting-practice-worksheet-maker/
  2. Print handwriting: http://www.handwritingforkids.com/handwrite/manuscript/alphabets/index.htm
  3. Cursive handwriting: http://www.k12reader.com/subject/composition/handwriting/cursive-handwriting/
  4. Handwriting Without Tears: https://www.lwtears.com/hwt

Although we had short days due to conferences, our students engaged in lessons, had their spelling test, and still had time to work hard!  Our highlight of this week was taking a look at our Reader’s Theater that we will perform for our first Parent Presentation. Our Parent Presentation will be held on Wednesday, November 15th at 1:30pm. Invitations will be sent out in November. Please save the date as all students will have a part.

Upcoming Events/Reminders

  • Be looking for spelling words to be posted to the blog next Tuesday, October 24th. Students will be tested the following Tuesday, October 31st. If you are unsure of what group your student is in, please let us know. We greatly appreciate your support in this area.
  • Our November Home Project is a bit larger than our last, so we are providing information on it now. Presentations will start November 6th and run through November 17th. We are asking that each student create a family tree with or without pictures that goes back to their great grandparents. Students will pick a family member, dead or alive, and present a small biography on them.

Thank you for your continuous support. We hope you have a wonderful, but safe, Fall Break. Ms. Lana will be out of the classroom on Monday, October 23rd and Tuesday, October 24th. If you have any concerns, please see Ms. Carolyn.

With gratitude,

Ms. Lana and Ms. Carolyn

10.9.17 Classroom Experiences

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Dear Families,

We look forward to seeing you at Parent/Guardian Conferences this week. Students will be released at 1:oopm Monday-Wednesday and then there is NO SCHOOL on Thursday and Friday. As you arrive for your conference, please be sure to check out the book fair in the library. Our students will be exploring the book fair on Monday.

Highlights From our Week

  • Picture day was a success for our students. Our students looked great for their pictures!
  • 3rd levels had an assembly where they received their own dictionary. The 3rd levels came back excited to explore their dictionaries. It was fun to watch these students discover information they are already learning in the classroom such as the planets, fifty states, and sign language. We will keep these dictionaries in our classroom and the students will be able to take them home at the end of the year. Students will use these for their follow-up assignments.
  • Studio continues to be an exciting time for our students. Ask your students what they learn in social studies, science, and art on Fridays!
  • We learned Ray Charles, Fifty Nifty United States, song to help us learn the 50 state names. We will continue to practice this song to get familiar with our state names.

At home options for extensions within the classroom

Spelling

We use Words Their Way for assessments and spelling lists. We had our first spelling test on Tuesday. After reviewing each student’s spelling test, we noticed that there are some students who need more practice. We have our spelling tests every Tuesday, which is also when the student’s receive their new spelling list. We will be posting weekly spelling lists on the blog for your convenience. Practicing at home wouldn’t need to take more than 10 minutes each day.

Prodigy Math

We sent home information regarding Prodigy Math, an at home program where students can practice their math skills. Prodigy math covers a large portion of our curriculum, including fractions, measurement, time, geometry, and fact fluency. Although it is not mandatory, we highly encouraging you to allow your student to practice at home. As teachers, we can track the student’s progress, which will helps us to implement more individualized lessons within the classroom.

 

We are very grateful for such a supportive group of parents/guardians. Thank you for helping our students be the best they can be. As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to email us at LPas@mariamontessoriacademy.org.

With gratitude,

Ms. Lana and Ms. Carolyn

October MAPA Information

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Scholastic Book Fair

We will have our book fair going on during conferences from 1:00pm-7:00pm Monday-Wednesday! Stop in while you wait for your student’s conferences. Teachers have listed books they desire for their classroom, so check that out.

Fall Festival is just around the corner!

Join us for our Annual Fall Festival Friday, October 27th from 4-7pm. Watch for volunteer sign ups after the upcoming Parent Teacher Conferences. This is another great way to get those hours in :).
Don’t wait in line at Fall Festival!! Purchase tickets before the event and walk right in. We will be pre-selling Fall Festival tickets and wristbands at a discounted price on Monday, October 16th from 1-7pm at Parent Teacher Conferences in the school lobby. If you miss us that day, we will also host a drive-through ticket pre-sale on Monday October 23rd from 3-4pm. Drive through the East end of North Shore parking lot, pull up in your car and purchase your tickets!
Price Details
  • Wristbands – allow access to bounce houses, dunk tank, and climbing wall – provided by Custom Events
  • Tickets – allow access to all other events and goodies, including haunted house, root bier garden, cotton candy and more
Pre-Sale Individual Prices:
1 wristband for $7
4 tickets for $1
Pre-Sale Bundle Prices:
1 wristband and 16 tickets for $10
24 tickets for $5
Prices at the Door: 
1 wristband for $8
4 tickets for $1
Hope to see you all there!
MAPA

10.02.17 Classroom Experiences

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Dear Families,

Our Creative Writing Home Projects are coming to an end. We have really enjoyed listening to each student’s individual take on the project. We had a variety of works from poems to songs, both non-fictional and fictional. We had many nervous students, but our classroom community came together and encouraged each to present. We really do have such a supportive class. Take a look at the highlights this week.

Highlights from the Week:

  • We wrapped up our study of North America by learning about different animals and biomes found on the continent. We are now moving into an in-depth study of the United States. We are excited to be presenting the United States at the International Festival in December.
  • Gary Hogg was a hit! Our students enjoyed listening to Gary present short stories from a couple of his books. After our writing workshops with Gary, our students discussed how they felt inspired to become an author. Throughout the remainder of the week, students worked on writing stories as their break choice. What was very impressive was hearing students use Gary’s quotes such as ,”Use your brave card,” when students needed a little inspiration.
  • We started Habit #3: Put First Things First this week with reading A Place for Everything by Sean Covey. We took the story and related it to our classroom on how each work has a place. We got into a really good discussion on how we can start really incorporating these first three habits into our routines in our classroom. It was fascinating to hear the students start a discussion on how they can help each other plan their days and stay focused.

 

Friendly Reminders/Upcoming Events

  • Picture Day is THIS WEDNESDAY, October 11th. Please have your student bring their order form to our classroom. We will be handing these to the photographer.
  • Parent/Guardian Conference Sign-up: Please remember to sign-up for Parent/Guardian Conferences that are being held NEXT WEEK. These conferences are very important in helping you understand how your child is progressing, along with an opportunity to ask any questions you might have. For this conference, we are asking that it is only parents/guardians. Here is the link: https://www.wejoinin.com/sheets/jeaiu

We look forward to another exciting week!

Kindly,

Ms. Lana and Ms. Carolyn