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Hello Parents,

First off, we want to thank all who participated and helped out in anyway for our 100th day celebration. It was a success. We all had a good time.

As a reminder, we will be having Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC) on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (February 13-15). These days will be early release days. The AM students will be in class 8:30 – 10:30 and the PM students will be in class 11:00 – 1:00. If you have not had a chance to sign up yet, there are still plenty of times available. You can sign up here-

Hello Parents,

Our 100^th day of school was very fun and successful! Thank you for all the donations of time and goods that came in. Now we will get ready for our next party. I have a list of things needed for our Valentine’s Day party next Thursday, February 14, on trackitforward, I will share the links at the bottom of this post.

For some years now in Early Childhood our traditional Valentine’s Day party has evolved to include a special breakfast/brunch as a more formal snack.  To incorporate Montessori’s grace and courtesy, we have the students help set the tables, complete with cloth table cloths.  They also arrange the flowers for the center piece and serve one another.  We talk about what kind of manners people use at a restaurant like putting their napkins on their laps and not talking with their mouth full. We will eat “family style” with a group of about six children eating at a time.

Each child will make a Valentine’s bag at school to collect any Valentine’s they might receive. If you are sending your child with Valentines to deliver please just address them by who they are from, not designating who they are going to (this makes delivery much easier).  The AM class has 20 students and the PM class has 24 students. On the trackitforward page, I included three spots for parent volunteers. Here are the links to sign up-

Morning class https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/459879

Afternoon class- https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/459883

Thank you so much for your support,

Ms. Martha & Ms. Valerie

Blog- Week of February 4, 2019

Hello Parents,

For this month in Geography we will begin our study of Oceania and look closer at the wetlands which is our focus in our biome studies. In biology we will be studying amphibians in general, but with an added interest on the life cycle of a frog. Our study in physical science will be about ‘Day and Night’ and we will learn what makes day and night. The element of art that we will be focusing on is texture and the artist will be Vincent van Gogh.

Looking ahead at some special dates to take note of includes:

• 6- 100^th day of school celebration
• 13-15- Parent Teacher Conferences (PTC)
• 14- Valentine’s Day Party
• 18- Presidents Day-No School

100^th day of school celebration- For our 100^th day of school celebration there are a few items we still need. In the AM class we need a 6.6 oz bag of goldfish; and in the PM class we need a 2 lb. bag of raisins and a box of Teddy Grahams. I think we are good on everything else. If you would like to donate, here is the link:

Morning class https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/457931

Afternoon class https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/457932

PTC- I have my PTC appointments available now. Here are the links-

Wednesday, February 13- https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/459150

Thursday, February 14- https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/459151

Friday, February 15- https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/459152

Valentine’s Day Party- Stay tuned and I will have the information and the links for sign up available.

As always, we want to thank you for your continued support. We can not do the things we do without it.

Ms. Martha and Ms. Valerie

Parents,

Thank you so much for supporting this year’s Maria Montessori Academy Fun Run! The program was a huge success, and I know everyone had so much fun! There’s just one more thing left to do.

We need your help collecting all our pledges. As a class, we raised $530.00 in the AM class, and $1461.75 in the PM class– our goal is to collect 100% of all pledges by 02/08/2019.

All sponsors that included their email address when making a pledge will receive an email reminder and instructions to pay their pledge. Please reach out to those sponsors who did NOT include their email address to let them know they can send cash or check to you, which will then be sent to school in your child’s collection envelope (coming home soon).

Finally, please encourage your student to thank all their sponsors for helping our school!

Thank you again for your support! Let me know if you have questions.

Blog for week January 28, 2019

Hello Parents,

This week we will be doing a close read on a book called Under the Sea by Fiona Patchett.  Each day we will focus on a different animal (Seahorses, Sharks, Angler fish and an animal of their choice). We will be doing some writing along with this close read as well. We will be talking about some of the animals that live in the trench and we will wrap up our study of the ocean biome by watching a portion of an ocean documentary.  Friday will be the Fun Run.  The morning class will run at 8:45 and the afternoon class will run at 1:05. You are welcome to join us.  The fun run will take place in the big gym.

Hello Parents,

This week we will continue our study of the oceans and introduce the midnight zone. Creatures living in this zone must be able to live in complete darkness and nearly freezing water. We will learn about different types of fish and read the book “If Sharks Disappeared” to learn how important sharks are to our ecosystem. It is a good reminder that we are all connected and if we work together, sharks and our whole planet, we will thrive. In science, we will continue to experiment with water and learn more about surface tension.  There will also be art activities that tie in to ocean life as well as with the element of line.

Have a great week!

Ms. Martha & Ms. Valerie.

Hello Parents,

We will continue talking about Habit 4 of the 7 habits of happy kids.  This habit is “Think Win Win”.  In this habit we will be moving from the private victory to the public victory.  Our first 3 habits were all about bettering ourselves and improving our own lives.  With “Think win-win”  we will learn about 4 outcomes that are available when you interact with someone else; win-win, win-loose, loose-win, and loose-loose.

Win-Win-  “Let’s find a solution that works for both of us.” People who search for solutions that make them happy and at the same time make others happy. People in this category have both the courage to say what they want and the consideration to work toward mutual benefit.

Win-Loose- “I am going to beat you no matter what”  People who fit in this category are only concerned with themselves they want to win and make others loose. They have the courage to say what they want, but are low on consideration. With win-loose you think of competition, comparison, power, and position.  This is actually a very common interaction in our society.  As parents we naturally have position over our children and sometimes put our agenda over theirs.  We must remind ourselves to constantly be on guard for situations in which we can change a win-loose to a win-win when interacting with children.

Loose-Win- “I always get stepped on”  People in this category have lots of consideration of others but they lack the courage to express and act on their own feelings and beliefs.  Too much time in this category creates the victim mentality and people who just follow the crowd.  They may bury a lot of their feelings, have no demands or expectations of others, and they are quick to please others even at the expense of themselves.

Loose-Loose- “If I’m going down, you’re going down with me.”  People in this category are low on courage and consideration they envy and criticize others.  They put themselves and others down.  This situation can be the long term result of a win-lose.

In class we will talk about ways to make situations win-win, we will think of cooperation, communication, and seek for mutual benefit.  These are great topics to discuss at home in your family.

In our biome study  of the oceans we will look closer at the twilight zone, which is between 600-3000 feet down. There is enough light to see during the day, but not enough light for photosynthesis to take place, so no plants live in this zone.  We will talk about the size of different types of whales and give the children a good visual to help them imagine their real size. We will learn the parts of a fish and do some water experiments. In art we will learn about Pablo Picasso and focus on some of his line drawings.

Have a wonderful week! Ms Martha and Ms Valerie

Hello Parents,

At the request from another teacher, I copied and pasted this information.

Hi teachers,

Could you please post the following blurb on your blogs? Thank you!