Newsletter Weeks of August 1st and 8th

Ms. Jazmin & Ms. Marion

Weeks of August 1st and 8th, 2016

A Note from Ms. Jazmin:
We're off! The school year has begun and we are off to a fairly smooth start!

We have had the opportunity to participate in many fun activities already in our classroom. I was able to take photos of some of the activities. For those that don't know, I do my best to keep closeups of student faces out of photos for the blog, as anybody in the world has access to it. Also, I do not post field trip information such as the location before it happens. I will only post "Field Trip" under Dates to Remember and the grade level.

Wednesday we were so fortunate to be one of the three classrooms that were able to participate in the Africa Yoga Project. Click on the link for more information on the program. Our class had two instructors from Nairobi, Kenya come and share their expertise in a child friendly manner. As you can see in the photos below, the students thoroughly enjoyed themselves as they went on a "safari". The instructors were wonderful!

the instructors from nairobi, kenya

Students also completed Maria Montessori's timeline and then were asked to create their own personal timelines. Now that they have had some experience creating their own personal timelines and therefore a better understanding, I would like for the Personal Timeline to be an ongoing project that is worked on at home between students and their families. I will post more information on this project in a separate post.

We also got to do some baking the first week! We made very simple blueberry "pancake" muffins. I think they enjoyed it!

Earlier this week I posted a blog entry about our classroom cooking and upcoming green smoothie making..please click here for more information Classroom Cooking

  

Thanks to all of you that have returned the signed forms from Open House. We have received almost all of the forms, with a few exceptions where there may be some confusion:

Student Code of Conduct- Found at the back of the Student/Parent Handbook. Please tear out and return filled in.

Media Release-The form was an Opt-Out form. If you choose NOT to opt out we still need the form signed and returned, but leave the boxes unchecked. 

Allergy Notification- Even if there are no allergies, please return with that stated. 

Students are eager to get into the full swing of things as am I. Fortunately for all of us, we are able to ease into the process of how we do things in our class. There are a lot of new things for the new students to learn, so I am grateful for the gift of time as I am sure they are.

Monday we will begin our initial assessments in SRI(Scholastic Reading Inventory), MAP(Measure of Academic Progress-in math), and DIBELS(first year students). This year students will be taking the assessments three times: fall, winter, spring. This first go around gives a sort of baseline to go off of, but remember that in most cases there is summer backslide, so please do not be shocked, especially with SRI, as it is the first time second year students are seeing this type of assessment, if I call you in for a quick conference to share the results with you, as we are just making sure that you are aware of the results of the fall testing, and also the gateway benchmarks for end of year. If your child scored far below end of year benchmarks I will request a meeting with you early September. If your child scored near, at, or above, the benchmark for the end of the school year we will discuss scores at regular parent/teacher conferences mid October.     

We are continuing our study of North America that we began last year, and we will transition into South America mid year. We have received many postcards from throughout North America, but we are still missing some locations! We would love post cards from Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, San Salvador, Nicaragua, Panama, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Virgin Islands, and Greenland. We are also missing several of the mid western states. We have not received post cards for the states that do not have pins.

Feel free to share details on social media as well! This activity really helps bring the children into the research. 

Charles Ellis Montessori Academy 
Ms. Jazmin Room 20
220 E. 49th St.
Savannah, GA 31405



Wish List
Construction Paper- all colors welcome

Dates to Remember:
8/26         Green Smoothie Day!
8/26         Fall Picture Day-Free Dress Up Day!
8/30         Parent Education-Cosmic and Cultural Education in the Lower                             Elemntary Classroom-5:30 Media Center
8/30         PTA 6:30 Multipurpose Room
8/31         Maria Montessori's Birthday!

9/5           School Holiday- Labor Day
9/21         International Peace Day-Sing Along
9/22         Fall Equinox
9/30         Dress Down Day $1- Lymphoma (Proceeds to benefit Wyatt Rath)
                Here is the link to his story and GoFundMe page:Wyatt's GoFundMe page 

10/18       Parent Education 5:30 PTA 6:30
10/24-28  Great Pumpkin Book Characters (Media Center)
10/28       Dress Down Day $1-Ellis Athletics Program
10/31       Halloween 

Upcoming Healthy and Nutrient Dense snack weeks for 25 students: We do have a low level peanut allergy in the classroom, so we prefer peanut free snacks so that the student may also participate in snack with the class. 

Some suggestions for snack are: precut fruit (apples, grapes, bananas cut in half, oranges, etc.), precut vegetables with hummus for dipping, cheese and crackers, granola bars or chewies, trail mix, applesauce, hummus and crackers, yogurt or Gogurt, graham crackers…  The purpose of snack is to provide a nutritious energy booster when the students need it.  Please keep in mind the nutritional value when choosing a snack. 

          

8/15    MAX
8/22    GIANCARLO
8/29    ALEX
9/5      JOHNNY   

Cultural and Cosmic Focus

Where I Live
Georgia

North America
Democratic Process-Government/Voting etc. 
Montessori Great Lesson: The Coming of the Universe and subsequent exploration of Earth's materials (soils, minerals, rocks, etc), planet research...