I'm so glad to see that everyone made it out of the fog this weekend and today to get back to MMA. We have some excellent professional learning this week. For Friday, please dress ready to move. Have a great week!

Thank you all for being flexible with construction and the new playground installation. The playground being installed on the north side is slated to be completed today or tomorrow.

Thank you all!!

Kacee is facilitating today's staff meeting. The agenda is posted below.

On Friday, January 12th there are no students in the building and we have an all day professional learning scheduled. I would like to invite all assistants to this all day professional learning. This is a voluntary opportunity as I know people may have other things scheduled this day. TAs who opt to join us this day would be paid for an additional 6 hours and create their own schedule in collaboration with their cooperating teacher. The only requirement for your schedule is that you are present in school from 1-4pm.

When you reference the agenda below, you will see that most teachers and TAs have the morning to work in their classrooms. This can be a time to collaborate with your TA.

Per teacher licensing requirements and best practice, Kacee and I will be performing formal observations during the month of January. These observations will be reviewed with you and used to complete your yearly formal evaluation. In most cases, both administrators will be present for the observation to support my increasing understanding of Montessori practice.

Intent to return forms were emailed to all of our current students last week. Please remind parents how awesome we are and encourage parents to return these forms by January 19th.

Please talk up and encourage our current families and other families you may meet in your life or travels that MMA is the place to be, especially for junior high.

Now that we are in open enrollment season, we will have a flood of people checking out our website. Take this time to check out your biography information online and update this if necessary. The format for the bios is as follows:

Please follow the following format when updating your biography:

• Written in 3rd person and in complete sentences
  
• Be between 200 and 250 words
  
• First state your whole name
  
• Then the focus is on credibility; stating degrees, licenses, certificates, experience
  
• Next, most important accomplishments should be mentioned
  
• Then personal details
  
• Closing with information about current projects (either professional or personal learning)
  

Please email the completed bio to Autumn no later than January 11.

In order to not overwhelm Ms. Andrea and to keep our students accountable and in class as much as possible, there is now an official procedure for when students request to see our counselor.

If a student requests to see Ms. Andrea immediately, please use your classroom phone to call Ms. Andrea at x1123 first to see if she is available at that moment. If she is not available, she will provide a time when the student may visit.

Junior High students visiting Ms. Andrea will sign in and out on a special sheet in the front office. This will begin on Monday, January 15th at the beginning of the new semester.

As always, if you have a child discussing or writing about self-harm, they should be immediately referred to Ms. Andrea as this is an emergency situation. If Ms. Andrea is not available, the child needs to see Kacee or myself. This needs to happen before the end of the day and as soon as possible.

There are counselor referral forms in the workroom for all other non-emergency social-emotional concerns you may have for your students. Please fill these forms in completely with as much detail as possible as this saves everyone time and effort.

Please honor Ms. Andrea's time, schedule, and work responsibilities by not stopping her in the hall for detailed conversations about students or other situations. We are very happy to have Ms. Andrea on our staff and do not want to overburden her.

If a student or anyone in our building displays extraordinary kindness, grace, or courtesy - please direct them to come to the office to be recognized with a snowflake on our board.

Be aware that there are several tours are scheduled in the next few weeks. Prospective family tours are scheduled on Thursdays in the next few months. There is no preparation required on your part; this is just a heads up that additional individuals will be in the building and possibly cycling through your room.

This year's MMA Gala will be on March 17th with a St. Patrick's Day theme. More details will be shared as they become available.

KEEP encouraging your parents (via email and/or blog post) to take the Parent Survey. We will also be pushing the survey out via social media, newsletter, and email. A sample blurb:

Please take 15 minutes to complete the AdvancED Parent Survey. We value your opinion and incorporating parent feedback is important for our school growth. Plus, we are required to analyze data from this survey to maintain our accreditation. Thank you for your time and effort!

* I may have the PLC dates incorrect; I know some are changing soon. *

1/8 Staff Meeting, 3:30pm, Library

1/9 TA & Support Staff Mtg, 1:30-2:30pm, Art Room

1/9 PLC Mtgs - EC, JH, LE

1/10 PLC Mtgs - UE

1/10 Jr High Info Night, 6:30pm

1/11 PLC Mtg - Special Ed

1/12 Professional Learning, Library 1-4pm

Email: rbaker@mariamontessoriacademy.org
Website: https://www.mariamontessoriacademy.org
Phone: 801-827-0150
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MMAofUT/
Twitter: @ReneBaker27