Nuts & Bolts

I'm still waiting for winter to begin. I tell people that I feel little guilty for this year's lack of winter; I feel like I brought this crazy weather from Maryland. Thank you all for your patience and hard work transitioning to Track It Forward. There is a message below from Heidi with even more details about the new program.

MAPA has been very busy, especially Heidi who has been operating without a Vice President. Please thank her for her efforts when you see her. Also, please encourage some of your super parents to volunteer to be Vice President of MAPA for the rest of the year and then graduate to President next year.

Thank you to all of you who attended the UT Montessori Conference this Saturday in SLC. I can't wait to hear and see what excellent things you learned. It is through these experiences that we grow ourselves and our school.

Thank you, Kacee, for facilitating today's staff professional learning. The agenda is below for your reference.

Have a wonderful week!

No news is good news.

Kole B. from Amy's class made an appointment with me and showed up dressed in a tie and sweater. He presented a well developed argument to advocate for a new after school club. He even had a signed petition. It was obvious that this was practiced. I asked for him to follow-up to answer a few questions I had and he returned with his answers before the end of the day. It's amazing what our students can accomplish when they are passionate about something. It's amazing that you all are preparing our students to be advocators.

Congrats to Joy, who won the MMA Chili Cookout! Her fans were very excited for her. The Chili Cook Off was awesome! Thank you to those who participated, volunteered, or taste-tested. Kudos to Amity and Kirsten for putting it all together.

It has come to my attention that non-staff kids have been hanging out after school, especially playing in the gym. Could you please help usher non-staff children out of the building each afternoon?

Please remind your (and all staff children) to wait until 3:15ish when all the other students have left the building before they get out balls with which to play. We don't want to entice any non-staff children to stay in the building any longer than necessary.

This week you will receive a letter of intent in your mailboxes. Please complete this hard copy and return it to my mailbox by March 1st.

Dear Teachers,

It has come to the attention of student council that our school is lacking in grace and courtesy. We have brainstormed a plan to approach the elementary students and would like to put on a play in an assembly. We would like to show the effects of physical and emotional bullying on other students and model how to best deal with these situations.

We are asking you for feedback and would like you to share what you have observed or experiences in regards to lack of grace and courtesy. We will write our play around the scenarios and issues you share. Please email your feedback to Ms. Rene by February 16th.

In your email, please express if you would like to volunteer to act in the skit. We would really like teacher participation.

Thank you so much!

We are in need of food, judges, and scorers for the Science Fair on Wednesday, February 21st. If you (or anyone you know) are interested in the opportunity, please sign up here: https://www.trackitforward.com/site/389525/event/399835.

For more information, contact:

Michelle Olsen (molsen@mariamontessoriacademy.org)

John Edwards (Jedwards@maraimontessoriacademy.org)

Nicoletta Householder(nhouseholder@mariamontessoriacdemy.org)

I just want to say thank you for being patient with the new program Track It Forward. We understand all the kinks and new things are hard. If you have questions please don’t hesitate to ask me and I will do my best to answer or find an answer for you.

I know you are getting a lot of emails asking permission for people to sign up for Track It Forward. Please ignore this; we have a request going out to the company seeing if just the owner can receive these. Because you are a coordinator you will receive these for now, but do not do anything with them. You can delete them.

At our MAPA meeting last Friday we discussed all the feedback given to me regarding Track It Forward and we came up with the solution for a major concern - which was seeing every event for every teacher in the school. We agree that seeing all of this can be overwhelming. We found the solution. In order for you and parents to filter calendar events and see one or two teachers, we will need to set up the filters. With this set-up, you will then be able to click the filters button on the left and then choose the teachers or school wide events that you want to display on your Track It Forward calendar.

To set up these filters, choose your own name from the drop down menu of categories when you re creating an event. I have already done this for all existing events. So, if you have put a sign up already, then your name will already be on the dropdown categories menu for you to pick next time you create an event. If you haven't already created an event in Track It Forward, you would add your name to the categories section at the bottom. Please just email me and ask if you want me to do the categorizing for you:).

The other concern that has been communicated is that when you first sign up, there is no create event button option for you. This is because after you sign-up, the designated administrators on the Track It Forward site, myself and a few others, have to click a button to change your status to coordinator. I try to check this at least once per day. If you have not been granted coordinator status within 24 hours, please email me.

This program is really nice. Thanks for your patience as we iron out the kinks. If you have any questions, ask your fellow teachers who have set up events or email me at mapa@mariamontessoriacademy.org.

Thanks,

Heidi

Hello all you amazing teachers! Due to the Jr. High having their PTC the week after the elementary’s, the dinner schedule will be a little bit different than what usually happens. For the elementary dinners, you will be served dinner on Wednesday the 14th & Thursday the 15th. There will not be a dinner served to you on Friday 16th from MAPA.

The Jr. High dinners will be served on Wednesday the 21st (sandwiches from Costco) and Thursday the 22nd (parent volunteer dinners). I hope this change will be ok. Our next conference dinner schedule should be back to normal. This is just due to the conferences being on different days.

Thanks,

Heidi

I have updated all your safety kits. I added cards, fruit snacks, and a beach ball to your kits. For upper el and Jr. High, I have added feminine products as well. Each class will have 2 gallons of water that stays in your classroom. This is for emergencies where you are stuck in the classroom without water. Have your students take water bottles in the event of an emergency where your leaving the school.

Thanks,

Heidi

We know that our SAGE data is not favorable. We also know that our students are way smarter (and kinder) than what is shown on SAGE. We know that SAGE has changed and will change in the future. We know that sometimes the content does not "click" for the child until 5th grade; but, the test for that content happened in 4th grade. We know that our mixed aged classrooms present a challenge for SAGE testing. We could probably all agree that standardized testing is one piece of the pie that makes up a child and determines the quality of a school. Since SAGE is not representing us well to the public who examine this type of data, I think that we need to provide an alternative storyline in terms of standardized testing.

I would like to have an assessment that is consistent, above and beyond SAGE, to be able to advertise the results to our stakeholders and to be able to track real data consistently. Ideas were floated at our first Advisory Committee meeting this summer and include things like tracking our own formative assessments over time, problem of the month, and Math U See. I have found another alternative to SAGE and I would love your opinion.

It is called the MAP test and it is created by NWEA. This group has options to do the MAP Growth assessment, the Skills formative assessment options as well as reading fluency and comprehension assessment. I would like you to check out the MAP Growth test. Schools can choose to administer only math and language or could add science as a third subject area. The MAP Growth test would include three administrations: a fall (pre-assesment, baseline establishment), winter MOY check in, and the final, cumulative spring assessment.

If you are interested in weighing in on this option, please check out the website in February so we could schedule a webinar in March to ask additional questions. There could be an option to play with the assessment features and reports in "sandbox" mode if you are so inclined. The website is https://www.nwea.org/map-growth/.

For now, you can email me your thoughts. Please let me know if you have ideas for other alternative assessments that will serve the purpose outlined above.

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