The GMA Gazette

10/29 - Town of McCordsville Trunk or Treat, 4-6 pm at Outlook Church

10/31 - Idiom Day at GMA

11/1 - GMA Board of Directors Meeting, 5:30 pm in the Birch Room

11/1 - PTO Meeting, 6:30 pm in the Birch Room

11/14 - 2nd Annual Community Open House, 5:30-7:30 pm

11/17 - GMA Family Game Night, 6-8 pm

11/22-24 - Thanksgiving Break, no school

11/30 - Picture Retake Day

12/4-8 - Winter NWEA Assessment Window, grades K-8

12/16 - Parents Day Out, 1-5 pm

12/21-1/7 - Winter Break - no school

1/8 - All students return to school

1/15 - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - no school

1/31 - GMA Board of Directors Meeting, 5:30 pm in the Birch Room

1/31 - PTO Meeting, 6:30 pm in the Birch Room

2/16 - eLearning Day for all students, Staff Professional Development

2/19 - Presidents Day, no school

2/22 - Skating Party at The Roller Cave

2/28 - GMA Board of Directors Meeting, 5:30 pm in the Birch Room

2/28 - PTO Meeting, 6:30 pm in the Birch Room

Wow! If you were here last Friday evening for our PTO Fall Festival, you know first-hand what a great turnout we had for the first schoolwide event of the year. The line was out the door as families arrived to trick-or-treat through the school and enjoy games and activities together.

In preparation for the event, PTO sponsored a classroom door decorating contest and a candy donation competition. The Pine Classroom (Ms. Christina) door was voted the night's favorite and the class will receive a gift card as their prize. The Palm Classroom (Ms. Sydney) won the candy donation competition and will enjoy a pizza party to celebrate their victory!

It was a great evening for families to have fun with GMA friends. If you missed it, make sure you don't miss the next PTO event! Special thanks to our amazing PTO for putting on such a great evening of festive fun for families!

Your student(s) may have already shared their excitement with you for our upcoming celebration of Idiom Day at GMA. On October 31, all students and staff are invited and encouraged to dress in a costume that illustrates an idiom. We will have fun learning more about this type of figurative language as we try to guess the idiom that others are dressed as!

Hopefully, your students can explain what an idiom is to you and you can have fun together as you put together a fun idiom costume for Idiom Day on October 31!

If you need a little inspiration to "get your wheels turning", check out this video!

Please understand, Idiom Day is not a day to wear Halloween costumes to school. Only costumes that depict an idiom are permitted. Thank you!

State legislation adopted by the Indiana General Assembly in 2023 provides funding for “curricular materials” to all Indiana public schools, thus eliminating the traditional materials fees that families have historically paid. Indiana Code 20-18-2.7 defines “curricular materials” as systematically organized materials designed to provide a specific level of instruction in a course. These materials include books, workbooks, hardware, computer software, and digital content.

This law changes the process for curricular materials, but it does not exclude other fees. Parents may expect fees for special programs and extra-curricular clubs and activities.

Based on Indiana Code 20-26-5-4(a)(12)B), Indiana statute permits schools to assess and collect a reasonable fee for lost or significantly damaged curricular materials. GMA will assess fees to parents/guardians for lost or significantly damaged curricular materials, as appropriate.

House Enrolled Act 1001-2023 only applies to K-12 and does not apply to Pre-Kindergarten curricular costs.

The materials fee for Pre-Kindergarten will remain the same as past years at $110 per student. This fee is due at the beginning of each school year, no later than October 1st. Fees that are not paid by the designated final due date will be sent to collections. Material fees are non-refundable. If you need to set up payment arrangements, please contact our Operations Manager at (317) 813-4626 ext. 102.

All K-8 students will be assessed a communication fee of $30. This fee includes PowerSchool, OneCall, and Securly, as well as systems used to create and send schoolwide communications. Payment of this fee is due by November 1. Payment can be made in the school office during regular office hours by cash or check made payable to Geist Montessori Academy. If you prefer to pay online, you may do so here. There is a processing fee assessed for online payments.

Our PTO Executive Board is in a season of transition as members need to step down from leadership roles due to personal reasons and family obligations. Therefore, we will be holding a special election for the purpose of filling vacancies within the Executive Board.

Any member of our GMA community who is interested in serving as a part of the Executive Board is encouraged and invited to throw their hat into the ring at this special election on Wednesday evening. All community members who are present for the 11/1 meeting will have the opportunity to vote in the special election.

We must have the roles of President, Secretary, and Treasurer filled in order to operate as a PTO.

If you are willing to serve our school community in a leadership capacity by joining the Executive Board of our PTO, please be sure to attend Wednesday's meeting at 6:30 pm in the Birch Room.

Our second annual Community Open House is just around the corner! This is the perfect opportunity to share GMA with your friends and family who may be looking at school options for their children.

This year, the open house will feature one classroom per age level that will be open for guests to visit. Our staff will be available to answer questions and talk with families about our school philosophy and approach to education. Info sessions on topics such as Montessori 101, Montessori at Home, and Positive Discipline will be offered to help families learn more about our Montessori public school.

You can share this event with your friends and neighbors by placing a yard sign in your lawn. Yard signs will be available at the PTO meeting on 11/1. You can also share posts on social media - simply share straight from the official GMA Facebook page, and you're all set!

The Student Council would like to extend a huge THANK YOU to all the families who donated to the Field of Flags fundraiser. We raised $555 to support local veterans; $350 over our goal! We are absolutely overwhelmed by the generosity of our community.

Our flags will be planted the week of Nov. 10th in honor of Veteran's Day.

I was born and raised in South Bend. After college, I moved to Chicago and lived there for seven years. I have lived in Indianapolis for two and half years, and my wife and I currently reside in Carmel. I graduated from Ball State University with a major in Telecommunications and last year I received my Web Development Certification from Butler University. I am honored to be a part of the team at Geist Montessori. Being able to support the teachers here feels like a way to repay the teachers who helped shape me into the person I am today.

Thank you for continuing to help us keep our students and staff safe during arrival and dismissal each day. Please refer back to this document that was shared in August regarding traffic patterns and safety reminders.

It has come to our attention that some parents continue to use the Traditions at Brookside property as a turn-around point. This has been addressed multiple times this year - please DO NOT turn around in their lot. The safest way to get back in an eastbound direction is to go to the intersection of 900 N and Carroll Road and head either north or south until you reach an east/west roadway. Other parents are using the entrance to the Deer Crossing neighborhood as a U-turn point. This is less than ideal as there have been a couple of near-miss accidents here. It may take a couple of extra minutes, but please use extreme caution and find safe ways to navigate the roadways after carline.

Again, for the safety of our neighbors and our community, please do not use Traditions at Brookside as a turnaround point; and please avoid making a U-turn in the entrance at Deer Crossing.

We have asked McCordsville police for their assistance several times throughout the year. As traffic increases in this area with the influx of new housing, I anticipate a stronger police presence to monitor the flow of traffic and assist drivers.

Also, please note that we use the blacktop area on the north and west sides of the building during recess time. It is for this reason that we put up the chain and cones to block off this area for our students immediately after carline ends promptly at 8:35 am. If you arrive in the parking lot at 8:35 or after, you will have to park and walk your child(ren) into the office to sign them in as tardy.

Thank you for helping us keep our community safe on the roads!

To date, 63 GMA families have submitted their information to be included in a school community directory. The goal is to have this resource ready to share with our school community in January.

If you would like to participate in our GMA Community Directory, please use the link below to complete the information form. Only information shared in this form will be published in the directory.

Thank you for helping us continue to connect members of our school community.

GREENFIELD — Forget Bashful, Doc, Dopey, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy and Sneezy; meet Howdy, Rowdy, Creepy, Weepy, Nerdy, Wordy and Bob. And they’re here to set the record straight in KidsPlay’s “The Snow White Variety Show.”

Enter Heidi Perbole (played by Ellie Stearns), host of “Real Talk With Fairy Tale Legends.” It’s her task to get to the bottom of the truth of the Snow White story – and each of the seven dwarves seems to have their own version of how things really went down. For example, did you know that the Evil Queen (Chloe Elkins) hosted a cooking show? And that the Huntsman (Jack Joyner) taught Snow White (Reese Weitekamp) how to throw a punch? Or that Weepy (Aria Studabaker) simply cannot stop crying over the emotional story she’s telling?

“Each show has its own challenges,” says director Christine Schaefer. “The challenge for this show has been in building the individual characters of the dwarves. For example, Rowdy (Reid Connors) plays a tough-guy dwarf. Wordy (Nora Smith) plays a dwarf who quotes Shakespeare all the time.”

The talk show format of the show provides some challenges, too. The dwarves are introduced and enter one at a time, and then they spend a lot of time sitting on stage while other characters enter and act out the anecdotes being told. This requires creating what is called stage business.

“Stage business is a really difficult concept for the kids,” Schaefer says. “They need to stay engaged in what is going on rather than just sit and watch.”

“You can tell when that happens,” Schaefer adds, “and I call them on it.”

“The Snow White Variety Show” is full of hilarious side stories and cameos from characters from both fairy tales and popular culture. It’s appropriate for families and kids of all ages.

“The Snow White Variety Show” plays November 10 and 11 at 7 p.m. and November 12 at 2 p.m. at the H.J. Ricks Centre for the Arts, 122 W. Main St. in Greenfield. Tickets are available for $5 at Hometown Comics, 1040 N. State St. or at the door an hour before showtime. For more information, visit KidsPlay, Inc. on Facebook.

Please be sure to notify the school if your child will be absent. Families should call the front office at (317) 813-4626 and select option 1 from the menu to reach the attendance line.

Our office staff makes daily attendance calls to families at 10:00 am after classroom teachers have submitted their attendance for the day. We want to make sure our students are safe and healthy when they are not here at school with us. Thank you for your help in reporting attendance in a timely manner.

We use OneCall Now as our mass communication system to send out alerts, updates, and school-wide communication such as The GMA Gazette. Most communications are sent through email, with a text alert to notify you that something has been sent from GMA.

When school is closed or delayed due to inclement weather, especially in the unpredictable Indiana winters, it is important that families receive the notification quickly and easily. The best way to ensure that you don't miss an announcement from GMA is to sign up for text alerts!

It's simple to sign up. Just text the word alert to 22300. That's it!

Please contact Ms. Beth at blarock@gma.k12.in.us if you have questions or need to add an additional phone number or email address to our OneCall Now system.