I hope that everyone enjoyed their break and actually did sharpen their saws. I sharpened my saw by spending lots of quality time with my family. We made cookies, saw Coco at the fancy theater, went skiing, studied very active animals at the zoo, went sledding, ate tons of popcorn, and had a few days where no one changed out of their jammies.

I look forward to hearing about your winter break adventures and seeing your faces today. I'm hoping the short week will serve as a gentle transition back for our kiddos.

Good luck today and have an marvelous week!

The new playground equipment that was supposed to arrive around December 22nd is now slated to be delivered this Friday, January 5th. I am not sure when the installation of this playground will happen. For this week, please stay tuned to see if/when outdoor recess may be restricted due to delivery or installation of the new playground that will go in the pit created on the north end of the property.

Thank you all!!

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 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.

Thank you all for your hard work leading up to and during the International Festival. I thought that the International Festival was fantastic! I think this is a brilliant way to stop the vicious "days before break" cycle. You know the cycle - teachers say students don't attend school right before breaks and don't want to plan awesome lessons that no one will experience and where making up the missed content is a pain for the teacher. Students say that they never do anything in the days before a break and don't want to come to school.

I think that having this exciting festival where all students are vested because it's the culmination of a unit of study and they want to present their individual projects is perfect in motivating students to attend school right before the break. It creates meaningful learning opportunities for the entire school and larger community. It was impressive to see the volume of parents attending this event. It was also impressive to see the students' projects. Thank you again.

Showing movies during class time requires approval from administration. Please submit your requests for approval in writing 72 hours prior to the showing. Please provide the following information in your request:

• Movie Title
  
• Purpose for showing movie
  
• Ties to curriculum
  
• Standards addressed
  
• Assessment strategy and copy, if applicable
  

Please remember that we are required by our professional standards to maintain confidentiality of student information. This means that we only divulge details about a child's situation and/or progress to the people who need to know. We need to be vigilant in how/when we discuss students and/or their situations when other people are nearby, especially students.

It is imperative that we are all on the same page, especially when interacting with parents. If you have not done so already, please subscribe to the MMA school blog to get the weekly parent newsletter, MMA Monday Montessori Moments. It is important that you know the information going out to parents. Please email Autumn if you would like to contribute to this publication.

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.

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. *

1/3 PLC Mtgs - EC, JH, UE

1/4 PLC Mtgs - Special Ed

1/8 Staff Mtg - Library 3:30-5pm

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