MMA Montessori Moments
July 4th, 2019
Happy 4th of July!
We hope everyone is having a wonderful summer break thus far. It was awesome seeing current and new families at the pool party in June. Thank you for braving the chilly and very windy air to bring your kiddos our for fun.
Check out and follow our social media accounts listed at the bottom. Please never hesitate to contact us if you have questions. You can call the office (801-827-0150) or email our Assistant Director, Ms. Lana, or myself.
Ms. René Baker
Director
Staffing Update
In lower elementary:
- Ms. Shauna is coming to us from Idaho with many years experience teaching in a public Montessori school.
- Ms. Leslee is coming to us after teaching children and engaging families at a Head Start program.
In upper elementary:
- Ms. Christie is a familiar face and longtime MMA family member who has stepped up to be lead teacher for next year.
- Ms. Stacey comes to us after supporting students with special needs in a district school.
In junior high:
- Mr. Geoffrey is coming to us after working in the field of geology and tutoring adults in literacy
In special education:
- Mr. Brent is coming to us with a MA and several years of experience teaching students with special needs attending a public Montessori school.
On the support team:
- Ms. Kim is coming to us with a reading degree and will serve as MMA's reading specialist, a new position created to support our school goal of improving reading K-9. Ms. Kim has most recently taught third grade at a charter school.
We also have several lovely teaching assistants joining our ranks and you will get to meet them very soon. We still have a few positions open for teaching assistants, so please spread the word and encourage any awesome people to email their resume to Ms. René or Ms. Lana to set up an interview.
We are in the process of hiring another lower elementary teacher and two upper elementary teachers. Never hesitate to reach out to our Assistant Director, Ms. Lana, or myself if you have questions about staffing. Please remember that legally and ethically we cannot discuss why someone is no longer working at MMA. We encourage you to ask teachers directly if you have these types of questions.
Class Lists are Posted!
Visit the faculty page on our website and click under the teacher's picture to access their blog, where supply lists have been posted. Please note, the items on these lists will be used during the regular school day. They may be brought from home on a voluntary basis. Otherwise, they will be furnished by the school.
Our new staff mentioned above do not have their MMA emails and blogs set-up just yet and are working their supply lists. Stay tuned for this information. Our returning teachers do not have the ability to email the entire class through Aspire (when you get the email that say RE: Your Child's Name) until mid-July when the UT State Board of Ed "rolls-over" the data. You can expect to get email communication from teachers when they return from their well-deserved break on August 5th.
If you are a new family and do not see your child's name on the list, it could be because you were pulled from the lottery in the last two weeks or you may need to submit paperwork - like birth certificate or immunization records. Contact Ms. Autumn or Ms. Amanda in the front office (801-827-0150) to reconcile these matters.
If you are a returning family and do not see your child's name on the list, please double check that you completed the registration process for this year. You would have received multiple emails and phone calls regarding your incomplete status. Contact Ms. Autumn in the front office if you have questions or need to complete that process.
If you have questions regarding class lists, please email info@mariamontessoriacademy.org.
Summer Office Hours
The school has been closed for the past two weeks for maintenance and cleaning. These office hours will resume on Tuesday, July 9th. Thanks for your patience during this time.
A Note from MMA, Pediatricians, and UT Dept of Health
We value the health and safety of your children. As a state-licensed education program, we support and must adhere to state immunization requirements for all children enrolled in our program to ensure their health and safety. It is critical for children attending school to receive all recommended vaccines to protect themselves and the other children in our program who are too young to be fully immunized.
Why immunizations are so important for children in educational settings
- Children younger than five years of age are especially at risk for getting infections because their immune systems have not yet built up the defenses to fight infection. Immunizations help children build up these defenses.
Rules and recommendations
- Utah requires your school to have written proof of each child’s vaccines. A parent may get an exemption for their child to not be vaccinated. Your school must also have written proof (a legally valid exemption form) for all exemptions.
- Disease outbreaks sometimes occur in schools. If there is even one case of a vaccine-preventable disease at your child’s school, children for which the school does not have written proof of the child’s up-to-date status will be excluded from school until the child is vaccinated or risk of the disease has passed (sometimes up to 21 days).
Vaccine safety and effectiveness
- All vaccines undergo long and careful review.
- Vaccines do not cause autism. Many independent studies have convincingly shown that there is no link between autism and vaccines.
- No vaccine, or any medication or treatment, is completely risk-free. Common side effects (tenderness and redness) are mild, but serious side effects (such as allergic reactions) are very rare.
- When parents choose not to vaccinate their child, they are trading the small risk of side effects from the vaccine for the risk of getting a vaccine-preventable disease. Vaccines keep disease away; when we stop giving them, diseases that can be prevented by vaccines return.
- While some diseases, like measles are not common in Utah, they are only a plane ride away.
More information
- Free or low-cost vaccines are available for those who qualify through the Utah Vaccines for Children (VFC) Program (http://immunize-utah.org/VFC_program/parents).
- For more information on vaccines and the diseases they prevent, contact your healthcare provider or the Utah Immunization Program at 1-800-275-0659 or visit http://immunize-utah.org.
August
9---Sneak-a-peek/Back-to-School Night 3:00-6:00pm
12---First day of School (1st-9th); Early Release
13-16---Professional Development; Early Release
19---First day of Kindergarten & Early Childhood
31---Maria Montessori’s 150th Birthday
September
2---Labor Day; No School
5---Parent Education Night 5:30-7:00pm
6---MAPA Meeting @ 8:45am in the MMA conference room
12---Redwoods Parent and Student Information Night 5:30-6:30pm
17---Classic Skating Spirit Night 5:00pm-8:30pm
21---International Day of Peace
23---Normalization Ends; Classroom observations are open
27---Professional Development; Early Release
Quick Links
Track It Forward - school events calendar and volunteer sign-ups
Maria Montessori Academy
Email: info@mariamontessoriacademy.org
Website: www.mariamontessoriacademy.org
Location: 2505 N 200 E, North Ogden, UT, United States
Phone: 801.827.0150
Facebook: facebook.com/MMAofUT
Twitter: @MMAofUT