MMA Montessori Moments
October 1, 2018
A Message from MAPA
You won’t want to miss this years Fall Festival! We have a lot of exciting surprises in store!
Purchase your tickets online at:
https://squareup.com/store/mapa-9
Any tickets/wristbands purchased online will be available for pickup at the “ticket drive-thru” or at the will call booth the night of the festival. Pre-sale prices are good now thru October 11th.
Ticket Drive Thru dates will be: October 8, 9, 10, & 11 in the north east corner of the North Shore parking lot from 2:45-3:30 pm or October 8 & 10 from 8-8:30 am
All of our events couldn’t be as great as they are without the help we receive from our amazing volunteers! Postings for Volunteers to help with Fall festival will be ready soon, so keep an eye open for them.
6th Grade Alliance Redwoods Trip Meeting
You will receive essential trip information like costs, chaperone needs, trip expectations, and volunteer opportunities. This, and all future meetings about Alliance Redwoods, are mandatory and vital in order to assist everyone with the process. We look forward to meeting you and sharing our experiences.
If you have questions, please contact Ms. Nicoletta (nhouseholder@mariamontessoriacademy.org) or Ms. Lana (lpas@mariamontessoriacademy.org).
9th Grade Crow Canyon Trip Meeting
One of the culminating experiences at our school for the 9th graders is our end of year field experience! We are excited to invite all 9th grade students and their families to our first meeting about the 9th Grade Culminating Trip to Crow Canyon on Wednesday, October 3rd at 5:30pm in the Commons.
You will receive information about the trip, costs, chaperone needs, and volunteer opportunities. Come learn about where we go, what we do, and expectations.This, and all future meetings about Crown Canyon, are mandatory and vital in order to assist everyone with the process. We are looking forward to gathering and starting our journey together.
If you have any questions please contact Ms. Leigh lowen@mariamontessoriacademy.org.
Cross Country Championships!
Picture Day is Coming
Junior High Fees
Mastery Learning
MMA promotes mastery learning. Mastering learning is a way to personalize learning and encourage personal responsibility. Mastery learning involves the use of formative and summative assessment. Formative assessment serves as a check for learning for the student and the teacher and allows both to identify a student’s progress toward understanding a standard or concept of study. The student has the opportunity to correct or deepen their level of understanding as teachers provide targeted suggestions of how the student can improve their learning. After the student completes their suggested learning tasks, they take an additional, parallel assessment to gauge their new progress toward understanding that same standard or concept of study. In this way, a formative assessment serves as a tool for learning.
A summative assessment is assigned at the conclusion of learning and serves as an assessment of learning. A learning cycle is composed of several formative assessments leading to a summative assessment.
This cycle of learning promotes mastery of content standards. Thomas Guskey states that “When compared with students in traditionally taught classes, students in well-implemented mastery learning classes consistently reach higher levels of achievement and develop greater confidence in their ability to learn and in themselves as learners (Anderson, 1994; Guskey & Pigott, 1988; Kulik, Kulik, & Bangert-Drowns, 1990).”
Mastery learning serves high achieving students well. When students master the content during the first formative assessment, enrichment and extension activities are assigned. This maximizes the students’ potential and allows time and space for that child to explore through interest-based work.
Jr High Grading and Mastery Learning
In Junior High, teachers provide feedback after formative and summative assessments using a 4 point rubric, generally translated as:
- I = Incomplete = There is no evidence. AKA: The student did not submit work and knowledge of the standard (content) cannot be determined.
- 2 = Developing = Minimal demonstration, or no independent demonstration, of the required knowledge and skills. AKA: The student has some knowledge of the content and still needs hints or help from the teacher to communicate their knowledge.
- 3 = Proficient = A strong demonstration of the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to apply them in different situations. No major errors or omissions are evident. AKA: The student understands the standard (content) and can communicate their knowledge without hints or help.
- 4 = Distinguished = A distinguished demonstration of the required knowledge and skills, and the ability to apply them in each and every situation present. Work exceed the defined requirements, is high quality, and shows original thought. There is significant evidence of skills and knowledge in complex, multi-step problems. AKA: The student has exceeded the standard (content) required for their current grade level and are working on standards (content) at the next grade level, which is sometimes the high school level.
Parents and guardians can track students' progress toward standards through Canvas where teachers are recording at least one weekly summative assessment in the form of I, 2, 3, 4 as described above. The tricky part comes at the end of the quarter when we have to take a string of numbers and translate them into a quarter grade. For this, the MMA Junior High team developed the following "logic rules":
- A+ = Student has excelled / exceeded in the course standards. More 4s than 3s, no 2s, 1, or Is.
- A = Student has mastered all course standards. More 3s than 4s, no 2s, 1s, or Is.
- B = Student has show progress in all course standards. There is at least one 3 or 4, there is also at least one 2. There are no 1s or Is.
- C = Student has shown some progress on the course standards. Regardless of how many 2s, 3s, or 4s, there is also a 1. No Is.
- D = Student has shown minimal progress in all course standards. All 1s, no Is.
- I/F = Evidence is lacking for the required course standards. At least one I.
It is crucial to note that a child will fail the quarter if they have any Is (incompletes) at the end of the quarter. In Canvas, these Is will show up as zeros. Teachers will communicate the last day students are able to re-do assignments. For first quarter, the last day students re-do assignments is Wednesday, October 17th.
Please contact your child's teacher if you have any questions regarding specific class assignments or grading practices. You may contact Ms. Kat if have general questions about mastering learning, standards based grading, or MMA's logic rules.
Junior High Progress Online
Overheard
Potter's Wheel for MMA
Jr Artisan Fair at Fall Festival
Online Literacy and Math Resources
You can access our supplemental early literacy and math resources at home, too!
Grades 1-3 can access Imagine Learning Language and Literacy
Server Address: 4900144
UN and PW: student's SSID
Grades 1-9 can access Imagine Learning Math
Site Code: not needed (leave blank)
UN and PW: student's SSID
These sites are optimized to run with the Google Chrome web browser, and may not function using other web browsing applications.
Attendance and Punctuality
If your child arrives after the start of school at 8:30am, please accompany them into the office to sign them in as tardy - after you park your car in a parking space. Junior High students who arrive after 8:30am will need to enter the building through the main doors.
Stay In the Know
Follow MMA's official Facebook page and subscribe to MMA’s Main Blog and MMA's Jr High Blog in addition to subscribing to your child(ren)’s Teacher Blogs – accessible by clicking the “website” link under the teacher’s picture. You can also follow us on Twitter @MMAofUT.
Track it Forward & Volunteering
Please sign up asap on Track it Forward. After you sign up, you will be approved for the group and will get an email indicating as such. After this, get online and click on the upcoming events page. If the main calendar is too overwhelming, click on "filter by category" and only check those teachers you would like to view. I suggest also checking "school wide" events so you don't miss anything.
Track it Forward is where you will sign up for your turn to bring snack to the classroom and where early childhood families sign up for a KEEP assessment time slot.
Join MAPA on Facebook
The Montessori Academy Parent Association (MAPA) is the Parent-Teacher Organization for Maria Montessori Academy. This organization is used to facilitate communication and involvement between parents and teachers. MAPA is currently seeking volunteers who are interested in joining this organization to ensure that the needs of Maria Montessori Academy’s student body are being fulfilled.
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