Nuts & Bolts
Week of April 16, 2018
Moving into Next Year
Kacee did an excellent job facilitating your work with identifying pros and cons. As stated in Kacee's follow up email, Advisory will be addressing this on Monday and we will be in touch about how the school will proceed with this information.
It seemed like everyone returned from spring break rejuvenated. Thank you for being extra professional and courteous to others in your actions and speech. As I stated on Monday, everyone is here for the same reason and we all want what's best for our students.
Have a great week!
April 20th Professional Learning
As you can see from the agenda above, we have two mandatory trainings on Friday. Jake from ETS will provide data privacy training and Andrea will provide the Suicide Prevention training.
If you need to officially take the Suicide training for renew your teaching license, you will need to complete the online portion of the training, in addition to our in-person part, because two hours are required. The website to access the online portion is: https://www.uen.org/suicidepreventiontraining/. Follow the steps on the website; it is very self-explanatory. Contact Andrea if you have questions about the Suicide Prevention training.
Lisa, 4-7
Oops!
Sara, 4-18
Construction Update
No news is good news.
High Five!
Thank you to the Instructional Team (Nicoletta, Jodi, Dana) who observed the child to identify the ABCs (antecedent, behavior, and consequence) of the child's behavior and subsequently collaborated with the teacher and parents to create an intense plan to shift the child's behavior. The plan consisted of both positive reinforcers and negative consequences and required the daily help of the Instructional Team to implement fully. The positive outcomes of this process and the huge smile and sense of accomplishment the child's face were priceless.
Big props goes out to Lana for handling this situation with grace, respecting the child, diligent collection of data, and creation of beautiful data displays! Who doesn't love a beautiful display of data?!
SAGE Testing and Displacements
During this time, the computer lab and library will be closed and unavailable to classes and students who are not testing.
Accolades
Kacee's article in "Montessori Public" newspaper is causing quite a stir-in such an amazing way. I've had numerous conversations with folks from all over the greater Montessori community about this beautifully written article. I received phone calls, emails and had several face to face conversations with other Montessorians. They are raving about this article and the good work happening at MMA to ensure that inclusion is occuring.
On Tuesday of this week, I walked into a meeting with two influential state leaders who had Kacee's article in front of them. First, they raved about the depth and articulate nature of this article. Second, they expressed how impressed they were concerning MMA's commitment to supporting inclusive education. These leaders were very complimentary of Kacee's representation of MMA's efforts. I can only dream of writing such a well received article.
Kacee and Nicoletta are examples of outstanding up and coming leaders in the national Montessori scene. They are a gift to MMA. I feel like a proud Montessori mother and am grateful for their amazing contributions to all the children at MMA. I appreciate their candor, advocacy and love of Montessori and their willingness to assure a quality Montessori education at MMA. I honor their efforts. Please continue to nurture their growth as leaders, the state of Utah needs them!
Teaching Assistant Evaluations
Please complete the lead teacher and assistant conference by April 29th and schedule our meeting shortly after. TAs, if you need to put in an extra hour outside of your regular schedule, please submit a "request for extra hours" form to me asap and before your meeting. Thanks!
Setting the Alarm
Things change fast with construction. We have now been asked to not set the alarm so that workers can more easily get into school, especially on the weekend. Please do not set the alarm until further notice.
Required Training - Due April 29th
Resilience Workshop
Handwriting Skills Workshop
Helping Your Child with Handwriting Skills Parent Workshop
You are invited to attend a free handwriting training provided by our occupational therapist. This training will provide ways to improve your child's handwriting skills this summer. Join us on May 10th in the MMA Library from 4:30 until 6:30pm.
Upcoming Events
4-16 Advisory Mtg, Conference Room, 3:30-5pm
4-17 PLC - LE
4-17 Fire Drill
4-18 PLC - EC, UE, JH
4-19 PLC - Spec. Ed.
4-20 Professional Learning, Library, 2-4pm
Contact Info:
Email: rbaker@mariamontessoriacademy.org
Website: https://www.mariamontessoriacademy.org
Phone: 801-827-0150
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MMAofUT/
Twitter: @ReneBaker27