Our MMA staff team is awesome! I love how newbies and veterans have melded together and enjoy watching relationships grow. Thank you for working well together and for supporting one another. Our jobs are simultaneously the hardest and most rewarding thing any of us has ever done in our lives. No one else can quite understand and appreciate this dichotomy, which is why we need each other.

Thank you for being here! Thank you for committing to MMA!

We will all be together to learn and grow on Monday for our school wide staff meeting, after our first Montessori Monday professional learning. Please be in the addition commons area promptly at 3:30pm for the staff meeting. Hourly staff - remember that you are expected to be at the after school staff meeting; so, please plan your hours this week as to not exceed the amount specified on your employee agreement.

Please bring your smart phones or computers to the staff meeting. The agenda is below.

Back to School Night is this week on Thursday, September 13th from 6-8pm. This will be open house style, but with two opportunities for parents to attend a meeting that Lana and René will lead. Parents will be invited to attend a meeting at 6pm and the same meeting again at 7pm. The parent meeting will only be 15-20 minutes and take place in the addition commons area. Outside of those times, parents are invited to visit each of their children's classrooms.

Teachers are required to attend and assistants are encouraged to attend as long as they stay within the hours specified on their employee agreements.

If you are unsure of what to do or have prepared for Back to School Night, please touch base with Lana before Thursday.

We still do not have official word that the green bars are completely ready for play. We will make an official announcement when they are ready.

Thanks for your patience!

Jen Lewis will no longer be working at MMA. We appreciate her contribution to MMA and wish her the best moving forward.

After you submit your paper injury report forms to the office, the office will no longer scan teachers copies of these reports. If you would like a copy or scan for your files, please scan it yourself before submitting the form to the office. After administration reviews these papers, the papers will be placed into the child's file.

It is the teacher's responsibility to contact the parents the same day of the injury.

Please remember, any student who sustains any injury to the head/face needs to be brought to the office. Office staff will assess the situation and immediately alert parents. Children who sustain any other major injuries should also be brought to the office immediately.

Please see Lana or René if you have questions about these expectations.

Please do not tie the door shut or tamper with the locking/security system in any way. This will cause false alarms and possible costly damage. Please remember to close and lock all of your outside doors before you leave. The police have stopped by school more than once to investigate an open outside door at odd hours of the night.

We realize that the current lock/door situation in the addition is frustrating because there is no way to manually unlock and get back in the building easily. I am working on a solution now and will be in touch as we figure out how to keep school secure and convenient for students to go to/from recess and PE.

Teachers, special education case managers, and special education TAs who need to be out of school (or in a meeting or in professional learning) need to call and arrange for their own sub. In these cases, the general education teaching assistant will assume the lead teacher role and the substitute will assume the assistant role. The sub list will soon be transferred to a Google doc so it is always updated and accessible on any device in which you can access the internet.

Special education case managers and/or assistants cannot be used as substitutes in the classroom unless it is a day that they normally have scheduled off or an extreme situation. If it is an extreme situation, the plan will be formulated and communicated from the support and/or administrative teams.

If you are showing a movie or animation longer than a 5 minute clip, prior approval from the administration is required. In these cases, please email Lana and René stating the movie title, length, and how it is being used to support the curriculum.

Thank you for your preparation and participation in the fire drill last week. It is important that we all know and review the MMA Emergency Guide. Overall, the drill ran smoothly.

Next time, please have students stand in the parking stalls. After teachers have completed taking roll, step out of the stalls onto the dotted carpool lane line so I can more clearly and quickly spot teachers who are ready.

On the way out of the building, remember to turn out your lights, pull your magnetic strip, and close your doors as you leave. Several doors were left open during the drill. These directions are listed in the "evacuations" part of the MMA Emergency Guide; but, still apply if we are following the "fire" procedures.

Microscopes are available to be checked out from the curriculum office. Before you check out microscopes, please schedule a lesson with you (or your class) in microscope use from René.

Thank you for following the new sign in / sign out procedures. I realize that it is different and it may take some time for us to remember the new procedures; and, I appreciate your time and effort.

Again, these changes were necessary as all assistants are working different, individual schedules. The new procedures are not intended to make you feel as though you are not trusted or to cause you extra grief. Changes were made to ensure accurate and timely payment for hourly staff and for the safety of all staff.

PLC meetings are expected to take place this year according to the schedule - even if it is a week that we also have a Monday staff meeting after school. Thank you for understanding.

There is a new resource for teaching Utah History (approved by the State BD of Ed Office). Along with a dynamic video of the Utah State Song (showcasing Utah’s history, landscape & people), a student presentation is offered. Engage with the resources in a way that best suits the students you teach.

The website (linked below) includes:

1. VIDEO: State Song- “Utah This Is the Place”
2. Introductory Sheet- to “U for Utah” Student Presentation- can be downloaded and shared with others
3. Narration for the student presentation
4. 5 Utah Songs- with vocals
5. 5 Utah Songs- with accompaniment only

The “U for Utah” student presentation can be adapted and used as a springboard for other learning activities. All resources for the 30-50 minute program are FREE to share for educational purposes.

$8,000.00 CASH PRIZE

ESSAY COMPETITION FOR STUDENTS IN UTAH

Deadline for Entries: Friday September 21, 2018

In conjunction with the annual McCarthey Family Foundation Lecture Series: In Praise of Independent Journalism, students in grades 6-12 and at colleges and universities (undergraduate and graduate) in Utah are invited to submit an original essay on “Why a free press matters in a democracy.”

Categories are as follows:
University & college students: 1,000 word essay; cash prize of $4,000.00
Grades 9-12: 750 word essay: cash prize of $2,500.00
Grades 6- 8: 500 word essay; cash prize of $1,500.00

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS: DEADLINE - Friday September 21, 2018. Email a Word document, typed and double-spaced, to mkl@mklpr.com. All entries must include student’s name, phone number, email address and name and department of the university or college or name of the school and grade in which the student is currently enrolled. Essays may be submitted anytime prior to the September 21, 2018 deadline.

The winning essayist in each category will be introduced and receive his/her cash prize at the 13th Annual McCarthey Family Foundation Lecture: In Praise of Independent Journalism Saturday, November 10, 2018, 7:00 PM at Rowland Hall, Philip G. McCarthey Campus, 720 Guardsman Way in Salt Lake City. The Lecture is open to the public at no charge. The winning essays will be printed in the evening’s program. Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, co-hosts of Morning Joe on MSNBC will be the guest lecturers.

For additional information: www.rowlandhall.org/mccartheylectureseries

For discussion suggestions click here.

Contact: Mary Kay Lazarus, 801.328.8899.

The Utah Council of Teachers of Mathematics is pleased to announce their upcoming Fall 2018 conference on October 12 - 13. Our keynote speaker will be Robert Kaplinsky. Robert has worked with many teachers over the years and has amazing ideas of how to help students think about mathematics in a task-oriented way. Teachers all over the world access his blog, robertkaplinsky.com, as well as to get ideas from him and ideas from each other.

This year, the UCTM theme of Mathematics Elevated, will help to inspire us as teachers to take our teaching and learning to the next level. Please come join us for the leadership conference on October 12 at Canyons School District PDC and/or for the main
conference on October 12-13 at Draper Park Middle School.

Register for the conference by visiting utahctm.org.

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