Welcome to our 2018-2019 school year!  We are off to a great start. We are so happy to see many returning students this year.  This has made transitions and procedures much smoother during the first days of school. And just like Dr. Montessori intended, our seasoned students are able to guide our new students in the process of moving purposefully through the classroom.  Our new friends have quickly grasped our grace and courtesy expectations, and are acclimating to our routine.

We will be communicating with you on a regular basis through a bi-monthly blog (like this one) and a monthly paper calendar.  Please review the calendar as we often put important reminders on it, along with an original piece of art that your child made.  We match the artwork with the monthly theme, so that it can easily be a talking point for you to engage your child.

Also, the blog is a great way for you to see your child interacting with materials and other students in the class.  It’s a way for you to become familiar with their friends and to discover what they are learning. You may access the P1 blog by going to the school blog and selecting your child’s classroom blog (don’t forget Art, Phys Ed, Music, and the Outdoor Classroom)!  Remember to access our classroom blogs using the password: fms@201819.

Please take a few minutes to review our snack and flower request list.  We greatly appreciate the generous and well thought out contributions from our families for this important task.  In the orientation packet, you will discover a recommended snack list. Please plan for approximately 30 children, for a 5 day span.  

Families are welcome to drop off snack and flowers on Monday for the week, or bring a smaller supply each day.  We are grateful to Guillermo and his family for bringing in healthy and beautiful snacks and flowers to our room.

f you haven’t had a chance to check out PTO information, it can be found on the school website at foothillsmontessori.com under the COMMUNITY page.  We are so fortunate to have an active and creative PTO board that is invested in the success of our school and provides a vital leadership role for our FMS community. We encourage all of our parents to participate in our PTO’ s activities. The first general meeting is on 9/6 at 8:30am and will be held in the multi-purpose room.  

Primary Parent Orientation is scheduled for Thursday, 8/23 at 5:00pm in the multi-purpose room. The Montessori philosophy is process driven, requiring practice and observation.  We structure our orientation to present different situations that families encounter both at home and at school; offering a Montessori perspective on how to mirror Montessori practices at home. We encourage all of our parents to attend and look forward to seeing you!

Thank you to Guillermo and his family for providing beautiful flowers and healthy snack for our classroom.

As we approach the end of our school year, we take a moment to reflect on the immense academic and social growth our students have experienced.

Reading on a continuous basis throughout the summer is vitally important for maintaining skills and encouraging the love of learning.  Our local libraries are great places to borrow books, get out of the summer heat, and experience the usefulness of learning the reading skill.

Don’t forget the blog is available to you during the summer and may be a fun way for your child to see pictures of their friends and to remember some of the lessons we did during the school year.

We are so grateful to our parents and for the tremendous amount of support we feel from you. Thank you also to those who chaperoned our field trips, helped prepare the monthly food projects, and came into the classroom to share life experiences that coincided with our cultural studies.  

Finally, we say a special thanks to Diana Valencia for being an outstanding room mother for us this year.  Muchas gracias!

Most importantly, enjoy the sweet satisfaction of the summertime, and the special opportunity for taking it easy and to not be in a hurry.  We look forward to seeing all of our returning and new students for the 2018/2019 school year.

As we approach the end of our school year, we take stock of the wonderful time we have had together.  There were wonderful moments of academic breakthroughs, especially when students read for the first time. A great deal of preparation goes into crossing that threshold. First sound recognition, then seeing who sounds are put together to form words. Decoding words and recognizing sight words comes next.  We were so pleased to hear many of our students reading fluidly and with inflection.

The end of the school year is usually filled with many activities and this year is no exception.  Last week, we celebrated with our Spanish fiesta where, for the second year in a row, Coronado High School Spanish students facilitated activities in the three Spanish immersion classrooms, the multi purpose room, and on the field.  We all spoke as much Spanish as we could and it was a wonderful chance for our children to see older students studying and using Spanish.

Parachute used during Spanish fiesta.

We know it is the end of the school year when we have field day!  This week, with the help of parent volunteers, Coach Bob had several water themed activities for our students.  There was an obstacle course, playing with all sizes of beach balls on the basketball court, and the ever popular activity of throwing water balloons.  A good time was had by all! A special thanks to Coach Bob and our parent volunteers (Evan, Laura, Diana, Mae) for helping to make this day fun for all.

A special thanks to Kristina (Jonny’s Mom), Laura (Skye’s Mom) and Celeste (Cora’s Mom) for creating a healthy and creative cooking project.

Mother’s Day Tea was held today, and we recognize the profound role that mothers and grandmothers play in our students lives.  It was a sweet morning of singing songs, enjoying each other’s company, and celebrating that special place in our hearts for our mothers.

Next Friday is Kindergarten Late Night! All Kindergartners are invited to attend from 5pm-8pm, while dinner and activities will be provided.  This is a special night where we celebrate our Kindergartners and treat them to a fun-filled evening shared together.

Wednesday, 5/23 is the Kindergarten moving up ceremony.  We will begin the celebration in P3 at 1:30 and at 2:00 we will move to the multi-purpose room to conclude the activities.  

A big thanks to Emmett, Aubrie, Carl, and their families for providing healthy and delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.

REMINDERS

Friday, 5/18 from 5pm-8pm is Kindergarten late night.

Wednesday, 5/23 is our Kindergarten moving up ceremony starting at 1:30pm.

Friday, 5/25 is the LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!  Dismissal is at 11:15am.

“Reduce, reuse, recycle” is the melody to a song that we have been singing in the classroom this month as we look at the importance of carefully using our natural resources. On that note, we encourage the children to pack a cloth napkin to use during lunchtime, eliminating the need for a paper napkin that must go in the garbage. School lunches come with a water bottle, which the children are in the habit of recycling.  Any leftover water is collected in a blue dish pan, which we pour on the plants outside. We started this recycling effort last year and the children naturally did it again this year.

This month, we are doing an experiment involving a green pepper and a plastic spoon.  We are observing the decomposition process of the green pepper day by day, and witnessing the plastic spoon has not changed one bit!  As the children will report, the green pepper is biodegradable and the plastic spoon is non-biodegradable.

Earth Day takes place on April 22, which gives us a chance to explain to the children that all of us are caretakers of the Earth.  We show respect to the Earth by being careful not to let the water just flow out of the faucet when we are washing our hands and brushing our teeth, to put our trash in the trash can, and to turn off lights if we are not in the room.  Caring for the Earth is the same as caring for ourselves.

We so enjoyed the parent presentations on South America.  Thanks to Cristy (Camilla’s Mom), Jenny (Hayden’s Grandmother) and to Heidi (Carl’s Mom) for sharing their experiences of living and traveling in South America.  

Our students love to learn from our parents and we look forward to future presentations.  We are talking about Africa and insects during the month of May. If you have any direct experience with those themes and would like to speak to the class, please let us know.Kindergartners enjoyed their “Pippi Longstocking” chapter book party with pancakes, hot chocolate, and whip cream.  They also got to be “Thing Finders” just like Pippi, and located wooden spools and beaded necklaces in the classroom.

REMINDERS:

Spanish Fiesta is scheduled for Wednesday, May 2nd at school from 9:00-11:00.  This is the chance for our students to enjoy arts and crafts, music, and food, all the while using their Spanish speaking skills to communicate with Coronado HS AP Spanish students.

Mother’s Day Tea is coming up on Friday, May 11th at 10:30am in P1. All mothers are invited to attend. If a mom cannot attend, please send a special someone in their place.  Each student is allowed one guest due to space restrictions in the classroom.

Kindergarten Late Night Party is happening on Friday, May 18th from 5:00-8:00pm. We will have a sign-up sheet available soon for parent volunteers to help make this celebration fantastic.

Kindergarten Moving Up Ceremony takes place on Wednesday, 5/23 from 1:30-2:30pm.

Gardening together with all of the kindergartners.

Thank you to Jonny and his family for providing our classroom with delicious snacks and beautiful flowers.  

During the  month of April we are studying South America, birds, recycling, and care of the Earth.  We have been recycling paper in the classroom since last year.

A separate trash can is set up in the room where we dispose of paper and paper towels.  Once a week, we also recycle the plastic bottles from pizza Mondays. Next week, we will be going on our final class field trip to Springs Preserve.We will make our way through the park and spend most of our time in the recycling display room.  Please be sure your child wears their orange, FMS shirt on Tuesday 4/10.

Figuring out which objects are recyclable and which ones are garbage.

As our school year draws to a close, we reflect on the growth and development we have seen in all of our students. 

Working with the binomial cube.

We have watched students emerge as break through readers, other students writing in full sentences, and budding mathematicians grasping operations such as addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with ease.

This is truly the springtime of our year where the fruits of our student’s efforts is seen in the quality and productivity of their work. Montessori instruction is process driven where each step in doing a work is methodically explained and then practiced by the student.

It is satisfying, as teachers, to see the academic and social roots in our students take hold. Playfully encouraging math skills and keeping up with reading (aloud or silently) are excellent strategies for keeping skills sharp, and for nurturing your child’s love of learning.  

REMINDERS

Spanish Immersion Fiesta (at school) on 5/2 from 9am-11am.

Working with the multiplication board.

Please join us for our annual Mother’s Day Tea on Friday, 5/11 at 10:30-11:15 am.  As classroom space is limited, we request only one guest per student (mom or other special relative/friend if mom cannot attend).

Kindergarten Late Night party (at school) on 5/18 from 5pm-8pm.

Kindergarten Moving Up Ceremony on 5/23 from 1:30-2:30pm.

Last day of school on Friday, 5/25  – dismissal is at 11:15am.

THANKS

A great big thanks to Noel and her family for providing delicious snacks and beautiful flowers for our classroom.