Weekly Newsletter
Brighten the Holidays of Ellis Students
We can help make the holidays a little bit easier for many of our Ellis families in need by providing $25 gift certificates to Target or Walmart to purchase gifts. Our goal is to collect 65 gift cards by November 19th.
Giving is easy! Please sign up through this link, then either send a card to school, marked for Ms. Rebecca, or follow the Venmo directions on the sign up page and we’ll purchase the cards in bulk.
The Charles Ellis Montessori Academy PTA is thrilled to announce that we will be sponsoring our 10th Annual Read-A-Thon for our students during the month of November.
All proceeds from the Read-A-Thon will directly support our school.This year, we will be raising funds to purchase updated Montessori Materials that will be circulated through the media center for classroom use.
Not only will the funds benefit our school, but students will also enjoy time reading (and it is something that can be done as a family). We hope the time your family spends participating in this Read-A-Thon will encourage a love of reading and time spent together supporting a good cause.
Students will be receiving a reading log (also attached below) early this week to track their reading and also to request pledges. Pledges/donations should be submitted to the PTA Read-A-Thon Memberhub website (http://app.memberhub.gives/4ae9be).
Prizes!
Any student, who raises $100 or more, will receive a $10.00 gift certificate to the Scholastic Book Fair in the media center, which will take place December 6-10, 2021.
If you have any questions, feel free to contact Ms. Lisa (lisa.odonnell@sccpss.com).
Device
We are now asking that both Blue Jays and Cardinals bring in their device to school daily, fully charged. Also, remember that students need headphones or earbuds for classroom use as well as in Technology exploration on Thursdays.
For more information, please click on the link Book It
Learning Logs
* BLUE JAYS' LEARNING LOGS (WORK PLANS) DID NOT GO HOME FRIDAY. THEY WILL BRING THEM HOME THIS MONDAY.
Please go over the Learning Log with your child and discuss the work they completed and sign it. Please have your child return the Learning Log Monday. Filling out a Learning Log is a learning process in itself, so some of them may not have written all of the work they have completed on the log. This will take time, especially for the younger students.
The purpose behind this is to facilitate conversation about work choices and work completion. The hope is that the students can explain to you what each work is and what they worked on. Also, if you notice that they chose mostly math that week and hardly practiced any reading, that is where a discussion can be had about appropriate choices. Most students have the goal of completing one Language, Reading, and Math work each day, and some Cultural (remember that Cultural is considered "big" work and is completed over time). If your child is coming home with an empty learning log yet they are telling you that they are working, perhaps encourage and remind them to write down the work they are completing as they complete it. These are conversations that we have with the students continually, but of course, in true Montessori fashion, we need the "triangle" to be complete between student, teacher/school, and parent/home in order to be successful.
Homework
Students are asked to read nightly for 20 minutes and fill in their reading log. When the log is filled in, bring it in and a new one will go home.
We are also asking that Cardinals practice math facts nightly for a few minutes using XtraMath for first and second year students and TimesTables.com for third years. If your child would rather use flash cards or some other type of practice, that is fine.
Your child will need to use their device to practice reading and math skills twice a week on iReady at home.
They will also need to get on Amira at home and practice reading at least twice a week. Amira practice can be recorded on reading logs.
Your child needs to log in to their device using the username (firstname.lastname@students.sccpss.com) and password taped on the computer. Then they will log in to ClassLink and this will give them access to both Amira and iReady. They will just need to click the icon of the app being used.
If they are using a device that was not issued by the school, login to ClassLink through the district website by clicking on "Families and Students", then ClassLink on the right hand side.
Thursday Explorations
Students have Explorations (PE, Music, Tech, Steam, Spanish, Art) classes on Thursdays. Your child needs to wear sneakers and bring a snack, water bottle, school device and headphones.
Masks and Water Bottles
Please make sure your child has extra masks in their book bag DAILY. Children need to wear new masks daily and parents should check and replace any masks that have been used throughout the day. Water bottles are a necessity! It is hot outside and there are no water fountains from which our students can drink. There are water bottle refilling stations so students can refill their bottles during the day.
IT IS IMPERATIVE THAT THE NURSE IS IMMEDIATELY MADE AWARE OF ANY POSITIVE COVID TESTS or CLOSE CONTACT WITHIN A FAMILY.
Please send an email to Ms. Marianne, Ms. Jazmin and Nurse Chris - christine.oboyle@sccpss.com
PLEASE DO NOT SEND YOUR CHILD TO SCHOOL SICK OR IF EXHIBITING THESE SYMPTOMS:
Fever of 100.4 orally or 99.4 using a thermal device
New cough
Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
Fatigue
Muscle aches or body aches
New loss of taste or smell
Sore throat
Vomiting, diarrhea, or nausea
Congestion or runny nose
Headaches
Wishlist
We have created an Amazon wish list with various items we would love to have for our classroom. Thank you!
https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/37YRRBS0MZI5D/?ref_=lol_ov_le
*Dates to Remember
November 1-30- PTA Read-A-Thon
November 10- PTA Meeting
November 11- Veteran's Day- No School!
November 22-26- Thanksgiving Break- No School
