The week of September 20

 The Weekly Newsletter

MAP TESTING We received word that only 3rd Year students will be MAP testing during virtual learning. We will be testing 3rd year students in small groups this week and next. The schedule is below. It is imperative that students receive no help reading the passages during the reading assessments. If your child does not understand the meaning of a word you can not explain it to them. We use these assessments to guide our instruction and if your child receives help we might think they already understand concepts that they do not. Please click the link below for information about MAP testing. We are going to have students who are testing in the morning stay on Zoom after morning meeting. Students who are testing in the afternoons need to log in to our Zoom meeting by using the morning meeting link at 12:15. If your child is taking a MAP assessment they do not need to complete journal writing that day.

**You might need to disable the pop-up blocker on your toolbar to reach the assessment. If you receive the "OOPS" message, look at the toolbar and click the red x.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zHl5wyvVqX3IiyStPtg7evR83rGZBV3v/view?usp=sharing

Open Meetings On Tuesdays

Students will not be able to join our open meetings on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday of this week due to MAP testing. We will miss meeting with the younger students at this time, but if there are any questions or concerns that need to be addressed, please email us or send a message on ItsLearning and we will get in touch.

Monday Open Meeting Schedule

1st years 8:45-9:05 

2nd years 9:05-9:25

3rd years 9:25-9:45

Amira: Your Child’s Personal Reading Tutor

Our students will start using the Amira reading tutor this week. It is accessible from the ItsLearning platform. Students should log in. Go to the black toolbar at the top of the page and click "groups". They should click "Savannah Chatham County Schools" on the dropdown menu. They will then see Amira's face and should click that box. When the screen says "Hi ______" your child should click the "Launch Amira" box. The tutoring is prefaced with an assessment to gauge your child's reading level. It is so important that you do not help your young reader in any way. If your child receives help Amira will not place them where they need to be! Our students are expected to work on Amira 3 times a week.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1U7I8Z1UlmOlZb2AmwoV5zEvbko7fEv9ReS0lU2OBYuQ/edit?usp=sharing

Please view the link below to find help accessing assignments and navigating the ItsLearning platform.

https://www.loom.com/share/dd959101f1cd429dadd33a874a0ffceb

Turning In Assignments

Students should find their assignments under the "plans" tab on Itslearning. When turning in assignments, students should use the "plans" tab, find the assignment, click "answer assignment" tab at the bottom of the assignment, then click on the "more options" tab in the toolbox and choose the square icon with mountains to add a picture of their work. If your student is sharing pictures that we cannot see and is asked to resubmit, we suggest you download the ItsLearning app onto your phone and take pictures with that and then submit them to assignments.

Dates to Remember

10/9/2020--------Fall Break (No School!)

10/12/2020-------Fall Break (No School!)

The Week of September 13

 The Weekly Newsletter

Asynchronous Wednesdays

There will be no Zoom meetings for our students on Wednesdays. 

Asynchronous Wednesdays Expectations

Morning Meeting- Link to “Read Aloud” on ItsLearning

Students work towards completing assignments. 

Students will have a writing assignment (instead of journaling) to complete on Wednesdays.

Required Open Meetings On Tuesdays

We will continue to meet M, Tu, Th and F at 8:30. These meetings will last about 15 minutes and then our Open Meetings will begin. We would like to do a weekly check in with each student. We ask that ALL STUDENTS attend the open meeting at their scheduled time on TUESDAYS. 

Open Meeting Schedule

1st years 8:45-9:05 

2nd years 9:05-9:25

3rd years 9:25-9:45

MAP TESTING MAP testing is just around the corner! Please click on the following link to familiarize yourself with the test platform! Login using "grow" as the username and password. https://practice.mapnwea.org/#/practice-landing

Amira: Your Child’s Personal Reading Tutor

Our students will begin using Amira soon. Please view the slideshow below to familiarize yourself with the program. Your child will be able to access Amira from the ItsLearning platform. Learning with Amira is like having a personal reading tutor inside your child's computer. Amira listens attentively and provides help to reinforce skills. Amira is powered by machine learning and will adapt stories to meet your child's needs as they improve. At the end of each story, Amira gives a progress update of how your child is doing so you can set goals and see growth. More information to come.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1U7I8Z1UlmOlZb2AmwoV5zEvbko7fEv9ReS0lU2OBYuQ/edit?usp=sharing

Turning In Assignments

Students should find their assignments under the "plans" tab on Itslearning. When turning in assignments, students should use the "plans" tab, find the assignment, click "answer assignment" tab at the bottom of the assignment, then click on the "more options" tab in the toolbox and choose the square icon with mountains to add a picture of their work. If your student is sharing pictures that we cannot see and is asked to resubmit, we suggest you download the ItsLearning app onto your phone and take pictures with that and then submit them to assignments. If your child submits an assignment before it was complete, just send us a message on ItsLearning and we can return the assignment to be resubmitted.

Dates to Remember

10/9/20--------Fall Break (No School!)

The Week of September 6

The Weekly Newsletter

Asynchronous Wednesdays

Now that the school year has begun, we are continuing to review our instructional schedules and the impact of the virtual environment. Developmental Teams are tweaking Wednesday schedules to; mitigate excessive screen time for students,comply with district directives, allow staff to participate in required district training and curriculum planning. Consequently, Wednesdays will become a day for Asynchronous Learning so that students can complete assignments, reach out to their teachers for additional support if needed, and engage in classroom projects. Teachers will not be leading live instructional lessons on Wednesdays but will continue to post the expectations for the instructional day. Students still need to login to ItsLearning to complete and submit work every Wednesday.

Asynchronous Wednesdays Expectations

Morning Meeting- Link to “Read Aloud” on ItsLearning

Students work towards completing assignments. 

Students will have a writing assignment (instead of journaling) to complete on Wednesdays.

Meetings

We will continue to meet M, Tu, Th and F at 8:30. These meetings will last about 15 minutes and then our Open Meetings will begin. Students should attend our Open Meetings if they have questions about any of their assignments, ItsLearning, or any questions in general. Sometimes, if we see that a student needs assistance, we will ask them to come to this meeting. If we ask that a student attend the Open Meeting, and they do not, we will contact the family and schedule another time to meet with the child. We will continue to meet with students by grade level. Please abide by the following schedule.

Open Meeting Schedule

1st years 8:45-9:05 

2nd years 9:05-9:25

3rd years 9:25-9:45

Turning In Assignments

Students should find their assignments under the "plans" tab on Itslearning. When turning in assignments, students should use the "plans" tab, find your assignment, click "answer assignment" tab at the bottom of the assignment, then click on the "more options" tab in the toolbox and choose the square icon with mountains to add a picture of their work.

This Week's Assignments

1st Year Students 

Solar System-Due 9/11

States of Matter-Due 9/18

Arithmetic- Count to 120!-Due 9/11

Geometry- Geometric Solids-Level 1-Due 9/11

ELA-Journal Writing-Due Daily (Informational writing on Wed.)

2nd Year Students 

States of Matter-Due 9/18

Moon-Due 9/11

Arithmetic- Static Addition- Due 9/11

Geometry- Geometric Solids-Level 2-Due 9/11

ELA-Journal Writing-Due Daily (Informational writing on Wed.)

3rd Year Students 

Stars- Due 9/11

States of Matter-Due 9/18

Arithmetic- Repeated Addition/Multiplication Due 9/11

Geometry- Quadrilaterals -Level 3 Due 9/11

ELA-Journal Writing-Due Daily (Informational writing on Wed.)

Dates to Remember 

10/9/20--------Fall Break (No School!)

The Week of August 30, 2020

 The Weekly Newsletter

Our Virtual Classroom Expectations 

Our community talked about the expectations for our virtual classroom a bunch this week. We wrote down a list of the expectations that our students thought needed to be met. We want to share them with your family so that you can talk about the rules for our online environment with your child before school starts again Monday.  Remember that the virtual classroom expectations should be followed in all online classrooms, including Explorations, small reading groups, GEP classes, and EIP lessons.

Virtual Learning Schedule

We have been slowly easing into our virtual learning schedule and this week a few more things will be added to the calendar. Please note that this schedule is expected to remain the same for the remainder of virtual learning, but will be modified to meet the needs of our community should it become necessary. 

We have added EIP, GEP, and Kathy's "Korner" reading groups to our schedule. Because our work schedule is so flexible, your child can choose to complete work at their own speed. Your student should take the first part of every morning to schedule the work they anticipate doing that day. If your child has lessons with Ms. Carolina on Thursdays or GEP lessons daily, they should budget their time accordingly. This will help the instill a sense of responsibility and give the child ownership of their work.

In the calendar below you will see that the morning meeting will be shortened to 15 minutes. This is more typical of what you would see in our classroom daily. After the Morning Meeting, students will come to Open Meetings only if they need instructional support with the lessons they have been assigned for the week. 1st year students will come from 8:45-9:05, 2nd year students will come from 9:05-9:25, and 3rd year students will attend from 9:25-9:45. Instructional support will focus on  different content area each day of the week. The schedule is below. Please have your child follow the schedule provided. Keeping a designated work/relaxation routine is beneficial for the whole family. Having a daily regimen will help your child feel secure and supported and give them a sense of normalcy in these strange times.

Open Meeting Schedule

M- Math

T- Language Arts

W- Cultural

Th- Writing

F- Any work you need help with!

Student Work

We received so much really wonderful student work this week! Thank you for being persistent in your efforts to upload and turn in work, because it has been such a pleasure opening the assignments and seeing the fabulous pieces that students have submitted. We feel like we got to know you all so much better through the work that your children produced this week. Thank you so much for sharing these awesome human beings with us! We love having each and everyone of them in our shared community!

ItsLearning-assignments

We understand that navigating the ItsLearning platform has not been easy for most. We too have had difficulty using the platform but can assure you that it does get easier the more you practice. This week, students will have assignments to work on under the "plans" tab in the ItsLearning portal. 

1st Year Students 

The Story of the Coming of the Universe-Due 8/31

Solar System-Due 9/11

Arithmetic- Count to 100!-Due 9/4

ELA-Journal Writing-Due Daily

2nd Year Students 

The Story of the Coming of the Universe-Due 8/31

Moon- Due 9/4

Arithmetic- Static Addition- Due 9/4

ELA-Journal Writing- Due Daily

3rd Year Students 

The Story of the Coming of the Universe-Due 8/31

Stars- Due 9/11

Arithmetic- Repeated Addition/Multiplication Due 9/4

ELA-Journal Writing-Due Daily

Turning In Assignments

Students should not worry about all of the assignments listed under "Tasks" on the ItsLearning platform! That area shows the assignments for ALL students in the class, not just your student. Unlike last week, students will find THEIR assignments under the "plans" tab on Itslearning. When turning in assignments, students should use the "plans" tab, find your assignment, click on "answer assignment" tab at the bottom of the assignment, then click on the "more options" tab in the toolbox and choose the square icon with mountains to add a picture of their work.

EIP Meetings

Parents who have students in EIP have received an email from Ms. Carolina. She will see students on Thursdays and the link to her small group math and reading lessons is located on the calendar on the Learning Community in ItsLearning. 

Explorations

Explorations began last Monday and for the most part went very smoothly. All links to Explorations classes are located in the Calendar on the Learning Community ItsLearning page. Please use the link provided for your child depending on whether they are a BlueJay or a Cardinal. 

Writing Lessons

There are no Explorations courses on Wednesday. Instead, students will attend a writing lesson by using the Zoom link provided in the calendar section of the Learning Community course page. 

GEP

Ms. Beverly and Ms. Maria will begin GEP classes this week. Their links are added to our calendar on ItsLearning. You should have been contacted by one of the GEP teachers if your child is in GEP.

Spirit Night at Chipotle

Please join us sometime from 4-8pm on Tuesday, September 1 to support Charles Ellis Montessori PTA. Bring the flyer or show it to the cashier on your smartphone and 33% of sales will be donated to the PTA. Click the link below to view the flyer on Peach Jar. Go Bobcats!

Spirit Night at Chipotle

Dates to Remember 

9/1/20----Spirit Night at Chipotle 4-8pm

9/7/20---------Labor Day (No School!)

10/9/20--------Fall Break (No School!)

The Week of August 23

 The Weekly Newsletter

What a wonderful week in The Learning Community! Despite technical glitches and a few human errors (oops😅) we made it through and even got to know each other a little better! We had such a great time hearing from all of our old and new friends alike! We hope that students are getting comfortable with ItsLearning and can soon navigate the platform on their own. As we begin to get more familiar with the ItsLearning platform and all it has to offer, we are excited to share our next steps in the community building curriculum.  

ItsLearning

Students will have five assignments to complete this week. They are located on the right side of the Learning Community course on the  ItsLearning  platform. Please login to ItsLearning, click on The Learning Community under courses, then look to the right side of the page and find the assignments under "Tasks". Students should choose one of the five assignments to complete daily. They can be done in any order, but one task should be completed each day, as all of the assignments are due by Friday, August 28.  We have decided to start slow and ease into the school year,  so students can take their time and do their best work on these assignments. The focus should be on creativity and making meaningful connections to the work being done. If your child chooses to rush through the creative process please have them go back and take their time in order to create a piece work of which they can be proud. 

When turning in assignments, students should click on "answer assignment" tab at the bottom of the assignment, then click on the "more options" tab in the toolbox and choose the square icon with mountains to add a picture of their work.

SCCPSS Devices

If your child borrowed an SCCPSS device and they were unable to take pictures with it, the district informed us that they corrected the issue. Your child should now be able to take pictures of their work to submit on the ItsLearning platform.

Morning Meeting-Breakout Groups

We will continue to have morning meetings everyday at 8:30 and the link will be accessible on the Learning Community calendar in ItsLearning. Students will attend breakout rooms and the meeting is expected to last about an hour each morning.  Our read-alouds will now be a part of our morning meetings, so this week there will not be any afternoon read-aloud meetings. 

Explorations

Explorations begin on Monday. All links to Explorations classes are located in the Calendar on the Learning Community ItsLearning page. Please use the link provided for your child depending on whether they are a BlueJay or a Cardinal. There are no Explorations courses on Wednesday. Instead, students will attend a writing lesson by using the Zoom link provided in the calendar section of the Learning Community course page. 

GEP

Although GEP classes were set to start this week, they will be delayed until next week. Please stay tuned for more information coming from Ms. Beverly and Ms. Maria. 

Thank You

Thank you to all of you for your patience and your support. We know that starting the school year virtually has not been easy for your families and we appreciate the grace that has been extended to us as we try hard to get the school year underway. Please know that we are here to assist you and your child in any way necessary to make this transition to online learning easier for you all. Please reach out to us with questions or concerns and we will do our best to answer them.

Dates to Remember 

9/7/20---------Labor Day (No School!)

10/9/20--------Fall Break (No School!)

Weekly Newsletter Week of August 16

The Week of August 16

A NOTE FROM YOUR PRINCIPAL

“We see the figure of the child who stands before us with his arms held open beckoning humanity to follow” 

Dr. Maria Montessori  Education and Peace

Dear Charles Ellis Montessori Academy families, 

I am excited to begin a new school year with all of our children, families and staff. 

Dr. Montessori always directed Montessori guides to “Follow the Child” and that is what I encourage you to do as we travel these byways and highways of learning. At times we may feel that we are on a high speed autobahn, but as we start our travels I think it is critical to begin with a stroll, hand in hand, down a quiet country lane. As we take this slow walk, it is important that we take time to stop and truly observe the developing child and young adult. Can you see the “wheels turning”? All learning begins with the curiosity of the mind, and it is our job as adults to introduce our children to the wonders of our world.  

On a logistical note, it is our intention to slowly integrate itsLearning over the course of the next several weeks and we will be here to take this journey with you, hand in hand and step by step.  We feel that by doing so it will make our back to school experience more pleasant and instill confidence in our children and community stakeholders. We are excited to transition into full integration of the Learning Management System as we work together to learn the powerful features and supports/resources in the itsLearning platform. Please see below the letter from your teacher with instructions on how to connect to your learning community on the first day of school. 

I am grateful for your continued support of our staff as we work to serve our children. Together we must maintain faith in the child to guide us towards a peaceful tomorrow.

Peace,Ms. Tanya

A NOTE FROM YOUR TEACHERS

Hello Families! 

The first day of school is fast approaching and we know that many questions remain! Prior to the first day of school, we are offering a Meet and Greet this coming Monday, August 17, 2020 5:30-6:15 via Zoom.  The link for the meeting will be sent out via email.  This is for parents and students to come and meet/see their community.  If there are any questions or concerns, we will do our best to answer them during this time.  We do ask that you remain muted and if you have a question or a comment that you simply use the “raise your hand” function in Zoom and we will call on you. This will help us mitigate a chaotic meeting. We are looking forward to The Learning Community Meet and Greet!   

As Ms.Tanya mentioned above, we are giving information on how the first day of school is going to look for The Learning Community.  We will not be logging in to itsLearning for at least the first few days , if not the first two weeks. Once we have more information on student login usernames and passwords, they  will be sent out to families.  We will be sending out a Zoom link via email and Remind, that will be our recurring morning meeting link for the remainder of virtual learning, unless we have to change it for some reason, and we will let you know if that happens.  Eventually we will be adding all Zoom links in the itsLearning platform so that everything is in one place and easy to access.  The first day of school morning meeting, at 8:30, will consist of a whole group meeting, and then at least three breakout rooms where the children will be split up into three groups with a teacher facilitating each of the smaller group meetings.  The meeting/meetings will consist of ice breakers and community building.  We anticipate this first meeting to last about an hour total. We will come back together in the afternoon at 12:15, via another Zoom link, for a whole group read aloud.  Here are some links to different activities your child can engage in while not in meetings with us: 

Rules of the Digital Classroom 

Peace Out

Movement/Dance

Have Books Read to You!

Times Table Song

Finger Knitting 

Butter Churning

Water Color Painting

Below, we are posting the amended daily schedule that will begin after the first two weeks of school. Please keep in mind that your child will not necessarily be on the computer the entire work period.  You will be able to view weekly expectations on their ItsLearning platform a week ahead of time so that you know if they will be needed in live Zooms or not.  Some students will have standing “appointments” with Ms. Kathy and/or Ms. Carolina, and those will be posted ahead of time as well. 

Patience will be crucial for our success with a new learning platform and new expectations.   We understand that scheduling work/school will be a challenge for many families and we will be happy to work with you, on an individual basis, to negotiate the best plan for your family we can.   Please keep us abreast of any issues or questions that you have throughout these first few weeks so that we can work together to make this the finest educational experience possible for all involved.  Please know that we are not withholding any information from families.  We are giving out information as soon as we receive it and are able to process it into a cohesive plan.  This is a rapidly evolving situation we find ourselves in, please trust that we are doing our best to keep you informed!   We look forward to seeing you on Monday!

Please click on the link to view the amended schedule!

The Learning Community Virtual Learning Schedule

Weekly Newsletter- Week of August 9, 2020

Welcome Families! We are looking forward to seeing all of your children in our first meeting on Wednesday August 19, 2020! Please be on the lookout for more information on how to get to the meeting. It’s already been a whirlwind of a week for us! We’ve been attending trainings on the new platform that students will be using for virtual learning, called It’s Learning. It appears to be all encompassing in that we will be able to post all lessons, videos, correspondence, and even video conferencing will take place on the platform in place of Zoom! Because this is a new platform for all, we ask for your patience and grace as we navigate these new tools and deepen our understanding of the platform. We have also been very busy planning with the Lower Elementary team on a cohesive plan with overarching themes and we are very happy with the results.    

We loved hearing from the families and are so eager to see your children and get to know them! We are also looking forward to seeing our returning friends! We hope to spend the first two weeks building community and getting to know one another before we fully immerse ourselves in the academic schedule we’ve prepared. Those of you that are new to The Learning Community may not be aware that we are Blue Jays and Cardinals!  There are times when our community needs to be split by roster, therefore students on Ms. Jazmin’s roster are the Cardinals and students on Ms. Marianne’s roster are the Blue Jays.  It is important that your child knows if they are a Blue Jay or a Cardinal. If you are unsure, please send us an email or Remind and we’ll let you know! 

If you have not done so already, please update your child’s student verification online. You should have received an email from the district with the following link: https://share.peachjar.com/flyers/1009044/schools/67128

Below we are posting the amended "community building" schedule for the first two weeks of school and below that you will find the schedule for the remaining time of virtual learning.  Please keep in mind that schedules are subject to change based on the needs that may arise within our community. During the work periods students will be asked via the It's Learning platform to watch video lessons and do follow up work. We hope to see each student at the daily Morning Meeting. This serves as a daily check in as well as a way to maintain attendance in virtual school. The "Open Meetings" are held daily immediately after the Morning Meeting and are there for your child to ask for help on lessons received or follow up work they are trying to complete. They are not required to join the open meeting unless they need/want to. The afternoon work period includes two GEP blocks and those only affect students that are part of the gifted program. GEP students will attend one block per day. The remaining students may be called for small group lessons and intervention, and those will appear on their It's Learning platform.

We want all families to know that we are here to best support you and your children during this time. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any concerns whatsoever. We can only provide support if we know that it is needed. Our office hours are from 7:15 a.m. -8:00 a.m. Monday-Friday, but you may email us any time outside of those hours as well. It is our hope that the day is near that we are able to safely be face to face with your children and guide them in person.

We hope to have more specific information regarding the It's Learning platform for you in our next newsletter that will be published next Sunday. We thank you for your patience as we embark on this journey together!