Weekly Newsletter

Culture Fest! Feb 27 6:30-7:30

Ellis families are invited to share their cultural traditions with our community. There is a 3-minute time limit. You can add your video at this Flipgrid. These videos will be shown during the Culture Fest Event.

Jennifer Wolfe is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting.

Topic: Culturefest

Time: Feb 25, 2021 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://sccpss.zoom.us/j/94822506606?pwd=MUJZRXlLcGZSRXlGbXp0SnlYV085QT09

Meeting ID: 948 2250 6606

Passcode: Culture

Amira Testing-Tuesday!

All students will need to login and complete Amira testing on Tuesday. Please view this video to familiarize yourself with Amira testing.

The students will be assessed on the following 2 components:

Dyslexia screening (length of the assessment: 9 minutes). The screening has been tailored to meet the requirements of the GA dyslexia screening.

Oral Reading Fluency (same assessment the children took before Thanksgiving break). The length of this portion depends on the student's reading level and skill.

REMINDERS FOR STUDENTS:

• Choose a quiet place
• Do your best
• Keep reading- do not wait for AMIRA to catch up with you
• Wait until AMIRA has saved your work, if not the assessment will have to be taken again.

Reading & Math practice 3x a week!

i-Ready Schedule

Tuesday- Math 30 mins

Thursday- Reading 30 mins

Friday- Your Choice! 30 mins

A Note from the Teachers

Due dates are not set in stone. They help to keep students progressing forward, but we are very flexible with them. We emphasize quality over quantity, and because students learn through practice, we do not expect perfection. Once the lesson is given, students will work on an assignment repeatedly before mastering a skill and many mistakes are made. We never expect a student to have correct work the first few times they work on it.  All of that is part of the learning process. This is why we don't give grades.  It is about the process of truly learning over a period of time. When your students complete work and turn it in with mistakes, then we know what skills need to be addressed again. If your child is having difficulty with an assignment, they can always meet us during office hours. If we receive a message ahead of time, we will be prepared to help your student with whatever skill needs to be addressed.

Office Hours

1-1:30 Daily

For family members who have any questions or concerns, we would like to offer office hours from 1-1:30. Please join our Zoom using the morning meeting link. That link never changes, so if you or your child ever need to meet with us, the morning meeting link should be used.

Students Return to the Building

Students in Cohorts A and B will begin returning to the building on February 22. Some scheduling changes will occur when students return.

Wednesdays will be synchronous for all. This means that all students will attend morning meetings and then Science Club on Wednesdays.

All students will have Explorations daily. The time has changed to 10:20-11:05.

Ms. Kathy’s reading schedule will change. Students in cohorts A and B will only read with Ms. Kathy when they are in the building. Students in cohort C (fully virtual) will have a new schedule and it will be given to each student individually.

Cohort A Calendar

Cohort B Calendar 

When hybrid students return to the building it is important that they bring the following with them daily:

Fully Charged Chromebook

Headphones

At least two masks

Water Bottle

Montessori materials made at home

Work Journal

Pencils, Scissors, Glue, and something to color with(crayons, colored pencils, markers)

Practical Life Totes

We are currently looking into creating practical life totes/kits for students to use on projects. To that end we are requesting Amazon e-gift cards so we can order supplies in bulk to ensure that we can keep the cost as low as possible. We appreciate any assistance in this endeavor. E-gift cards should be emailed to Jazmin.Corbell@sccpss.com or Marianne.Howze@sccpss.com.

Any remaining gift card money will be used solely for classroom materials.

GMAS Practice for 3rd Years

Third Year Students! In preparation for GMAS, Georgia Milestones Assessment System, we ask that you visit this link every week to familiarize yourself with the online tools that will be available to you when you are taking your End of Grade GMAS test this year. Watch this video I created that shows you how to get where you need to be!

https://www.loom.com/share/f29cf4be6563400a820fa302a741bbac

This is the link to practice the GMAS tools: http://gaexperienceonline.com/

Fungi eating nematodes.

Science Club 9am Wednesdays 

In order to give students a place to share their pictures, drawings, and other work, we have added a class on Seesaw. Students can share pictures and videos and view each other's posts! An email with instructions on how to join the class has been sent. Please sign your child into Seesaw using the device on which they complete school work. 

Lunch With The Teachers

We would like to invite all students to join us for lunch on Mondays and Fridays at 11:30. Please use the MM Zoom link to join. Hope to see and hear from lots of students then!

Open Meetings

All students are expected to attend open meetings after morning meetings for lessons.

Open Meeting Schedule

8:45-9:05 First Year Students

9:05-9:25 Second Year students

9:25-9:45 Third Year Students 

Dates to Remember

February 15- Planning Day-No School!

February 17 - Science Club!

February 21-27-International Montessori Ed. Week

February 22-Students return to the building.

February 25- Virtual Culture Fest 6:30-7:30

The Week of February 7th

 Weekly Newsletter

Practical Life Totes

We are currently looking into creating practical life totes/kits for students to use on projects. To that end we are requesting Amazon e-gift cards so we can order supplies in bulk to ensure that we can keep the cost as low as possible. We appreciate any assistance in this endeavor. E-gift cards should be emailed to Jazmin.Corbell@sccpss.com or Marianne.Howze@sccpss.com.

Any remaining gift card money will be used solely for classroom materials.

GMAS Practice for 3rd Years

Third Year Students! In preparation for GMAS, Georgia Milestones Assessment System, we ask that you visit this link every week to familiarize yourself with the online tools that will be available to you when you are taking your End of Grade GMAS test this year. Watch this video I created that shows you how to get where you need to be!

https://www.loom.com/share/f29cf4be6563400a820fa302a741bbac

This is the link to practice the GMAS tools: http://gaexperienceonline.com/

Reading & Math practice 3x a week!

i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual strengths and areas for growth. These lessons are interactive and provide strategic supports to keep your child engaged as they learn.

i-Ready testing is complete and students will begin using the platform this week to work on both math and reading skills. Students will log in to i-Ready through ItsLearning and should plan to work in each subject area 3 times a week. 

Science Club 9am Wednesdays 

Students learned all about fungi, with Professor John, during science club last week! In order to give students a place to share their pictures, drawings, and other work, we have added a class on Seesaw. Students can share pictures and videos and view each other's posts! An email with instructions on how to join the class has been sent. Please sign your child into Seesaw using the device on which they complete school work. 

Lunch With The Teachers *New Day*

We would like to invite all students to join us for lunch on Mondays and Fridays at 11:30. Please use the MM Zoom link to join. Hope to see and hear from lots of students then!

Boosterthon Dance Fit Prizes😁

We forgot to remind students to wear CRAZY HAIR to class last Friday, so students may wear CRAZY HAIR on Monday.

Crazy Hair Day! (2/8)

Office Hours

1-1:30 Daily

For family members who have any questions or concerns, we would like to offer office hours from 1-1:30. Please join our Zoom using the morning meeting link. That link never changes, so if you or your child ever need to meet with us, the morning meeting link should be used.

Open Meetings

All students are expected to attend open meetings after morning meetings for lessons.

Open Meeting Schedule

8:45-9:05 First Year Students

9:05-9:25 Second Year students

9:25-9:45 Third Year Students 

Dates to Remember

February 8 -Crazy Hair Day!

February 10 - Science Club!

February 15- Planning Day-No School!

The Week of January 31st

Weekly Newsletter

i-Ready!

We will continue to administer diagnostic assessments this week. *Please note we have amended the schedule to include 2 sessions per day. We hope to conclude testing by Wednesday afternoon.

What is i-Ready?

i-Ready is an online program that will help us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows us to meet your child where they are and provides us with data to inform instruction.

The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your child’s needs. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning.

i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual strengths and areas for growth. These lessons are interactive and provide strategic supports to keep your child engaged as they learn.

What can I do to help?

To help prepare your child for the i-Ready Diagnostic, encourage them to:

• Get a good night’s sleep and eat a full breakfast the day of the assessment.
• Try their best on each question and try not to rush.
•  Try not to worry about questions they do not know—remind them that it is expected they will get only about half of the questions correct. 
• You can learn more about i-Ready by visiting i-ReadyCentral.com/FamilyCenter 

**It is imperative that you not assist your child with the questions on the i-Ready diagnostic assessments. If you assist your child in answering questions, your child may be assigned lessons that are too easy or too difficult.**

This week, your child will be taking the i-Ready Reading Diagnostic. 

I-Ready Schedule 

Mon 2/1	Tues 2/2	Wed 2/3
8:45 am 3rd Years Reading	8:45 am 1st Years Reading
12 pm 2nd Years Reading	12 pm Make-ups/ Additional sessions	12 pm Make-ups/ Additional sessions

To take the assessment, your child will need to follow the login instructions linked here:  I-Ready Student Login Information

Science Club Returns!

Science club will have a new focus when it returns this Wednesday. We will have Science Club at 9 am Wednesday mornings. The link to the Zoom meeting will be available in the announcements on ItsLearning Wednesday morning.   

Lunch With The Teachers

We would like to invite all students to join us for lunch on Wednesdays and Fridays at 11:30. Hope to see and hear from lots of students then!

Boosterthon Dance Fit Prizes

We forgot to remind students to wear costumes to class last Friday, so students may wear costumes on Monday. Is Ms. Jazmin going to dress like a kid?

Wear a costume to class! (2/1

Crazy Hair Day! (2/5)

Open Meetings

We will have I-Ready assessments on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Students will attend open meetings on Thursday and Friday for lessons and community building. We love having this time to work with students in small groups!

Open Meeting Schedule

8:45-9:05 First Year Students

9:05-9:25 Second Year students

9:25-9:45 Third Year Students 

Dates to Remember

Feb 1-Feb 5- i-Ready Diagnostic Assessments

February 1- Wear a costume to class! (again)

February 3- Science Club!

February 5-Crazy Hair Day!

February 15- Planning Day-No School!

The Week of January 24th

 The Weekly Newsletter

i-Ready!

We will be administering diagnostic assessments 1/25-2/5.

We are excited to share that our district is implementing an instructional support program called i-Ready, especially to support students in the acquisition of Math and Reading skills. Below, you will find information about the program and how we will be using it in the classroom.

What is i-Ready?

i-Ready is an online program that will help us determine your child’s strengths and areas for growth, personalize their learning, and monitor their progress throughout the school year. i-Ready allows us to meet your child where they are and provides us with data to inform instruction.

The i-Ready Diagnostic is an adaptive assessment that adjusts its questions to suit your child’s needs. Each item a student receives is based on their answer to the previous question. For example, a series of correct answers will result in slightly harder questions, while a series of incorrect answers will yield slightly easier ones. The purpose of this is not to give your child a score or grade but to determine how to best support their learning.

i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual strengths and areas for growth. These lessons are interactive and provide strategic supports to keep your child engaged as they learn.

What can I do to help?

To help prepare your child for the i-Ready Diagnostic, encourage them to:

• Get a good night’s sleep and eat a full breakfast the day of the assessment.
•  Try their best on each question and try not to rush.
•  Try not to worry about questions they do not know—remind them that it is expected they will get only about half of the questions correct. 
• Use paper and pencil to work out math questions.

You can learn more about i-Ready by visiting i-ReadyCentral.com/FamilyCenter as well as the What is i-Ready document.

Preparing for the Diagnostic Assessment:

It is imperative that you not assist your child with the questions on the i-Ready diagnostic assessments. If you assist your child in answering questions, your child may be assigned lessons that are too easy or too difficult. 

The Lower Elementary Classes will be completing the assessment over the next 2 weeks. Your child will be taking diagnostic assessments in both Reading and Math. 

I-Ready Schedule 8:45 am

Mon 1/25	Tues  1/26	Wed 1/27	Mon  2/1	Tues 2/2	Wed 2/3
3rd Years Math	2nd Years Math	1st Years Math	3rd Years Reading	2nd Years Reading	1st Years Reading

The children will attend the morning meeting and will be required to stay in the Zoom meeting throughout this assessment.

To take the assessment, your child will need to follow the login instructions linked here:  I-Ready Student Login Information

Lunch With The Teachers

We would like to invite all students to join us for lunch on Wednesdays at 11:30. Hope to see and hear from lots of students on Wednesdays!

Boosterthon Dance Fit

Congratulations to the Cardinals and Blue Jays for doing a fantastic job raising money for the Charles Ellis PTA! Friday, we celebrated by wearing hats and having an unmuted morning meeting. That was an interesting experience! Students will receive a cool pencil and eraser when Boosterthon prizes are given out or we return to the building. The rest of the class incentives will happen as follows:

Wear a costume to class! (1/29)

Crazy Hair Day! (2/5)

Thank you for your support!

Don't miss Coach Lesley getting slimed at the PTA Meeting! The school raised over $10,000 so she will be getting slimed live at the PTA meeting Tuesday, January 26th.

Open Meetings

We will have I-Ready assessments on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Students will attend open meetings on Thursday and Friday for lessons and community building. We love having this time to work with students in small groups!

Open Meeting Schedule

8:45-9:05 First Year Students

9:05-9:25 Second Year students

9:25-9:45 Third Year Students 

Dates to Remember

Jan 25-Feb 5- i-Ready Diagnostic Assessments

January 26- PTA Meeting 6:30 pm

January 29- Wear a costume to class!

February 5-Crazy Hair Day!

February 15- Planning Day-No School!

The Week of January 17, 2021

 The Weekly Newsletter

3rd Grade Narrative Writing Pre-Assessment

We have scheduled the Narrative Writing Pre-Assessment on Tuesday from 9:25-10:30. Third year students will need to be logged in to Google Classroom Writing Scrimmage before joining the third year open meeting on Zoom. This pre-assessment should take about an hour to complete. 

i-Ready!

SCCPSS is implementing an online instructional program called i-Ready to support students in the acquisition and enhancement of Math and Reading skills. i-Ready Instruction provides students with lessons based on their individual strengths and areas for growth. These lessons are interactive and provide strategic support, to keep your child engaged as they learn. We will be administering diagnostic assessments 1/25-2/5. More information and a schedule will provided to you in an email. 

Boosterthon Dance Fit

Register your student at www.funrun.com and share your page link with family and friends.

Boosterthon has partnered with Just Dance to bring a Dance Fit event which will take place on January 20, 2021. Students will meet virtually with their favorite Booster teammates, earn prizes for pledges, and have lots of fun dancing! We have met 32% of the PTA's goal of $18,000 to help fund teacher grants, student experiences, and school materials that enhance the Montessori learning environment at Ellis.

Our entire community will be rewarded with the prizes below for receiving pledges! The Blue Jays and Cardinals are tied at $24 per minute of dancing during the Dance Fit Event on Wednesday. That means they have already won the first 3 prizes on our community pledge-o-meter!

$5 Cool pencils and erasers!

$10 Wear a hat to class!

$20 Wear a costume to class!

$30 Crazy Hair Day!

$40 Unmuted Morning Meeting!

$50 Lunch with the teachers!

$60 Teachers Dress up- Your choice!

$70 Teachers get pied in the face!

$80 Skip any assignment but writing!

Thank you for your support!

Open Meetings

As usual, all students are required to attend Open Meetings after the Morning Meetings on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for lessons and community building. We love having this time to work with students in small groups!

Open Meeting Schedule

8:45-9:05 First Year Students

9:05-9:25 Second Year students

9:25-9:45 Third Year Students 

Dates to Remember

January 18- MLK Jr. Day- No School!

January 19- 3rd Year Narrative Writing Assessment

January 20- Virtual Boosterthon Event

Jan 25-Feb 5- i-Ready Diagnostic Assessments

January 26- PTA Meeting 6:30 pm

The Week of January 10th

 The Weekly Newsletter

Although we were saddened to hear that we will not be able to see students in person, we are committed to making sure that our community stays safe. SCCPSS Schools to continue with Virtual Learning January 11th due to community spread of COVID-19.

SCCPSS students will continue Virtual Learning on January 11th and remain in that Learning Mode until at least one of three COVID-19 community spread indicators moves out of the red zone for 14 days.

Boosterthon Dance Fit

The Boosterthon, the PTA's largest fundraiser of the year, has begun!

Register your student at www.funrun.com and share your page link with family and friends.

The program is virtual this year. Boosterthon has partnered with Just Dance to bring a Dance Fit event which will take place on January 20, 2021. Students will meet virtually with their favorite Booster teammates, earn prizes (check them out below!) for pledges, and have lots of fun dancing! The PTA's goal is $18,000 to help fund teacher grants, student experiences, and school materials to enhance the Montessori learning environment at Ellis.

www.funrun.com

Thank you for your support!

Open Meetings

As usual, all students are required to attend Open Meetings after the Morning Meetings on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday for lessons and community building. We love having this time to work with students in small groups!

Open Meeting Schedule

8:45-9:05 First Year Students

9:05-9:25 Second Year students

9:25-9:45 Third Year Students 

Dates to Remember

January 18- MLK Jr. Day- No School!

January 20- Virtual Boosterthon Event

January 26- PTA Meeting 6:30pm

The Week of January 3

 The Weekly Newsletter

Welcome Back!

We hope you and your family had a restful break.  The first week back will be virtual for all children. We look forward to seeing many students back inside Ellis on January 11th.  We will be staying on our current schedule in January.  Those children that are in the building will receive grade level lessons live with social distance.  We are certain that the new hybrid model will take time to adjust to.  Some changes to the schedule might need to be made as we progress. We will keep you updated.

*This Friday, 1/8/2020 we will not have our regularly scheduled meetings due a mandatory district training for teachers. Students will need to get on ItsLearning for the morning announcement and read-aloud.

Science Club 

Science Club is moving to a monthly schedule. More information on this to come.

This Week

There will be journaling and math assignments posted this week. When these are completed, students can catch up on any past due assignments.

Next Week

On Monday, January 11 students in cohort A will return to the school building for in-person learning. Thursday, January 14 students in cohort B will return to the building for in-person learning. All students are required to have their own water bottle upon return. Please send an extra mask in your child's bookbag. Only students with district devices will need to bring them to the building, fully charged, when they return. Please send in all necessary school supplies in your child's bookbag. Thank you!

Boosterthon Dance Fit

PTA distributed FREE t-shirts to students and teachers for our upcoming Boosterthon Dance Fit fundraiser. This year will be a virtual event, but students will have a daily Zoom call with their favorite Booster-teammates, earn prizes for gathering pledges, and have a rocking good time as they dance, dance, dance (a partnership with Just Dance). Please register your child and share the link with friends and family. Registration is open now! We’ll have the official Kick-off on January 8, and Dance Fit will be held January 20. This is our largest fundraiser and helps fund teacher and student grants!

www.funrun.com

Open Meetings

All students are required to attend Open Meetings after the Morning Meetings on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Open Meeting Schedule

8:45-9:05 First Year Students

9:05-9:25 Second Year students

9:25-9:45 Third Year Students 

Dates to Remember

January 4- Staff Planning Day- No School for Students!

January 5-8- e-Learning Days

January 8- PTA Boosterthon Kick-Off

January 11- Cohort A returns in-person to school

January 14- Cohort B returns in-person to school

January 18- MLK Jr. Day- No School!

January 20- Virtual Boosterthon Event