Thursday, June 5, 2014

Sunflowers & Elementary: Summer Update From Ms. Katie



Hello, parents and families!

We have almost made it through the first week of school and it has been awesome.  The kids love their new, larger spaces and we are looking forward to a lovely summer.   Our garden is in and we are just waiting for our little plants to come up.  The classrooms and materials have been altered to accommodate the season.  A summer filled with activities, field trips and fun is upon us.  Thank you for sharing your children with us the summer!

We've begun referring to the former church building as "Sunflower South." All of the kids in that building see and socialize with all of the children in the whole building every day. Class assignments are for the purpose of dividing the group for swimming and field trips only.  We have split the Sunflower South kids into two evenly-mixed age groups for when we leave the school.  We have done this so the bigger children will be able to assist and mentor the younger children, especially when walking on the rope. 


Alyssa will be assisted by Jordan and Maddie.  Maddie is in her final year at the university and is pursuing a teaching certificate.  Jordan has lots of experience with kids and is a basketball coach to little kiddos.  Alyssa will be taking time off to get her Montessori credential in Kalispell this summer.  She will take an intensive training course which will then be followed by a one year internship.  She will be covered by Madison (who will be taking the training in the fall) while she is out.  


Sam will be assisted by Ellis and Rachelle.  Ellis was an assistant to Alyssa during the school year.  Rachelle just finished her student teaching and will be here for the summer before returning to teaching. Sam will be going on tour for a week in June and then will go to help her family during harvest in August and will be covered by Madison while she is away. Please introduce yourself to the new staff.  They love it!  


In addition, we have created one very small group of children who will be with Indima. These children are the youngest and smallest children who will be attending the swimming lessons.  This group will be allotted extra time for walking and dressing so as to avoid unnecessary rushing.  Indima will be assisted by Casey and Ellen.  Ellen was Indima’s afternoon assistant during the school year.  Casey just graduated from Frenchtown High and will be attending the University in the fall.  He was one of my very first Montessori students over 15 years ago and has two younger siblings who attend Sunflower. Indima will be taking two weeks off in June for continuing education.  Her shift will be covered by Cheryl when she is gone.  Cheryl is the support person for the children and teachers of the Sunflower building.

Alyssa’s kids will swim on Tuesday.  Indima’s kids will swim on Wednesday and Sam’s kids will swim on Thursday. On swim lesson days please send your child wearing their swimsuit under their clothes.  Please send your child to school with sunscreen applied.  We will reapply as needed.  Each child will need a backpack, a water bottle, a change of clothes and a plastic bag to put their wet swimsuit in when they are done swimming.   We leave the school promptly at 9am on swim and field trip days.  Swimming lessons start at 10am.  The kids are instructed for ½ hour, then have an additional ½ hour for free swim.  We like to have at least two parent volunteers for each outing, so please sign up by the sign in and out area.  It is very fun for your kid and a great way to be involved.



Thanks for reading this and have a great day!  

Feel free to call me with questions or ideas at 531-0994.

-Katie

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