The GMA Gazette

Ms. Andrea DiPasquale served as the Assistant Teacher in the Willow classroom last Spring and is stepping into the role of Lead Teacher in the Sapling classroom this Fall. She is the mom of a 12 year old boy and 9 year old girl, who have both attended GMA since 1st grade; and also the mom of a sweet fur-baby, Pheobe. She's been involved in the Montessori world for the last 8 years, and has a passion for the philosophy, and guiding young children slong in their education journey. In her free time, she enjoys being with her family and dog, practicing yoga, and learning about the many people and topics life has to offer! She is so excited to partner with your family in this upcoming school year!

Ms. Rhea Artus is joining our Pre-K team this year in the Sapling classroom. She is from the Philippines and arrived here in The United States on Saint Patrick's Day of 2022, one month after marrying the love of her life. Since arriving in the USA, she has worked hard to graduate with an American GED and earned her drivers license. She is excited for this opportunity at GMA, and is very excited to be part of the team. She loves beaches, camping, gardening, cooking, painting, & crafts.

Ms. Jennifer Malkemus is overjoyed to be joining the staff at GMA. She is the parent of one of our Upper Elementary students and has been a part of the GMA community for years. She enjoys traveling, most outdoor activities, strength training, and hard core obstacle courses. When she is inside, she enjoys reading, drawing, puzzles, and theatre.

Ms. Karen Najjar is excited to join our Middle Elementary team this Fall. She comes to us from Carmel, where she taught K-5 students as the Computer Lab teacher. She’s also spent time working in the resource department. Karen lives in Westfield with her husband, three adult children, and two dogs. Her hobbies include writing music, theater, and gardening. She’s excited to be a part of the team at GMA!

Ms. Samantha Trent is joining our team as the Assistant Teacher in the Sassafras classroom. Her daughter is also new to GMA in Lower Elementary. Ms. Samantha loves spending time with her 6-year-old daughter, Riley, and her husband, Ryan. She has a dog named Laika and a cat named Floyd. She served on active duty in the Marine Corps and then obtained a Bachelor's degree in Health Sciences. Currently, she is learning how to ice skate and play the violin!

Ms. Emily Thompson earned her BS in Communications with a minor in Psychology from St. Mary's College in South Bend, IN. After college, she fell in love with Montessori and began her Lower Elementary Teaching certification in the Midwest Montessori Teacher Training Center (MMTTC). Last summer, she returned to MMTTC to add her Upper Elementary Montessori teaching certification. She is now fully certified in both!

Through training she's learned that possibilities and opportunities are abundant, so long as you are willing to learn from your mistakes. She is looking forward to being an Upper Elementary Teacher this coming school year.

Ms. Emily loves to learn and feels like she learns something new every day. She loves to read, enjoys being outside (especially when it's warm), going for walks, and swimming/ floating. Her absolute favorite summer activity is waterskiing! She is passionate about Maria Montessori and her teachings and she is excited that she gets to be a part of her legacy.

Ms. Alexandria Ippolito is excited to be the new middle school teacher at GMA this year. This will be her first full year teaching, but she comes to us with experience as a 6th and 8th grade science teacher in Texas. She compeleted her degree in Education from the University of Texas where she was able to work as a teacher while she completed her student teaching hours. She describes her teaching style as "centered around creating an inclusive and safe environment where every student feels heard and respected." In her free time she likes to travel with her husband and 3 children and enjoy a good book!

Ms. Katherine Najjar is joining our team as the Assistant Teacher for 7th and 8th grade. She is 26 years old with a degree in Media Arts and Science currently pursuing a Transition To Teaching Special Education Certificate from Indiana Wesleyan University. She lives with her family and two dogs in Westfield. As a former Montessori student, Ms. Katherine is excited to begin her journey with us at GMA!

Ms. Kim Bui has been a part of the GMA team for more than 12 incredible years. During that time, she has worn many hats - classroom assistant, resource assistant, classroom lead teacher. This year, she is taking on a new challenge as a General Education Interventionist to work with students in grades K-8 to help them grow even stronger as readers, writers, and mathematicians. In her free time Ms. Kim enjoys exploring new places and getting lost in a good book.

Ms. Ava Hampton worked as the Assistant Teacher in the Maple classroom last year. This year, she is taking on a new role at GMA as a Special Area teacher for our newest class - Environmental Studies! She is exited to now step into this new role! Ms. Ava graduated from Eastern Kentucky University with a degree in Wildlife Management with a concentration in Environmental Education. She is a McCordsville local and loves teaching others about the environment. She is looking forward to making connections and inspiring all of our students throughout this upcoming school year!

Due to the volume of cars and traffic in the parking lot for schoolwide events, we have decided to split our Meet the Teacher event into two separate nights this year.

All 1st-8th grade students and families should plan to attend on Monday, August 5. Families are invited to visit classrooms and drop off supplies from 5:00-6:30 pm that evening.

At 6:30 pm on Monday, August 5, parents are invited to join school leaders in the gymnasium for a session called Parenting a Montessori Student. This will be a short, 30 minute presentation on how you can partner with us in your child's education by incorporating some simple Montessori ideas in your home. This session will either be made available virtually through a Google Meet or recorded for families who are unable to attend. 1st-8th grade GMA students will stay in their classrooms with their teachers and new classmates to participate in a fun activity during this session. Unfortunately, childcare will not be available for younger or non-GMA students.

All Pre-K and Kindergarten students and families should plan to meet their teachers on Tuesday, August 6. Families are invited to visit classrooms and drop off supplies from 5:00-6:30 pm that evening.

Are you ready to start shopping for school supplies? The lists for each age band can be found below!

There may be a few items requested by individual teachers once class lists are published. The lists below are standard for each age band level.

Once again this year, families will be able to login to view classroom assignments through PowerSchool. A OneCall message will be sent once this information is live after 4:00 pm on Friday, August 2.

Remember, GMA does not allow parents to request specific classroom placement or teachers for their child(ren). Please keep in mind that our team spends several hours working to develop class lists that are designed to be as diverse, intentional, and supportive of all students' needs as possible. School leadership reserves the right to make changes to classroom placement as needed throughout the year.

The PTA has been busy this summer and is ready to get started for the 2024-2025 school year!

JOIN THE PTA
This PTA is working hard to build a strong foundation to support our students and teachers, and to create an even better GMA for our kids! We want to be an inclusive, diverse, and open community and to do so, we need our families to JOIN US!!!

August 5 and August 6 The Executive Team will be at Meet the Teacher night for both nights. We will have school swag available for order and will be helping everyone sign up for the 2024-2025 PTA!

Breakfast for Teachers
August 7, 2024 – 8 am – PTA will provide teachers with breakfast and will tell them a bit about our plans for the year! We need help providing breakfast for 51 staff members! Items can be dropped off on August 6 during the back to school event or can be brought at 7:45am August 7. Sign up to donate here!

KROGER COMMUNITY REWARDS Log in to your Kroger Account. Then Search for Geist Montessori Academy PTA or RW689 and make the PTA your charity of choice! Then all you have to do is shop at Kroger and the PTA will get some donations! PLEASE NOTE: If you had already had the previous PTO as your community rewards organization, you MUST change to the new organization; we had to get a new Tax ID and 501c3 and the old account is lost to us. Sign up here!

PTA WEBSITE
Check out our brand new website to join the PTA, submit ideas, see upcoming events, view teacher wish lists and much more! Click here!

PTA MEETING

August 27, 2024 at 3:45 PM in the Basswood (music) Room

🚗🚗IMPORTANT CHANGES FOR CARLINE THIS FALL🚗🚗

Beginning this Fall, the following changes will take place for arrival and dismissal on campus:

• Families will be assigned a specific color for their car line tag. We will use one color for our Early Childhood line and another color for our 1st-8th grade line.
• All Pre-K and Kindergarten students must be dropped off in the Early Childhood car line which will run from 8:00-8:15 am. Older siblings of these students may also be dropped off in this car line. Pre-K and Kindergarten students will be marked tardy if they arrive after 8:15 am.
• All students in grades 1-8 without younger siblings in Pre-K or Kindergarten must be dropped off in the second car line which will run from 8:20-8:35 am. These students will be marked tardy if they arrive after 8:35 am.
• All Pre-K and Kindergarten students without older siblings in the building must be picked up in the first afternoon car line between 3:00-3:15 pm. Pre-K/Kindergarten students with older siblings in the building should be picked up in the second car line, which opens at 3:20 pm.
• All students in grades 1-8, and those Pre-K/Kindergarten students with siblings in these grade levels must be picked up in the second afternoon car line between 3:20-3:35 pm.
• Families picking children up in the first line may not line up until 2:50 pm at the earliest. 1st-8th grade car line families may not line up before 3:15 pm.
• All students must be picked up no later than 3:35 pm unless they are registered for The Grove.

This Fall, no one will be permitted to line up early for any car line. Due to the volume of traffic and the need to run two seperate car lines through the serpentine pattern, we will require all families to abide by the updated expectations. Please plan accordingly and do not arrive on campus before your scheduled drop off or pick up time because you will be asked to leave in order to keep traffic flowing for everyone.

Thank you for understanding and cooperating with our staff during car line times!

The application for The Grove 2024-25, GMA's before and after school program went live on June 21. Spots in this program are expected to fill up quickly, so please fill out this application as soon as possible if you're interested in your student(s) attending before or after school care. Spots are limited at each age level and will be filled on a first come, first served basis. Ms. Kayla will be reaching out to all families who fill out an application to inform them of next steps. Reach out to kcommons@gma.k12.in.us with any questions!

8/5 - Meet the Teachers - grades 1-8 only, 5:00-6:30 pm

8/5 - Parenting a Montessori Student, 6:30-7:00 pm (RSVP here!)

8/6 - Early Childhood Meet the Teachers - Pre-K and Kindergarten only - 5:00-6:30 pm

8/8 - First Day of School

8/12-16 - Fall NWEA Testing, K-8th grade

8/27 - PTA General Assembly Meeting, 3:45 pm in the Basswood room

9/2 - Labor Day, no school

10/9-10 - Parent Teacher Conferences

10/10-11 - Early Release Days

10/14-18 - Fall Break, no school

10/25 - PTA Fall Festival

We use OneCall Now as our mass communication system to send out alerts, updates, and school-wide communication such as The GMA Gazette. Most communications are sent through email, with a text alert to notify you that something has been sent from GMA.

When school is closed or delayed due to inclement weather, especially in the unpredictable Indiana winters, it is important that families receive the notification quickly and easily. The best way to ensure that you don't miss an announcement from GMA is to sign up for text alerts!

It's simple to sign up. Just text the word alert to 22300. That's it!

Please contact Ms. Beth at blarock@gma.k12.in.us if you have questions or need to add an additional phone number or email address to our OneCall Now system.