MMA Montessori Moments
October 22nd, 2018
A message from our school counselor, Ms. Andrea
Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other’s eyes for an instant? - Henry David Thoreau
Empathy and Emotional Literacy
In June, I was privileged to meet Dr. Michelle Borba, an internationally renowned educational psychologist and the author of the book Unselfie: Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World. She makes a strong case for the importance of teaching empathy as a skill to our children. Dr. Borba writes, “the ability to empathize affects our kids’ future health, wealth, authentic happiness, relationship satisfaction, and ability to bounce back from adversity. It promotes kindness, prosocial behaviors, and moral courage, and it is an effective antidote to bullying, aggression, prejudice, and racism. Empathy is also a positive predictor of children’s reading and math test scores and critical thinking skills, prepares kids for the global world, and gives them a job market boost.”
The first step in developing empathy is emotional literacy, which is the ability to recognize emotions in ourselves and others.
Here are some strategies that you can use at home with your children to teach emotional literacy;
Build a feeling vocabulary. Teach and use a large variety of words to describe emotions and use them in context. Go beyond happy, sad, angry, etc. and try words like joyful, dejected, furious, etc.
Decode non-verbal cues. Help kids understand both your body language and their own.
Watch silent pictures. Turn off the sound on the television and try guessing how the actors feel based on their body language.
Use baby books. Look at family photo albums with your children and have them look at pictures of themselves and others as babies and guess how the baby feels.
Be “feeling detectives”. Go people watching at the mall or the park or the grocery store and try to guess people’s emotions without hearing conversations.
Use more emotion words - especially with boys. Research shows that we use many more emotion words with girls than we do with boys, so we need to be mindful about talking with boys about feelings. Helpful hint: boys are more likely to talk while engaged in another activity.
Read books and watch movies with emotional themes. Use them to discuss the feelings and motivations of the characters.
Create or use “How do you feel?” cards. Some kids find it easier to open communication with a visual cue. You can make your own, or there are various products available online.
Thank you
Picture Day is on Monday
MMA Basketball Team
Box Top Store is this Wednesday
Afternoon Pick Up Concerns
Parents as Partners in the IEP Process Workshop
Thursday, Nov 1, 2018, 06:00 PM
Maria Montessori Academy, North 200 East, Ogden, UT, USA
Pizza Friday- Collection Day Changed
Pizza money collection days has CHANGED to Tuesdays!
Thank you for supporting our school efforts with fundraising and Pizza Fridays. Money will be collected on Tuesdays rather than Wednesdays and money will be submitted to the office. Please be mindful of the times that money is being collected for your child's classroom, in case they forget their money.
TeacherDayTime
Jalee/ Krista -- 9:00am
Mikaela/ Jill -- 9:30am
Holly/ Brittany -- 10:00am
Christina/ Kaley -- 10:30am
Karen/ Amy -- 11:00am
Laura/ John -- 11:30am
Shanan/ Amity -- 12:00pm
Kirsten/ Kotie -- 1:00pm
Advisory- Andria -- 2:30pm
Advisory- Casey -- 2:30pm
Advisory- Michelle -- 2:30pm
Advisory- Adrian -- 2:30pm
Advisory- Lisa -- 2:30pm
Advisory- Leigh -- 2:30pm
Advisory- Amanda -- 2:30pm
Help Needed for Jr High Play
This December our Junior High is putting on a Madrigal Dinner Theatre. We are in need of parents who are willing to help with sewing costumes. Our play is medieval themed, therefore we’ll use medieval patterns. We’re also happy to accept medieval style clothing donations. Any time spent sewing can be used as parent volunteers hours.
Contact Ms. Sarah if you are able to help or have any questions at - sdalton@mariamontessoriacademy.org
6th Grade Alliance Redwoods Trip
If you were not able to attend the meeting or need an extra copy, below you can access the parent/guardian letter we shared. Please note that the intent to attend this trip and $50 deposit are due to the front office by October 31st.
If you have questions, please contact Ms. Nicoletta (nhouseholder@mariamontessoriacademy.org) or Ms. Lana (lpas@mariamontessoriacademy.org).
9th Grade Crow Canyon Trip
If you were not able to attend or need an additional copy of the paperwork we passed out at this meeting, please click the links below to download the documents. Please note that the intent to attend this trip and $50 deposit are due October 31st. You should turn in your intent form to Ms. Leigh and pay the deposit in the front office.
If you have any questions please contact Ms. Leigh lowen@mariamontessoriacademy.org.
Junior High Fees
Potter's Wheel for MMA
Stay In the Know
Follow MMA's official Facebook page and subscribe to MMA’s Main Blog and MMA's Jr High Blog in addition to subscribing to your child(ren)’s Teacher Blogs – accessible by clicking the “website” link under the teacher’s picture. You can also follow us on Twitter @MMAofUT.
Track it Forward & Volunteering
Join MAPA on Facebook
The Montessori Academy Parent Association (MAPA) is the Parent-Teacher Organization for Maria Montessori Academy. This organization is used to facilitate communication and involvement between parents and teachers. MAPA is currently seeking volunteers who are interested in joining this organization to ensure that the needs of Maria Montessori Academy’s student body are being fulfilled.
Upcoming Events
10/22/18 -- Picture Day
10/24/18 -- Box Top Store (Main Conference Room)
10/31/18 -- Crow Canyon and Redwoods Intent Forms and Deposits due
11/1/18 -- Parents as Partners in the IEP Process Workshop (Addition Gym)
11/2/18 -- MAPA Meeting (Main Conference Room)
Maria Montessori Academy
Email: info@mariamontessoriacademy.org
Website: www.mariamontessoriacademy.org
Location: 2505 N 200 E, North Ogden, UT, United States
Phone: 801.827.0150
Facebook: facebook.com/MMAofUT
Twitter: @MMAofUT