WEEKLY WONDERS
Week of February 17, 2025
February 17- Staff Planning Day
February 21- PTA Boosterthon Fun Run
February 23 - March 1- International Montessori Education Week
February 27- PTA Zoom Meeting
February 28- Donation Dress Down Day
March 1- Family Engagement Book Study/Discussion
March 7- PTA Culture Fest
March 10- JC Lewis Mobile Health Service Visit
View the SCCPSS Academic calendar at this link.
View the SCCPSS Assessment calendar at this link.
The annual PTA Boosterthon officially kicked off on Thursday, February 13th. Registration is OPEN on mybooster.com. Even if you are unable to donate, we still encourage you to register your student(s) so we can meet our registration goal!
The Boosterthon Fun Run event will be Friday, February 21st at McCauley Park (Battey St. and 50th St.). The schedule is as follows:
8:30-9:15am- Upper El (4th-6th grades)
9:30-10:15am- Primary (PreK/K)
10:30-11:15am- Lower El (1st-3rd grades)
11:30-12:15pm- Erdkinder (7th/8th grades)
**Students should wear tennis shoes and athletic pants/shorts to school on Feb. 21st for this event. A Boosterthon t-shirt will be provided for them to change into for the Fun Run...thanks to the generous donations of Ellis PTA business partners.**
Families are welcome to come to McCauley Park to cheer their student(s) on during their designated time, but, for the safety of the students walking back and forth to school, PLEASE AVOID PARKING ON THE NORTH SIDE OF MCCAULEY PARK, IF AT ALL POSSIBLE.
If you are able to volunteer with the PTA to pass out water to students during the event, please sign up at this link.
The current crew is ready to hand over the responsibility of producing The Bobcat Roar. We are looking for eager students in grades 4-8 who want to take their place. If accepted, students will help film, produce, and anchor the weekly episodes of The Bobcat Roar which will be broadcast to the school community on Mondays.
Interested students should be prepared to perform more than one of the following jobs:
- Anchor: Speak clearly and confidently while looking into the camera to report the news to our school community
- Camera: Work behind the camera to set the scene, record the anchors
- Producer: Organize clips, set backgrounds, run the behind-the-scenes tasks of the broadcast
The Bobcat Roar Crew Application
If you have any questions, contact Ms. Angie (Angela.laplante@sccpss.com).
**Please note: Feb. 15th is the deadline to purchase a yearbook at the discounted price of $15. After this date, the cost will increase to $20.**
The 2024/2025 Ellis yearbook is now available for pre-order. Pre-ordering a yearbook is the only way to guarantee that your student will receive a copy as we do not order many extras.
You can purchase a copy of the yearbook on the Strawbridge website or you can send cash or check (payable to "Ellis Montessori Academy") in the envelope that will be sent home with your student next week.
The deadline to pre-order a yearbook is March 15th.
Pre-ordered yearbooks will be distributed directly to your student when they arrive later in the school year.
If you have any questions, contact Ms. Lisa (lisa.odonnell@sccpss.com).
Last week, all PreK-3rd grade students received student PLAY cards through a partnership between SCCPSS, the United Way, and Live Oak Public Libraries.
Students can use these cards (with their student ID number) to check out books from Live Oak Public Libraries FINE FREE!
To encourage students to use their PLAY cards, one winning Pre-K, K, 1st or 2nd grade from a SCCPSS school will have a pizza party in the spring, provided by United Way and our amazing sponsor, Donatos Pizza! The winning grade and school will be determined by which grade has the highest participation of students using PLAY cards inside a Live Oak Public Library branch between Feb. 3rd-28th.
**The student PLAY program is open to ALL PreK-12th grade students. You can find more information on the Live Oak Public Library website.**
On March 8th, the Society of Women Engineers is hosting the Girls Engineer It Day! This event is open to ALL students from 4th-8th grade. The event will be held at Woodville Tompkins, from 1:00pm to about 5pm.
The event includes an expo of local companies, schools, and universities, where they showcase their STEM fields. The students will also participate in 2-3 STEM activities. You may sign up as an individual or join our group by returning the permission slip to Ms. Olivia. It is on a first come, first serve basis, if you want to be included in our group.
If you have any questions and/or you would like a permission form, contact Ms. Olivia (olivia.lorenzo@sccpss.com).
**The PTA still needs your help!**
The Ellis PTA needs volunteers for a nominating committee to search for PTA Executive Board members for the next two-year term (2025-2027) for the following positions:
Co-President
Vice President/Co-President
Secretary
Treasurer
If you are able to help the PTA by joining the nominating committee, please complete this form.
If you are interested in running for one of the open positions yourself, please fill out this form.
There will be a PTA Zoom meeting on February 27th to elect the nominating committee for the PTA's 2025-2027 Executive Board.
The J.C. Lewis mobile health care unit will be at Ellis on Monday, March 10, from 8:15-11:15am.
Pre-registration is required. Completed forms are due to Nurse Chris (Christine.Oboyle@sccpss.com) by March 3rd.
You can find more information (including PDF copies of the required paperwork) on the Ellis website.
This Saturday, February 15, the district is hosting Parent University, 9:30-1:30 at Brock Elementary. Breakfast, lunch, and childcare will be provided. See this flyer for a list of workshops provided.
Save the date for our next Family Engagement conversation on Saturday, March 1st at 10am in our school library, where we will continue exploring the importance of play-based childhood. Coffee and childcare will be provided. If you'd like to check out a copy of The Anxious Generation, our library has copies thanks to a generous donation by our PTA.
We're excited about our upcoming Careers on Wheels event for Primary and Lower Elementary, set for Thursday, March 27th. This is an opportunity to expose our younger students to a variety of careers and related fields via their vehicles. If you have a Career on Wheels and would like to sign up, click here.
Ms. Rebecca
912-395-5470 x71201
Ms. Ava
912-395-5470 x71243
Dear Parent/Guardian,
Charles Ellis Montessori Academy will take the new Georgia School Climate Survey this year. Each parent/guardian is invited to take the family version to answer questions about the current school or schools you have a child or children attending. If two or more children attend the same school, please only complete one survey for that school.
The survey measures what you think about how the school engages with families. Answers are not linked to names in any way. When typing answers, please do not give names or information that you don’t want to share with this school. Data will be shared with school leaders to help improve the school and will be published on the GaDOE website.
Please help by sharing your honest opinion on this 22-question survey. To take the survey, please click on this link, Family Survey: https://survey.gadoe.org/FM?sid=E244C236
The survey closes on March 31st.
Throughout the school year, Ellis has a school-wide focus on certain positive character traits. Each teacher may choose to highlight these "Grace & Courtesy" emphases differently, but as a school we follow a general common curriculum.
From February 10-February 28, our school-wide Grace & Courtesy emphasis is PEACE.
The language for identifying/naming PEACE from the "Self-Awakened Child" series by Jonathan Wolff:
- When I feel calm and quiet inside, when I do not let anyone or anything take away my calmness and quiet, I am feeling and being Peaceful.
- When I try to understand another person's feelings and thoughts, when I talk with him about our problems instead of hurting him or hitting him, I am being Peaceful.
- When I feel angry or scared and I help myself feel calm and quiet inside instead of hurting someone or telling someone to go away, I am practicing Peacefulness.
- Your student's teacher
- SCCPSS website
- Ellis website
- Fellow school community members (via "Charles Ellis Montessori Academy PTA" Facebook group- search for it and join!)
Principal
Ms. Amanda
amanda.zito@sccpss.comAssistant Principal
Ms. Patrice
School Secretary
Ms. Ruthie
Ms. Cara
cara.bunkley@sccpss.comWebsite: https://spwww.sccpss.com/schools/ellis/Pages/default.aspx
Address: 220 East 49th Street, Savannah, GA, 31405
Phone: (912) 395-5470