A Message from Kristen, Our Academic Director

Dear MA Parents,              

This is Teacher Appreciation Week, and I feel that we need to recognize wholeheartedly our unsung heroes: our teachers. Not only should we appreciate all they have done for the students for the whole year, but most significantly over the last seven weeks. Our teachers have gone above and beyond to allow your children to continue with their learning. They quickly learned how to use the Zoom platform, figured out how to teach online with the lack of Montessori materials available, and how to keep lessons engaging and exciting for the students. All of this while having to also deal with their own home lives. I would like to say a huge Thank You, for all you do for your families!! 

As we continue with our home based learning, and even though we do not know yet how the school year will end in June, we will provide students a June Progress Report Card as many Ontario school boards are doing this year. We still feel it is important to follow the tradition of ‘wrapping up’ the year this way. 

Following this natural process of receiving a June Progress Report Card, this should not be a cause of concern for students or parents. We recognize that each family has found themselves in unique scenarios over these last several weeks, which may or may not have allowed your child to participate in our home based learning program. If a child didn’t participate in the online sessions, or participated sporadically, they will still receive a June Progress Report (if applicable for their level). 

For this reason, teachers will comment in a general sense on material or information that was presented in the final months of school, rather than from a standpoint of assessment. These reports will focus mostly on the child’s work throughout the year and more heavily from January to March. We feel that it is important for all the hard work our students did during that time does not go unnoticed. Teachers will begin working on the reports in May so that they will be available through the Parent Portal at the end of June. 

How will these reports look?

• For Toddlers, First and Second Year Casa Students: There is no formal written report completed, instead a phone conference update by your child’s teachers will occur in June.
• For Third Year Casa Students to Year 3: The June Progress Report will be completed, however there will be more anecdotal comments. The tick marks under the areas of Effort and Achievement will focus mostly on the student’s progress from January to March.
• For Year 4 to Year 6 students: The June Progress Report will be completed, however there will be more anecdotal comments. The tick marks under the areas of Effort and Achievement will focus mostly on the student’s progress from January to March. More current work that students have been completing, whether in independent subjects or project based, teachers have been giving verbal feedback on these.
• For Junior High: The June Progress Report will be completed, however there will be no marks assigned to the subject areas. Any marks students were given from January to March have already been recorded in their study calendars. More current work that students have been completing, whether in independent subjects or project based, teachers have been giving verbal feedback on these. The tick marks under the areas of Effort and Achievement will focus mostly on the student’s progress from January to March.

If we take a look from a wider perspective, the biggest take away from the students being homebound is not about the academics but the new skills they acquired along the way; things such as resilience, sympathy, togetherness, patience and creativity. For many of them, this new way of ‘being’ will be something that will be a part of who they are for the rest of their lives. 

I want to end saying that I appreciate all of you as well.  I know our families are in different circumstances and I realize that the days are not always easy. I look forward to the future when we can connect face to face and celebrate that we ‘got through’ COVID-19 as a full school community. All of this will make us stronger!  

Have a wonderful week! 

Kristen Crouse, Academic Director

Teacher Appreciation Week

As Kristen said above: Thank you, MA teachers! xo 

CHF Charitable Giving success story!

This year, The CHF committee with the help of all who donated, managed to raise $2623.95 for the Children’s Health Foundation!  This money was used to buy a toy car ($2500), enabling sick kids to drive themselves to operations. This will brighten many lives and help make hospital experiences better for kids who have to spend time in the hospital. We were also able to donate the remaining monies to Ollie the Clown, a fixture at the Children’s Hospital who has been making sick kids laugh for years. Ollie visits patients and does whatever it takes to make kids happier and less lonely. The CHF committee would like to thank everyone who donated to help kids who are going through a hard time. Your donations are doing a lot of good in the world.   

#MAofLondonAtHome

Can we make 50 masks by the end of May?Thank you to Year 5 Mom Blythe and her assistant Bennett for hosting an informative “How to Sew A Reusable Safety Mask” Zoom workshop for Upper Elementary and Junior High students on Friday. We had some parents, teachers and even grandparents join in on the workshop as well! The Children’s Health Foundation has put out the call for the public’s help to make these much needed masks for families and friends to use while visiting or staying in the hospital.  

Blythe suggested a group goal of 50 masks by the end of May. 

What do you think? Keep us posted on your progress! We’d love to see the kids putting those practical life skills to work – like Daria…  

Toddler 2  band: Christian playing drums 

The Toddler 2 Class got together to play some music via their Zoom. Christian brought his kit to the session… Says his teacher Amanda, “Christian is a natural! We so appreciate his love for all things Music. He is one talented little boy. I remember when he would drum on things in the classroom, tables, books, and I thought ‘Wow he will be great at the drums!’ …. Haha — look at that! He is!!”  

From the community

London Children’s Museum 

The Children’s Museum has moved their Curator program online and is looking for community curators… https://www.londonchildrensmuseum.ca/news/community-curators-goes-digital

Budding Artists

Our good friends at Budding Artists are offering a lot of free fun activities for families. Also “25% of product orders made during March, April, and May will be donated to the London Food Bank.” https://buddingartistsstudio.ca/marketplace/
Plus – free art activities: https://buddingartistsstudio.ca/social-distancing-art-activities/?inf_contact_key=f7a12e90484cea3c5844c3afd6bb7233

Save the Date: Growing Chefs! Ontario FREE May cooking class

May’s free cooking class for kiddos is Wednesday, May 20, 2020 at 4 PM – 7 PM (ET)Find the details via their Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/685559288907904/