May 12, 2025

 

Fox and Bear Community

Thank you to all of our families for your support and enthusiasm with our field trips and activities last week. Students had a great time at Musical Explorers, Oatland Island, and Field Day. We will have a more normal week for our last full week of school. Students will be expected to meet their daily work requirements each morning. In the afternoons, they will be working in small groups on a creative puppet show project. 

Loki Needs a Summer Vacation!

Please reach out to Ms. Jess if you would be willing to take care of our bearded dragon, Loki, for the whole summer or part of the summer. Email Jessica.Fry@sccpss.com. 

Montessori Grades for the Spring

Hard copies of the Montessori grade reports for the spring term were sent home last week. Please sign and return as soon as possible. 

End of the Year Celebrations

Talent Show: The Fox and Bear Talent Show is back on the last Monday of school, 5/19. Students are encouraged to share their talents with their classmates and teachers. Previous talents have included dances, song and musical instrument performances, gymnastics, art work/Lego building/embroidery, magic tricks and more. Please reach out if you have any questions. 

Third Grade Ceremony: We will honor our third grade students with a ceremony in the front garden after a picnic lunch on Tuesday, 5/20. Please let us know ASAP if you have a third grader who you know will not be at school this day. Do not send food that needs to be microwaved in home lunches on the 20th, please. 

Important Dates

Tuesday, 5/13 - Art Show for Lower Elementary (flyer below)

Monday, 5/19 - Talent Show for the Foxes and Bears

Tuesday, 5/20 - Third Grade Ceremony and lunch in the garden

Wednesday, 5/21 - Last Day of School for Students!

SCCPSS Summer Camp Opportunity

CTAE Summer Camp at Woodville Tompkins, June 2 -June 12.  See the link below for more information. 

 

Summer Learning - Savannah-Chatham County Public School System

Have a great week!

May 5, 2025

 

Fox and Bear Community

We are looking forward to a fun-filled week! We will be out of the classroom on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday for a variety of adventures. Please read the information below thoroughly as there are a lot of exciting things happening between now and the end of the year. 

Field Day Needs: Important - Please Read!

We need 3 tents/canopies to use for our Fox and Bear community this Friday, 5/9. Coach Leslie will be at Daffin Park by 8:30 am and will provide information on where each classroom/grade level should set up. Please email and/or text us via Remind if you can bring a tent. 

We are hoping for 2 or 3 parents to bring fruit for the community to share. Watermelon is always a popular treat! Please email and/or text us via Remind if you are able to bring fruit. 

Students must bring a water bottle, towel, and change of clothes. Please label everything with their names. Important information about Field Day dos and don'ts is included in the flyer linked below. Please review. Students may be signed out from Daffin Park at the conclusion of Field Day. 

Field Day Flyer

Assessment Scores and Montessori Grades for the Spring

Families will receive an email in the next week summarizing your child's scores on IReady and Amira as well as their grades for the spring term. A hard copy of the grades will be sent home in an envelope as well for you to sign and return. Please let us know if you would like to schedule a conference. 

End of the Year Celebrations

Talent Show: The Fox and Bear Talent Show is back on the last Monday of school, 5/19. Students are encouraged to share their talents with their classmates and teachers. Previous talents have included dances, song and musical instrument performances, gymnastics, art work/Lego building/embroidery, magic tricks and more. Please reach out if you have any questions. 

Third Grade Ceremony: We will honor our third grade students with a ceremony in the front garden after a picnic lunch on Tuesday, 5/20. Please let us know ASAP if you have a third grader who you know will not be at school this day. 

Summer Birthdays: If your child has a summer birthday and would like to do their Walk Around the Sun celebration with our community before the end of the year, please reach out to us to schedule. 

Important Dates

Wednesday, 5/7 - Musical Explorers Field Trip for Lower El. 

Thursday, 5/8 - Oatland Island Field Trip for Foxes & Bears
Friday, 5/9 - Field Day at Daffin Park for all of Charles Ellis. All media center books due. 
Tuesday, 5/13 - Art Show for Lower Elementary (flyer below)

Monday, 5/19 - Talent Show for the Foxes and Bears

Tuesday, 5/20 - Third Grade Ceremony and lunch in the garden

Wednesday, 5/21 - Last Day of School for Students!

Lastly, Loki needs a summer vacation home. Please let us know if you are interested in keeping him for part of the summer or the whole summer. 

Have a great week, Foxes and Bears!

April 28, 2025

 

Fox and Bear Community

Students enjoyed Earth Day and Picnic Day last week. We are happy to report that tomorrow - Tuesday, 4/29 - is the last day of GMAS Testing for our 3rd grade students. We appreciate all of our students' flexibility and patience as we had variations to our schedule on testing days. 

Please send in field trip permission forms ASAP. We have 3 field trips next week (dates are below)! Let us know if you need us to email you another copy any of the forms. 

Information on Field Day can be found at the linked flyer below. Please reach out with questions. 

Field Day Flyer

Media Center:

All books must be returned by May 9th. 

Summer Birthdays:

If your student has a summer birthday and would like to do their Walk Around the Sun celebration with our community before the end of the year, please let us know. We are happy to choose a date in May that works for you. We do birthday celebrations at 10:30 am or 2 pm most days. Students are welcome to share pictures of their life and bring a healthy treat for their classmates - though these things are not required. 

Upcoming Important Dates:

5/7 - Musical Explorers Field Trip for Lower El. 

5/8 - Oatland Island Field Trip for Foxes and Bears
5/9 - Field Day at Daffin Park 
5/13 - Art Show for Lower Elementary (flyer below)

Have a great week, Foxes and Bears!

April 21, 2025

 

Fox and Bear Community

This week, our community will have visitors from kindergarten who will spend some time in an upper elementary classroom to get a glimpse into next year. We know our students will be excellent hosts. We are looking forward to celebrating Earth Day on Tuesday and National Picnic Day on Wednesday with lessons and writing exercises related to each. We plan to eat lunch outside on Wednesday for Picnic Day. Nothing extra is needed, but please do not send items that need to be microwaved in home lunches that day.

Workplans for last week were sent home on Thursday before the long weekend. Please review and discuss with your students at home. We appreciate your continued support and encouragement of your students to focus on their goals and complete challenging work across all subject areas each week. 

GMAS (3rd grade only): Starts Tomorrow!

Our 3rd grade students will take the GMAS on the following dates. Please make sure your students get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, and arrive to school on time. 

GMAS ELA1	Tue, April 22
GMAS ELA 2	Wed, April 23
GMAS ELA3	Thu, April 24
GMAS Math1	Mon, April 28
GMAS Math 2	Tue, April 29
GMAS MAKE-UPS	Thu, May 1 Fri, May 2

Donation Dress Down Day - This Friday, 4/25:

The LAST donation dress down day of the school year is this Friday. All proceeds will be donated to M.E.S.S. (Montessori Education Society of Savannah) for staff Montessori professional development/conferences. An item was added to student accounts in School Cash Online for families to donate digitally or cash may be brought on Friday. 

Media Center Dates:

Friday, April 25th is the final day to check out books from the media center. All books must be returned by May 9th. 

Summer Birthdays:

If your student has a summer birthday and would like to do their Walk Around the Sun celebration with our community before the end of the year, please let us know. We are happy to choose a date in May that works for you. We do birthday celebrations at 10:30 am or 2 pm most days. Students are welcome to share pictures of their life and bring a healthy treat for their classmates - though these things are not required. 

Upcoming Important Dates:

4/23 - PTA meeting at 6 pm. You can join in-person or over zoom. Pizza will be provided. Join virtually at the following Zoom link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83031693705?pwd=TcaCrXS1Jo1rrd1m9wfj5W0YtJDQZw.1

4/25 - Donation Dress Down Day

4/26 - Family Engagement Walk to Books, Blankets, and Family Fun  (flyers below)

5/7 - Musical Explorers Field Trip for Lower El. 

5/8 - Oatland Island Field Trip for Foxes and Bears
5/9 - Field Day at Daffin Park (more info to come)
5/13 - Art Show for Lower Elementary (flyer below)

Have a great week, Foxes and Bears! 

April 14, 2025

 

Fox and Bear Community

Students got to explore a number of vehicles during Careers on Wheels Day before the break. They asked a lot of great questions. We hope everyone had a wonderful and restful spring break. We are now in the final push of the school year with less than six weeks to go. Please encourage your student to continue working hard to meet their daily and weekly goals for work completion. 

Online Book Fair:

The spring book fair this year is ONLINE. Please visit https://book-efairs.follettcontent.com/ and use code ZDD67. All orders ship directly to school for FREE after the fair closes and they will be distributed directly to your students. Charles Ellis will receive 20% of sales as a credit to purchase books for our school library.

GMAS (3rd grade only):

Our 3rd grade students will take the GMAS tests on the following dates. Please make sure your students get plenty of sleep, eat a healthy breakfast, and arrive to school on time. 

GMAS ELA1	Tue, April 22
GMAS ELA 2	Wed, April 23
GMAS ELA3	Thu, April 24
GMAS Math1	Mon, April 28
GMAS Math 2	Tue, April 29
GMAS MAKE-UPS	Thu, May 1 Fri, May 2

GaDOE has partnered with Tutored by Teachers to offer free virtual reading classes for 3rd graders and young readers!  These engaging virtual reading classes are designed to help your students succeed on the Georgia Milestones.

Classes take place Monday, April 14th through Thursday, April 17th. Families can choose a time slot to register for: 5-6pm or 7-8pm. If they cannot join at one of those times, they can receive a recording as long as they sign up.
https://tutored.live/gadoe-reading/

Field Trips:

Thank you to those of you who returned permission forms for our field trips to Musical Explorers and Oatland Island coming up on May 7th and 8th. They were sent home on Friday, April 11th. Please check your students folders/bookbags and contact us if you need another copy. 

Field Day: 

Field Day will be held in Daffin Park on Friday, May 9th. Please stay tuned for more details - but save the date if you'd like to join. Families are welcome. 

Important Dates for April:

April 12  - E-Book Fair Opens

April 18 - No School

April 20 - E-Book Fair Closes

April 22 - GMAS Begins

April 23 - PTA Meeting

April 25 - Donation Dress Down Day

April 26 - Family Engagement Gathering (See Flyer Below)

Have a great week, Foxes and Bears! 

March 24, 2025

 

Fox and Bear Community

We enjoyed a visit with a Cody, a Great Pyrenees therapy dog, last week. This week, we are looking forward to Careers on Wheels on Thursday. On Friday, we plan to watch the movie The Wild Robot since we finished the book as a class earlier this year. The movie is rated PG. Please let us know if you have any concerns. 

Oatland Island Field Trip - rescheduled!: 

We sent home field trip forms for a rescheduled field trip to Oatland Island for May 9 that will need to be rescheduled for a third time due to a conflict with field day. Our apologies for the confusion. Please stay tuned. 

Field Day: 

Field Day will be held in Daffin Park on Friday, May 9th. You may order a shirt for your student (and anyone else in your family who would like one) at the following link. The deadline to order is April 10th. https://forms.gle/pqvRqNtkKoBsvn6DA

IReady End-of-Year Diagnostics: Foxes and Bears will take the final IReady assessment of the year in math on March 26. Please make sure your children get plenty of sleep and eat a healthy breakfast, so they come to school feeling their best. 

Kroger or Aldi Gift Cards Needed: 

We are still in need of gift cards to help us supply healthy classroom snacks. If you are able to send in a gift card of $30 to Kroger or Aldi for this semester, we greatly appreciate it. Thank you to those of you who have contributed. 

Parent Presentations on Asia Welcome!

As most of you know, we are studying the continent of Asia until the end of the year.  We are looking for speakers to come in and share experiences from any country in Asia. Please contact Ms. Kirsten via Remind or Kirsten.Leske@sccpss.com if you would like to share your knowledge with the Foxes and Bears.

Parent Survey:

The following survey closes at the end of this week. PLEASE help our school 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

Upcoming dates:

March 26 - IReady Diagnostic Math

March 27 - Careers on Wheels 
March 28 - Donation Dress Down Day
March 31-April 4 - Spring Break
April 7- SCCPSS eLearning 1/2 day - students work from home. Choice board/work options will be sent home at the end of this week. 

New Grading Rubric for Charles Ellis Grades K-5

A new requirement from the district states that all K-5 students must receive a final grade in each subject, which will be documented in PowerSchool at the end of this school year. Since assigning traditional grades to individual assignments conflicts with the Montessori philosophy, we have been allowed to concentrate on specific work habits and behaviors that contribute to student achievement. 

These key indicators include:

• Follows oral and written directions
• Works cooperatively
• Completes class work
• Produces best work
• Works independently
• Participates in class 

During each parent-teacher conference, we will share your child’s progress on each of these indicators in each subject area. Your child’s Spring conference grade will be entered into PowerSchool as an end-of-year grade. These grades will not solely determine promotion or retention; rather, they will serve as one of several factors considered in making such decisions if necessary. It is important to note that while these work habits and behaviors do not directly measure academic achievement, they are crucial for fostering success within the Montessori environment. At Charles Ellis Montessori Academy, we embrace the opportunity for your child to show growth in these skills throughout the school year. We are confident that this approach will provide a comprehensive view of your child’s work habits and behaviors, supporting their development as independent, motivated, and engaged learners in alignment with the Montessori philosophy.

Have a great week!