This year is going to be an exciting adventure for all of us in our new learning community! Ms. Jess and Ms. Kirsten will be guiding the group together this year. We will be working to expand knowledge as well as to work as a community of caring, supportive, and interesting members. We will be welcoming many new students into rooms 26 and 28 this year. While each of us have a set number of students on each of our rosters in an official capacity, we will treat our roughly 40 students as one classroom community. We will conduct our parent teacher conferences together so that we may better communicate your child’s needs and tendencies in each area.
We will begin the year in a virtual setting on August 19.. Keep a lookout for new information regarding roles and responsibilities for use of our virtual platform. We will be here if you have any questions, comments, or concerns regarding the transition into virtual learning as well as any other issues that arise. Please feel free to contact us at any time.
Our main mode of communication will be our classroom blog, as well as email, and Remind App. Our Remind App class code will be announced as the school year begins. Please join as soon as possible. We post a weekly newsletter with important news on our blog, generally on Thursdays. Because we are functioning as a unit, we will send all emails with either teacher copied on the email. We ask that you do the same as well.
For those parents that do not know us, here are some brief bios on our teaching backgrounds:
My name is Kirsten Leske and I grew up in Wisconsin. I attended public schools as a child and furthered my education receiving a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. Upon graduation I moved to Georgia and began teaching Kindergarten. I completed my Master’s Degree in Early Childhood Education at Kennesaw State University. I proceeded to teach Kindergarten in a traditional public school for twelve years. After the birth of my daughter my family decided to move to Savannah. Here in Savannah I found my love for Montessori. I received Montessori Primary training and began my Montessori experience at Coastal Empire Montessori Charter School where I taught for four years. I have spent the past eight years teaching at Charles Ellis. During my time at Ellis I have completed my American Montessori Society certification for Lower and Upper Elementary as well as my gifted education certificate.
My name is Jessica Fry and I am from Pensacola, Florida. I moved to Savannah just over six years ago with my husband and daughter and have enjoyed every minute of it. I love to cook, watch movies and read. I am a dog lover (Oro is a miniature dachshund, Chewie is an australian shepherd, Mori is a shepherd/retriever mix) and a traveler. I received my degree from the University of West Florida in 2005 and began teaching in 2006 at a private Montessori school in Pensacola. Here, I received my Montessori training through the American Montessori Society (AMS) for the lower elementary program. In 2015, I began working at Ellis in the 4th and 5th grade classrooms. The following year, I was lucky enough to be back in a 1st-3rd grade classroom. I have received my Gifted certification and have enjoyed implementing all of my ideas. Please feel free to email me anytime with questions, comments, or concerns. Enjoy the rest of your summer! I look forward to meeting everyone.
My name is Jelena (Yellena) Pavlovic and I came to Savannah in 1992 after I graduated with a BFA degree in printmaking from ISU, Terre Haute In. I fell in love with the Montessori curriculum after my son became a kindergarten student at Charles Ellis. I went to Montessori training under the supervision of Sanford Jones, at the time, our Montessori “guru.” I worked at the Children’s House of Chandler hospital during my Montessori training and later became an assistant teacher at Charles Ellis. My path was long and interesting and after many years of being occupied by various other jobs, I returned to Charles Ellis as an assistant teacher to continue as a member of the Charles Ellis family. In my free time I like to do my art, read, watch movies, and play with my three cats. My husband and I also like going to my son’s gigs when he plays with different bands!
We look forward to getting to know all of our families. (It is with great pleasure that we invite you to make your presence known in the classroom after the first several weeks of the normalization process. We welcome volunteers to come in and read, cook, and complete activities with the children. As the weeks progress, we will keep you posted on when the children will be ready to receive visitors to the classroom. At that time I encourage parents to come and enrich our classroom culture. All volunteers must complete the Beacon screening process prior to spending time with the children.) Our hope is that this paragraph will be applicable at a later date.
Sincerely, Kirsten Leske, Jessica Fry, and Jelena Pavlovic
Virtual Learning Supplies
Pencil Box/ Pouch to include:
Writing Organization
1 inch 3-ring binder
notebook filler paper
1 package of dividers
Additional Materials Needed
1 package of colored construction paper
1 package of white cardstock printer paper
2 composition books
poster board (for research project displays, dioramas, etc.)
pocket folders for organizing assignments
***Once we are able to begin face-to-face instruction, we will communicate a list for additional supplies. Thank you for your patience and understanding!
A NOTE FROM THE PRINCIPAL
“We see the figure of the child who stands before us with his arms held open beckoning humanity to follow” Dr. Maria Montessori Education and Peace
Dear Charles Ellis Montessori Academy families,
I am excited to begin a new school year with all of our children, families and staff.
Dr. Montessori always directed Montessori guides to “Follow the Child” and that is what I encourage you to do as we travel these byways and highways of learning. At times we may feel that we are on a high speed autobahn, but as we start our travels I think it is critical to begin with a stroll, hand in hand, down a quiet country lane. As we take this slow walk, it is important that we take time to stop and truly observe the developing child and young adult. Can you see the “wheels turning”? All learning begins with the curiosity of the mind, and it is our job as adults to introduce our children to the wonders of our world.
On a logistical note, it is our intention to slowly integrate itsLearning over the course of the next several weeks and we will be here to take this journey with you, hand in hand and step by step. We feel that by doing so it will make our back to school experience more pleasant and instill confidence in our children and community stakeholders. We are excited to transition into full integration of the Learning Management System as we work together to learn the powerful features and supports/resources in the itsLearning platform. Please see below the letter from your teacher with instructions on how to connect to your learning community on the first day of school.
I am grateful for your continued support of our staff as we work to serve our children. Together we must maintain faith in the child to guide us towards a peaceful tomorrow.
Peace,
Ms. Tanya
Hello Fox and Bear families!
We are so excited to start this new school year. We will be starting out virtually and will hopefully get into our school building soon. As many of you know, the students in our two classes will be combining for this school year. At times, the students will need to identify themselves by individual teacher rosters. If you are in Ms. Jess' class, you are a fox. Bears are in Ms. Kirsten's class. Together we will make an amazing learning community.
Our new learning platform is called ITS Learning. From what we've seen so far it's full of amazing possibilities and it will provide great communication between students, teachers, and parents. It is quite user friendly and we will also be working with all of you on becoming apt at its uses. Your child will have expectations set and he/she will need to attend meetings and complete work that is assigned through ITS Learning.
Below you will find our tentative schedule for the day, however, our first week will be a bit different as we work on community building and accessibility. Please follow this zoom link for our first meeting at 8:30 on the 19th. In the schedule, you will be able to see what both the students are going to do as well as what the teachers routine will be. We will be meeting twice each day as a group and the rest of the day the students will be meeting with teachers for individual and small group lessons as well as independent work.
Virtual learning is new to all involved. We will need to have patience with each other as we learn to navigate this new educational experience. All teachers will have office hours each day when we can be reached for questions and concerns. We are here to work through this new adventure together!
Student Schedule Teacher Schedule
7:50
-8:00
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Scheduling Your Day
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7:15-8:00
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Office Hours
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8:00-8:15
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Morning Meeting
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8:00-8:15
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Morning Meeting
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8:15-10:45
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Montessori Morning Work Period
(lessons and practice)
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8:15-9:15
9:15-10:45
9:15-11:15
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Open Meetings for instructional support/feedback
Para small groups
EIP follow up/lessons
Checking work/feedback. Assigning work, creating lessons, etc.
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10:45-11:15
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Explorations
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11:15- 12:15
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Recess and Lunch
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11:15-11:45
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Lunch
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12:15-1:45
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Small Group Instruction (as scheduled)
12:15 - 1:00
GEP Block 1
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1:00-1:45
GEP Block 2
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Instructional Flex Block
Checking work/giving feedback, filming lessons, planning
Small groups (EIP, RTI, and other small groups as needed)
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1:45- 2:50
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Closeout Your Day
Clean Up
Movement/Dance/Play
Mindfulness- Peace Out!
Independent Reading
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