Kiva News
September 13, 2019

Dear Parents,

This is a the first Kiva News dispatch of the year. Kiva News will be a regular email that will also go home in backpacks every other week. Kiva News will go into more depth about what is happening at the school and in your student's classroom than the Kiva Konnect email, which will still come out every other week (When Kiva News does not).

So, here goes.

Jeff Pope

Happenings

  • CKMS is still accepting enrollment applications for just eight more spaces in K-8. Interested parents can make arrangements for a classroom visit by dropping by the school, calling 564-9377 or emailing admin@kivacharter.org
  • The Children's Kiva Montessori Charter School (CKMS) Board of Directors Meets on September 23rd. More information at kivacharter.org
  • Next Wednesday, September 18th, from 4:30 to 6:30, we will hold a short Open House Pot Luck for returning, new and prospective parents to meet teachers, tour the building and welcome in the new school year. Officials from the Kiva Montessori Charter Board of Directors, as well as the Montezuma Cortez RE-1 Board of Directors will be there to hear your input as well. Please come, bring a friend and share a dish.
  • The CKMS staff spent it's professional development time developing our curriculum and practice to improve student achievement--for individual students--and the whole school.
  • Reading matters. Really. Please make and take the time to read with your child for 20 minutes every day. It will make a difference in their lives, and ours.
  • Barbara Mate will join us next week as our Spark/Physical Education Instructor.
  • Thanks so much to parents who are volunteering to pick up/drop off lunches, take out trash, help out in classrooms, and just make our school a better place. We still need more volunteer support in the following areas:
  • Lunch Pickup/Drop off
  • Classroom support: reading to students, recess attendant
  • Moving classroom materials from the Zircons to the Basement



Lower Elementary 1 & 2

Hello from the Lower Elementary classrooms. We began our second week with the Montessori First Great Lesson, The Coming of the Universe and the Earth. This lesson gives the children a big impression, captures their imagination and leads to the study of Astrology, Meteorology, Chemistry, Geology, Physics and Geography.

We have been working with all of the students in creating our classroom culture. The students have reviewed and documented their daily expectations for academics, ground rules, and graces and courtesies. 

The third year students have begun using weekly goal setting planners to guide their learning. We meet with them weekly to assess their plans, assist them in making sure they are meeting their goals, and help them evaluate their studies and their social responsibilities. The first and second year students have begun working with work plans. These help them meet their daily goals and lessons and we assist them in documenting them into their plans.

We have big lessons with both classrooms about once a week. This week we had a math lesson called Infinity Street. This lesson introduces the idea that numbers never end and allows students to use their knowledge of place value to create and read numbers into the quadrillions and beyond.
During our work cycle the children are given individual and small group lessons. This week in Language they have had lessons on adjectives, antonyms, punctuation, capitalization, and transcribing. In geometry they are working on the study of point, line and solids and the study of lines. In math we are working on building addition and multiplication tables and practicing operations with the Montessori materials. 

Thanks you for sharing your children with us,
Peacefully Yours,
Kristin, Emily and Aaron
Upper Elementary

This week, students in upper elementary have been working to understand the many perspectives of people living in colonial America. This will help them to understand the decision made when our constitution was being created. We are also working to deepen our understanding of math across all disciplines by writing and creating images that represent mathematical thinking. 

Thank you,
Ms. Melody
Middle School

Middle School has been learning about the Solar System and early United States history. Students have been working hard on their first big writing project: taking the role of a planet or moon in our solar system, write an essay to convince humans to set up colony on them. We’ve also been looking at the Revolutionary War and the events that led up to the colonies declaring independence from Great Britain.

Mr. John
Children's Kiva Montessori School www.kivacharter.org