The Leaflet

Mountain Mahogany Community School Newsletter

“Where deeply nurtured children become natural learners for life!”

October 16, 2009 Issue No. 8

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Singapore Math Club- restructured!

One of the benefits of working in a charter school is the ability to improve our programs quickly. The Singapore Math Club is one such example. Teachers would like to work with students in need of direct support in math fluency, concepts and skills during the Club time. So, we are restructuring the clubs to reflect this desire. Starting Monday this is how the week will look for Math Club:

Monday ~ all grades math reinforcement through games and practice.

Tuesday ~ 4th grade only (Science club for others)

Wednesday ~ 2nd & 3rd combination day

Thursday ~ 5th grade only (Science club for others)

Friends of Mountain Mahogany (FOMM)

The FOMM meeting on Wednesday night was a lovely success. About 15 families were present to hear about how MMCS is in dire need of people to work on fundraising for our small school. Two people signed up to join the FOMM board and a few more signed up to work on certain fundraisers. If you are interested in helping with raising $$ while enjoying the experience of building community, please call Sandra Oresman @ 934-0975

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Questions from Curriculum Night

How can we better understand how kids will ‘go deeper’ if they need more challenge?

In our immersion to mastery model, we want all of the children to acquire grade-level skills but also skills that match their individual needs. We often say here at MMCS that we want to “meet the child where she is.” For the children that are showing grade level mastery, we teachers are going to take children deeper into the content or skill area. We want to take the child beyond recall and comprehension and into application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. For example, in math, a child might be presented with word problems task the child to apply math skills in a variety of situations. What we do not want to do is provide more of the same or task the child to tackle new skills without the full support of the immersion to mastery progression.

Engaging the children’s interests helps us to capitalize on building skills, and we will work to incorporate interests in a developmentally appropriate framework that takes into consideration child development and readiness and integrating that into the rich curricula that exists in each class.

Lost and Found!

Please claim any items in our lost and found basket that lives in the office. It is overflowing with jackets, sweaters, sweatshirts, and water bottles. We will donate any unclaimed items to a non-profit clothing bank at the end of the day Tuesday October 27th.

Upcoming Dates – Fall 2009-2010

Monday 10/19 – Intercultural Ed meeting 3:15- 5

Wednesday 10/21 – Environmental Ed mtg 3:15

Thursday 10/22 – GC mtg 6 – 8:30

Tuesday 10/27 – 1st gr field trip

Wednesday 10/28 – No School - N.A.M.E.

Thursday 10/29 – No School - conference

Friday 10/30 – No School - in Denver

Mon – Fri 11/30 – 12/4 – Usborne Book Fair