SWIMS September 2025 Newsletter
August
29th…Half day!
11:30 – 11:45 Dismissal for Owlets Infant Class, Bumblebees & Sunflowers Toddler Classes, Ladybugs and Turquoise EC classes.
11:45 – 12:00 Dismissal for Ducklings Infant Class, Chickadees & Tadpoles Toddler Classes, Bluebirds EC Class, Wasatch & Evergreen Elementary Classes and Bridgemont Secondary School.
31st…Happy 155th Birthday, Maria Montessori!
September
1st…No School – Labor Day!
10th…Happy Birthday to Grandma Frances!
11th – 12th… Fall Family Campout for Wasatch & Evergreen Classes at Jordanelle Reservoir. Campout packets will be coming home soon!
13th… Happy Birthday Audrey!
17th…Health & Safety Fair on campus during regular class time
19th…International Peace Day. Remind your student to wear white to Sing for Peace at 11:00am.
27th…Utah Montessori Council Fall Workshop! Our faculty will host and attend this professional development event for Utah and surrounding states featuring Nikki Conyers of Montessori on Wheels, our own Richelle Segura and “Montessori without Borders.”
30th…Back-to-School! 2:30-3:30pm. Join us for a lesson from your student! Overflow parking at Matt Knoop Park and on Shadow Mountain Drive.
October
1st…Half Day!
11:30 – 11:45 Dismissal for Owlets Infant Class, Bumblebees & Sunflowers Toddler Classes, Ladybugs and Turquoise EC classes.
11:45 – 12:00 Dismissal for Ducklings Infant Class, Chickadees & Tadpoles Toddler Classes, Bluebirds EC Class, Wasatch & Evergreen Elementary Classes and Bridgemont Secondary School.
2nd-3rd…No School – Fall Break!
7th…Happy Birthday Summer!
10th & 17th…Parent/ Teacher Conferences – No School
14th…Happy Birthday Eden!
31st…Party Day in all classes! Costumes welcome – no bloody or violent characters, no weapons, no sugar or nuts, please.
November
3rd – 5th…School Photos
And Away We Go!
It was a beautiful and productive summer! Faculty travelled, studied and refilled their tanks full of happiness, knowledge and enthusiasm. We are all glad to be back and into a routine again after so much adventure.
The new school year is off to a mindful start. We keep noticing how respectfully everyone moves through the parking lot, through the halls, remembering to stop at the door to the classroom to let the children enter on their own, supporting our school events and reminding us of how grateful we are to have you with us.
Conversations are becoming more prevalent about the changes in education that are needed in today’s world. The “factory model” of education that was great at producing factory workers, farmers and soldiers 100 years ago is not keeping up with the resilience today’s students need to prepare for an uncertain future. Dr. Montessori was all over this as she developed her pedagogy through the great wars. She saw that if we are ever to have a peaceful society students will need to learn to resolve conflicts peacefully, respect all living and non-living things, celebrate diversity and share limited resources. And along the way she developed methods of learning in the classroom that provide those critical executive function skills now acknowledged as helping students to build happy and successful lives. Our first high school student is still doing remarkably well as are those who have joined her in the Bridgemont Class, working at their own pace with online classmates from around the world led by Montessori professors who take them wherever they need to go. With all this rigor they enjoy the late mornings and afternoons with their friends, faculty, access to the Montessori materials and opportunities for social gatherings with other schools, field trips, entrepreneurial projects and leadership of the school. Dr. Montessori saw that adolescents need academic rigor, but they also need to get out of the classroom and work together on real projects that benefit the community. We are reminded of our students who are now accomplishing much in the real world – the boy who began a chain of restaurants to bring a taste of the middle east to America, the boy who doctors said would never read and is now a lead researcher at a prestigious institution, the girl who is dominating the market with her local business, the boy who found fame as an actor and found satisfaction in creating furniture for the rich and famous, the Olympic gold-medalist who made a business out of his “love of the sport” and the boys who loved video games and are now in the top tiers of big social media companies. We love watching them soar!
The UTA vanpool has been a hit, with faculty who ride it referring to themselves as “Vamily.” The vanpool is saving fuel, wear and tear on faculty cars as well as decreasing our carbon footprint. With about half of our faculty coming up from the valley, this has made the commute safer and more enjoyable while saving money and the planet. With our solar panel array we can easily power more faculty cars if they can get them. If you have an electric car you are thinking about trading in, consider making an offer to one of our teachers!
We expect that we all (young and old) will be needing more sleep as we adjust to the school routine and the change in seasons. And as we make the transition into fall, the pace will pick up with preparations for winter holidays and events. The seasons go ’round and we look forward to taking time to enjoy each one with your students.
We are looking for a few good Room Parents to help with the details of parties and plays and items that we may suddenly need help with in the middle of a day. If this seems like something you would enjoy, let your child’s teacher know.
The Soaring Wings Parent/Teacher/Student Organization is our support group that complements our school by helping with events like the Cider Social, the Rainbow Giveaway to benefit Adopt-a-Native Elder, Angel Trees to benefit Peace House, refreshments for Parent/Teacher Conferences, and yearbook. Teachers will let you know when something is coming up that we need some help with. Let any teacher know what you are interested in doing for the school.
Give us a call at the Teacher Hotline, 435-659-1725 if you are running late or if your student will not be at school for any reason. Montessori teachers are great at details, but we rarely remember vacation dates, so please send us an email with these details.
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Infant and Toddler Impressions – News from the Duckings and Owlets Infant Classes and the Bumblebee, Chickadee, Sunflower and Tadpole Toddler Classes
In September our curriculum includes Health & Safety, elements of fall, members of our family and community, primary colors, the Food Rainbow, hosting the Cider Social, and singing for peace on the 19th. All along the way our youngest students are making steps toward their own independence in practicing setting places, serving snack and washing dishes.
You can support this growth at home by providing a low table and chairs in the kitchen (Check Sprout Kids for furniture ideas – https://sprout-kids.com/collections/montessori-kitchen-furniture) where, as soon as they can walk, your child can have a snack or work on an activity while you cook. As soon as a child can sit sturdily they can sit in a chair with sides so they can feel secure while strengthening their core muscles and practicing eating with utensils. These young children can help with family meals by tearing lettuce for a salad or spreading butter on bread or mixing the salad dressing. (Check Montessori Services for child-sized cooking and cleaning utensils: https://montessoriservices.com )
If your child has a low hook and a bench by the door, where they hang up their backpack and take off their shoes when they come home, they will find their shoes and backpack ready to go in the morning. As soon as a child can walk they can find their clothes in a drawer or on a low rod in the closet and practice dressing skills. Add a few books and activities on a low shelf in each room of your house so your child can always find something to do. If you keep choices to just a few and model how to put things away when done, they will soon do it, too!
If your child is sleeping on a floor bed, they can get up in the morning, look at books, explore toys, maybe even find a simple snack waiting for them, giving you some extra sleep!
A routine of bath-book-bed begun now will give them a consistent routine to get them into bed on time for years to come. And this is a good time to begin a tradition of reading aloud together as a family. As your child grows, the stories you will share grow, too, until you are sharing your books with them. This comes in handy on long road trips and when just cuddling together is necessary.
Our teachers are happy to advise you in creating spaces for your children to enable them to be more independent. And along with independence comes confidence and joy!
Excellence in Early Childhood – Every Day in the Bluebirds, Ladybugs and Turquoise Early Childhood Classes
Early childhood students are already familiar with finding their cubbies, their lockers, their own water cup and how to use the bathroom, wash hands, prepare a snack, enjoy it with a friend and clean up the space, leaving it fresh for the next person. Classes are fully normalizing – a term we use to mean that the children are choosing and focusing on productive activities as they settle into the school routine. Stepping into a class in session you might see the class at work with each child engrossed in an activity. We call their activities “work” to infer a respect for whatever it is that they are focusing on, and also to lend a positive connotation to the word. Teachers practice matching a child to a lesson and when we successfully make that match, it is rewarding to see them fall into the flow of a purposeful work cycle. The work might be matching and naming wooden fruits, using play dough, painting, counting beads from 1 to 1000, practicing reading words using the sounds of letters or tracing the continents of the world. And along the way the children are refining large and fine motor control, building social skills and growing as individuals in a community.
In September we will practice what is safe and unsafe, the Food Rainbow, what is living and non-living, the parts of a book and how to care for books, a simple art history timeline including cave art, Egyptian art, and Roman art. We will fashion models of the layers of the Earth and learn how the Earth got its shape. We will grow Protocotista in class (living things that are neither plants nor animals, like mold and moss balls) and prepare for our Back to School lessons on September 30th.
Every day will include inside time and outside time, and choices in art, science, music, math, language, geography and history, always at the child’s own pace. Teachers make a point of greeting you at the patio door each morning and afternoon to exchange tidbits about the day. They will send a class email at least once each month and are happy to schedule a conference whenever more time is needed. They return emails and phone calls after school and look forward to learning more about you. Stay in touch. We are here to support you and your family.
Updates from the Upper School -Wasatch Lower Elementary, Evergreen Upper Elementary and Bridgemont Secondary Classes
While the curriculum in the Upper School follows that of the rest of the school, these big kids take it to new levels of challenge. Their curriculum includes all the classics and ties into student interests. Wasatch and Evergreen have begun the year with team building exercises and a review of Health & Safety and practical life skills in preparation for their Fall Family Campout during which they will set up camp and serve their families dinner.
Our secondary school program is off to an incredible start with rigorous online classes with instructors and students from all over the world. To this are added in-person class experiences with faculty, collaborative projects, field trips and school events. All three classes continue to enjoy Friday field trips aimed at confirming the lessons they have learned in class. They are also planning their end of the year trips and strategies for raising the money to make their dreams come true.
With Audrey, Leith, Maribel and Eden leading the Upper School there are plenty of plans for the year ahead. These include cooking classes, building the World Peace Game, Punkin Chunking, fire building, collaborating with Montessori schools and planning a student presentation for the Utah Montessori Council Conference in January. Among our faculty and parents of students are Montessori graduates who have their own success stories to tell as do our own graduates, and their children. We think the joy in Montessori comes from being intrinsically motivated to become absorbed in work you truly enjoy. Students can dream up a project and bring it to life at the maker spaces. They can invent a product, market it and use the proceeds to fund their own interests. They can make a delicious dinner and bring it home for the whole family! Becoming independent in life also entails a mastery of academic subjects in order to make wise decisions. So the academics come first, then the imaginative projects build on a solid foundation. Whatever these students dream about they have the opportunity to make it happen.
