Country Montessori School
Admin Corner
August 11, 2023
“Adaptation to the environment is the first necessity.”
Dr. Maria Montessori
Upcoming Dates/Events:
- August 14 – School Starts
- August 25 – Montessori Journey
- September 4 – Labor Day
Summer 2023
We hope everyone had a wonderful summer! Our camps were enjoyed and fun for our campers as well as for our staff. We also had a very successful Early Childhood and Lower Elementary adult learner training program at our teacher college, Montessori Center For Teacher Education, San Diego!
First Day of School-Monday, August 14
We are getting very excited to be starting the 2023-24 school year! The teachers have been getting their classrooms prepared for their students and are looking forward to seeing them on Monday.
Morning Arrivals
We know our families are excited for the first day and we are too. We are reminding families to please stay in your cars and wait for a teacher to come to get your student. Our arrival procedure is to ensure the safety of our students, to be as efficient as we can, getting our students to class on time and preventing traffic on Monte Vista Road. Thank you for your support and understanding.
Morning Parking Lot Procedures-Elementary Students 8:15-8:30-Use Curb Unless Full
- 1st level-5th level students-Curbside
If there is no room on the curb please pull into the parking lot to avoid backing up the traffic on Monte Vista Road-Please stop at the crosswalk and wait to be moved forward
- If your student is late and it is before 8:40, you need to drive through the parking lot. Your student will be marked tardy-Please stop at the crosswalk and wait to be moved forward
Early Childhood Students 8:15-8:30
Two Lanes in Parking Lot- Ladybug,Bumblebee and Dragonfly students-Please stop at the crosswalk and wait to be moved forward
- Please do not get out of your car, your teacher will take your student from the car
- Please take a right hand turn only out of parking lot
**If you have students in elementary and early childhood please use the curb drop off unless it is full please use lane 2 or 3.
Half Day Dismissals-12:30
Please pull up in front of the office. Walk to the front office gate to pick up your student.
Early Childhood 2:30-2:45 Dismissals
- Please use 2 lanes and stop at the crosswalk and wait to be moved forward and your student will be brought out to you
- If parking lot is full please use the curb
- Please remember to turn right out of the parking lot
**If you have children in both EC and Elementary your EC student will be dismissed at the 3:00 dismissal.
Elementary 3:00-3:15 Dismissals
- 4th and 5th level students will be dismissed from the curb
- 1st-3rd level students will be dismissed in the parking lot using 2 lanes
- Please wait at the crosswalk until you are moved forward
Attendance and Tardiness
Country Montessori puts an emphasis on the importance of students being to school on time not only for themselves but for their classmates and classroom. All students should be in class by 8:30.
There is a grace period until 8:40 for our Early Childhood students to accommodate car seats;however we encourage all of our EC students to arrive by 8:30. This does not apply to elementary students. Daily attendance is taken each morning and recorded. Absences and tardies will be reflected on the students report card and we discourage excessive tardiness and absences.
Late Arrival Procedures
If your student is late to school you need to park and accompany them and wait outside the office in the enclosed area.
Administration will take all tardy students to class at 9:00 AM. Please make every effort to have your student to school on time. This applies to both Early Childhood and elementary students.
Child Care
Morning child care is offered every morning at 7:30 and after school child care is from 2:45-6:00 PM. If you are interested in our unlimited child care please contact Jose at Joseb@countrymontessori.org. Please wait outside the front gate with your child when dropping off for child care and a teacher will greet you at the gate. Follow the same procedure when picking up your child from afternoon child care.
Parking
For visitor parking please use the spots in front of the school. The parking spots located by the dumpster are employee parking and certain staff arrive at different times of the day.
Parent Participation Hours
The CMS Parent Participation Policy provides parents and extended family members the opportunity to get involved with and support CMS.
Each family is required to provide 20 hours of service per school year. Single parent families are required to provide 10 hours. Families may also elect to pay $25 per hour of service ($500) in lieu of providing service hours.
You will be hearing from your classroom teachers soon for opportunities!
The 2023-2024 CMS Faculty/Staff Roster
Administration:
Head of School-Adela Corrales
Director of Admissions and Marketing-Jose Bolanos
Director of Development & Administration – Susan Kolle
Tammy To-Business Manager
Technology Assistant-Genesis Wasson
Early Childhood:
Ladybug Lead Teacher/ Curriculum Support Coordinator-Karin Osterberg
Ladybug Teacher-Ashika Patel
Ladybug Assistant Teacher-Jessica Mikhail
Bumblebee Lead Teacher/Internal Special Events Coordinator-Wendy West
Bumblebee Teacher-Hirona Tsang
Bumblebee Assistant Teacher-Katie Marr
Dragonfly Teacher-Ana Cristina Corrales
Dragonfly Teacher-Reyna Estrada
Dragonfly Teacher-Ninette Roji
Lower Elementary:
Eagle’s Lead Teacher-Erika Dukes
Eagle’s Lead Teacher-Mandy Odenwalder
Eagle’s/Kindergarten Reading Teacher-Jess Stanphill
Eagle’s Engineering/Technology Teacher-Josh Cortez
Eagle’s Intern-Amy O’Hara
Eagle’s Assistant Teacher-Tray Rendon
Upper Elementary:
Owl’s Lead Teacher-Vicki Rehkopf
Owls’s Lead Teacher-Dr.Kathy Rader
Owl’s Assistant Teacher-Melissa Yee
Enrichment Classes:
Physical Education K-5 Instructor-Tracy Rendon
Art K-5 Instructor-Joshua Rehkopf
Computer Instructor-Genesis Wasson
Spanish EC-5 Instructor-Nadia Salas
Music EC-5 Instructor-TBD
Child Care:
Child Care Supervisor-Tracy Rendon
Child Care Teacher-Genesis Wasson
Teacher Floater:
Lizbeth Jimenez
Ekaterina Sagakova
Communication Directory
RenWeb Parent Portal
New Families – Set Up FACTSIt is also helpful for all new families to sign up for their FACTSMgt (RenWeb Parent Portal) access. Please use the following link; click here. You will select Create New Family Portal Account. Enter your email address, and the district code is CO-CA
Once you create your family portal account, you can see the school directory and access the RenWeb portal, where you will find report cards and other relevant school information.
Parent Directory
With the start of the school year, we want to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to update their ParentsWeb Directory.
Our ParentsWeb Directory lists name, address, home phone, cell phone, and email address of each family individual, available only to CMS families in the family portal.
If there is any information you would like to have omitted from the parent directory in the family portal, please adjust your preferences by following these steps.
- Log into your Parent Portal
- From the left-hand menu select Family – Family Home
- Click on Custodial Parent Form
- Scroll to the bottom under Parent Preferences:
- Any information you want to be omitted, click on the directory block next to that information item – once your preferences are selected click save.
Returning CMS families, your preferences will remain the same based on how they were set from the prior year.
We appreciate your time updating your family preferences so we can continue to offer you the best experience possible.
Head Injury Policy
In the event of an injury above the neck we will call the student’s parents to inform them of the incident and require them to come to the school and check them out and make the decision to take their student home or leave them at school. The student is monitored until the parent comes to school. If the staff member notices any changes to the student’s condition, 911 will be called and the parent is immediately called to let them know.
2023-2024 Calendar
Cheers,
The CMS Family