Natural Family Expo at the Monona Terrace

Calling all community members! Calling all volunteers!

This weekend Carrie and Melissa will be presenting at the Natural Family Expo at the Monona Terrace. They are in need of the following help for set-up and take-down if you’re interested and available:

  • Tech-savy person to help with a slide show set-up at the booth that actually includes sound and possible Internet option
  • People to help load materials and furniture at IMA early Sunday morning
  • People to help unload and set-up materials and furniture at the Monona Terrace early Sunday morning
  • People to help take-down and load the van around 4:00pm Sunday at the Monona Terrace
  • People to help unload and return materials and furniture at IMA Sunday between 4:30 pm — 5:30 pm

If you’re available and interested, please reach out to Chet so that he can get a team together for Melissa and Carrie.

Thank you in advance for your consideration!

St. Patrick’s Day Parade

This Sunday IMA is a part of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade around the capitol square!

Thank you to Sara Colopy for getting this organized, candy purchased, and registration complete. We are looking forward to throwing candy in our green Race to the Finn shirts!

DETAILS

Meet at the Madison Children’s Museum entrance at 12:30 pm. This is line-up time.

Wear you green Race to the Finn t-shirts (Need one? Ask Mr. Chet)

Get excited to walk around the square, throw candy, and hold up signs about our public school status in 2018!

The children who participated last year had a really good time, and we are looking forward to another fun experience.

See you Sunday!

IMA Supplies Drive for Briarpatch

Dear IMA Families and Friends,

The Adolescent Community at Isthmus Montessori Academy is holding a Supplies Drive to benefit homeless youth at Briarpatch. Briarpatch is an organization that serves at-risk youth and families in various ways, particularly in the area of homelessness. One of our IMA community parents helps run their Transitional Housing program, so we wanted to get involved and help provide supplies for the young people who are living there. You can learn more about this program here.

We are asking for supplies (a specific list is below) rather than most foods, because more resources are available for food, like food stamps and food pantries. Homeless people, especially teenagers, are in need of the sort of things they cannot purchase with a Quest/foodstamps card. We also can show them that we care about their well-being by providing the specific items they need.

Our supplies drive will run through the end of this week — March 10. Any supplies you can donate will be delivered directly to Briarpatch next week. You can drop supplies off in the bins outside our AD classroom.

Thank you so much for your consideration and kindness. Please contact Ms. Allison with any questions or stop by our classroom.

 

Best wishes,
Ms. Allison and the Adolescent Community

 

Items Needed — all clothing should be new, not used

  • Anti-diarrhea tablets
  • Bandaids and other portable first aid items
  • Bath Towels
  • Bras (sizes 32-36)
  • Bug spray
  • Bus passes (youth & adult)
  • Combs / brushes
  • Flashlights with batteries
  • Food gift cards ($10-25)
  • Grocery gift cards
  • Hair picks
  • Hoodies
  • Lip balm
  • Men’s and women’s socks, short and long
  • Nail clippers
  • Pepper spray
  • Q-tips
  • Rain covers / rain shields
  • Rain gear
  • Razors
  • Ready-to-eat, non-perishable food items (no can goods — bars, ramen, jerky, candy, etc)
  • Shoes (durable and weather appropriate, any size)
  • Shorts
  • Sun screen
  • Tee shirts
  • Tissues
  • Triple antibiotic ointment
  • Twin sheet sets
  • Umbrellas
  • Washcloths
  • Wet wipes
  • Women’s hygiene products (tampons and pads)
  • Women’s underwear (sizes 6, 7, 8, 9)
  • 2600mAh Portable Mobile USB Power Bank External Battery Charger (for cell phone backup)

Hair products, more specifically:

  • As I Am Coconut Cowash Conditioner
  • Blue Magic hair grease
  • Doo-gro Jamaican black castor oil leave-in conditioner
  • Duke Waves & Fades black durag
  • Luster’s pink lotion
  • OGX Moroccan Argan oil
  • Satin sleeping caps (all sizes)
  • Shea Moisture brand shampoo, leave-in conditioner, African black soap, 100% pure oils, Control Friz, Yucca & Plantain anti-Breakage Strengthening Masque, Superfruit Comples 10-in-1 Renewal System Hair Mask

IMA STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics) Fair

Dear IMA Family & Friends:

Please join the Isthmus Montessori Academy Adolescent Community for a STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts and Mathematics) Fair on Wednesday, March 1, at 1:00 in the Adolescent classroom.

IMA’s Adolescent Students will present their original research and inventions, mathematics and biology projects, and research on historical and contemporary scientists.

We’ll also be serving science-themed snacks.

We hope you will stop by and take a look at what we’ve been learning!

IMA’s Edible Schoolyard and Garden

Dear IMA Families,

We’re thrilled to be working with FarmRaiser this year, selling organic seeds from High Mowing Organic Seeds to raise money for Isthmus Montessori Academy’s edible schoolyard and garden.

Our fundraising goal is $500. This sale only lasts through February 24, so we hope you’ll get started right away! You can purchase products by visiting this link.

Products will be sent home with families, or can be picked up at school, on March 3, 2017. If you are interested in volunteering on Distribution Day, let me know.

Tips for Great Sales:

Share the link to our online market with family and friends. You can write an email explaining your FarmRaiser and direct them to our link to support us.

Post the link on social media and ask people to share, too!

Don’t forget about the donation option! Many people would rather just make a cash pledge. We love donations and 90% comes to the school!

This fundraiser is all about supporting healthy eating, and helping our children learn about how things grow! We’re so excited to engage our students in conversations around nutrition and health and know they will be great community advocates for a healthy lifestyle as they sell their products.

Thank you for your help in making this our most successful fundraiser yet!

 

Sincerely,

Allison Bloom
Adolescent Guide

2nd Annual IMA PTO Online Auction

2nd Annual IMA PTO Online Auction

April 1-22, 2017
Pancake Breakfast & Silent Auction on April 23, 2017

We’re looking for auction donations! Do you have a favorite local business that would contribute? Could your family donate a craft item or a service? Get in touch with Ms. Allison if you have ideas about donating.

In the past we’ve had amazing donations like the following:

  • Theater tickets
  • Homemade meals and desserts
  • Jewelry-making lessons
  • Grandma-made quilts and doilies
  • Antiques
  • Restaurant gift cards
  • Massage gift cards
  • Museum memberships
  • Plants
  • Books
  • Tours of local attractions

IMA Re-Enrollment Time

It’s re-enrollment time!

You should have received information about both re-enrollment for the 2017-2018 school year and enrollment for the IMA 2017 Summer Program. If you have not, please see Mr. Chet.

The re-enrollment time for current IMA families ends on February 27th. Details are included in a letter found included with enrollment agreements.

Many new families are waiting to enroll, so it’s very important to get your paperwork in by February 27 to guarantee a spot next year. Thank you!

IMA’s Souper Supper


Hello, all!

Please mark your calendars for the second (and final) Souper Supper of the 2016-17 school year!

What is the Souper Supper?
The Souper Supper is a great IMA community event during which you meet and catch up with other families and staff. In addition to dining with other community members, students and staff propose their ideas regarding how the money collected at entry should be allocated. The gathering exemplifies IMA’s commitment to working together to support the community.

When is the Souper Supper?
The event is taking place on Thursday, February 23rd from 5:30 p.m. Please note that the school leaders will be conducting a town hall meeting beginning at 5 p.m. to answer any questions about IMA’s transition to a charter school. This forum will also be open for community members to bring up other topics.

Who should attend the Souper Supper?
This community event is open to all! It is a great way to bring together families and friends. We encourage you to bring friends from outside of the IMA community to learn about the school.

What is the cost?
The entry fee is $6 per person. Fees collected at entry will be allocated to the proposal that receives the most votes at the end of the evening.

How can I help?
Please sign-up to help with the logistics! To see how you can donate (time or items), please follow this link to Sign Up Genius.

BYOB: Bring your own bowl!
An anonymous donor has volunteered to donate an extra $1 for each bowl brought from home in an effort to reduce waste, save cost, and raise funds. Although we will have paper bowls available, we encourage you to bring your own from home!

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Courtney Seidel or Georgia Lieber.

We look forward to seeing you at the Souper Supper!

Madison School Board Approves Montessori Charter School For 2018-19 School Year

Lots of work and a long time coming! We cannot wait to open our doors in 2018/2019 for all the children and families who might not otherwise have the opportunity. This is what it’s about. This is what it’s always been about. Way to go Melissa Droessler and Carrie Marlette and ALL the children and community members who believed enough to stick with the hard work!

 

MADISON, Wis. (WSJ)–The Madison School Board voted Monday to establish a public Montessori charter school — the first of its kind in the district.

However, the board delayed the school’s opening until the 2018-19 school year, and the school’s creation remains contingent on the school’s founders supplementing their proposal during contract negotiations to address key areas that still concern district administrators and some board members.

The vote to establish the public charter school was 6-1, with TJ Mertz the sole opponent.

If all goes as planned, the vote means Isthmus Montessori Academy (IMA), 1402 Pankratz St., would change from a private, tuition-based school to a public, tuition-free one in the fall of 2018. That’s a year later than founders Melissa Droessler and Carrie Marlette and many of the school’s large group of passionate supporters had desired.

Consequently, some supporters left Monday’s meeting grumbling and even angry over the delay. Droessler stayed optimistic in her comments.

“We are thrilled at the board’s support and truly hope to operate in good faith with the district for a successful partnership,” she said.

The North Side school was founded in 2012, and Droessler and Marlette have been working with the district ever since to turn it into a public option. They have said they want to make the Montessori method available to as many families as possible, not just to those with financial means.

They believe the Montessori method, which includes multi-age classroom groupings, customized learning plans and self-directed learning, will help the district close achievement gaps while expanding options for students, especially those with special needs…

click link for more —>Wisconsin State Journal