Sweet September. We welcome you back to school with open arms and happy smiles. All summer long we have been planning for the great school year ahead of us. Now, let it all begin!

First, if you haven’t noticed already, take a look at our sleek new website! Yes, our updated website went live on the first day of school, August 19th. It’s a clean, fresh new look with smooth organizational design and functionality. Check it out!

Coming up quickly, our School Picture Days will be September 9th-17th. Please see more specific information about picture days below.

Next up, our Welcome Back Picnic is Thursday, September 12th, 6:00-7:30 pm, at the Primary (Connor Street) campus. Join us for a BBQ dinner and casual mix and mingle with teachers, families and friends in our school community.

If the past few weeks are any indication about what kind of a school year this will be, we are really excited for what is to come. From leadership to staff, parents and students as well, we see smiles and cooperation, kindness and consideration. There is synergy and excitement in the air. Welcome back. We missed you!

Warmly,
Elizabeth Academy Administration

September Events

Picture Days: September 9th-17th. See more information below.

Welcome Back Picnic: Thursday, September 12th 6:00-7:30pm

Teacher Workday: Friday, September 13th No School

EAPO Campus Conversations: Thursday, September 19th. See campus information below.

International Day of Peace: Friday, September 20th

Fall Picture Day

Picture day is here and we are excited to see their cute faces! Please check the schedule for the day your student will have their picture taken. Pictures will be taken in the morning, please have your student arrive ready and on time.
Primary School Picture Days
September 9th- Infant & Toddlers
September 10th- Elementary Students
September 11th- Early Childhood
Secondary School Picture Day
September 17th- Secondary and Post Secondary Students

Welcome Back Picnic

Thursday, September 12th 6:00-7:30pm

We are excited to announce our annual Welcome Back Picnic. The whole school community from both campuses is invited to join together at the Primary School campus to catch up with each other, grab some grub and have some fun.

We will provide the dinner and welcome you to sign up to bring a salad or dessert.

Primary School

Social Emotional

Do you have a student in one of our EC classrooms (Willow, Sequoia, Juniper, or Aspen)? Have you heard your child talk about their Love Light? The students have been learning that when you say kind words and do kind things your Love Light shines brighter.  One Willow student said   “It shines in your body, it makes you happy when friends are kind.” “I can give someone a hug and that will make their love light grow brighter.”

Enrichment

We are into week three and enrichments are going full force! Dance and Movement with Ms. Chassie and Ms. Hayley.  Asian style scroll paintings with Ms. Rachel in art.  Exploring reading topics and doing a scavenger hunt in the library with Ms. Ellie and Mr. Diego.  Jumping and moving with Ms. Jasmin in PE, sing-a-longs and music with Ms. Rachel.  Brushing off the Spanish conjunctive with Ms. Carolina.  Our students travel to enrichment spaces starting at the end of toddlers.  In our toddler and infant classes the enrichment specialist go to the children.  So if you have the opportunity to be touring around the school or volunteering in a class make sure to overlap it with the enrichment schedule.  There is a sense of energy within the building as all of our spaces are now being used.

Montessori Minute

Our community is full of parents and kids that both have experience within Montessori and some that are new to it this year.  Maria Montessori has many quotations but one that came from her London Lectures in 1946 is “We must accept adaptation as the basis upon which we can build a concept of education.”  The first couple of weeks have been focused around normalizing to the year and teachers assessing the students as to where they are.  It has been amazing to watch the dance between our classroom teachers, our level interventionists, and our therapists to assess and plan and then meet the needs of our students.  Thank you for being a part of our community and joining us in this dance.

Secondary School

Camp Oakley

Students spent two days connecting with teachers and peers. They played an interactive game emulating the “Hero’s Journey” that aligned with the school values of Kindness, Inclusivity, Honesty, and Commitment. It was an amazing experience for students and staff alike!

Advisory Focus: Collaboration

We encourage parents to talk to your students about compromise and the role that plays in good leadership and teamwork. Also discuss how collaboration ties to our school values: inclusivity, kindness, honesty and commitment. There is a difference between being part of a group and being part of a team. A team. A group is simply a group of people with individual goals, while a team is a group of people working towards a common goal.

SAVE THE DATE

Friday, October 25th

Monster Mash:Inclusive Dance

There will be dancing, a costume contest, and other fun activities at Thanksgiving Point

EAPO Corner

Campus Conversations

Primary School- September 19th 8:50am in the Black Box

Secondary School- September 19th 2:30pm in the Life Skills Room

Campus Conversations are monthly meetings hosted by the EAPO. Lasting approximately one hour, Campus Conversations are informal discussions, and are the best way to stay informed about what is happening both on the Primary and Secondary Campuses, and to be in the loop about upcoming events and activities. Light refreshments are served.

Volunteer Opportunities

It is vital to the success of Elizabeth Academy to have the support of a robust, involved, and dedicated group of parents and guardians. EAPO relies on volunteerism from our parent community to support our ongoing efforts. Please click on the links below to sign up to help OR go to the school app to find volunteer opportunities.

Primary School Upcoming Events

Pizza Wednesdays

Wednesday, September 25th

Our next pizza day is on Wednesday, September 25th. Both campuses will participate. To purchase the pizza meal go to the school store in the app.

School Store

Welcome Elizabeth Academy Families!

Summer is still sizzling, but fall will be here soon so prepare yourselves for the brightest school year yet! All of our leaders; including administrators, lead teachers and interventionists, have been busily at work this summer, preparing an exciting and engaging year of learning for you at Elizabeth Academy.

Last year we came together as a whole school, two campuses, united as one in our efforts to create a complete scope-and-sequence, inclusive Montessori curriculum, Infant-12th grade. I have been utterly amazed and overjoyed at the progress our leaders and lead staff have made in this collaborative process! Along the way, we have seen more change than we had anticipated this past year, as a few of our beloved leaders and staff have transitioned to other schools. Gratefully they have left us in a better place than they found us, and as we have all grown together in this journey of inclusion at Elizabeth Academy, we have a wealth of strong and capable people who remain with us and have added new leaders who will strengthen us even more. They have already done so this summer. 

As founder of Elizabeth Academy, I will once again be taking the lead as Executive Director, ensuring that our school stays on track to fulfill its ultimate mission and vision, maintaining its cultural values, especially in regard to inclusion. Nathan Abbott will take the lead as Principal of the Primary school, with support from our wonderful new Assistant Principal, Jessica Grabe. Sofia Rigolon will take the reins of Principal at the Secondary school, supported by Christine Strubell as the School Counselor. 

Finally, we have added an important new position at the school, which we believe will strengthen our inclusive program significantly. Lindsay Baird has taken the position of Special Education Director at Elizabeth Academy. Her responsibilities include directing special educators and interventionists at both campuses, guiding them in their work to level lessons, create and maintain SSPs, and collaborate with therapists, teachers, and other leaders in this interdisciplinary, individualized educational program. If this work sounds daunting, I would say that it is, and it might be impossible, except for the expertise that Lindsay brings to the table and for the incredible strength of the other aforementioned leaders, teachers, interventionists and therapists who have been all been working collaboratively this summer already and who will continue to do so throughout the school year to make this magic work! 

All we need is you. Icing on the cake at the end of a hot summer.

Cool is coming,

Gail S. Williamsen
Executive Director, Elizabeth Academy

Elizabeth Academy APP!

We are excited to announce that the Elizabeth Academy App is now available. Available in both the Apple App Store and Android App Store. Just search for Elizabeth Academy and look for our logo. It is a free app that connects you with the calendar, updates, supply lists, attendance reporting, the school store and MORE!!

Please enable push notifications when you download the app to get reminders about upcoming events and important notices.

Elizabeth Academy Leaders attend Honors in Education Gala

The Honors in Education Gala is put on yearly by Utah’s First Lady, Abby Cox, and recognizes select educators who have made a real difference in education. This year, a few of our leaders, Gail Williamsen, Sofia Rigolon, Jessica Grabe, and Lindsay Baird, attended this lovely event and were delighted to discover that one of our former Elizabeth Academy teachers was honored with an award! Chelsi Ostergaard, who was one of our first teachers to take Montessori training and teach in our early childhood classroom (a few years co-teaching with Jess Ruud), was not only an honoree, but was also featured as the highlighted award winner in an article written in the Deseret News about the event! Check out this link to read the whole article. 

Elizabeth Academy also had an incredible showing (with a booth) at another event the following day. Our Primary School Principal, Nate Abbott “showed up” with a stellar cast of representatives from Elizabeth Academy, Lindsay Baird, Jess Ruud and Danielle Rehmann, at the Show Up for Teachers event, dazzling attendees with Elizabeth Academy magic. This event was a conference for teachers, showering them with love and appreciation, workshops and all kinds of goodies. Sharing what our program is all about was a treat for them and a boon for us, as we made the acquaintance of many other fine educators  in Utah and were able to expose them to the fine art of inclusive Montessori at Elizabeth Academy. 

Supply Lists

Be prepared for the first day of school with the supply list provided. You can view the supply lists by level by clicking the link below.

Meet our Special Education Director, Lindsay Baird

Elizabeth Academy Families, 

My name is Lindsay Baird and I started as the Special Education Director at Elizabeth Academy in April 2024. Since then, I have been observing and learning the current special education frameworks and processes that have been established. Elizabeth Academy has done an excellent job in getting to know each individual student, proactively seeking out interventions that will help students succeed and providing high-quality services for your children. 

I am looking forward to contributing to the already great structures that are in place. That being said, with new leadership comes change. Moving forward, we will be putting more focused emphasis on making programming decisions based on student data (informal and formal assessments, teacher observations, parent input). The human brain is deep and complex. There are so many cognitive processes that we can leverage to help students build on their strengths and guide them to overcome their challenges. Our teachers need to know what those cognitive processes are and how they apply to each individual student identified as having a disability. 

This will look like: 

  • Providing teachers with direct and embedded training on cognitive functions and different types of disabilities. 
  • Providing more structure around the Student Study (formerly known as SST) process, informal and formal assessments, and Student Support Plans (SSP)
  • Provide training to help teachers to understand student behavior, how to apply behavioral interventions, and the reasons why. 
  • Implement curricula that are intended for students with disabilities that can be embedded in their day, giving them explicit instruction and multiple opportunities to respond. 

Changes you will see: 

  • SSP meetings will be held one time per year with the entire SSP team. An SSP team includes the student (depending on age and items discussed), parents, teachers, interventionists, therapists, and school administration. (The SSP team can meet more than one time per year as needed or if concerns arise.) This provides more individualization and more conversations being held. 
  • During this meeting, progress will be reviewed, the school team will report on the student’s present levels of performance, annual goals will be proposed, and the amount of service time the student needs will be discussed. 
  • Parents will receive progress reports on students’ progress toward their SSP goals every term. 
  • Formal and informal evaluations will be conducted more often. If you have had a private psychologist conduct an assessment of your child, that would be incredibly helpful to our team. Please provide the school with a copy. 

Action Items: 

  • We will be going through each child’s evaluation and determining if we need additional information. 
  • We will be going through each child’s current SSP to see what goals need to be updated. Then we will be calendaring SSP meetings throughout the school year. Goals that the student is still working on will be carried over to this next school year. If goals need to be updated or changed, we will do this at the beginning of the year with the assumption that later in the year we will meet again to create the SSP that will be updated on the anniversary date. 

Having a group of individuals who love and care for your child, who are provided with individual-specific information, annual goals, and support is MAGICAL! Meeting, as a team, to discuss where your child is, where we want them to go, and how we are going to support them in getting there is POWERFUL. It is just one of the reasons I love special education! 

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out! 

Lindsay Baird
SPED Director 
Elizabeth Academy