Christmas time at the Academy
Christmas is quickly approaching and the students at the Southern Ute Indian Montessori Academy are looking forward to their break and playing outside is the snow — let’s hope we have some!
As in years past, SUIMA has incorporated holiday activities into the month of December, this year has been no different.
During the Ute Language lessons, the students have been working on the food blessing prayer, the toddler classrooms put together candy cane activities to do at home, the primary classrooms are using cotton balls to count how many “hairs” are on Santa’s beard; and both the primary and elementary levels are building gingerbread houses via Zoom.
For our Parent Advisory Group Family Night, the school had a Christmas stocking decoration contest – it was an evening filled with holiday cheer, laughter, and music. The Grinch even showed up for a little while!
Even though Christmas may look a little different this year, traditions can still be kept. Family, food, Christmas songs, memories of past celebration and the opening of gifts can all help keep those traditions intact and help us feel a sense of normalcy.
Everyone have a wonderful Christmas!
SUIMA Staff spotlight
Katrina Richards is from Ignacio and has worked at the Southern Ute Indian Montessori Academy for 12 years.
She has been married to Kenneth Richards for 33 year and has four children: Gabe, Greg, Seth and Jade. She also has seven grandchildren that range in ages from 4-13 years old!
When Katrina is not at work, her favorite thing to do is to be with her family and her five dogs.
Before she came to SUIMA,
Katrina worked as a volleyball and basketball coach for Ignacio High School.
Katrina says that the best part of working at SUIMA is that she gets to work with kids. Her favorite quote is, “Good, better, best; never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best.”
Thank you, Katrina, for being part of the SUIMA family.
Christmas book suggestion
As SUIMA and the Ignacio School District work together to promote a reading community, here are a couple of Christmas books for your enjoyment: For younger readers — Pete the Cat Saves Christmas; For older readers — How to Catch Santa, How to Catch an Elf.