Hello Parents!
I hope you are enjoying this lovely weekend! It's hard to believe that the first week of class is already over! We have a wonderful group of students and I am looking forward to a really terrific year.
Discipline: Your child should have brought home our Classroom Rules and Consequences. The students and I wrote these together, and every student signed them. You should also have received notice about our Classroom DoJo. Students receive points for good behavior, and lose points for poor behavior. You can log on any time, any day, and see how your child has been behaving. You can also compare your child's behavior to the behavior of the other students in our class. Every Friday we will have an auction where students may use their points to "purchase" items. We had our first auction last Friday, and the students loved it! If a student did not use points, the points carry on until they are used. Each student has a little notebook where they record points earned and used. I print a copy of the points every Friday to help keep track of them. PLEASE send in inexpensive items for the auctions. Thank you!!
Room Parent: Several parents have volunteered to assist during the school day. Thank you! What we need now is one or two parents to volunteer to be our "Room Parent". The Room Parent helps plan parties and sends out notices if necessary. Please notify me if you are willing to do this very important job to help our students.
School Forms: If you have not done so already, please fill out all the forms we sent home, and return them. Also, send in the requested money for Music Class and Chinese Class. You do NOT need to send in money for a class book. The administration should have removed that item from our Class Supply List, but it was included in error.
Next week in Literacy our students will begin studying spelling rules, writing techniques, and grammar rules. All students have completed a Spelling Pre-Test, a Grammar Pre-Test, and a Writing Pre-Test. They have been placed in groups based upon their performance. If performance changes, a student may be moved to another group. Students will receive a list of spelling words on Monday and will have a Language Test on Friday.
Parent References:
Grammar Island, by Michael Clay Thompson
All About Spelling, Level 3, by Marie Ripple
Daily 6 Traits of Writing
In Science, our students are studying Landforms. They will have a short quiz this coming Wednesday. I will give them a study guide on Monday. On Tuesday, they will receive a Landforms Project. The work will be done in small groups in class. Presentations will begin on September 22.
Parent References:
Student notes
Study Guide
Here are some daily reminders for the coming weeks:
On Monday, August 31, signed Reading Records are due. This is part of the Literacy grade.
Students will receive spelling words.
Students will receive a Study Guide for the Landforms Quiz.
On Tuesday, September 1, I will assign the Landforms Project. Please review the Project and the Grading Rubric.
On Wednesday, September 2, definitions for the spelling words are due.
There will be a quiz in Science on Landforms.
On Friday, September 4, there will be a Language Test.
On Monday, September 7, there is no school due to the Labor Day holiday.
On Tuesday, September 8, The drawing for the Landforms Project is due.
Signed Reading Records are due.
Students will receive spelling words.
On Wednesday, September 9, students will take a BOG (Beginning of Year) Reading Test.
Spelling word definitions are due.
On Friday, September 11, students will have a Language Test.
I think that's all the news for now.
Have a great weekend!
Kathy
