Good evening,
On Friday all teachers enjoyed a training for our new language arts program at Independent Elementary School. I have now organized our online resources for reading and mathematics. All students can access their accounts at http://www.thinkcentral.com/ where they can log in and find their assigned work.
There will be two assignments to complete this week online:
(a) read our latest story from Theme 1, Finding a Way, entitled "Chang and the Bamboo Flute"
(b) and complete Math Lesson 3.7.
I ask that at home you monitor your students as they log-in for the first time and complete their assigned work. The usernames are quite simple: it's their first and last name together as one word (i.e; alexmcmurray for Alex McMurray). Also, the passwords are all proctor. It should be easy enough to log in, but if you run into any problems, you can reach me by replying to this e-mail or contacting me at school tomorrow. Good luck! I look forward to keeping up this effort to bring technology into the classroom. The kids are loving the iPad and I can see an important use for it as we engage in activities from our curriculum online.
CARDSTOCK & POPSICLE STICKS!
I have two urgent items on my Classroom Wish List. If you are able to bring this items to class tomorrow ASAP, I would greatly appreciate it:
(a) white cardstock (2 pkgs; qty: 250 sheets per pkg)
(b) large, wooden popsicle sticks (qty: 1 bag)
If you are able to bring in those items to class tomorrow, I would greatly appreciate it!
MULTIPLICATION
We are nearing the end of Chapter 3 on multiplication. We will wrap up our classwork and homework over the next two nights and prepare for a chapter test on Wednesday. Meanwhile, we will dive straight into the next chapter which focuses on division.
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL COMPOSITION
One of the tools we learned more about this past Friday was how the district is envisioning kids writing on a weekly basis. We are supposed to move through these stories once a week, and I do not see how students will be able to fully utilize all the tools needed in the writing process at such a quick pace.
We discussed that in each theme there are four selections plus a reader's theater. There is a writing piece in each of the four stories per theme and a writing assignment that correlates to that form, plus a writing trait that we develop for two weeks. The idea is that we will come up with four rough drafts during the first four stories per theme, and during the fifth week, which is Reader's Theater, the kids can choose one of the four rough drafts from earlier in the theme and develop it into a strong final draft for publishing.
With that in mind, the kids worked really hard this week to write about an autobiographical experience and it was nearing completion on Thursday. For homework on Thursday night, and due tomorrow, the class was asked to write or type up (double-spaced) their final draft. I will check in with them on their progress tomorrow. Please let me know what has been completed if it will be unfinished tomorrow morning.
WATER CYCLE POSTER PROJECT
The class also worked very hard on a partner project creating the water cycle. Other schools, including Jensen Ranch, recently finished a similar art project which is currently on display at the district office. I look forward to viewing all the posters tomorrow morning to see the different observations and ideas about the water cycle and the elements it consists of. This begins the final week of our Water on Earth chapter and the class has been busy completing assignments on Pearson Successnet as well as additional lab work with Mr. Reynes on Fridays. This week the kids will review the chapter, complete a test on Friday, and we'll continue our Earth Science unit next Monday, October 4.
CULTURAL REGION PROJECT
This is what I need the cardstock for. Everyone has their chart filled out on the cultural regions and now we're going to make mobiles to display the information we've organized in a creative manner. I hope someone can bring in a couple of packages of cardstock tomorrow morning.
CLASS PRESIDENT / BLOG
Ryan did a great job as our first class president. Tomorrow, Megan takes over, and we will assign out the other class jobs as well. We still have a blog to be posted from last Thursday from Blaike, and four new students completing reporter assignments this week. Grades for the blog postings for September will be going home in the Proctor folders on Friday.
PROCTOR FOLDERS
Please make sure to send the Proctor folders back to school tomorrow. You should have received your child's test for the "Line Drive" weekly lesson assessment and the Chapter 1 math test results.
TEACH TO's
A new classroom management strategy that we are implementing across the intermediate grades 4 and 5 under the direction of principal Lisa Garcia are something called "Teach To's" and they are inspired by an educator from Auburn, California, named Kelly Johnson. What we are hoping to accomplish through the use of this strategy is a more focused class that works on eliminating bad habits during instruction.
Primarily we are focusing on three or four major areas, which are rather minor details of the day. Things like, walking in line, talking during instruction, and so forth. Your child has an informational sheet in the VIP section of their binder and we met on Thursday afternoon with the other classes to review and preview what we are looking for.
If a child demonstrates negative behavior in one of these areas, they will simply be asked to "refocus" by taking a green sheet which I have in a folder by the door to Room 17 (Mr. Burgess) where they will have to think about what they were doing when they were asked to refocus, what they will do next time, and if they are ready to go back to class. They must exit and return to the classroom gracefully. It is meant to be a short, (maybe 5 minutes) exit from the room so that not much is missed, and it is not up for discussion with other kids. Your child is not in trouble, so to speak. They simply need to think about what they're doing and eliminate some of the impulsiveness and bad habits that typically arise during instruction.
As a staff, we are fully committed to making sure that your child gets the best education possible. We believe it will happen in an environment where learning is not the only thing going on, it is everything that is going on!
That's it for now.
Let's have a great week!
Mr. McMurray
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