Dear Parents,
Thank you all for your flexibility over the last two weeks with half day, conferences, and progress reports! November is such a busy month! We have been very busy in class as well, however, based on the majority of conversations that I have had with you all over the last two weeks, some of your children have not been as busy at home as you would like, or as you feel they should be.
First, let me state that all lessons, work, homework, and projects, are supposed to be written down in their planner every day. I reserve 15 minutes of every afternoon to write these things down. It would take me 15+ minutes to also check every assignment written down by every student, and many days I simply do not have the time. I will attempt to hold students accountable better at school, however, it is important that your child know that you also expect them to come home with this information.
In order to help you and your students keep track of assignments, I am looking into a few options:
1- adding "guardian email addresses" to your child's google classroom account. This will send periodic emails with work and grades that your child has been given on assignments. It will also notify if your child has not turned in an assignment. I have to enter these in individually, so I will work on doing that next week.
2- researching a way to post or display the lessons and assignments online, every day. I have to confirm with our Technology department, on whether I am allowed to set up a twitter feed or something that parents can choose to follow, where I can post images of our planner and/or notifications of assignments every day.
3- I will be emailing all of you with the login credentials for the student login for our math curriculum. If your child is not bringing math homework home, even if it is finished, you can easily access the worksheets that I assign online and print out another copy. There are also practice pages in each of the lessons in the student textbook, which is in PDF format for students to view as well as videos and power point slides of each of the lessons.
One of the reasons that kept me from making all of this information available earlier, is because I do not hear from many of you. While my last blog post had 48 views, the rest of my posts have only been viewed by about half of my families.
Just like students, I put my energy into what seems important to all of you. If families are not interested in keeping up with the goings on in the classroom, then I will divert my efforts to other tasks to help your children be as successful as possible.
A majority of you have indicated over the last two weeks that a communication of assignments and due dates is important to you. Therefore, I will do my best to keep you all as updated as possible.
One important due date coming up is your child's November Book Project. This assignment is due This Monday, December 2nd. Your child was assigned a "free choice" to show the underlying themes or lessons in a Realistic Fiction book. Themes can include: the author's message, a lesson learned by the character, problems or the solutions to a character's problems that are apparent in the book. Students can show this understanding in any way that fits them, there are several suggestions in the assignment packet in the reading section of your child's binder.
I have said many times this year: I would rather your child turn in a quality project late, than a sloppy project on time. If this book report was "news," then I recognize that they may not have a book read and a project done by Monday. I do expect that these projects show care and effort. It is highly recommended that these projects be worked on in little pieces at home throughout the month.
As always, please feel free to contact me with questions.
Regards,
Mrs. Hart
Saturday, November 30, 2019
Saturday, November 2, 2019
Important Information for BizTown, and Classroom Procedures
Good Afternoon Parents!
First, let me thank our team of party planners for such a fun Harry Potter Harvest Party last Thursday! This was the 4th year that I have had a Harry Potter party in my classroom, and every year they are just as exciting and fun for all involved. Thank you for all of your contributions and for everyone who volunteered their time to help out!
I have a lot of important pieces of information and reminders:
1) BizTown is THIS MONDAY.
a) Please have your child to school starting at 8:05, but no later than 8:30am. (If you are chaperoning this trip, some of our 5th grade teachers (myself included) will be at school early enough to supervise those students so that you can carpool down to Auburn ahead of time.)
b) There is a chance that our coaches will arrive back to Bear Creek after the school buses depart, in which case please have a backup plan to get your child from Bear Creek to home if your child misses the bus. Please also make sure your child knows of this backup plan, so that they are not worried about being able to get home. You will not be able to pick up your child from BizTown unless you are a chaperon and decided not to carpool.
c) Please send your child to school with a disposable lunch, and water bottle with their names on them. This way your child does not have to bring their backpack and can leave it at school. There is no secure backpack storage at BizTown. Student backpacks will be on a table outside of the general area, which means that it is highly discouraged that they bring any electronic devices or other valuables on the trip with them.
Please contact me if you have any concerns about providing a disposable lunch for your child.
2) Halloween Candy in the Classroom.
While I recognize the excitement of all of that candy for those who celebrate Halloween, I do not share in the excitement of having 23 hyper children full of sugar and stomachaches from eating all of their candy in my classroom all day.
My policy is as follows:
a) Candy is not a snack.
b) Candy is not a meal.
c) If students want one piece of candy as a treat with their lunch, that is fine.
d) We have severe nut allergies in this classroom. For the safety of these students, please refrain from bringing candy with nuts.
e) Because of these food allergies, I also do not allow students to share candy, snacks, or lunch with other students.
3) Snacks/Food in the Classroom.
a) Recognizing that there are times that students forget to bring a snack, I have started to provide snack in the classroom. If you would like to donate snack for students who forgot to bring some, please send me an email.
b) Please remember that your children are growing and might be needing more food to support this growth. While candy and sugar-induced stomachaches are probably the most distracting, trying to learn an empty stomach is a close second!
c) On a related note, if your child is packing their own lunch (as I know several in my classroom are) please check what they are bringing each day. While I am all for giving students more responsibility at home and at school, they still need some support from you in taking on some of these responsibilities. I say this because I have seen several students consider something small like a string cheese and an apple as a "lunch" when they wonder why they are still hungry.
4) Language Arts Assignments Due!
We have 2 assignments due next week:
a) Folk Tale Comic Strip - This was assigned at the beginning of the year, and while the date says it is due on Monday, once we knew about the field trip, I changed it to Tuesday, Nov. 5th. Information about this assignment should be in a packet inside your child's "Language Arts" or "Reading" section of their binder.
b) Reading About a Ballot Measure - Students have an assignment on their Google Classroom page, where they will read on this website about 3 initiatives on the ballot: Referendum No. 88 and No. 976, as well as Senate Join Resolution No. 8200. These are not easy to understand and students would benefit from your assistance in understanding them. Students should read any arguments for and against for these issues, as well as the fiscal impact and the background of the laws. We will vote in our mock election on Tuesday, Election Day.
c) Persuasive Writing about a Ballot Measure - Students' persuasive writing essays on a ballot measure of their choice are due by Friday, Nov. 8th. Students will choose a side on one of the ballot measures, and using their informed opinion, will write a persuasive essay, with evidence, on why they think this measure should pass or fail. While essay length mostly depends on the measure chosen and how much information they are able to get from their research. It should be at least 2 paragraphs long.
In other news:
- We are finishing up our first of 2 literacy pilots! I am sad that we weren't able to get another book club in before we have to give back the curriculum. If you and your child have had some discussions about the book club activities that we have done in school, and you have an opinion on the curriculum, please take a moment to take the survey linked here.
- We were fortunate enough to have Beecher's Pure Foods Program come to our school on Friday and teach everyone about healthy nutrition! Students learned about additives and processed foods, and how delicious something can taste when it is made with whole, unprocessed ingredients. We also learned about how nutrition labels can distort or mislead the consumer (us) into thinking they are healthier than they really are. Many students were shocked to learn how much added sugar is in so much of their food!
- We wrapped up our third block in our Math curriculum, and will be starting our unit on basic algebra starting next week. This was a very difficult unit for a lot of my students last year. I highly recommend spending some extra time talking with students about these concepts, especially if they are hoping to make another math jump into Algebra I next year.
I can't think of anything else at the moment, but please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Warmest Regards,
Mrs. Hart
First, let me thank our team of party planners for such a fun Harry Potter Harvest Party last Thursday! This was the 4th year that I have had a Harry Potter party in my classroom, and every year they are just as exciting and fun for all involved. Thank you for all of your contributions and for everyone who volunteered their time to help out!
I have a lot of important pieces of information and reminders:
1) BizTown is THIS MONDAY.
a) Please have your child to school starting at 8:05, but no later than 8:30am. (If you are chaperoning this trip, some of our 5th grade teachers (myself included) will be at school early enough to supervise those students so that you can carpool down to Auburn ahead of time.)
b) There is a chance that our coaches will arrive back to Bear Creek after the school buses depart, in which case please have a backup plan to get your child from Bear Creek to home if your child misses the bus. Please also make sure your child knows of this backup plan, so that they are not worried about being able to get home. You will not be able to pick up your child from BizTown unless you are a chaperon and decided not to carpool.
c) Please send your child to school with a disposable lunch, and water bottle with their names on them. This way your child does not have to bring their backpack and can leave it at school. There is no secure backpack storage at BizTown. Student backpacks will be on a table outside of the general area, which means that it is highly discouraged that they bring any electronic devices or other valuables on the trip with them.
Please contact me if you have any concerns about providing a disposable lunch for your child.
2) Halloween Candy in the Classroom.
While I recognize the excitement of all of that candy for those who celebrate Halloween, I do not share in the excitement of having 23 hyper children full of sugar and stomachaches from eating all of their candy in my classroom all day.
My policy is as follows:
a) Candy is not a snack.
b) Candy is not a meal.
c) If students want one piece of candy as a treat with their lunch, that is fine.
d) We have severe nut allergies in this classroom. For the safety of these students, please refrain from bringing candy with nuts.
e) Because of these food allergies, I also do not allow students to share candy, snacks, or lunch with other students.
3) Snacks/Food in the Classroom.
a) Recognizing that there are times that students forget to bring a snack, I have started to provide snack in the classroom. If you would like to donate snack for students who forgot to bring some, please send me an email.
b) Please remember that your children are growing and might be needing more food to support this growth. While candy and sugar-induced stomachaches are probably the most distracting, trying to learn an empty stomach is a close second!
c) On a related note, if your child is packing their own lunch (as I know several in my classroom are) please check what they are bringing each day. While I am all for giving students more responsibility at home and at school, they still need some support from you in taking on some of these responsibilities. I say this because I have seen several students consider something small like a string cheese and an apple as a "lunch" when they wonder why they are still hungry.
4) Language Arts Assignments Due!
We have 2 assignments due next week:
a) Folk Tale Comic Strip - This was assigned at the beginning of the year, and while the date says it is due on Monday, once we knew about the field trip, I changed it to Tuesday, Nov. 5th. Information about this assignment should be in a packet inside your child's "Language Arts" or "Reading" section of their binder.
b) Reading About a Ballot Measure - Students have an assignment on their Google Classroom page, where they will read on this website about 3 initiatives on the ballot: Referendum No. 88 and No. 976, as well as Senate Join Resolution No. 8200. These are not easy to understand and students would benefit from your assistance in understanding them. Students should read any arguments for and against for these issues, as well as the fiscal impact and the background of the laws. We will vote in our mock election on Tuesday, Election Day.
c) Persuasive Writing about a Ballot Measure - Students' persuasive writing essays on a ballot measure of their choice are due by Friday, Nov. 8th. Students will choose a side on one of the ballot measures, and using their informed opinion, will write a persuasive essay, with evidence, on why they think this measure should pass or fail. While essay length mostly depends on the measure chosen and how much information they are able to get from their research. It should be at least 2 paragraphs long.
In other news:
- We are finishing up our first of 2 literacy pilots! I am sad that we weren't able to get another book club in before we have to give back the curriculum. If you and your child have had some discussions about the book club activities that we have done in school, and you have an opinion on the curriculum, please take a moment to take the survey linked here.
- We were fortunate enough to have Beecher's Pure Foods Program come to our school on Friday and teach everyone about healthy nutrition! Students learned about additives and processed foods, and how delicious something can taste when it is made with whole, unprocessed ingredients. We also learned about how nutrition labels can distort or mislead the consumer (us) into thinking they are healthier than they really are. Many students were shocked to learn how much added sugar is in so much of their food!
- We wrapped up our third block in our Math curriculum, and will be starting our unit on basic algebra starting next week. This was a very difficult unit for a lot of my students last year. I highly recommend spending some extra time talking with students about these concepts, especially if they are hoping to make another math jump into Algebra I next year.
I can't think of anything else at the moment, but please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns.
Warmest Regards,
Mrs. Hart
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