Parent+News

One of our main goals is to help students become independent and cooperative workers. During the first few weeks students will spend some time each day at various learning stations, working in small groups to get to know one another and become comfortable with various classroom routines. During this time we will emphasize working together, finishing work independently, and putting materials away. As students learn to work on their own and in cooperative groups we will be able to increase our ability to meet with small groups of students and to help students progress at their own pace.


 * //__HOMEWORK __//**

All students will bring home a Homework folder. The emphasis of the homework folder is on organizational skills. Please check and return it to school **DAILY**. We will ask the student to put all information from school and homework into the folder for you to read. The homework will be short assignment that will reinforce math, reading, writing and spelling daily. We will check daily for completeness of each assignment. As a parent, we are asking that you check each day for correctness. Please place all notes, messages and money in the front pocket. We will check them daily and respond as fast as possible, usually the same day. We do this so that you and I can be assured that we receive all message! This also will make it easy for us to locate.

//READING // The purpose for reading at home will be for pleasure. We want the children to read books of interest to them. Plus, we want you to be able to share in their excitement of reading.

__Here is the plan: __ **Monday:** The students’ poetry notebooks will come home. Have your child read the poems to you and relish the fun. Please help them return their notebook to school the next day. Library Day-Enjoy the book together that your child selects from the library at school and log it in their book log. Patronage of a library is another life long skill we would like to encourage. Remind your child that they can trade in their library book every morning during free check out.

**Tuesday-Thursday**: Students will choose 3 book to bring home to read to you. Please record their choices in the reading log and return them the next day. The students will be able to bring home new books each day as long as they return books.

*Sometimes your child will bring a book home that may seem too easy. That’s okay; it’s a perfect opportunity to work on fluency. This includes practicing reading with ease, expression and correct pacing. Often books at a child’s independent level help them develop confidence in themselves as a reader.

*Sometimes your child may bring home a book at their instructional level. They may need a bit of help figuring out unknown words. Have them “stretch” words into individual sounds, but not so many that they become frustrated. It is okay for them to read the words they know and want to try and you fill in the rest. Remember this is supposed to be pleasurable.

*Sometimes they may bring a book home that is clearly above their reading level. Here is an opportunity for them to read the pictures. This kind of reading helps students focus on details, put thoughts together in sentences and interact with books with complex story lines. Remember our primary goal is for your child to enjoy reading!

**Portfolio Party ** This year students the multiage will participate in a Portfolio Party. We have set aside several dates for the Parties. It will last between 20 and 30 minutes, starting at 10:00am. We believe that student involvement makes learning active, provides opportunities for students to evaluate their performance, and encourages students to accept responsibility for their learning. Having students take charge makes them more accountable for what they are learning. In addition, this form of sharing creates a partnership between the home and the school that is hard to get in any other way. Research shows that students sharing about their learning offer many benefits including the following: stronger sense of accountability; stronger sense of pride in achievement; more productive student-teacher relationships; development of leadership skills; and greater parental participation.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Prior to the party, students will collect work that reflects what they have learned. Students will be taught how to select work samples and how to evaluate their work to determine their strengths and weaknesses and assemble it in a portfolio. As the students share, they will explain skills they have learned and share goals they have set for themselves. As your child shares his or her work, you may want to ask questions such as: <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What can you tell me about this assignment? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What did you have to do to complete this assignment? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What skills did you have to use? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What would you do next time to improve your work? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">What goals have you set? <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">How can I help you meet your goals?

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">At the end of the party, you will be asked to complete a quick survey that will help us evaluate the effectiveness of the party. You can complete the survey at school immediately or it can be filled out at home and returned to school with your child.

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">__What's the Role of the Parent__ <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">We believe that this will be an important experience for all students and hope that all parents will be able to participate. Your role is critical to the success of the conference. Listener. Having a parent audience for learning gives students a powerful reason to learn and work hard. Talk with the student about the work that will be presented. You will gain a better understanding of the academic expectations set for your child. Identify ways you can support the student to achieve goals that will be set for the next grading period. <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">This will be avery special time for you and your child. Please try to arrange your schedule to come. If it is not possible for you to attend you may want to ask a grandparent, another relative, or perhaps a family friend to take your place. If you wish to schedule an appointment to speak privately with the teacher, please let the teacher know.

**<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">Technology is Terrific ** <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">We are so excited about all of the technology that is present in our room. We will be exploring skpe, podcast, wikispaces, blogs, flip cameras, hyper links, apps, creating multimedia projects and all the word processing experiences we can think of. This is a learning experience for all of us. We have started to change procedures in our class. Please tell anyone you run in to at the district office how powerful this initiative has been. The kids are doing awesome things with the technology please come in and visit!