Parent Letter

Hello to all!  What a beautiful weekend!  It felt a little like fall, but it was gorgeous!  

Last week flew by but we were able to accomplish quite a few things.  We continue to add more reading, writing, and math, and we are working into our classroom routine.  In science, we found out about some interesting “mystery objects” that were put in salt and fresh water.  Unfortunately, only a few of our mystery objects hatched in the salt water, so we watched a short video clip of brine shrimp swimming around from the Internet.  We also planted clover, grass, and peas with beans and are looking forward to see the plants sprouting up.  We are also looking forward to finding out what animals will be shipped to us in a few weeks.  The class seems to really enjoy the unit we are studying and in the coming weeks we will be working with other organisms inside the classroom.  

We are continuing to make strides in “The Daily Five.”  The class was very excited to read 17 (almost 18) minutes last week while doing “Read to Self!”  We are going to continue working on our stamina until we can read for 25-30 minutes consistently.  Last week, we added a new component to Daily Five: work on writing.  Like read to self, students will build their stamina up and be able to write for 25-30 minutes.  We are currently at 8 minutes for working on writing.  

While we are making strives in the academic areas, one area that we are continually working on both individually and as a class, is our behavior.  We talk daily about showing respect at school and showing "Cadet Pride."  We discuss being a classroom community and that we need to work together to make our classroom successful.  I have recently implemented a behavior management system that monitors positive behaviors that we want to see in school and negative behaviors that we need to work on.  Each student can earn points (actually his/her avatar can earn points) and he/she can see how he/she does throughout the day.  The program is Internet based and called "Class Dojo."  The class has responded positively to it and are working hard at earning positive points and monitoring their own behavior.  I plan on continuing the program throughout October and would like to show you a graph of what your child's behaviors look like at school.  If you have any questions about the program, just ask.  

Thank you for helping your child with his/her homework.  Typically, your child will have math for homework, but please consider reading as part of his/her homework every night.  I have told the class that they do have homework every night: reading.  It is extremely important that your child is reading every night to help him/her consistently improve at it.  Later this week or the beginning of next week, I will let each student check out a book from our own classroom library so that he/she has a book to keep at home and read.  When your child has completed the book, he/she can return it and check out a new one.  Also, beginning in October, we will start doing reading calendars where your child will be rewarded for reading the required amount of minutes a month.

Lastly, there are a couple of reminders for the week.  We have SCHOOL PICTURES on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH, and we have a 3-HOUR EARLY OUT on WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH.  Please plan accordingly for both days.  Thanks!

If you have any questions, feel free to contact me.  I am available anytime.  Thanks for everything, and have a fantastic week!

Sincerely,

Mrs. McCarville