Wow, and another calendar year is soon to be history!
Your student’s Wednesday folder contains the final progress report for this trimester. Please sign and return this document by Friday. Grades close for the second trimester on Friday, Jan. 15th, only two weeks after our return.
Our focus shifts to Native Californians with a large research, writing, and artifact project. The Monday after holidays, information will be sent home. Students will be encouraged to look information up on the internet, with adult supervision, to then fill in a graphic organizer and write a report. Most everything will be completed in class. There will be a few nights of homework related specifically to the project. Our class will hold a “Morning at the Museum” on Thurs., Jan. 28th from 8:30 until 9:05. Assembly is at 9:10 that morning.
Please continue to work on multiplication facts. We have 6 students who can do 80 problems in 3 minutes and are now working on division facts. Another 10 students are so close to success- they actually request Rocket Math tests 🙂 There are many games on the internet, but old fashion flashcards get results.
Accelerated Reader (AR) is also working well for many of our students. 21 students have reached their goal and are now working on getting 25 points to earn a Spartan tag at the end of the trimester. One of our students has read over 650,000 words this year! Awesome! Word count goes up very slowly when the students read short books simply to take tests. Many have improved their comprehension scores this way- 20 students are in the A and B range. Please encourage your student to read a longer chapter book within the ZPD over the holidays. Perseverance is a skill that takes practice.
The students have planned the snack events for Friday. So far we have 15 cookies to decorate and 24 cupcakes that are already decorated. It looks like we need another dozen sugar cookies. Thank you to all the parents who agreed to donate. The students are in charge of notes and supplies and are excited about working together to see what they can bring in. 🙂 (or what you are willing to donate!) Thursday they will break into smaller groups and plan a 10 minute activity to entertain the rest of the class. Event planning is always interesting to experience this time of year.
Enjoy the two week break. It always seems hectic, but take the time to relish the excitement and innocence of being an eight/ nine year old during this season.
Until next year…
Sincerely,