Welcome to my Website
for 2007-2008 School Year!
Thursday, January 24, 2008
I have a new website! The address is:
http://moodle.cksd.wednet.edu/course/view.php?id=422
I am hoping to only use this NEW website stated above, beginning tomorrow. I plan to adhere a new label to your child's Eagle Folder tomorrow with this new address stated above for the Moodle Website. This website will no longer be updated. This site has too many technical problems, when typing.
LAST POSTING AT THIS WEBSITE (I think!)
HOMEWORK IN A NUTSHELL:
SIGNED REPORT CARD BACK PAGE:
STILL MISSING! Have you returned the bottom part of your child's report card yet? I have only received 15 out of 26. Don't worry if you lost it; just write me a note stating you reviewed your child's report card, make any comments or ask any questions, sign and date it, and return it! THANK YOU!
A.R. READING:
11 of our 26 students are at 50% or more of their AR goal this trimester! That is MUCH better than last trimester! Ask if your child is, or look at their quiz papers that are brought home. They have until Jan. 28th to get to 50%.
AR read; 60 minutes per day for 4th graders. Record minutes for Reading Olympics, too!!! All AR reading should be recorded as minutes in Reading Olympics. I BELIEVE JAN. 28th is the HALFWAY point of this trimester; your child should be at 50% + of his/her goal by then. NOW check your child's AR quizzes highlighted in pink to see where s/he stands!
READING OLYMPICS:
How are you doing, now that you've almost completed the 3rd week of Reading Olympics? I can't wait to see how many minutes are showing on the chart in the hall now! Make sure you are honest in your recordkeeping, of course. Keep track of the minutes your child reads all week, Monday through Friday, for this next week. GO FOR THE GOLD!!!
MATH:
- Study all basic facts, especially multiplication and subtraction, as we are heading on to long division in Unit 6 tomorrow!
- Division page of basic facts (page 8)
SPELLING:
Finish Exercise Express #4 with quality work--due tomorrow
Make sure to keep studying the "Words to Learn" page which has correct spellings of words your child's misspelled on quizzes and tests. Study the new list intensely and also keep studying the "Level 4 Core Words" pages.
Save those Boxtops for Education and Campbell's Labels for the NEXT Contest
TODAY IN CLASS...
Worked on Cause and Effect skills today in our selection "Happy Birthday, Dr. King!" Students need to learn to look back in the selection to find the sentence or sentences or make inferences to support the cause or the effect.
For our Read-Aloud, Number the Stars, the time can't come fast enough. Most of the kids are wonderful listeners and can't wait to find out what's going to happen next, as the Nazi soldiers are everywhere! Now they are on the coast of Denmark, overlooking free Sweden...
Today we took the Unit 5 Math Test. I gave a bit of assistance on the last problem, which requires your child to write an explanation of how s/he determined the answer to the problem. This skill of Math Writing takes a while to develop, and it is an individually guided lesson, so the quiet testing format allowed me to deal with each child's writing individually. Scores will be skewed!--but I wanted them to know immediately how to improve their written explanation; this skill is mandatory for the Math WASL.
We also worked on prepatory journal pages for division. They required students to look at numbers in groupings. We'll go over it tomorrow in class, when we begin Unit 6 and long division.
Exercise Express #4 was talked about and begun in class today. I told the kids I was sick and tired of getting sloppy, careless, illegible work on these assignments and warned them I would be giving ACIs this time, if there wasn't improvement in quality. We took a great deal of time going over the expectations, so I hope to see marvelous improvement, come tomorrow morning! One person is receiving the forewarned handwriting packet I've been threatening since September for unimproved handwriting; I have more packets, so a couple kids need to "shape up!" or they will also be getting one. I am also looking for improved direction-following on this assignment.
WRITER'S WORKSHOP:
Lesson today was about organizing facts in a paragraph. We learned you can organize facts chronologically (by time), or by importance, and space order (left to right, top to bottom). Then we organized 5 facts about Dr. King, which was challenging, but a great skill for them to apply.
AR READING: Your child's AR quizzes are highlighted in pink this trimester to show you how many points of his/her goal have been achieved and what percentage of the goal that is. There are three pink parts: # of points your child has so far this trimester, # of points in your child's goal for this trimester, and % of that goal reached so far. Please take a moment to look at one of the quizzes.They get a book sticker for every 2 percentage points earned towards their personal goal.For 2nd Trimester...READ HOW TO MAKE A LIST OF BOOKS WITH AR QUIZZES FOR YOUR CHILD BY SCROLLING DOWN TO THE BLUE LINK.
DAILY READING increases SPEED, ACCURACY, VOCABULARY, and TIME-BUDGETING. Your child should read 60 minutes each day (20-30 are usually done in class)
More on AR: You can generate a list on your own, so it is easier and quicker for your child to pick out books from the library. Just follow the directions below...
You can help your child create an AR reading list at home! We have a program called QuizList Interactive, which displays all of the quizzes we have at Esquire Hills, and enables you to search by subject, author, title, reading level and points. After you create your booklist, you can print it for your child to use at school or at the public library. Many teachers have been requiring their students to keep these booklists in a particular place so they will not be lost. It is important to note that QuizList Interactive simply allows you to find titles of Esquire Hills’ quizzes; you cannot take a quiz.
Using QuizList Interactive is easy! Simply go to http://esquirehills.cksd.wednet.edu/Library/home.htm, which is the Library Media Center home page. Click on the AR Quizzes link to bring up QuizList Interactive. There are instructions for each type of search you can do. On the green panel to the left of the search fields, there are some links. Feel free to explore them, but be aware that the link Search EH Library only works at school.
Home phone: 698-3372, in case you need to call me. School 662-8633, to leave a voice message, or to talk with me before or after school/meetings.
