Students may choose to share Valentines with their classmates on Thursday, February 11th. We currently have 27 students in our class.
Monthly Archives: January 2016
Parent Teacher Conference
Conferences will be February 9th, 10th, and 11th. Please sign up here. Remember these are early out days at 1:00 p.m. There will be no school on Friday, February 12th or Monday, February 15th. . If your child shares time in another teachers classroom, please sign up with both teachers at the same time and we will meet altogether. Also, if you foresee you need more than 20 minutes, please feel free to sign up for two time slots. I look forward to visiting with you.
See’s Candy
See’s candy orders are due Monday.
Class Photo
Thursday morning at 9:00 a.m. we will be having a group picture taken of our class. This picture is for the yearbook and is not a professional picture for purchase. Our hope is to have everyone at school for the picture.
Open House
A small flyer for the Maria Montessori Academy Open House was recently sent home. This is a great opportunity to share with others more about our school and philosophy. Please feel free to invite family, friends, and neighbors.
There will be two open house events, the first is for the jr. high and the other for elementary and early childhood. The Jr. High Parent & Student Night will be next Tuesday, January 12, from 7-8. If you have a student who is in the sixth grade or just want to know more about the program, please come. The Parent Information Night for Early Childhood and 1st-6th will be the following Tuesday, January 19, from 7-8.
Reminder that open enrollment for next year is now open.
Goals
We had a great first week back. We had a great conversation this past week about setting goals, challenging ourselves, and moving forward and making progress. I can tell many of the students brought these conversations home and shared them with you. I saw so many smiles this week based on their accomplishments and goal setting, please keep the conversation alive and check in with your child about his or hers own progress.
See’s Candy Fundraiser
See’s Candy helps support the sixth grade field trip to the Redwoods. Order forms are due back on Monday, January 25th.
No School Friday or Monday
Friday is professional development for teachers and Monday is Martin Luther King Day, enjoy the long weekend.
Reading and Myon
Important!
Parents,
Please click here for an important reminder.
The school has purchased the use of the Myon reading program that we discussed during parent teacher conference in October. This is a great resource to help with the recommended 20 minutes of reading daily. If your child visits a reading specialist within our school or reads in their class reading group with me, this means your child is not on grade level and I would expect your child to be using this program at least 4 to 5 times a week. If your child is reading on grade level, I would recommend them using this program a minimum of 2 times of week. This program provides great opportunity for reading comprehension at the end of each story. The program is also a great resource for home projects. This is a personal library at your finger tips. It contains many of the subjects students are interested in and this month all home projects are free choice interest based.
Please know, I understand how busy life is, but reading is critical for these students. We are partners in your child’s education. I ask that you take a serious evaluation of your home routine and seek a time that fits best for reading. The Myon program does not require for you to sit with them, they only need access to a computer. They have learned to log on, in class, and should not need much assistance. While this program is great, listening to your child read should also be included during the week.
I wanted to make you aware that for the next 2 to 3 weeks all students will be completing their mid-year reading assessments. This means that if your child meets with our specialists for additional support, they will not be having their groups during this time. As you are already aware, many of your children did not complete reading over the winter break and now they will not be having their additional support for another few weeks. This adds up to be a large chunk of time. I completed in class reading assessments last week for all students who currently read below a third grade level and I was able to notice a considerable slide in those struggling readers from not reading over the break. This means your child needs your help, especially in these coming weeks in order to keep the momentum going that they have been working so hard to build.
If you have any questions about your child’s reading, please feel free to email me. I would also be very open to spending time with any parent after school who would like to know more about their child’s reading level, see reading samples, and offer any additional support. ( I will also present this at February’s conferences). Scholastic wizard found here, is a great resource that allows you to enter book titles in order to see the books reading level.
Remember this months home project!
January: New Year, New Learning
In celebration of the New Year, January’s home project will be personal interest based. This is a chance for your child to guide the topic of their choice. Our goal is to teach students to love to learn. The sky is the limit on this project. Projects are again ability based and require a visual aide. Level 3’s will still be required to type their final paper, this should be close to a completed type written page, remember this is good practice for their upcoming SAGE test. Level 2’s will continue with the required handwritten page. Our level 1’s have made great progress and I would like to encourage all level 1’s to work towards completing a final written piece based on ability. We are working hard on quality of work and I will be paying close attention to penmanship and structure. We have also been learning about the difference from copying information verses reading information and making it our own. Sometimes, students will come to class ready to present and simply have a page filled with words they are not able to read or understand. This is a process and should take several days to complete. Copying an article and printing a picture is not what we are looking for in a home project. Help your child understand what they are learning, so they are able to teach their peers. I am so excited to see the topics they choose. Like always, projects are due by the end of the month, but please bring them as soon as they are ready, avoiding the end of the month push. I feel the students gain better information from each other when they only have a few project presentations each day. Often times, when we have several at once, they become restless. If you have questions or concerns, please let me know.