Friday Letter

Man, we are already a week into school! Things are getting exciting quickly. Today the students took loads of tests (Reading, Spelling, Math and Science). Friday will generally be assessment day. Next week look for a Reading Test, Math Chapter 1 test, Spelling test, timed times table test (3’s), and an open book science quiz. As for sending student work home, I generally hand student papers back after I grade them or check them. I am trying to hold on to them until Fridays so that they all come home on the same day, but sometimes I still pass them out so that we can go over mistakes and rework missed problems. I generally just check most daily work, and as the year progresses you will find that the students get better at checking their own work (at least this is the idea). I am still working with each student as far as my expectations go, and you may see a drop in grades at the beginning of the year. This is normal because my expectations differ from the teachers they had last year, and I take this into consideration when doing final grades.
Here are some great questions to ask your children to see if they are understanding what is happening in class—Why do scientists use standard measures? What are some inquiry tools? What does a microscope do? How many numbers are there? Why is it so important where we put numbers? What is the difference between place value and value? What is a period in math class? What is the difference between interrogative and declarative sentences? What do good writers do when they get an idea? Can you use “foisted” in a sentence?
Your children should be able to answer these questions pretty easily. I ask them all the time. They should also have notes in their folders that relate to these questions.
Next week we will study Math— Chapter 1—Place Value and Number Sense, Reading— Facing Challenges—Lesson 2—Mighty Jackie, Spelling—Words with Long Vowels and Vowel Digraphs, Writing—Descriptive Paragraph, Language—Imperative and Exclamatory Sentences; Interjections, Science— Chapter 1—Getting Ready For Science—Lesson 2, and Social Studies— Chapter 1—America’s Land.
We really are off to a great year! The students are getting along well. Most work is getting turned in on time, and the class is very well behaved. I am truly looking forward to seeing how much we can grow this year. It is going to be fun!!
Thank you so much for all your support!
B. Toney
PS—If you tried to leave a comment on the webpage and couldn’t, I have fixed that problem. You do not need a Google account now. You can leave one as an anonymous user.