Dear Parents,
What a beautiful, restful three day weekend. I hope you all got out with your family and enjoyed the gorgeous weather.
Our Valentine's Day celebration on Friday was a lot of fun. Kids really put some energy into their cards and boxes. Thanks for supporting the no candy exchange. We saw pencils, tattoos, hand written notes, stickers and even bubbles! Lots of fun.
On Thursday we head to the Moda Center for a tour of the arena, sky boxes and other cool stuff. It would be fun if kids shared their Blazer Spirit and dressed accordingly. We can get some good photos of kids supporting their city and team! We'll leave in the morning and return before lunch.
The play is in full production and this week I'll send home the costume suggestions from Mr. Nelson. We have some things kids can wear; railroad caps, tap dancer dresses and shoes, etc. but the responsibility to dress your actor falls to you. Often it is a quick trip to the Goodwill, a tumble in the washing machine, some strategic safety pins and there you go! Mr. Overton, a fur trapper, a bridge designer! If you have any doubts, questions or such, let me know we can help you come up with something.
We have been working to prepare students to meet the challenges of the Common Core Curriculum and Smarter Balanced Testing. We have been learning how to manage, attempt, persevere through a "performance" task. This is where kids read a couple of articles, answer some short answer questions and then write an essay about the topic. It includes citing resources and takes a fair amount of stamina. I'll send all their work home this Friday so that you can see what we've done. This was what we call a scaffolded and supported project, which means that I guided the kids through the entire process. I wouldn't assign a grade to it, it was a learning tool. We'll try another one soon and I will release more responsibility to the kids. That way when test time comes, they will be ready to take it on themselves. All of this is good scholarship and the kids have risen to the challenge. I am proud of them.
I've been trying some websites in which kids read an article at home and then type a response. I'm assigning two articles this week for kids to read and respond to. If this is not possible, technically, for your student, let me know, I can arrange for them to do the work at school. One interesting part of the Smarter Balanced Test is that kids will be typing multi-sentence responses. We have been learning to type from the beginning of the year and now is the time to put that learning into practice. They should pay attention to spelling, punctuation and capitalization conventions. The TweenTribune site from the Smithsonian has a spellcheck function and I encourage students to use it.
I appreciate all your support and love teaching your kids.
Have fun today, the sun is shining!
Valerie McKenzie
