Dear Parents/Guardians,
I am really enjoying your kids so far this year. One reason I am writing is to remind you that this Friday, October 19 is our first grading day. It’s a good time for you to encourage your student to check for any missing work and to find it, do it and turn it in. Many of the students have As and Bs and almost all the work turned in. Others who are not in the habit of checking grades posted in my classroom and online may find that they are missing work which lowers grades.
I will be collecting science notebooks on Thursday, October 18th. Every page from 1-32 should be complete, I will be grading lessons 4-6 this weekend. Those grades will be included in the midterm progress report grades.
I also wanted you to be aware of something new that I am focusing on this year. In the past, I have weighted class work and homework as being more important than test and quiz scores. This year I am weighting them almost equally. I am really looking at the test and quiz scores to see whether all students are learning what they should. If students get D’s or F’s on a test or a quiz, I am asking that they come in for extra help before school until the point that we both think they are ready to take the test/quiz again. So far this has been very successful with all of the students who have come in. I am still waiting on a few students to make the time to come in (e-mail me, if you think your child may be one of those students). I encourage you to look at your student’s quiz/test average as a separate average which is available on the grades link above to see whether they are understanding the material.
This first part of our unit on density always proves challenging for students who struggle with math, but I have had a lot of success with struggling students who have been willing to put in the time to really understand the material. (It may actually help them with math because the numbers actually relate to real measurements that the students have made rather than just being numbers in equations)
Thank you to those parents/guardians who have been getting their kids up early and assisting them with getting to school early. It really is worth the time and helps students to develop good habits that will be helpful later on in school, specifically knowing that it is a good thing to ask for help when it is needed.
I have been providing a granola bar or apple when kids come in early as well as giving them participation points for their extra effort. (If you would like to donate healthy-ish snacks to my food pantry, it would be greatly appreciated)
Thank you for having such wonderful kids and for contacting me when you have questions AND for reading my long post.