Tuesday, October 12, 2010

I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weekend...can you believe it's October? It seems to me that a year ago it wasn't nearly as nice, so I'm appreciating the weather!

On Monday, I spent our professional development day learning about our new DIBELS tests. The students will be given these tests in the next week, and I'll share the information with you at conferences. I also presented information on the Iowa Core and the Common Core to our elementary math & science committees. Finally, I had a little bit of time to work on my professional portfolio. I am on evaluation this year, so along with setting a professional goal and being observed and evaluated by Mrs. Anderson, I am also resposible for completing my portfolio. This portfolio contains artifacts and reflections which show that I am meeting the eight Iowa Teaching Standards.

This week in class, we will be reviewing for and taking our Unit 1 reading benchmark test. The students will not have a spelling list this week. Along with the comprehension, vocabulary, phonics, and grammar components of the test, we will also check on reading fluency and accuracy. At the end of each unit, we use the information we get from these assessments to help us in grouping the students for small groups. It will be a busy week of reading tests!

In math, we are finishing up Unit 2. On Friday, the kids reviewed the "partial sums" method for adding larger numbers. I would ask that you have your child practice using this strategy, however, if he/she has a faster way for adding larger numbers ACCURATELY, by all means, they are welcome to use another strategy. My ultimate goal, obviously, is that the students get the correct answer in the most efficient way possible. Everyday Math exposes the kids to many different ways to solve problems and I ask that the kids practice the different ways in class and on homework, but as I said, if they have a faster way to solve a problem, by all means GO FOR IT! All kids learn differently, so I would certainly not discourage a student from solving a problem in the way that makes the most sense to them. On Tuesday & Wednesday, we'll learn and review strategies for subtracting larger numbers, on Thursday we'll review adding three numbers, and then on Friday we'll start our Unit 2 review and assessment. I'm hoping we can get this completed before we go on our field trip so we can start Unit 3 on Monday, October 18th. We'll see how it goes! :)

Homework for Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Math Home Link 2.7
Cursive handwriting sheet

As always, continue to encourage your child to read at home or read to/with your child. Thanks for your help and support!

Have a great week!

Mrs. Vroegh