Welcome toCurriculum night

2012 - 2013

This evening’s agendahomeworkClass work

The subjects we studyOur class website

Questions, possibly some answers

The stationery on the desk is for you to write an encouraging note to your child.

You may sign up for conference times if you want, or you can certainly wait until

we’re closer to the dates in December. The schedule is on a clipboard going around

the room. Don’t worry----I will post many reminders.

Classroom CelebrationsWe’re allowed to have 2. Iam thinking Halloween and…?

Parent HelpersPhotocopiesSetting up science stuffTutoring or reading with a student

Pleasedonatesnacks

and paper productsif you’re able to.

Practice skills students need for middle school.Add structure to the weekday.

PRO

CON

Build responsible habits (regarding organization and managing time).

Your inst ructor ’s thoughts about homework

Can seem like drudgery to kids and yet one more thing for parents, most of whom worked all day at their own sometimes maddening and tedious tasks.The skills we’re working on are not necessarily tailored to each student’s needs.

Many students see it as a relatively meaningless task to complete, and therefore invest little attention to quality.

Homework has 3 purposes this year:

1. To practice academic skills2. To help students build responsible habits for success in middle school3. To increase the amount of time children read

It is never my intent for homework to intrude on a balanced

and reasonable family life. If the policy I’ll have explained isn’t working for

your child, please contact me and we will negotiate a better fit for your family.

I DO PERMIT STUDENTS WHO’VE COMPLETED THEIRCLASS WORK TO WORK ON HOMEWORKAT SCHOOL. In my opinion, this is a reasonableway to make the best use of time. From my point of view, the important thing is that the student takes responsibility for completing work on time and hands it in on time.

Some families agree with this,but some prefer that their youngstershave homework time at home, especially since we’re heading into middle school in two shakes of a lamb’s tail. This is your right and responsibility as a parent, and I will support you if you want your child to save homework for home. You will have to let me and your child know If this is your preference and keep in touch to let me know if it’s working.

school

home

Homeworkpacket goes home on Monday.

It’s organized with a cover page to help prevent scenes like this.

Your teacherforgot to

assign you homework

again?!

There’s a daily math assignment.

I have posted each week’s assignment on our class website.

Monday due TuesdayTuesday due Wednesday

Wednesday due ThursdayThursday due Friday

I have created Alternative

Math Home

Work Assignments

Play a math game: there are dozens on our website. .

.

.Make something that required measurement: brownies; origami;AN ESTIMATE FOR A NEW CARPET; A picture that tessellates. .

Complete one of the everyday math projects; there are five. You Can Download them from our class website. .

Complete a khan academy website lesson. .

Do flash cards or mental math with someone . .

FILL IN A BLANK GRID WITH THE MULTIPLICATION FACTS; FILL IN A BLANK GRID WITH THE ADDITION TABLES. Choosing the alternative math homework

assignment is up to you, the parents. I need some kind of note or emailIn order to give the youngster credit.

five book reports during the year

You can find each of theseon our class website if yours doesn’tmake it home for some reason.

Right before Hallo

ween

Right before c

hristm

as break

Right before Fe

bruary break

Right before sp

ring break

Right before m

emorial d

ay

problem of the weekIn my professional opinion, one weakness of the Everyday Math curriculumis a regrettable absence of “story problems,” which, most of us, frankly, hatedwhen we were in school. I offer my sympathy. Nevertheless, mathematics removed from any practical application strikes me as incomplete. The POTW is an opportunityto apply problem – solving strategies. I acknowledge that some of these are very easy, and some of them are fairly challenging. In my opinion, these experiences help children develop patience and perseverance along with their math skills. I am willing to be flexible with the POTW: for some kids, it’s stillvery difficult. Thus, I will encourage it, but will also accept one of the alternatives.

“homework” essay

Each week we’ll work on two vocabulary words and one writing convention in a 1-3 page essay. These assignments are on our class website

I encourage, students to work on this in class during the week. It is in each youngster’s homework packet because some students will needmore time than what we have in class.

Rough drafts are due THURSDAYS.

We’ll peer-edit the paperson Thursdays, so it’s veryimportant that each student’srough draft is finished by Thursday morning. We thenhave time to revise in class or at home.

Students share their essays inclass on Fridays. Each student has to share at least 2 essaysduring the trimester.

reading logThe reading log is due every Friday,

but I want to see it every school day.

In short: it should go to and from

school throughout the week.

Your youngster receives it on Monday

as part of his or her homework packet.

There are blank ones on our class

website, too.

daily reading log

weekly homework essayproblem of the week

five book reports spaced throughout the year

daily math assignment

In summary:

Class workThere is a classWork assignmentDue every day forMath and writing.

Usually, it is someExercise or activity to Build on whatever that day’sObjectives are.

Class workIn spelling, history, geography,And science, there are typically2 assignments to hand in during The week.

A student records each assignmentThat’s turned in on our “assignmentChart.”

student

M T WT F M T WT F M T WT F MT WT F POTW

Home Work ESSAY

ROUGH DRAFT

SPELLING PRACTICE #1PRAC

1

SPELLING PRACTICE #2PRAC

2

HISTORY ALIVESTORY

GEOGRAPHY

READING JOURNAL

OTHER

ArsenicBerylliumChlorineDubnium

MATH HWREADING LOGMATH CW WRITING CW

ASSIGNMENT CHART FOR WEEK #___

student

M T WT potw MT WT F M T WT F MT WT F m

istake sheet

Spelling #1

Spelling #2

Spelling #3

Geography

History alive!

Rough draft

Final copy

Reading journal

Arsenic

b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b

Beryllium

b a a a b a a a b a a a b a a a b b b b b a b a a

Chlorine

b n n n b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b

Dubnium

b b b b b b b b b b b b b b

MATH HWREADING LOGMATH CW WRITING CW

ASSIGNMENT CHART FOR WEEK #3Two pointersThree pointers

classroom expectations

saferespectfulresponsible

Mathematics: please make sure your child has… Basic addition, subtraction, Multiplication And division facts.A Basic understanding that ½ and 2/4 are equal; a basic understanding that ½ means 50%.

MathematicsEveryday math

Has 12 chapters or “units.”

Each unit takes about 2 weeks andCulminates in a unit test.

There are whole-class activities, games to play with a partner, and

Independent exercises.

Class work is available on our website.

Polygons we learn about.

Important concepts in measurementUsing a ruler to measure accurately to the 16th of an inch

Using a protractor to measure angles

Converting units (i.e., meters to centimeters; inches to yards)

Finding perimeter and area in triangles and some polygons

Using a clock and stopwatch

Estimating

r e a d i n gStudents should be reading at least an hour a day betweenschool (about 40 minutes) and home (about 20 minutes)from a good fit book.

At school, we follow a structure called readers’ workshop.Briefly, it consists of a short whole-class lesson modeling a particular element of reading, followed by small group“guided reading” and individual reading conferences.

•During the 90 minutes of reading, each child can expect to•Write in his or her reading journal 2 times a week

•Listen to me read and model a concept in reading

•Read to him or herself for about 40 minutes

•Work with a small group on a reading skill

•Read directly to me from his or her good-fit book•about once or twice a week.

Effective writing is organized with a clear beginning,

middle, and ending;

offers a compelling, or at least important, idea presented to a particular audience for a specific reason;includes examples, descriptions, and reasons that deepen the main idea;.adheres to conventional punctuation, grammatical forms, spelling, and aesthetics.

We follow a structure calledWriters’ Workshop, which involves the following elements:

Daily whole-class mini-lesson

Independent and small groupWriting activities in class

A weekly essay, somewhat-but-not-entirely mis-named the homeworkessay; there is class time dedicated to thisweekly project.

Peer-editing

Conferring with teacher

Collecting a portfolio of work as theyear progresses.

correctingmisteaks and errorsis part of the learningprocess but I acknowlege that it isn’t always the most funnest part

Cmistakes

, dge

activity.

Science

•life science•energy and motion•fossils•emphasis on systems & inquiry•emphasis on scientific method

geographyWe use the 5th grade program

Called Daily Geo.

We will check the assignment

together in class on Fridays.

history

Events; timelines; points of view; fairness &justice; bias

And propaganda

the presidential electionWe’ll have to discuss the election sometimes----it will be on students’ minds,

some will have strong opinions, and some will ask me questions. I’m not

comfortable discussing my personal views with students, and I don’t think

it’s appropriate at their age to be influenced by a public employee. Please feel

secure in knowing that your child is definitely not receiving any intentional or subtle

or indoctrination into modern politics. We will, however, discuss the election

process and students are welcome to share their own opinions about candidates and issues

as the topic arises.

a boilerplate disclaimer re:

F.L.A.S.H.

exploitationphysical and emotional changes during puberty

reproductionH.I.V. and A.I.D.S.

http://connect.issaquah.wednet.edu/elementary/ive/staff/mr_arthurs_site/default.aspx

Gladys, did you know Mr. Arthur respectfully asks

parents and students to follow a no-gift policy at the holidays and end of the year?

Thanks Mabel. I am just going to make my child

write a forced and awkward thank you

note in lieu of spending money.

Edna, I heard that he actually gets paid a

salary to do this job; we’re grateful,

though, so we are going to donate

money to the PTA or something. Just not to Mr. Moneybags.

He is a public employee, after all.

Myrtle, thanks for letting me know. I never know what

you’re supposed to get for a guy

teacher anyway. Good to know he wants us NOT to buy stuff for him.