ANNOUNCEMENTS

Parent/Student Letter

August 16, 2018

Dear Parents and Students,

Welcome to the 2018-2019 school year! I hope everyone had a fantastic summer. It’s a very exciting time as we get to start a new year of school, and it’s wonderful having the opportunity to meet all of your children on the first day of 5th grade.

I'm very thrilled to be returning for my fifteenth year at Regnart. I hope that this letter will provide you with some useful information about our classroom as well as a look at my teaching philosophy and outlook on life and its lessons. After fourteen years of teaching fifth grade, I still consider myself fortunate and honored to be teaching in such a great community full of supportive families with a desire to prepare their children for the future. I strive to bring a positive attitude to school each day, balance in life, set a good learning environment for the classroom, and give students my best efforts to guide them in their journey towards middle school and beyond. I enjoy making the learning fun for students with curious minds and desires for new discovery! I hope we’ll be able to learn and grow together. =)

We will be sharing many wonderful experiences, and strive to build a strong learning community. Having a positive attitude, teamwork, and belief in oneself and each other are three essential parts of this community in order to help everyone become successful academically and socially. It will be a fun and challenging year for students. The classroom environment that we maintain will help create individuals who take responsibility for their learning, behavior, and appropriate personal choices. The students will engage in activities that are meaningful, interesting, enjoyable, which will support the Common Core State Standards. I will create a meaningful learning environment to provide opportunities to students in developing the 21st century skills. It will encourage creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, and communication skills and thus help them develop into more thoughtful and insightful individuals. In turn, my biggest hope is to instill self belief to the children so they will become better students and citizens of our community, and excellent lifelong learners. Learning through successes and failures will be huge in this process as well.

Homework is important and valuable in helping students to make the most of their school experience. I follow our district policy that fifth grade students are given between 60-240 minutes of homework per week, not including studying for tests and long-term projects. I seldom assign homework, on Fridays, but I do send home practice work for students to do over the weekends, if needed. I will write the homework on the board and discuss the assignments, which the students will write down in their planners. The assigned homework will also be posted on my school website. The intent and purpose of homework is for students to have an opportunity to practice skills taught in the class, to build responsibility in the children for completing the task, and also gives you a chance to become involved with your child’s work. Parents are welcome to support their children with the homework process if needed, but only after a best effort has been given. If any student finds that homework is overwhelming on a given afternoon, I encourage them to speak to me about it. My role is to create an environment in which students can see that their learning, their opinions, and their concerns are taken seriously.

The student’s role is to participate as a valuable and valued contributor to our classroom community.

Our classroom website is a great information and communication resource for you and the students. Please bookmark it for quick and easy access.

https://sites.google.com/cusdk8.org/regnart-vietnguyen/

Notable features found on the website are current homework assignments, a class schedule, and the 5th grade’s school year calendar.

I have added the online Parent Input Form for Goal Setting Conference to my website. I'll be sending home a form for you to fill out in the near future, but if you would like to take care of it in advance you can find the form at my classroom website. This will give me an opportunity to learn about your child and also use the information for our goal setting conference in October.

https://goo.gl/forms/Wbi4DbzACv7BtIMK2

Below you will find the supplies that your child will need in order to have an organized year. Please have them label all items before bringing them to class.

**Note** Students may have many of these materials already whether new or used. Please label all items before bringing them to class, as most supplies may look similar. There is no need to rush into buying all supplies before the first day of school.

Requested Supplies for each student

3 Sharpie Ultra-Fine or Extra-Fine Tip- black

3 Dry Erase Markers- Low Odor- black or blue

1 Glue stick – large size

1 Eraser

1 Pencil sharpener – small – with shaving catcher

1 Box of Crayola Colored Pencils - (8-12 colors)

1 Box of Crayola Markers, wide tip – (8-12 colors)

1 Binder or Trapper Keeper that is divided by

subject areas

1 Stapler – small – that uses standard staples

3 Highlighters – pink, yellow, green

1 Pencil box or pouch

1 Ruler - 12 inch

1 Pad of Strathmore Watercolor Paper 9” X 12” 140

(Available at Michael’s or Aaron Bros.)

2 Composition Hardbound Notebook – “Mead Composition”, 100 sheets (200 pages) 9 ¾” X 7 ½” Wide Ruled

2 Extra large book covers – (non-sticky type)

25 Sheets of lined paper and graph paper in his/her binder

2 Post-it notes – small pads

Calculator (basic functions) –

We have a limited number to share in class.

White Correction Tape – no correction fluid is allowed.

1 Pair of earbuds

Class Donation Requests:

3 Boxes of #2 pencils

2 Boxes of baby wipes –

Student’s last name starting with letter A-L

3 Rolls of paper towels and box of Kleenex –

Student’s last name starting with letter M-Z

** All backpacks will be kept outside using the hooks in front of the classroom.**

By working together as a team, we can make this an exciting and productive year for your child. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to send me an email to nguyen_duyviet@cusdk8.org or leave me a voice message

(408-253-5250 ext. 213).

I look forward to meeting you in person. I also can tell you more about the year and its’ events at Back to School Night on Thursday, August 30th. Best of luck to everyone!

Sincerely,

Mr. Viet Nguyen