Post date: Mar 08, 2015 6:58:52 AM
Dear Parents. If you haven't taken a look at PowerSchool lately, please stop reading here and do that instead. The number of missing and low-scoring assignments is very high and since the semester is fairly young, any of those will have a strong negative effect on kid's grades. There is certainly time before the semester ends to raise grades, but as I told the kids in class I work hard at making sure that assignments are clear, do-able, and fairly scored, but I won't work as hard to help kids recover from the effects of not doing things correctly and/or turning them in. When I explain this to the kids tomorrow I will have to resist my own tendency to allow easy make-ups and full-credit recovery options. There is potential for a big lesson to be learned here but it may cause a decline in our rapport or relationship.
Now to the lighter side of this email:
This Past Week:
Author: Doug Wilhelm's visit on Tuesday was entertaining and motivating. He read a chapter from a book, entertained questions, and explained some really useful and insightful things about writing, perseverance, and connecting with an audience. I'd like to thank Marina Shepherd and Susan Stanaway for making that happen for us.
Vocab: The weekly 4-word entries into the kids vocabulary collection books has started up again after a 3 month hiatus. In order to facilitate greater success for the kids, have decided to collect and score their books weekly instead of waiting for five sets of entries to accumulate. Regardless, only 11 books were turned in on Friday.
Electricity Use: I sent home a "Kill-A-Watt" meter with each kid and asked them to test 10 things and enter the results into a form. We briefly analyzed the results from this and previous years and found (not surprisingly) that heating and cooling take the most power in a home.
LapsForLearning: We had a last-minute surge of donations and that is great! I don't think and we had 100% participation, but whatever got donated will be very well used next year. Thanks for your generous philanthropy and for your alumni-level of funding for us to use next year!
Middle East: We viewed and discussed some videos on the past and current conflicts in the mid east and discovered that bias is infused into to almost all accounts of such volatile and controversial situations. On Friday I showed what I felt was the closest to a "fair and facts-only" documentary produced by PBS. The kids don't seem thrilled with the topic but my objective goes beyond the specifics; I want the kids to understand the complexity of history and to become more discerning consumers of any information they receive.
This Coming Week:
The intensive rotations are done and so we're stuck with each other each morning for the rest of the year. This will allow us time to slow down a bit and regain some depth into subject matter. The work load, however is likely to increase a bit, but there will be more time to work on things during class time (and receive better support/assistance f2f).
History: Our last topic, months ago, was about the timeline of the War for Independence. We won't focus much on the war itself now, but instead on the great burden resulting from having won! Setting up a government and setting the stage for a nation with the potential to life up to the ideals and philosophies of the colonists and our founders.
Science: The kids will create a status-check sheet for their science fair projects and share it with you. Please check it a few times each week between now and the expo (April 1) to help the kids increase (or develop) time/project management skills. This week we will also get back into the book-reading-and-testing routine (schedule is at the top of this page) as we get into the topic of electricity. If I can accumulate adequate materials and tools, I'll be showing the kids how home wiring works and ask them to build a circuit using Romex & junction boxes. Lastly (for science) I'll be printing out"Curiosity Slides" 11 to 21 Monday after school -- those should already be completed.
English: On Friday I asked the kids to write out their personal, social, and academic goals, intentions, and ideas for our remaining time together (12 weeks). I'll ask them to share & refine those a bit this week as well as do some letter writing, grammar, and, of course, vocabulary exercises.
Calendar:
March 10: Spring Portraits
March 13: No school for kids
March 17: Larry Cohen at Westgate 7 PM
March 27: Middle School Dance
April 1-3: Science Fair
April 6-10: Conferences
April 14-18: Spring break
April 28: Levi Stadium Tour
May 6: Courthouse -- thanks to Elizabeth Shepherd for setting this up; it will be excellent.
May 9: Spring Auction
May 15: No school for kids
May 29: Middle school dance
June 3 to 5: Rafting the South Fork American River
June 12: Field Day
June 18: Last day of school
June 19: Staff work day