Post date: May 08, 2016 5:25:29 PM
Dear Room 25 Families,
I want to start off by telling you all again how much I enjoyed all the gifts, messages, and kindness 2 weeks ago. The door decorations, bouquet of pens, fruit, cards, and gifts were so very nice and important to me. On the outside I may downplay the importance of such things, but I sure to feel the love so strongly! Thanks, everyone, for letting me be a part of your lives and for valuing whatever odd collection of lessons, interactions, and experiences I have been able to share with your kids. The kids have written some parts of thank-you letters to you, and those should be coming home this week sometime.
Scooter San Jose: Tomorrow we will go on the student-planned trip to/through San Jose from 10 to 5. The kids should bring a scooter (or similar) and a helmet to school with them tomorrow as well as money for lunch (or a bag lunch) and a water bottle. Here is the itinerary and here is the "wheels/helmet" chart. I rode my bike through SJ this afternoon and it looks like their plan is workable but will take some quick scootering. Please note the pick-up time: 5:00ish at DCS.
CAASPP Tests: The kids will be taking the state's standardized tests starting this coming Friday. I will try to explain to the kids what I know (and feel) about the purpose of those tests and how the test has evolved in recent years. I've tried a few of the online practice tests and some of the stuff is hard, but requires good types of thinking and reasoning, which I see as a good sign that public education is raising the bar, and I have no doubt that our kids will be able to do very well. I just hope that the kids' patience holds out during those long hours of testing. If anyone wants to send in snacks during testing days (most of next week), it would be great.
Human Growth and Development: I haven't gotten a very solid idea from the kids yet as to what they want to cover in those sessions and to what degree of depth. I'm assuming it will vary, and my goal is to have it be informative and comfortable. I have lists of questions from previous years that I can show you during our evening meeting (5/12) and this page of my site has links to videos we've shown in the past.
Parent Meeting: Our final class meeting is on the evening of May 12th -- this coming Thursday -- from 6:30 to 7:30. This would also be a great time for a dessert pot-luck and for getting together as a homeroom to discuss a few things and mostly to celebrate our amazing year together.
Calendar
May 9 (Monday): Class field trip (scooter-tour of San Jose & Guadalupe River Trail)
May 12 (Thursday): Room 25 Parent Potluck & Meeting
May 16 to 19: Standardized Testing
May 20: DCS to Maker Fair
May 27 (Friday): Staff Development Day
June 1 (Wednesday): Talent Show (before rafting departure)
June 1, 2, 3 (Wed-Fri) Rafting South Fork American
June 6-10: Chris doing Google training for Hawaii public school teachers
June 8: Science Fair (design challenges)
June 16: Last Day of School