Dear parents (or at-home teachers if you like),
One reason I was really excited to get back to school this year, was because I've been thinking a lot about what I learned last year, and how I can improve my teaching. I really want to get started with a few of my personal goals for improvement! (Too nerdy??)
Anyway, my biggest goal for myself this year is to send more work home in a timely manner (or after it has finished decorating our class!). Many of you wrote to me that you like to work on stuff at home and that you're willing to be involved. What I am hoping to do is to send work home regularly so that you can not only enjoy it and celebrate your child's achievements, but also so that you can help them improve their future work by talking about little things that you notice. Sometimes I will attach a rubric to their work (I'll explain what that means when it happens), other times, I will just write a little note on the work or on the blog.
Don't worry! I'm not asking you to take over my job! I will, of course, be looking at all of the work that the kids produce and using it to plan future lessons. I am always circulating in the class to help students individually and in groups. All I'm hoping you can do is to have a look at the work that's sent home and review it with your child. Maybe there's something you'd like to review with them, or you can see that with a little more practise, they'll get it!
This piece of math work is a good example. I explained to the mathematicians that I'd like you to look for 2 things.
1. Are all the numbers written correctly? (It is common at this point to write numbers backwards. I ask students to correct this as I circulate in class to help them learn the correct way to write the number.)
2. Is their counting accurate?
Checking these 2 things together should take no more than 5 minutes.
As I send work home throughout the year, see if you start to notice patterns (e.g., still writing a certain number or letter backwards). If so, maybe that is something you can help them practise. Please ask me if you're unclear about anything. I definitely don't want this to add any stress to your day - if you don't like doing it, don't do it.
I realize that you're probably reading this after the mathematicians are in bed for the night. I explained the task to the kids before they left, but if they forgot, you can always do it later. You don't need to send that sheet back, I've already looked them over.
OK. I'm not sure if I explained my goal super clearly, but I'll leave it at that for now.
See you tomorrow at the BBQ hopefully!
Tamara