Thanks for returning your interview request forms. I'm pretty sure I've been able to accommodate everyone at, or very near to, one of the requested times. The confirmations will come home Monday. If you can no longer make your interview time, please email me ASAP and we will reschedule. I assume that if you did not return the form, you do not feel the need for an interview at this time. If you change your mind, or would like a quick check up over the phone, please let me know and we'll work it out.
Please be prompt when you come for your interview. I will try to be very mindful of the time so that you can be on time for your other appointments and get on with your evening!
Reports come home Tuesday. As always, I will be talking to students about some important report card etiquette. Here's what we will discuss:
1. Only open your report card envelope with a parent or guardian (not with a sibling, alone or on the bus).
2. Do not share your report card with friends. Everyone has different strengths and everyone is doing lots of things well. Comparing marks never makes anyone feel good. Everyone is trying very hard and should be proud of their accomplishments.
3. Try not to put too much emphasis on letter grades. Yes, marks are important and are a quick guide to how a child is progressing, however, everyone progresses at a different rate. A 'C' is not a bad thing at all, and an 'A' never means you are done learning. Please give more of your attention to the comments I have written. I have taken great care to explain the exact areas where students can continue to work in order to be even more successful.
4. Finally, remember that it is hard to progress academically without excellent learning skills. Please discuss this part of the report card in depth with your child. Please select one area (learning skill or otherwise) to set as a goal for improvement over the coming months. We will do a goal setting activity this week so it will be helpful to have thought this over ahead of time. Thanks!!
In classroom news, we have been very busy finishing up our final projects in data management and procedural writing. We are almost through with this and will spend some of this week celebrating Valentines day and writing nice notes to our parents and classmates.
Last week in Science, Mlle Bradfield set up yet another very interesting activity. We investigated what different objects are made of and found tons of examples of objects made from metal, wood, plastic, rubber and fabric in our very own classroom. Then, we talked about the story of the three little pigs and how they made houses out of 3 different materials. We worked in groups to build our own houses out of straws, popsicle sticks and blocks using different fasteners (tape, velcro and sticky-tack) and tested their strength using a fan! Happily, all our houses survived the fan test, but it was still evident that at least one material was probably not the best choice for a house! Ask your scientist what house they built and which fastener their group used. What were some of the challenges of using those materials? What would they do differently if they were to build another pretend house?
Have a great week,
Tamara