On this page you will find ...
- Special Schedule
- Reading Strategies
- Questions to Ask Your Child After Reading
- Grading: Classwork and Homework
- Grading: Report Card
- Growth Mindset: What is it?
Scroll down to learn more.
- Special Schedule
- Reading Strategies
- Questions to Ask Your Child After Reading
- Grading: Classwork and Homework
- Grading: Report Card
- Growth Mindset: What is it?
Scroll down to learn more.
Special Schedule
- Monday - Music with Mr. Suhr
- Tuesday - Physical Education with Mr. Burniston - Remember to wear sneakers!
- Tuesday - Library with Ms. Amaya - Remember your library books!
- Wednesday - World Language with Señora Valenti
- Thursday - Art with Mrs. Kociolek
- Friday - Physical Education with Mr. Burniston - Remember to wear sneakers!
Reading Strategies
Many parents are willing to help their child become better readers, but they aren't sure how to beyond saying, "Sound it out." Use the reading strategies to the right to help your child become more independent in decoding unfamiliar words. Reinforcing these same strategies at home will strengthen your child's reading skills. In class, we talk about how all of our animal friends work together. Therefore, you can always use more than one reading strategy to help you decode a tricky word. When your child comes to unknown or tricky word, encourage them to try these strategies in this order:
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Questions to Ask Your Child After Reading
Reading comprehension is critically important to the development of reading skills. Here are some questions you can ask your child after they have read, in order to strengthen these skills. Questions are separated into two groups; fiction and non-fiction. These are the types of questions your child will be asked during reading assessments.
Fiction:
Students should be able to infer, or combine their own background knowledge with evidence from the text.
Non-fiction:
Students should be able to identify the main idea of a text.
Fiction:
- How do you think __________ felt?
- What kind of a kid was __________?
- What was he/she like?
- What makes you think that?
- What lesson do you think the character learned?
- Do you think __________? Why or why not? *Be sure they provide answer using evidence from the text.
- How did __________’s feeling change? Why? How do you know?
- How did the author show you what a character was like/what kind of a person they were?
- What kind of person do you think __________ was? Why?
- Character traits are defined by the character’s actions, words, and how they look.
Students should be able to infer, or combine their own background knowledge with evidence from the text.
Non-fiction:
- What does this text feature tell you? *Some examples of non-fiction text features include bold printed words, captions, charts, comprehension checks, diagrams, figures, glossary words, graphs, headings, etc.
- Why do you think the author choose to include __________?
- What are some of the other ways the author gives you information besides the main text?
- What was the most important idea in this book?
- Why did the author write this book?
- Why do you think __________?
- Look at the photograph on page ___, what information does it give you?
- Look at the heading on page ___, what information does it give you?
- Can you show me some of the pages where… ?
Students should be able to identify the main idea of a text.
Grading: Classwork and Homework
Throughout the week and especially in Friday Folders, your child will be bringing home many work samples. Some of these assignments were completed in class and subsequently gone over in class as a whole group or in partners. Other assignments, both classwork and homework, will be "graded" by me. For these assignments, I use the following system:
You will get a ...
If your child gets a paper without any kind of check mark, please have them fix any mistakes and turn the paper back in to me. I am so thankful for your child's hard work and your continued support!
Grading: Report Card
I = Great work!
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+ = Area of Strength
S = Satisfactory
N = Needs Improvement
- = Area of Concern
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Growth Mindset: What is it?
"In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work- brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment." Click this link to learn more. Encourage your child to "train their brain"!
Check out these fun, kid-friendly videos on growth mindset:
- Episode 1 (A Secret About the Brain): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zrtHt3bBmQ
- Episode 2 (The Magic of Mistakes): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rg_MeWhJW7I&index=2&list=PLgcsquFBeIxLEmHSbM395aYyl4qhs5bsc
- Episode 3 (The Power of "Yet"): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5t-RKm0VFg&index=3&list=PLgcsquFBeIxLEmHSbM395aYyl4qhs5bsc
- Episode 4 (The World of Neurons): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGutiNBuW_M&list=PLgcsquFBeIxLEmHSbM395aYyl4qhs5bsc&index=4
- Episode 5 (Mojo Puts It All Together): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aXlyyCUuOCI&list=PLgcsquFBeIxLEmHSbM395aYyl4qhs5bsc&index=5