This morning we welcomed our newest student, Ailin, to our class. She jumped right in, joining the Monday @ 8am Newcomers Class with Mrs. Morphy. Classmate Ani was especially helpful and welcoming to Ailin. Maybe that's because Ani was "the new kid" not so long ago. But really, many students made an effort to welcome our newest Keppel Cougar.
A heartfelt THANK YOU to all families who were able to break away in the middle of the afternoon today to attend our Music Studio Day. Students were super excited to show you what they have been learning in class with Mrs. Acitelli this trimester.
Our Resident Artists are truly the unsung heroes of our "Visual & Performing Arts" school. And all of our families make it possible because you provide the financial support through the Make Keppel Special (MKS) foundation. After spring break, we will start our final round of arts classes: Dance with Mrs. Neel. Stay tuned for more details. Math - We started Topic 6 today - Connecting Area to Multiplication & Addition. This should be a relatively easy concept to grasp because we have been using grid paper to model multiplication for weeks now. But during our lesson there were many disruptions due to poor behavior by some and not everyone completed their classwork. HW pages and unfinished classwork pages are listed on the Homework Page of this website.
A few students were unable to cut on a straight line when cutting apart their vocabulary cards for this topic. Tape was needed to repair their cards. If you think your child is one who needs help with scissor skills - either accuracy or safety - please spend some time on this at home. Social Studies - We are moving along with our study of the physical geography of California. Can you name California's four natural regions? (mountain, valley, coastal, desert) Do you know in which natural region is Glendale located? Most students were super engaged, having fun learning about the physical geography of Truckee, San Diego, Davis, and Palm Springs. A few were not at all interested and made it hard for the rest of us to learn with their disruptions. Some of them weren't paying any attention yesterday, either. Those students have homework (see Homework Page on this website) Keppel Library - We usually go to the Keppel Library on Monday morning, but we will miss the next two weeks due to Lincoln Day (Feb 12) and Washington Day (Feb 19). Mrs. Dow has squeezed us in this Friday, February 9th. Please make sure that your child brings their library books to school on that day. Thank you, families ... most students came to school this morning prepared for the very soggy weather that was forecast. As soon as they arrived in the classroom, students were instructed to take off their wet jackets and hang them on the back of their chair. We had morning and lunch recesses inside the classroom - I broke out a jigsaw puzzle since this is a multi-day storm, which was a popular option. Some others played Uno and still others had fun drawing.
By the end of the day, jackets were dry but the world outside was not. We packed up with extra time - I promise that we did! But as I was dismissing students, many were missing their jackets. Where were they? Stuffed into their backpacks. So I told the whole class to wear their jackets - drivers would wait in the rain, walkers would meet their pickup person in the rain, and afterschool program students would meet their class outside on the lunch patio. I needed to give personal directions to a number of students who weren't listening. Despite my best efforts, two walkers never put their jackets on only to have their pickup person tell them to, "Put on your jacket!" as soon as they met them out front of school. Please reinforce with your child that while they will be comfortable in our heated classroom without their jacket, they need to follow my instructions to wear their jacket for dismissal. (I promise not to require they wear their jackets once the weather changes.) On a related note, students who went downstairs to eat a snack were reminded to use the restroom before returning to class. Those in class were encouraged to use the restroom at the beginning of recess and everyone got another reminder with the "5 minutes until the end of recess" announcement. Some left to use the restroom, most did not. Then, 10 minutes into our math review (Topic 5 test tomorrow) a steady stream of students suddenly had a "bathroom emergency" and left class one by one. This all repeated at lunch when the entire class ate in the cafeteria (lucky us because our assigned lunch tables are always wet when it rains). Reminders to use the restroom before returning to class went unheeded by many. Students know that they are expected to use the restroom during their recess. On non-rainy days, everyone knows that they can use the restroom quickly after the whistle blows and before returning to class, so they aren't even having to miss any play time. This remains a chronic problem, probably in part because I can't (nor would I) refuse them a trip to the restroom in the middle of class. However, please reinforce with your child that part of being in charge of their own body is planning ahead since "everyone pees and poops" - I think there's a preschool book about that - haha. (Quite a few are having trouble keeping their hands off their classmates, but that's a topic for another day.) In today's Thursday folder you will find the midyear i-Ready Diagnostic results, along with your child's updated weekly HW assignment sheet. Please review with your child so both of you are clear on HW expectations. If your child is assigned weekly i-Ready lessons in either reading or math, I also included the report of their lessons to this point in the year.
For i-Ready lessons to be most effective in teaching your child the skills/concepts that they are currently lacking, your child should complete each lesson in one sitting. Do not start a lesson on one day and complete it on another. Remember that there is a quiz after the instructional lesson to check for understanding. If your child does not pass that quiz, they will be given that lesson again. If they fail it a second time, they will likely be given a different lesson on that same skill. If they fail that third lesson, that domain will be locked until I go in and unlock it. I am trying to check students' lesson work more often, but you should ask them how they did on a lesson - the program gives them their score at the end. Students do not need to get 100% to pass. 67% is passing, but 50% is failing. If your are not familiar with i-Ready lessons, I suggest that you sit with your child through one entire lesson, not to help them, but to observe. The i-Ready program is designed to remediate - that is, teach concepts/skills that the student missed earlier. This is why I assign lessons to students who are below grade level - at this point in the year, that is below "Mid 3". The program will assign lessons in the area in which your child is the lowest and then move up. But there is no reason a student who is not assigned i-Ready cannot do i-Ready lessons if they (or their parent) wish. I am aware that yesterday, Wednesday, when I was out of the classroom, did not go well. We will continue to work together as a class to create a more positive and respectful learning community for all 26 of us. Mr EcoHero - This morning, we attended an assembly presented by Mr EcoHero. It was a combination of live and virtual as "EcoSister" was presenting and Mr EcoHero himself was on the big screen in the cafeteria.
Be sure to ask your child about what they learned. Push them for details, not just the overall topic of the environment. When we got back to class, we all realized that we could remember the learning better when we remembered the songs - and the dance moves! The whole thing was both engaging and educational. Thank you, City of Glendale, who provided this assembly to Keppel. Please review the Topic 4 math test and attached letter in today's Thursday folder. Students also brought home their math book, which is referenced in the letter.
i-Ready diagnostic test results will come home in next week's Thursday folder, but students can, and should, continue their i-Ready lessons at home if this was assigned to them back in August. Next Thursday's folder will contain updated i-Ready HW guidelines. i-Ready Reports - It will be another week before you will receive the i-Ready Diagnostic reports as a number of students have not completed the assessments. Next Thursday's folder will include the reports for math and reading along with a Homework Update detailing what your child is assigned to complete on a weekly basis, in addition to the nightly homework that students copy into their planner and that is also listed on the Homework page of this website.
Many students have been diligent (before the cyber attack on the district) in working on i-Ready lessons at home. Sadly, though, many more students have not. As a reminder, i-Ready lessons are set to your child's level as indicated by their performance on the diagnostic tests. Work on i-Ready lessons will help your child learn the skills from earlier years that they are missing. i-Ready lessons should be worked on in chunks of 20-25 minutes. Much more than that and their spongy brain may not be able to absorb the content in the lessons. PLEASE monitor your child to make sure they are completing a lesson on the same day they started it. Learning is impaired when they stop in the middle and some back a couple of days later - kind of like putting down your book in the middle of a chapter and then trying to get back into it later. The section(s) of the diagnostic (reading, math) that your child has already completed has already reset the lessons to their new level. Please email me if you have questions, but know that the reports are coming home next Thursday. Resetting our Google passwords has been MUCH more complicated than I'd originally thought. But today we accomplished it (except for the 3 kiddos who were home sick). Please ask your child for their Google login credentials (email and password). It's part of their homework tonight to show you, ask you to copy it down, and put it all in a safe place in case someone forgets. Students who were in class today wrote down their password on p. 13 of their planner, at the bottom of the page.
Even though the (new) Clever badge will work now to get onto Clever, students are encouraged to log in using their Google credentials as this is what they will have to do in fourth grade - no badges/QR codes after third grade. I'm not sure what happened to my Thursday update - I certainly had more in there than just a title, for goodness sake!
i-Ready - Most students have completed one section (math, reading) and nine have finished both sections. If your student finished a section, the website has automatically reset their online lessons to their current levels of mastery. Once all students have finished all sections, I will send home the i-Ready test reports and a homework update based on those results for your child. Progress reports were sent home in yesterday's Thursday folder. That was the only thing going home this week so do not worry if your child did not bring their folder home. Next week's folder will have the Topic 4 math test inside. Monday, January 15th is a school holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I'll see everyone on Tuesday. |
AuthorDebbie Bamberger is thrilled to be a part of the Keppel team and honored to share this year with twenty-six amazing children. Archives
May 2024
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