Mark Your Calendars for our Class Play! - By now, I hope you've heard about our class play, Learning to Learn: The Rumplestiltskin Method. If you've glanced at the script, you already know that:
- it's a musical
- there are a LOT of jokes
- we're learning quite a few new words/terms
- tomorrow (Friday) students will give me their casting "wish list" - 5-10 characters they would like to play
- I will cast the play over the weekend and announce parts on Monday, then students can start focussing on their part
- We will perform for family and friends on Tuesday, May 30 @ 6:30pm in the Keppel cafeteria and we hope to have a full house! We will also perform multiple times the next day on Wednesday, May 31 for Keppel students. Family members who are unable to attend on Tuesday night are welcome to attend on Wednesday, but they will need to sit in the back. The best seats will definitely be on Tuesday night!
While there will be more details soon (e.g., costumes, props, etc), please know that this is a low-key production. We will not have microphones and I hope that all costumes will be put together out of everyone's closet (we might borrow items from each other); likewise with props. But what I can guarantee (based on 20 years of directing class musicals) that you will be pretty amazed at our final production. (Declan's, Emma's, and Daniel's families know this first hand as they each have an older sibling who was in one of my classes in previous years.)
Upcoming Field Trip - Thank you to all who have already returned the yellow field trip permission slip and $2.00 donation for our day at the planetarium at Glendale Community College. (If you're wondering about the wisdom of scheduling this field trip and our play on the same day - all I can say is that I had no choice on the field trip date and hardly any choice on the play. Keppel's cafeteria is a very busy space toward the end of the year.)
But no matter - our field trip will be a great day of learning, but not tiring. And I'm sure that we will all be so excited to perform that evening for all of you that we will have energy to spare.
CAASPP - All 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders will take the state standardized tests on their chromebook here at school the week of May 8-12. Please see my post on November 7, 2017 for details on how to use this practice site. See monthly archives to the right >>>
It is NOT necessary, nor even advisable, for students to try to study for this assessment. But there are some very important things you can do to support your child:
- Emphasize "trying your best" rather than answering correctly. These are computer adaptive tests (CAT) and so every student will eventually be given content that is above their level in both reading and math. That's how the test determines their current level.
- Encourage "working hard on hard stuff" when they get to it. Students are growing their brains as they engage in academic struggle. But when they've done the best they can on a question/problem, then it's time to choose the most likely answer and move on.
- Early to bed, early to rise - please ensure a good night's sleep especially that week and an on-time arrival at school (through the Virginia gate by the 7:50am bell)
- Eat a healthy breakfast, provide a snack from home or encourage your child to eat snack in the cafeteria. Hunger pangs can be distracting.
- Leave cell phones/smart watches at home. If brought to school, they will remain in backpacks that entire week.
- Do NOT send your child to school if they are sick. There are make-up days in the calendar and everyone will have the opportunity to complete the assessment on a day they are feeling well.
My recollection is that parents receive their child's CAASPP scores later in the summer. We will also take the i-Ready diagnostic tests in reading and math one more time this year, but not until after we have finished the CAASPP. I will send those results home in the Thursday folder.
A word about the promised "spring parent-teacher conferences" - Clearly, I have not scheduled those yet. My after-school calendar has become jam-packed with meetings of all sorts! But I do pledge to you that I will carve out time to meet with everyone who wishes to. Let me get through Open House (next Thursday, May 4th @ 6:00-7:00pm) and I will set up SignUpGenius for conferences that will finish before Memorial Day. The focus will be looking forward to summer and next year rather than third trimester, but you may still decide it would be worth meeting - your call, of course.