September 29, 2010

Today in history, the first American woman scaled Mount Everest in 1988. Her name is Stacey Allison, and she is from Portland, OR.

Midterms

I guess midterms are the most important thing to start with. They will be arriving in your homes today. For those of you with 4th graders, this format might be new to you. The first page basically shows you the grades, and the second page breaks it down by assignment within each subject. If an assignment is listed but there is not a grade next to it, I have entered that assignment as a topic, if you will, but have not yet assigned it or it has not been turned in. For example, in Spelling, I have entered U3 Proofreading. That will be assigned today. So there is not a grade for it. Your child is not missing that assignment.

With regards to the effort scores, they translate pretty easily from E5-E3. The number is multiplied by 20 to get the percentage. However, the E1s and E2s are different. They both equal 50%. The E1 tells me that the child sat through the lesson, and I did not receive the assignment. The E2 tells me that the child sat through the assignment, forgot to turn it in, but eventually turned it in (sometimes a week later). The E2 will impact borderline final grades. If the child is not making attempts to do the work assigned or is not getting it turned in, then I am less likely to give the benefit of the doubt on borderline grades.

There has been a lot of discussion in the education world about giving a 0% for work not turned in or giving a 50%. Both equate to Fs. But stick a few 0%s in a Fall 4th graders average, and it is almost impossible to climb out of that hole. I am siding with the camp that favors the 50%. It still hurts, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Online grade checks


Attached to your child's midterm report is a bright pink sheet of paper. It has the following web address on it, as well as information about usernames and passwords.

http://www.billings.k12.mt.us/poly/porisch/grades/index.html

Clicking on this link (or copy & pasting it) will take you to Grade Reports. You can input the username and password to view only your child's progress.  I will make every attempt to have them uploaded by Sunday evenings, but I will promise to have them uploaded by Wednesday. 

Late work

You will notice that there are not many science, language, and social studies grades. When a child has a late assignment and there are not many grades, it impacts the grade a lot. Do not worry. More grades are on the way! Those low grades should be moving up with more attention to handing work in on time!

Picture Day

You are getting information in the Wednesday Watch regarding picture day @ Poly. It is scheduled for Friday, October 8th. 

Question of the Week

A parent asked me to address this question: How much help is too much help? Her quandary was that she could see her child had misspellings on her assignment. Her inclination was to point them out to her and have her child correct them. Since I am now adding those commonly misspelled words to the child's personal spelling list, the mother knew they would show up soon. My response was to mention that the child should check over her work, particularly looking for misspelled words. If the child does not take the suggestion, walk away. Easier said than done! My own child would not click the spell check button on the computer when I pointed out a few misspellings. In the end, it is the child's habits and responsibilities that we all are trying to improve. We all learn the most through our mistakes.

Having said that, are there times when I know parents will help? Most certainly! The question about how many years is a billion seconds is one example. Organizing information and coming up with a method of attack, not to mention keeping track of zeros, are certainly ways to help your children. You can help them with time management. If your child has fine motor challenges, you can write while they dictate their answers to you. 

Parenting has no easy answers. Talking, asking questions of relatives, teachers, or friends is how we all get through it. Most of us will not graduate from parenting Magna Cum Laude, but most of us will graduate. That's the good news. 

Reading

Students are reading in book clubs or literature circles (different names for the same thing). Between 4-7 students are reading the same book and gathering to discuss it. Along with this are their literature circle jobs: VE = vocabulary enhancer, CC = character captain, Conn = Connector, PL = Passage Locator, Il= Illustrator (the favorite!), and DD = Discussion Director. Some groups are so large that one person gets "off". However, they are still expected to do the reading and other language/reading related assignments.

Math

We are continuing with Moli Stone. We've been playing strategy games focusing on place value. We are preparing to move into Base 3.

Last week we also started independent hands-on algebra. Some of your children began this with their Extended Studies teacher in previous years. Some are brand new to it. Either way, they took off and flew with it. Holy smokes! It is exciting to witness their excitement.  :-)  We will be working with hands-on algebra most Wednesdays. I allow the students to proceed at their own pace. These lessons are not reflected on the grades for midterms.

Spelling

Pretests are on Monday. Students can take home the books and study for the pretest over the weekend if they are motivated (effort!). Any student scoring in the 90s can choose to skip the test on Friday. Those not scoring in the 90s must take the test on Friday.

Apparently some schools send home spelling word lists. I do not. The students can take a book home to study their words.

Social Studies

5th graders are beginning map skills work.

4th graders are learning about social scientists. They will be asked to bring in artifacts for each social scientist next week. I will send home a note about next week.

Science

Students have found answers to the questions they had about dry ice. They will be writing small skits to act out, sharing the new information. They may need to have props, but that will not be until late next week. After the skits, we will devise new experiments with dry ice. I am guiding them toward the understanding that, "What temperature is dry ice?" is not a good science inquiry question, but it is a good factual question. 

Please continue to communicate if you have questions or concerns. I am still loving this new adventure, and I am so impressed and pleased that you have entrusted your children to me.

More later!

Terri

September 22, 2010

Good Elephant Appreciation Day!~

If some of you are wondering where I am getting these days, it is from a variety of  places. Just a little fun.

Grade checks 
Beginning next week, you will be able to see your child's grades online. I will provide your child with a  password that they will bring home to you. If you lose it, you can always request it again. I will still send home mid-terms and quarter reports. But this enables you to view your child's grades at any time and provides another means of communication.

Grading: Remember, most grades are "effort" grades (daily work). In the online grade book, you will see "E1" for an effort grade of 1, E2 for an effort grade of 2, and so on, up to E5 for an effort grade of 5. There have been 1 or 2 students who have received a grade of E6. Those are very rare. Effort grades do convert to percents.

Performance grades (mini-projects done primarily in class at the end of a unit or book) are given in percents.

Test grades are given in percents.

Poly Select Choir
The students who were selected for the choir received notes today about practices and choir. Please ask your child about them if they tried out.

Book Orders
Since I am new to "the classroom", there are a few things that have changed in 16 years! One of them is that students can now order books online (from Scholastic & Tab). I sent home a note to all parents last week in the Wednesday Watch with information about ordering online. Therefore, I delayed sending in the regular orders so that people who wanted to take advantage of the online venue would have time. But orders have been sent in and books should be arriving soon.

AR
In today's folders are printouts of the students' reading levels and an AR goal. This goal is negotiable. If you think the number of books your child chose to set as their goal is too high or too low, please indicate that when you sign. I conferred with the students regarding the goals. They are not set in stone and can change.

AR tests will be taken in school. We will read AR books 4-5 times a week in class. It is important they have an AR book here at school everyday. I do take the tests into account when grades come out since they are a part of reading, and I dedicate time during the week to the reading of the book.

4th grader Recorder Money
All 4th grade general music students in School District #2 learn to play the recorder. The music teacher is asked to collect $5.00 from each student for the purchase of these recorders. We have almost all of the money collected.  :-)

PTA Class list booklets
 If you joined PTA, you will be receiving a lime green spiral bound booklet today with all the classes & students' names in them. Depending on the amount of information you indicated you would like shared on one of the forms that came out at the beginning of the year, you may be able to find addresses, emails, and/or phone numbers of students at Poly Drive.

Math
We have started the Moli Stone Mystery. This is a part of the gifted curriculum from William & Mary. Students will be pulled back for small group work in areas that need shoring up, as indicated by pretests.

Reading
I am evaluating the first Performance task that students completed for their grade level novel. Later this week, students will begin another novel. However, they will be in smaller groups (about 6 or so). In these groupings, students will read and discuss the novels.

Spelling
Pretests are given on Mondays. If the student scores in the 90s, they are excused from the test on Friday. Today the first set of individual words should be coming home. These words are taken from their daily work. Even if they received a grade in the 90s on Monday, they must take their individual words on Friday. Some students will not have a list of individual words.

Social Studies
We are receiving TIME for Kids. Students read about the Gulf oil spill last week. They also have taken a pretest on Unit 1.

Science
Using questions students had about dry ice, we searched for answers. One person had to call Albertsons to find his answer. Boy! Were the kids surprised that they could not find the answer on Google!  :-)

Grade updates
Again, being new to the classroom, the midterm date snuck up on me.  Since I have spoken to almost all of you on the phone, I will NOT be sending out the grade updates today. It seems rather silly to run that amount of paper twice. Call me if you have a question.

New information for the week: Students are earning transition tokens. We are trying to fill a 1-gallon ice tea container with small marbles.   :-)  Things are improving!

Enjoying your kids and our conversations.........

Terri

Wednesday, September 13th

Good Felt Hat Day to you all!

Room 2 @ Poly Drive is still alive and well. We are continuing to work on routines and procedures. Raising hands and asking questions so all can hear, rather than coming to me individually, is still a work in progress. But we have made huge gains in knowing what to do with papers when they are completed, and water bottles are not as interesting as they were the first few weeks.  :-)

Some students are missing friends, teachers, routines, and structures (playgrounds) from their former schools. We have a had conversations about this and how this is a normal thing to be feeling. Overall, in class, most students seem to be happy and are engaging with others in the class.

So, what are we doing? Here is a synopsis and update of the subjects:

Reading--All students who were in attendance have taken the NWEA READING test.

4th grade reading:  Students have finished the book, A Boy in the Girls' Bathroom, and have chosen a writing task to complete. They have also been completing Literature Circle jobs as they read the book. The Literature Circle assignments are graded on effort (1-5). The writing task will be a Performance score, so it will be graded as a percentage.

5th grade reading: The 5th graders have finished Hatchet. They will be choosing their writing task later this week. They have also been introduced to the Literature Circle jobs. All 5th graders in the school district are taking a writing assessment today and Thursday.

Grading
Following the BPS Elementary Grading Scale, As are percentage scores from 90-100, Bs are in the 80s, Cs are in the 70s, Ds are in the 60s, and below that is an F

Spelling
The first unit pretest was given on Tuesday. If students receive an A on the pretest, they are excused from the test on Friday. They may choose to retake it if they would like to try and improve their percentage score on Friday (from a 93% to a 100%). If they did not receive an A on the pretest, they must take it on Friday.

Also, when I am grading papers throughout the week, I will highlight words that students are misspelling in their daily work. These individual lists  will be added to their test on Friday. If they received an A on the pretest, the only words they will write are the words from the individual list. Watch for highlighted words on daily work when the papers come home on Wednesdays. The first individual lists will not be given until Friday, September 24th. I do count capitalizing, as well as neatness, on spelling tests. I am very picky about these two things. However, they may choose to use cursive or printing at this point.

Language--All students in attendance have taken the NWEA LANGUAGE test.

Students have received Daybooks. These are used in conjunction with our reading program. It is a journal-like book that promotes strategies for good reading and writing. Each lesson focuses on specific strategies for critical reading and writing, providing students with the tools they need to become proficient, confident readers and writers. The Daybooks are consumable, so students can write in them and take them home.

Math--All students in attendance have taken the NWEA MATH test.

All students have taken the pretest for Chapter 1 of the regular math book. It focuses on place value and number sense. I have analyzed the data from the tests and will be doing mini lessons with students who need review or reinforcement in particular areas. As a class, we are beginning The Mystery of the Moli Stone. It, too, covers place value and numeration but goes beyond by introducing other based number system. The students have completed the pretest for the Moli Stone as well.

Science


A huge THANK YOU to Lee Gibb, Kim Stone, and Ray Wright for accompanying us on our first field trip to Norm's Island. I think they would tell you that the presenters were very informed and well prepared for our 28 bodies. I forgot my camera (RATS!) on the field trip. But the students were very engaged and had fun finding trees, naming them, learning how the Native American's used particular parts of plants, as well as catching, drawing, and identifying beetles, spiders, butterflies, and  many other insects.

We took a science pretest for the William and Mary science curriculum. We need this data/pretest to show growth. We will be starting that curriculum next week. This Friday we will be working on dry ice again.

Social Studies
 With all the pre-testing and NWEA testing, this subject has been left out. We will get back on track next week with more routine scheduling.

Substitutes


I will have a substitute 3 times this fall for some district level trainings. The first 1/2 day I will be gone is tomorrow, September 16th for the morning only. My instructions to the students is that I expect them to be on BEST behavior. I also ask the substitute to leave names of students who struggled following rules while I was gone. My procedure upon returning is to meet with the students individually and together come up with a plan for the next time I have a substitute. This is to ensure that the child is learning and the substitute can do his/her job.

Wednesday Watch Folders


There is a LOT of information in the folders this week: Saturday Live information, basketball sign up forms, YMCA programs, early out notices, etc. Some students have a 1/3 sheet of yellow paper that indicates they are getting low on lunch money. Please look through the papers carefully. Spelling pretests should be in the Wednesday Watch folders as well.

6-Week Grade Check
I will be sending home an informal 6-week grade check next week. Be watching for it in the Wednesday Watch folder. Some subjects will have very few grades. But I want to make sure you are informed and up-to-date.

I hope your children are telling you about some of the fun things we are doing in class (BACON, push ups, Jumping Frogs, who is a billion seconds old?). They are a wonderful group of highly verbal children.

As always, call or email if you have questions!

Terri

porischt@billingsschools.org

September 8, 2010

Good Waffle Week to all of you!

For me, the days go way to quickly. I hope that your children find that school does not drag and that activities and learning  are engaging and meaningful.

People continue to ask me about this class when I am out in the community and in meetings. My first response is, "The kids are so kind and thoughtful of one another!" My second response is, "And they have so many things to share!" I am trying to come up with a method for sharing that does not interrupt instruction time/learning. At this point, my solution is to have a class meeting every Friday. I will provide a notebook wherein students can write ideas/suggestions/questions throughout the week. On Fridays, we will have the class meeting and discuss items mentioned (Can we have a class pet? The 'coat closet' is so crowded. Is there a better place for the backpacks?). A very important emotional need these students have is to know they have a voice, to know that they are heard and recognized. So I think the notebook and class meeting will serve multiple purposes.

Currently, we are having some glitches with one of the computer labs. So our NWEA schedule is on hold. We are still on schedule for our field trip on Thursday. Thank you to Kim Stone and Lee Gibb for accompanying us on our venture!

For now, continue to check the blog and ask your child for their assignment notebook. It may look like we are not doing much, but the habit of writing the assignments each afternoon and taking it home is one of the routines we are establishing. I would appreciate your initials at the bottom of each page so I know they have been read by you.

• We have a field trip on Thursday, September 9th.The field trip is to the Audubon Conservation Education Center on S Billings Blvd.
• 4th graders only will have a field trip to the NILE on Monday, October 11. More information will be upcoming. However,1-2 adults would be appreciated for that trip as well. My 4th graders will be going with Mr. Bokum's class. I will stay @ Poly with the 5th graders.
• NWEA tests Our testing schedule is on hold until the lab glitches get worked out. Students will be using the computers, so they may not eat snacks while taking the test. But if you would like to send a snack that they can eat before/after the test (depending on the time we take it), that would be great.
• I will be at a district training on the 16th of September. This is just a heads up for you. There will be several of these throughout the year for me. I will tell the children prior to my absence that I will be gone. But if your child struggles with transitions and routines being a little different, please visit with them about the substitute as well.

Until next Wednesday.......

Terri

First Few Days!

Gosh! These days are flying by. We are working very diligently to get routines established and create an accepting learning environment. The students are very respectful of each other. That is such a compliment to you as parents and families! Be assured that the lessons you are and have instilled in your children are coming through in positive manners and behaviors.

I am new to blogging, so please bear with me. The format of this space may change from time to time as I embark on this communication journey. One of my goals is to post at least once a week, primarily by Wednesday. I chose Wednesday because of the Wednesday Watch Folders.

Here are my highlights for the week:

• Please ask your student every night for their assignment notebook. We started them in earnest Tuesday. I would appreciate your initials or signature everyday. There is a place for comments at the bottom. Please feel free to add anything there. 
• We have a field trip on Thursday, September 9th. I would like to have 1-3 more adults with me on the field trip (actually, it is a request of the organization). Please look for the field trip permission slip in the Wednesday Watch folder. The field trip is to the Audubon Conservation Education Center on S Billings Blvd.
• 4th graders only will have a field trip to the NILE on Monday, October 11. More information will be upcoming. However, 1-2 adults would be appreciated for that trip as well. My 4th graders will be going with Mr. Bokum's class. I will stay @ Poly with the 5th graders.
• Next week we start NWEA tests. Our first test will be Wednesday, September 8th first thing in the morning. The other 2 will be on the mornings of  Tuesday, September 14 & Wednesday, September 15th. I am anticipating doing the reading test first, followed by math and language. 
• Please know that if your child could not complete homework for any reason you deem acceptable, all I need is a phone call, a note, or an email from you stating that the work could not be done. I always honor a parent's request. Most often, I do not accept a child's request. They are so creative with the reasons for why things could not get done! I have to admit that. :-)

Looking forward to more exciting challenges......

Terri Porisch