Adios!

Thanks to all my students' parents for entrusting your children to me for this school year. We have had a wonderful, most productive year and I owe that in part to your help and support . We accomplished much during the last 10 months. The children have achieved a great deal of learning. Congratulations on all of their successes and please use their mistakes and failures to learn from and build upon for the future. Remember to take your child to the library this summer and keep reading, reading, reading. Then do some more reading. After that, keep going over and over all those addition and subtraction facts until he/she can do them in his sleep. Then they will be  ready to lunge forward into third grade! Have a wonderful summer!

Next week's testing

Please remember that next week will be Testing Week. It is extremely important that your child be in attendance and on time all week long. Although not all the days will be occupied fully on testing, we don’t know from one moment to the next how our testing schedule might change, so to be sure your child doesn’t miss out on anything, please make sure he/she is here all day, every day next week. There will be certain rewards given out for perfect attendance during the week, so don’t let your child miss out on the fun, either.

In addition, please make sure your child gets enough rest (9 to 10 hours) every night. Your child may need a small snack during the morning to keep him going, so you may pack a small snack for him/her every day.

Because of testing regulations, students are not to leave the testing place (our room) on their own, so please remind your child that he/she must use the times I take them to the restroom as a class for their needs and not during class time.

I am expecting some very good results on these tests; the children have been doing some fantastic work! Thank you, in advance, for your cooperation on this matter.

Error on School Menu

Please take note of the correction your student made on the Menu we sent home last Friday. The menu indicates Spring Break as being March 12 through the 16th but this is incorrect. Our Spring Break is actually not until March 19 through the 23rd. Make sure your child is in school March 12 – 16.

February Notes

This Friday we will have a Valentine party but we still have so much food and treats left that we won’t really need any additional ones. If you wish for your child to hand out Valentines, you are welcome to do so; however, there is absolutely no obligation to do it. I will send home a list of names to assist your child in writing them out.

This Friday I will give another opportunity to pass the addition speed drill for those who haven’t. Please help your child practice and get this requirement out of the way so that he/she can then concentrate on passing the subtraction speed drill requirement.

Remember there will be no school Monday, February 15, 2010, in observation of Presidents Day.

Mathematical Needs

I have discovered some severe defieciencies in many of the students in my class and I could really use help at home to overcome these deficiencies.

First, is a general inability to count backwards and this is a skill we are urgently needing to use as we learn our subtraction facts. Your child should be able to count back at least from 5o down to zero, but better if from 100. We will see your child pick up the subtraction facts a lot faster if they have mastered this skill.

Secondly, many of the children are still unable to count by fives, tens and twos. I realized this when we started trying to count money. I t would also be most useful if you could give your child a variety of coin combinations and watch him/her count the money and help as needed.

Both of these skills can be practiced anytime and anywhere. Just give your child a directive such as, "Let me hear you count backwards from 52." (or from 35 or whatever comes to mind)

Or, you could say, "Count by fives for me."

Thank you for helping with this.