We are now in Trimester 2 and the work may be getting a little more difficult for your child. For some, this may be the very first time they are being introduced to certain topics. It is extremely important for them to pay attention during class. We always review everything together before a test or quiz is given. The students have a new set of standards that they need to master for the second trimester. They also will need to remember the standards from the first trimester. I may give unannounced quizzes at anytime to make sure that they have mastered these standards. This will allow me to see which students need additional help with certain standards.
The expectations are higher during the second trimester. The students will be expected to print their letters correctly and legibly. I will take off points for work that I consider to be sloppy. They are required to form their letters correctly on the lines and spaces. We have went over that the "tall" letters need to go from the ground to the sky. The "middle" letters need to go from the ground to the mid-line. A big focus this trimester in our writing is being able to edit and create a final draft. Our required steps to editing in class will be: 1. Reread your story. 2. Find a partner to share your work with. Listen to suggestions he/she may have. 3. Use a red pen and fix and errors that you find. 4. Get a clean sheet of paper and rewrite your work, adding all of the things in red. 5. Reread one more time to check for errors.
Along with teaching the students new curriculum I am going to continue working on respect and responsibility. I have let them know that the habits they are learning now will help them as they continue on to older grades. I want them to understand why it is important to complete and turn in their homework each week. I want them to understand why it is not mom or dad's fault they forgot their homework or their BEE Binder. I want them to understand why they need to move their clip if they weren't following the rules.
Continue practicing our sight words! The sight words are words that your child should know how to spell correctly. Parent volunteers have begun testing around the school. When your child completes a section of sight words, he or she gets to color in their folder and they will recieve a dog tag.
Each week your child will be given a timed test on their math facts. They must complete 20 facts within 1 minute. We start with adding by 0 then we continue with adding by 1 etc.... As they complete each one I call them over to color in the math section of their folder. They get very excited and proud to color in these folders.