Conference time is coming up in the next couple of weeks. If you would like to meet with me, I am happy to schedule a time. I am available before school most mornings and also all day on October 13. Please just email me your availability. I am also happy to try to stop in to your regularly scheduled conference with homeroom teachers if that is easier. My contact: [email protected] Math grades are updated in our Synergy gradebook system. You can log into Parent Vue at any time to see how your child is doing. I will warn you that I only add grades once every couple of weeks. For my math classes, assessments and homework make up almost all of the grades. Homework is worth 20 points each week. Assessments are each worth 100 points. I rarely grade practice assignments because they are just that - practice! And remember that students have the option to fix assessment scores with extra work and reflection (see last week's post.) My biggest concern is that they learn the material so I do everything in my power to make sure they know the math so that grades are secondary to understanding and learning. If your child was in my math classes last year then you may remember that we took a few days to have some fun with math and see how it applies to engineering. If you look at my profile picture on this page, you'll see a peek at me in an Orion space capsule simulator from when I was at Educator Space Camp in 2015 in Huntsville, AL. When I got home after that summer, I wanted to bring some of my learning and experiences home to my students. I wrote a grant for materials and found activities that would allow my students to experience more problem solving and collaboration through designing and building. We will be doing four challenges again this year in each class. In fact, homeroom students in 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades will all be doing the challenges with us too. Click here or on the letter on the left to read more details. I need your help too! You should have received a Sign-up Genius email asking for parent volunteers. You don't need to know anything about engineering. Your job will be helping "sell" supplies and simply supervise the fun with me. Our first challenge will be in October on the 20 & 21st. We will do ones in December, February, and May too if you can't help this time. Math families make sure that you are watching for the Home School Connection letters that your child will bring home this year. This will give you a glimpse at what our current math topic is in class. I always joke with the kids when I hand them out that these are your parents' homework. It does have a family activity that is optional so you do have a little homework to do with your child if you choose. Those letters do not need to be sent back to school. One more possibly useful family tool that our new math curriculum provides is the Bounce Pages app that can be downloaded on phones or tablets. Once you download the app, it will use your camera when you point it at your child's homework page. It will then automatically connect to "Another Look" videos that can possibly help your child remember what we learned that day in order to help them with their homework.
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Welcome back to the 2016-2017 school year! Thanks to those of you who were able to attend the Gifted Back-to-School night last week. If you were not able to, check out the "General Info" tab on the website to see the presentation from that evening. Each week I try to post a new blog so that you can get a glimpse into what we are up to in Knowledge Peak classes and learn helpful information about procedures and expectations in my class plus get occasional helpful information on parenting a gifted child. Since this is the first installment of "Peek at Our Week" this year, this one may be a little longer than usual. Each math class has already finished at least one topic (formerly known as a unit in our old curriculum) and has completed at least one assessment. Once I grade tests, students have the option of fixing their mistakes. My philosophy in math is that I care most that you learn the concepts. If you make mistakes, GREAT! Brain research shows that we actually learn a lot from making mistakes. If students are unhappy with their grade, they can choose to take a fix it sheet (see the picture on the right; click on it to see a larger copy) and must fix all mistakes by re-solving and analyze why they think they missed it. Their analysis are always interesting to read like admitting misunderstanding ("I thought billions were bigger than trillions") while other share mistakes in computation ("I thought 6X4 was 20.") If they turn this fix-it sheet back in with their test with all the mistakes corrected, I will give them back half of the points that they missed. Just know that sometimes they have time in class and sometimes they need more time outside of class so this may become a little bit of extra homework. A big part of learning is taking ownership of work and their grades. As long as a student does not get a D or F, they have the choice of fixing their grade. It is well worth it though to have a conversation with your child about your expectations for their grades and learning. Also on the topic of math, expect nightly homework Monday through Thursday from Peak math classes. I do occasionally let them have a night off though! Each week homework is worth a total of 20 points which means 5 points for each nightly assignment. It is pretty easy to get the 5 points. Take a peek at the poster to the left. All kids have a copy of this in their math notebooks, and we have discussed it. They know that the focus of homework is to do your best. We use it as a learning tool in class the next day so getting 100% correct is not a part of the point system. We certainly check it for accuracy, but much like my fix-it strategy for tests, students have opportunities to fix their mistakes. (Remember our brains learn a lot by making mistakes!) Homework should be review that they can complete on their own. If there is ever a night when you are too busy or they are too frustrated, simply sign your name on the homework, and that is my signal that you approve that the homework may be incomplete. And on the subject of homework, what if your child forgets their copy of the homework? The kids and I have talked in all three Peak math classes about problem solving options to take care of this. All of them require logging in to the Pearson enVision 2.0 website. I sent directions in an email this week but here are those steps again: 1. Go to PearsonRealize.com 2. Click "Sign on" 3. You will see a dragonfly; click on the buttom that says "EasyBridge..." 4. Now you should see a bridge picture; type in "Poudre..." in the school (and choose from the dropdown menu) 5. This will take you to the PSD single sign-on page (should have an apple on books in the picture) 6. Kids login using their 5 digit lunch number email ([email protected]) and then their four digit + first and last initial password 7. They should be into their account for enVision at that point and you can bookmark the page. So you know what I told them, you have three options from there:
4th and 5th graders should have written down what lesson in their planners. If they don't, you can look at the homework portion of my planbook at: https://planbook.com/planbook.html?t=974564&k=20162017 That is plenty of information for this week. Stay tuned in the coming weeks for more! In the meantime, here are a few pictures from the last couple of weeks. If you want to see all of the pictures, go to the Photos page on the website.
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Tracey BeanWerner Elementary Archives
May 2018
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