Please mark your calendars for Wednesday, February 29th and join us for our Leap into Literacy Night!

Olive Chapel parents and students are invited to Leap into Literacy Night, Wednesday, February 29, 2012.  The evening will begin at 6:00 PM, in the multi purpose room with a brief PTA General Membership Meeting, followed by general information from our administrators regarding many of the literacy programs and activities provided for students at Olive Chapel.  Information will also be shared with parents regarding the literacy Common Core Standards that will go into effect for all grade levels next year.  After the meeting, parents and students will be invited into classrooms for presentations, displays and activities.  The event will be over at 7:30 PM. 

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The students are so excited about their sciene unit this quarter!  We are studying ecosystems and interdependence by studying self sustaining habitats that we have put together in class.  Thank you for sending in plastic soda bottles, as they are now homes for crickets, pill bugs, mosquito fish, and snails, as well as many plants.  If you haven't already heard about this project, ask your child about them.  I'm sure they can tell you a great deal about each animal and the role they play in this ecosystem!  Our test for this unit will most likely be next Friday, check their agendas next week to make sure.

We have finished Unit 5 in math (covering fractions and decimals) and are moving on to measurement on Monday of next week.  This is not a unit in our textbooks, so there will not be the regular Homework and Remembering pages.  I will have computer practice and copied pages for them for the next few weeks.  I do understand that sometimes technological glitches occur, so if there is any problem with your computer, or the assignment cannot be opened,  please know and assure your child that they will be given time during morning work to complete the work.  I always get very worried emails or messages here on the blog.  All you need to do is write a note or send me a quick email letting me know that your child was unable to do it at home and needs time in class. 

Tomorrow we will make bags for Valentine/Friendship cards.  If you did not recieve an email with the list of student names, please let me know.  We will have a small celebration in class on Tuesday, so if you'd like to send in some treats, we'd love it!  We don't have time for a party at this point in the quarter, the kids will exchange cards and have a snack together. 

It has been brought to my attention that packets and writing assignments are being brought home  to work on.  Reading and writing assignments are never homework assignments.  Homework is practice, and is not graded, so if a writing  or reading assignment comes home, I cannot grade it.  We are only to grade and assess work that has been done independently by the student.  If it has gone home, I cannot be sure that the student has done the work by themselves.  Please do help your child with homework, but if it is a reading packet or a writing assignment, please make sure it goes right back in the backpack.  If students need more time on work, they need to let me know rather than take it home. 

Piggybacking on that, students should have no more than 1 hour of homework a night.  We work very hard at school, so that we can play hard when we go home.  I try hard to fit everything so they're not bringing work home to finish and usually they will only have to read for 20 minutes and complete a math page.  If the math page takes too long or they have anything else  that they're bringing home that is taking a while, please stop them, put it in the backpack and write me a short note saying that they attempted it, but couldn't complete it.  I will be glad to help them with it or give them more time as needed.  If it is something they are struggling with it would help me to be able to better support them in class if I knew they are struggling with the homework.

If you'd like a conference, please email me:  akaisePlease give me a couple of dates and times that would work for you and I'll do my best to accomodate.  I do have meetings every Wednesday and Thursday mornings so I will not be able to meet on those mornings. 

Thanks!

Allison Kaiser