The third quarter report cards have been sent home. Some students showed significant improvement and made the honor roll, some for the first time all year. Others let their guard down, and found themselves off the honor roll, again for the first time. This coming quarter will be a very busy one. Remind your child that this is no time to stop thinking about the importance of their education experience.
Once our MSAs are over next week, we will continue working on our books about our past, which will include stories that our parents, grandparents, and relatives have passed on to us. Each student will be asking you or a family member to add more to the first drafts about something important that happened to you or them as a child. This could be anything from a funny incident to something life-changing. I have edited their stories for the first draft and they are beautiful. We all have a story to tell. Nest month, I am planning for each student to tell their story to the 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students and parents. If you can help by adding to the story that they have already started, it would make our program even more special. My plan is also to compile all these stories and present them in a book at our annual Write-a-Book Fair. Please help your child with this assignment. It should be long enough for us to hear a story from your past from which perhaps we all can learn some lesson. Each story need not be longer than one page.
I cannot stress this enough. The same students are still not doing their homework or completing their calendars. Students who were not able to do their homework must bring me a signed note from you telling me the reason: left the book in school, forgot to write the assignment in the agenda book, or whatever that reason might be. Homework is part of the grade given. Students who consistently do not do their homework show a marked degree of failure. The calendar is required of every student; failure to complete it results in a loss of points toward a homework grade. This is your responsibility, parents. It is important for your child to participate in this activity. It is also part of the School Improvement Plan. We cannot successfully help your children if you or they are unwilling to participate. Most weeks the calendars are checked on Thursday. Every student should have the calendar signed nightly and carried to school in the red take-home folder. This way there should be no excuse for not having it ready to be checked. Please help me with this effort. Your child will certainly benefit from that effort. I should also remind you that when forms are sent home to be completed, it is important for you to return them to school as soon as possible. If you are checking your child's take-home folder regularly, you should find these forms in there. Many times we plan programs around your interests; if we don't receive your reply, we cannot plan.
We are still leading the others in First In Math. Gallina is one of the top 100 students in Maryland to achieve over 5000 stickers! Way to go,
Gallina! Our school is in tough competition with other schools in First in Math. Our class keeps changing ranks, but I'm pleased to say that we are now ranked 8th in the USA. As I write these notes, our class ranks 2nd in our school. If you have a computer with the internet at home, your son or daughter should be working on First in Math for at least 15 minutes EVERY NIGHT. You should oversee this, then sign the calendar to show that this assignment has been completed. We are competing with other classes and schools in the county to see which classes are excelling in winning stickers. The ultimate goal, of course, is to help the students become proficient with their math skills. Encourage them to go on First in Math as often as possible, especially on weekends. Students without home computers are given the opportunity to work on school computers. It is interesting that many of our top scorers do not have home computers. The Beltsville library has computers available. This is a good place to spend a rainy weekend helping your children, too.
Your child will soon be bringing home information about their trip to North Bay, which is on the northern end of the Chesapeake Bay. The trip is scheduled for the last week of school, June 2-6. They will leave on Monday morning from school and return to school on Friday afternoon in time to take the buses home. For some students, this may be the first time they have spent such a long time away from home and family. You might want to discuss this with them to help relieve their anxiety. This trip is a wonderful experience for them. They will get to do things many have never done before...paddle a boat, climb a wall, swim in the bay, play games, experience nature and science outdoors. Last year's class went in the cold of January and had a wonderful time; hopefully June will bring us warm weather so that it will be even more fun. The trip is free. Children who cannot demonstrate good citizenship skills at school, however, will NOT be permitted to accompany their classes. This might be something else you can discuss with them. Parents who wish to accompany their children are invited to do so. Fingerprinting will be necessary, so if you are thinking of joining them, please let me know so that I can get the information out to you in time to be processed.
Prior to their trip to North Bay, the 6th grade promotion ceremony and picnic will take place. These dates are Thursday, May 29 for promotion, and Friday, May 30 for their end-of-year picnic. Details on both these events will follow as we get closer to the date.
I hope you are reading these Schoolnotes regularly. Feel free to respond with any questions you may have about your child's activities or progress.
I'm saddened to see this school year come to an end. I have really enjoyed being with this class this year. All of your children are special to me, and I am not looking forward to losing them. I will try to make this last quarter as productive and as much fun as I can so that we will all take away lasting memories from Calverton.
Sincerely,
Ms. Brickner
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