Dear Parents,

Wow! Spring Break has arrived and the weather is shaping up to be truly “spring like.” I know many of you are traveling so please be safe and enjoy time with family and friends. I am going ahead and sending the letter ahead of time so students who want to take advantage of the extra free time at home, in cars, or on planes to get a jump start on the homework for the week of the 20th will have it available.

Here’s a reminder about Study Island: Students have been working at school to complete lessons in an online reading program called Study Island. This program helps students review and practice many different topics in reading that we have taught or are currently teaching in class. Because of the limited time students have to work on lessons at school during the week, we will be requiring at least two Study Island lessons to be completed each week at home in addition to our current homework expectations. To complete a lesson and earn a “blue ribbon” for that topic, students must answer at least 10 questions and score 70% or higher. To log in outside of school, students will go to https://app.studyisland.com/cfw/login/. Their username is ######@co (replace ###### with their 6-digit school ID) and their password is 125.abcd. They will click on “Mr. Jobe’s Class”, then the current week. Before they begin answering questions for a lesson, they will need to click on the “lesson” link next to the topic and watch the video and/or read the lesson pages. They will then exit out of that screen, click on the topic name, and answer the questions for that topic. Study Island has been added to the homework grid as well. Please let me know if you have any questions about this!

A note on snacks: We have a peanut allergy in our room. Please, for the safety of the students in our room, do not send snacks that are eaten in the room that have nuts or nut allergens. Thank you for helping me keep all of our students safe.

Important dates and this week’s learning targets and homework are below. Have a great week!

Sincerely,

Tammie Seay

972.347.7144

This week’s learning targets:

Math: We are benchmarking this week. This will be the last benchmark this year before the actual STAAR test. The benchmark is the released Spring 2016 STAAR. It will give us a very good picture where you child is currently sitting in readiness for this test approaching in early May.

Reading: We are taking the reading benchmark this week as well. Again, this is the released test from last year. We will spend the end of the week reviewing right and wrong answers so they understand what goals need to be set moving forward.

Writing: We will continue practicing our expository writing.

Social Studies: We will continue our 6-week unit on personal financial literacy.

Think Through Math: At least two Think Through Math lessons are due each week by Thursday night. These can be completed at school, home, or a combination of the two. The computer lab is open from 7:20-7:45 each morning for students to utilize if they need to. Students who do not complete at least two lessons per week will be in the computer lab during clubs on Fridays to work toward completing that requirement.

Study Island: At least two Study Island lessons are due each week by Thursday night. These can be completed at school, home, or a combination of the two. The computer lab is open from 7:20-7:45 each morning for students to utilize if they need to. Students who do not complete at least two lessons per week will be in the computer lab during clubs on Fridays to work toward completing that requirement.

Reading Counts: At least 15 Reading Counts points are expected to be earned during each grading period. Students need to be checking out Reading Counts books each week in the library and reading them both at home and at school. They will then have the opportunity to take short, 10 question tests on their books and earn points. Tests may only be taken at school. Students who do not earn at least 15 points per grading period will be in the computer lab during clubs on the last Friday of the grading period to work toward completing that requirement. That date this grading period is 4/14.

Important Dates:

3/11-3/19: Spring Break

3/21: Math Benchmark

3/22: Reading Benchmark

3/28: 4th grade Writing STAAR test, 5th grade Math STAAR test

3/29: 5th grade Reading STAAR test

Homework for the week of March 20, 2017:

1
Read 20 minutes. / 2
Complete one Think Through Math Lesson. / 3
4
Complete one Think Through Math Lesson / 5
Complete one
Study Island Lesson / 6
Read 20 minutes.
7
Write a paragraph telling about the best part of spring break. Be sure to include why you selected this event. / 8
Read 20 minutes. / 9
Complete one
Study Island Lesson

Evidence grid to be recorded in students’ homework journals:

Students will draw the following grid in their homework journal for each week. They will number all boxes and write in only the boxes they complete for that week. For writing prompts and word problems, students will need to draw a downward facing arrow in the box, and then complete their work below the grid or on the next page of their journal. Work completed outside of the grid will need to be numbered.

1
Title of book
Number of minutes read
Parent signature / 2
Title of Think Through Math lesson that was completed / 3
Math problem
4
Title of Think Through Math lesson that was completed / 5
Name of Study Island lesson that was completed / 6
Title of book
Number of minutes read
Parent signature
7
Paragraph / 8
Title of book
Number of minutes read
Parent signature / 9
Name of Study Island lesson that was completed