SPECIAL NOTES THIS WEEK!

Hello parents (and students),

A busy week ahead - our milk program starts, we have photos on Tuesday and our Open House on Thursday at 6:30pm. The point of the Open House visit is for you to learn about the programming and day-to-day routines in order to support your children. It also gives you the chance to ask questions about the class (but not about your child - for that, we can make an appointment or phone call). The students are busy preparing a surprise for you (don't ask! - it's a surprise!!).

Many students are also learning Classcraft powers that they have earned for their avatars this week. I am so pleased that they are taking my suggestion to learn collaborative powers which can help their teammates. For example, a Healer can learn a power to heal a teammate who has low health (from missing work, etc). The game is programmed so that choosing to help teammates awards that player with more XP points. The game is also programmed so that a strong team helps each player on the team stay strong. In this way the students are learning teamwork, to sacrifice for each other, and also how in serving others we become strong individuals! After one student learned a power to share her points with teammates, another ran up to me saying excitedly that she was on her team!

Homework is in general going well so far. Please help your child remember to check off the boxes in front of each homework task he or she does. I will be awarding points for this and for parent signatures in the agendas. Let me know if your child is spending much time on homework. We may be able to work out a system to make it easier on them. Points have already been given out for Home Reading that meets the expectations of 115 mins per week. I collect the sheets each Monday, so if you notice that you still have the sheet and your child has read 115 mins this week have him or her hand it in by Tuesday. Remember that the time restarts on Monday, so your child has to read 115 mins within the 7 days to receive XP points.

I am in the process of assessing individual levels so that I can best teach the students. For example, I noticed students varied greatly in spelling skills. That is why I am not assigning Words this week. I am preparing levelled lists to better meet the needs of individual learners.

I look forward to meeting with you on Thursday at Open House!