Crumb Chronicles, Issue 2

Crumb Chronicles

***A Family Newsletter***

September 10, 2012 – Issue 2

Dear Families:

We’re off to a great start in Portable 38, with just seven school days under our belts. We’ve been spending time getting to know each other, learning to work together as a class and in small groups, learning to correctly use the resources in the room, finding out what students know, and setting goals for this year.

You should expect an issue of the Crumb Chronicles to be published about every other week.** With the many (29!) different families in our room, this is really the most efficient means of communication I have with you. I try to add not only important dates and events, but also what we are learning in class, so that you can extend the learning to conversations at home. These newsletters will be posted on “Mr. Crumb’s Blog” (http://crumbblog.blogspot.com/ ).

**( I may be writing these newsletters more frequently at the beginning of the school year and less frequently by mid-year. Likewise, my letters tend to read like Russian novels (lengthy!) the first month or so because I’m trying to get out so much information. Don’t worry, though, by June I’m usually lucky to string four or five coherent sentences together.)

This year, Snoqualmie Elementary is attempting to reduce the amount of paper sent home. This should help both the environment and help cut costs here in the building. General information for parents and students will be posted on the school web site (http://ses.svsd410.org/). Information that specifically pertains to our classroom can be located on Mr. Crumb’s Blog and/or our classroom web page ( http://ses.svsd410.org/crumb/index.htm ). For those who do not have easy access to the internet, we will continue to send home the hard copies of important papers.  I currently have e-mail addresses for all but four families in the room.

As you may remember from your own school days, these first few weeks of school are sprinkled with the practice of classroom routines and expectations. To be a productive, organized community of learners, we first have to spend a good deal of time learning how to interact with each other, and how to behave in this school environment. Once again, our school has adopted and is promoting the “Six Pillars of Good Character”: Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, and Citizenship. On the first day of class, we brainstormed specific ways our classroom rules could build upon these pillars. On the class website, you will find a copy of Portable 38’s attempt to elaborate on these simple tenets of good school behavior. Our copy at school includes the signatures of each child and myself, which means that we have all agreed to abide by these guiding principles while at school. If ever your child’s behaviors interfere with his or her own learning, or the learning of others, I will first work with the student to have them independently correct this. The next step is to contact you, so that we may work as a strong family-school team to support the child. If you need to contact me at school, the number is: 425-831-8431 (before 8:50 a.m. or after 3:30 p.m.). My e-mail address is crumbm@svsd410.org .

In order for your child to be successful in the 4th grade and beyond, he or she must maintain organization at all times. It is such a critical life skill, as you well know. In the coming weeks, we will really be focusing our attention on staying organized; I would encourage you to periodically check your child’s binder to see how he/she is doing in this area. Students will keep track of all homework, in-class assignments, and long-term projects in an agenda. If you are familiar with the ones used at both middle schools, our agendas are very similar. We will learn how to use the agendas these first few weeks of school so that we all remained organized during this very busy and important year. Parents can check on in-class and homework assignments by consulting their child’s agenda and Mr. Crumb’s Blog. Students who are absent can check the class master agenda to see what assignments they’ve missed.

I will be talking more about different subject areas in upcoming letters, but I would like to address one specific area: math. First of all, every student in our class will need to know their fact families for addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. That means that students should recall the facts accurately and quickly. Please work on them at home for at least five minutes each night until your child has them down. Your child can practice in a variety of ways: fact triangles/flash cards, computer games, paper and pencil sheets, or verbally quizzed by family members. There are lots of resources available for fact practice on our class web site.  There is another great resource that we’re using this year, “Xtra Math.”  It is a web-based program to increase speed and accuracy with math facts.  The attached letter contains the code and directions to get your child started with this at home.  There will be a direct link to it on the class web site.

Another new math resource is called “IXL Math.”  Students can log on and complete practice problems that complement and supplement what we’re working on in class.  It tracks student progress, and adjusts the difficulty of the problems based upon student performance.  I can track how much time they spend practicing, what skills have been practiced, and what areas they need to work on.  I took the students to the computer lab today to introduce them to it, so they should know how to use it.  I will also send a letter home this week (via e-mail if you I have your address) that explains how to use IXL at home.  There will be a direct link to the IXL sign-in on the class web site.

The web site also has a link to access our enVision Math textbook online.  Students can use  it if they are absent, or need to review a concept taught in class.  If you click on “Tutorials for 4^th Grade Math” on the class web site, it offers links to Khan Academy math lessons that correspond to our enVision math topics.

Finally, all parents are warmly invited to the school-wide Curriculum Night on Thursday, September 20 at 6:00 p.m. I hope to see you there!

                                                                                                         Sincerely,
                                                                                                         Michael Crumb

P.S. Each child will be tie-dying a T-shirt (with our class motto on it) in a couple of weeks . . . please bring in a plain white shirt (with room to grow!) as soon as possible. If it’s brand new, it will need to be washed once so that the dye will set properly. Thanks.