Posted by MrLynch | Posted in Weekly Newsletter | Posted on November 14, 2015
Last week I introduced students to a program called typingtraining.com. Each student has an account, and they could use this program to practice their typing skills. In today’s world (and certainly tomorrow’s world even more), the need to navigate a keyboard with decent speed and accuracy is so important. I will give them time to work on this over the course of the year, but they could log-in at home to practice, too. By the end of fifth grade, students should be at at least 25wpm with at least 90% accuracy. In our class, only four students were at this point when we did the intro test.
Our first meetup for our Book Buddy program with one of the first grade classes over at Pine Grove will take place on Friday. Our classes are partnered up, and each student will have a little buddy he/she is matched up with. This is more of a mentoring experience than one based on literature. While some reading will be involved, the appeal of the program is the yearlong partnership between a younger and an older student.
We are currently working on Unit 3: Adding and Subtracting Decimals in math. I put a bunch of games on students’ Google Classroom accounts that they could use to practice these decimal skills.
Students were introduced to the Holiday Bear Project a couple weeks ago. We will be sponsoring two 10-year-old kids (a boy and a girl – unrelated) who need a little boost this holiday season. An e-mail was sent out explaining all the details, but basically we’ll be raising funds to provide them with both needs (jackets, gloves, blankets, etc.) and wants (books, toys, etc.). The project culminates with an optional after-school visit to Walmart where any interested student could meet me there after school on Wednesday, December 2 and we’ll go shopping for these students.
Parent/Teacher Conference sign-up instructions went out about a month ago via SignUp Genius. If you have not signed up or need me to resend the instructions please let me know. The Conferences are officially on Thursday, December 3 and Friday, December 4, but I also opened up slots every morning that week as well.
Upcoming Events
Book Buddies – Friday, November 20 @ Pine Grove
Holiday Bear Walmart visit (optional) – Wednesday, December 2 @3:30 PM
Parent/Teacher Conferences – Thursday, December 3 – Friday, December 4
Last Day of School – Tuesday, June 7
