Ways to help your Scholar at home.
I like to think of the person at home and the teacher as a
team in the growth and learning of each student. The single most important
thing you can do to support what we are doing at school is to read with your
scholar whenever you have the chance. They should bring home library books
daily and as soon as they have read one, they can take the A.R. test to earn
points toward the end of quarter field trip. You are welcome to come in before
school and help with this test until your scholar gets the hang of it, or you
can send me a Dojo message when they have a book that they are ready to test on
and I will get them started when they get to school.
The second most important thing each scholar can do at home
is their Xtramath. This teaches their math facts through repetition and
practice and will grow their fluency. If they consistently practice these on days
when we do not have school, they will continue to progress quickly. The goal is
that each student knows all of their math facts before they reach higher grade
levels when math classes introduce algebraic concepts and other complex
formulas.
I will send the list of spelling words home on Dojo, each
Sunday. You can practice these words and the two sentences with your scholar to
help them prepare for the spelling test on Friday. You can have them spell the
words out loud, but writing them down is even better. If they are having
trouble with certain words, focus on those.
There are several additional tools that we use at school
which you can also use at home if you have access to the internet and a
computer or tablet. We use Google Classroom and if your student logs into the
device using their school account (first.last@newburg.k12.mo.us)
they can access many of their assignments and work from anywhere. From Google
Classroom, they can find http://www.spellingcity.com/
where they can practice the weekly spelling words using interactive games. They
can also find their online math program http://www.zearn.org/
which we use daily to reinforce growing math skills. As the year progresses, there
will be other assignments posted in Google Classroom that they can view and
work on, or just share with you, from home.
If you require assistance with accessing or setting up any
of these things, please let me know and I will be glad to help you get them
working on your device. As always, if you have any questions or concerns,
please contact me right away. Dojo is the easiest and most effective method to
reach me at any time.