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Mrs.
Niederstadt's Class February 29, 2008 |
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Mrs.
Niederstadt's Class February 29, 2008 |
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Dear Parents, Enclosed is your child’s theme (magazine) test. The average score for first grade was 89%. Most students had difficulty with the written portions: Items 3-5 and Item 20. It is more challenging writing your comprehension rather than verbaling it. The average score for second grade was 61%. This test was difficult for them. Most students confused some of the details such as Buster had the inside toys. Gus’s character didn’t share nicely and was spiteful. When the rain stopped, he didn’t want Buster to have fun with his toys. Also enclosed is a copy of each grade’s new vocabulary words. The new homework books will include these words. March is reading month. We have many elementary activities planned throughout the month. Please find the enclosed schedule of events. Also we are taking a trip to the Manistee Public Library in honor of reading month. Last Wednesday Mrs. Lyman and I had a productive planning session. We’ve prepared several new social studies and science units according to our new state standards. As you know change is inevitable, our current report cards do not reflect the current state standards, which means your child’s report card will have holes at the end of the year. It is too difficult at this point to update all the changes in the report card to reflect the new standards so your patience will be appreciated as we move through this process. Actually most schools in Manistee country are working cooperatively on one report card for each grade. The new report card will include all the new state standards. If a first grade child moves into Onekama from first grade at KND, then his report card will move with him and we’ll know at a glance his skills. Currently our 4th grade is piloting the new report card.
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As I said above change is inevitable, Mrs. Eichberger is no longer teaching our DK students three days per week. At the beginning of the year there were 7 students with high hopes of gaining more. During the school year two students move out of district and one student moved into kindergarten, which left her classroom with four students. Last week a tough decision was made to disperse her classroom. Beginning on Monday three students will move into Mr. Kudlack’s kindergarten classroom and one into Mrs. Lyman’s K/1 classroom. Mrs. Eichberger is still committed to teaching music two days per week in our middle school, but her new assignment is to help work in our lower elementary especially in the split classrooms. We are in the process of working out a schedule. In my classroom she will be responsible for taking some of the second grade social studies and science units. As you have noticed the state standards continue to grow in the number of requirements. There is not enough time to teach both curriculums. I am able to combine some social studies and science units together, but the remaining units will be Mrs. Eichberger’s responsibilities. These units are new to us so she will create the units, teach and grade them. In the lower elementary, our main focus is reading and mathematics so the other units are more for exploration and we grade them accordingly. Next week students will study a new science unit called “Fluid Earth.” This is a first and second grade science unit combined together. Fluid Earth discusses water as a natural resource and is found under the ground, on the surface of the earth, and in the sky. Then this moves us into the concept of water cycle. As you have read above we’ve been working through several growing pains. Many parents have asked about new flashcards for their child. I have not forgotten, but it will take me some time to get there. You will have new flashcards at our next parent teacher conferences, but I hope to have them to you before then. Your patience is appreciated. I am in need of ziploc bags: sandwich and gallon. We use the sandwich size to organize our flashcards and the gallon size to protect my books traveling to and from school.
Warmly,
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