Newsletter Oct-Nov

8/3/2019 Newsletter Oct-Nov

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/newsletter-oct-nov 1/4

[1]

How to Google

There are tricks to successful

search. Here are some of things

we uncovered!

ROOM 28

OCT/NOV 2011

Newsletter Your source for the

happenings of Room 28 and

its Stars!

golabuenaga.wordpress.com

TAKING A STAND: PROJECT UPDATESNearly finished, but the most rewarding work has yet to come!

In our project, Taking a Stand, students

were challenged to explore an issue of great

importance to them. Such topics included:

pollution, global warming, ocean trash,

endangered species, equal rights in China, child

labor, ethical treatment of animals, and the

tsunami in Japan. Room 28 Stars certainly care

deeply about what is going on in the world.

From there, they wrote reports on their

issues and created a proposal. In the proposal,students were to create a campaign plan for

how they would get their message to the world,

identify the audience they were speaking to, and

outline their goals for change. Some students

chose to make coloring books, if small children

were their audience, or write letters to key

stakeholders, if their audience was law makers

or business people.

Our next steps are to finalize our

presentations and follow through with our

campaign plans. All presentations are being

created on Prezi. To learn more, visit

www.prezi.com for more details about this great

platform! Presentations begin the week of

November 2nd.

The month of November will be spent

creating our campaign ideas and sharing them

with their intended audiences. Much of the hardwork is done but the most rewarding work,

sharing our message with the world as a means

to make it a better place, has yet to come.

Stay updated @

golabuenaga.wordpress.com

http://www.golabuenaga.wordpress.com/



http://www.prezi.com/

http://www.prezi.com/





[2]

Upcoming Field Trips: All Trips Need

Chaperones

Wednesday, November 9th, 2011

House of Blues

8430 Sunset Blvd

West Hollywood, CA 90069

Monday , December 5th, 2011

California Science Center

700 Exposition Park Drive

Los Angeles, CA 90037

Thursday , January 19th, 2012

MOCA @ the Geffen Contemporary

152 North Central Avenue


Thursday , February 23rd, 2012

Griffith Observatory

2800 East Observatory Road


Fall Date to Be Announced

John C.Fremont Library

6121 Melrose Avenue


Spring Date to Be Announced

MOCA Grand Avenue

250 South Grand Avenue


If you are interested in attending any of these

trips, please contact me at:

[email protected]

or

818.308.4295

or

School: 323.938.6275

Look forward to sharing these amazing

experiences with your child!

BUDDIES

Kinder Buddy Time

Your child has been hard

at work supporting the

learning and development

of the kindergartners of

Room 2. Here are some ofthe areas we have been

working on:

• Comic Life Storyboarding

for Kinder Project

• Story Jumper

• IXL Math

• Read Aloud with

Accelerated Reader

Quizzes

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



[3]

Engrade: What it is & how to use it

This year, we are embarking on a new classroom tool that will allow

students to keep track of their grades.

What is Engrade? It is an secure, online grade book that will

house all grades for all subjects.

Each child was given a user id to set up their accounts.

All accounts have been created using their LAUSD email

and passwords have been recorded in a secure location.

This shows all graded/ recorded assignments by

subject area. It will give you a detailed, up-to-date snapshot

of how your child is doing in a given subject area.

Grades are calculated using the 4-3-2-1 scale, used by LAUSD.

The ranges include + and – to offer you a better sense of where your child

falls on the range for a given grade.

To be clear, there are two types of assessments: formative and

summative. (1.) Formative assessments are meant to be practice, but

they are recorded to give the parents/families, student and me the

information we need to address academic challenges your child may face

head on. For example, you notice that your child is having a tough time

with place value. Now you have the information you need to support your

son or daughter in mastering that skill from home. Tools like IXL math

could be used, or whatever other supports and interventions you are able

and willing to provide.

(2.) Summative assessments are the end of unit type tests that are

meant to measure overall learning. These, most certainly, count in the

grade book. Summative assessments won’t always be tests. They

may be final products from our project-based learning,

presentations, or some other form of performance-based

assessment.

You may be asking yourself, are the grades I see on Engrade

the exact grades that will be on the report card? Not

necessarily.

Grades are meant to show mastery of standards.

Therefore, practice (formative assessments) should not count

against them. For example, in math we take quizzes on a topic using an

80/80 rule. 80% of students must score 80% or better for us to move on

to another topic. Let’s stay we take the quiz two times and Student A

scores a 50% on quiz #1 and a 90% quiz #2. Should the student’s overal

grade suffer when they demonstrated that they learned the concept on

quiz #2, even if it took 2 tries? How many things have we as adults done

perfectly the first time? Grades will be manually adjusted in cases like this

to account for the demonstration of learning. You will be made aware of

any changes that are made before report cards are issued.

For more information, visit http://golabuenaga.wordpress.com/

category/grades/ or contact me with your questions.

ENGRADEwww.engrade.com

Your child has a unique

user name and password.

Because we have taken

quizzes on Engrade, allchildren should already

know this critical

information.

http://golabuenaga.wordpress.com/category/grades/








[4]

Accelerated Reader and Nightly

Reading Homework

At Melrose, we have a program called

Accelerated Reader. This program allows

students to track their reading levels and

progress as they take quizzes at the end of each

book read.

In order to take advantage of this system

that we have, all children need to have a book to

read, that is in the Accelerated Reader system,

at all times.

To help you do that, your child will be

bringing home a public library card sign-up

form. If you do not already have a library card,

they are free to you. Fill out the form and send it

back to school. With the help of Mrs. Lily

Hernandez, one of our room parents, we will

obtain a library card for you.

Once we have received those cards, I will

schedule a field trip for our class to the John C.

Fremont Library on Melrose Ave to check out

books.

For students who already have library

cards, they will be expected to bring them to

school to check out a book.

Another option would be for you to

purchase a book through the book club order

forms as they go home.

One more note about books. Picking the

right book for your reader might seem like a

challenge. Here is a good rule of thumb, or

hand in this case. It is the 5-Finger Rule.

1. Have your child select a book that

they actually want to read. Really, we want

them to like reading.

2. Open the book to any page.

3. Have your child read the page aloud.

4. If there are 5 or more words that your

child does not know (in terms of the

definition), that book is too hard. If there

are no words that the child does not know,

it is too easy. Stay in that range and you

will have a challenged, engaged reader

Happy Reading!

*NOTE: It will be your responsibility to

return the books by the due date.*

If you are able to provide

any of these materials,

please contact me or send

them to school with your

child. Your contributionsdo not go unnoticed.

Thank you for your

continued support of our

classroom!

CLASSROOM SUPPLIES

NEEDED

Lined paperCollege-Ruled or Wide-

Ruled

Copy Paper White paper

Pencils

Highlighters

Documents

Newsletter Oct-Nov