It is extremely important that you complete all your assignments in a timely manner. If there was an unforeseen circumstance that caused you not to complete an assignment, please bring in a note signed by a parent.
Note: Free Homework Passes do not include nightly reading.

Students should be practicing their addition and subtraction. Students should also practice their multiplication facts. Students have homework Monday thru Thursday. The Unit 3 test have been corrected and sent home. The test needs to be returned after parents and students have reviewed them. If your child did "not meet a target", I will be reviewing the material in a small RtI intervention group and incorporating the review into homework assignments. If your child did not meet a target, they will not be able to use a "Homework Pass" for that assignment. I will make a note of that on the top of the assignment. Scores of the unit test have been sent to Mrs. Castle and Mrs. Vandervelde, our Mathematics Coordinator this year. As you can see, we are working together to help your child become successful. .

 

Just a reminder that if your child has not mastered a skill on the previous test, they will need to complete the assignment because it was designed as practice skill.  Before your child uses a "Homework Pass", please ask them if they met the target on their unit test.  I keep a record of that and if you need to contact me, I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Unit 7 test is scheduled for Wednesday, May 2, 2012.  Please review the pre-test for examples.

Guided Reading groups are established. We will be discussing literary devices and identifying literary elements. Students have response journals where they keep vocabulary and insightful thoughts in.

Students spend about twenty minutes in reading groups.  They are responsible for responding to text, by citing examples from what they read.  If you are reading with your child at night, it is beneficial to ask questions about the characters and/or predict what is going to happen.

Svience NECAP testing will be held next week.  Please make sure that your child gets plenty of sleep and a healthy breakfast,  This week students will have SWAT testing.

All students should have a new schedule whether they are in band or not. Music students will be instructed by Mr. Zammarelli and band students will have Ms. DiNitto.

Mr. Hitte requires that your child keep a daily log of exercise and activities that affect your child's health. Students should have a three-ring binder and keep a copy of expectations and rubric.

Congratulations to all the students who took part in the Jumprope for Heart event to raise money for the American Heart Association.

 

Physical Ed. binders are due to Mr. Hitte this week.  Students should be keeping track of all their physical activities.

Response to Intervention instructional groups will be determined based on math assessments and SWAT (School-wide Assessment Tasks) data.
RtI information was sent home explaining the process. If your child is placed in an intervention, it simply means that we will be reviewing the information in a small group using a different teaching technique or modality. This is a Tier One intervention for your child to succeed. Once your child has mastered the skill, they will be exited out of the small group.

Science NECAP's are next week.

We have started our new kit, Rocks and Minerals.  Students dissected Mock Rocks.  Srudents will be transformed into geologists and we will be experimenting with minerals.  Students will become spelunkers.

Unfortunately, our guest speaker from Roger Williams was unable to visit.  Every effort is being made to reschedule Ranger McNiff's visit. 

Students will select their state to research this week.

Students can practice their words on Spelling City. If students do not have access to a computer, a pencil and paper task is given. Parents should initial the agenda if students select Spelling City. 

If students do not have their agenda signed, they will need to do the written assignment.

Review rubric and parts of a letter to include date, heading, body, closing and signature. We will focus on paragraph formation,topic and transitional sentences.

 

Students are also responsible for their daily writing in their journal.  Each day students have a daily prompt to write on in their booklets.  These booklets are collected on a rotating schedule.  The entries are scored using a rubric.

Students are currently writing "I am" poems using adjectives and adverbs.

Here at Blackrock School, we do our best to create an environment that fosters positive behaviors which in turn create opportunities for success.

Teacher managed forms are used to keep track of student behaviors.  When the classroom management system has not redirected the student's behavior, we try to reteach appropriate behavior and monitor its effect.  If the student does not respond after three attempts, an Administative form is created and sent to Mrs. Castle.

Many parents have voiced that they would like to see the Teacher-managed form go home.  Although it is used more for data collection, I will be glad to send home a copy to fascilitate better communication.

Blackrock Elementary
Raymond Raboin