Knowledge Points, student agendas, and take-home folders

Thank you for reading our class blog.   

Yesterday, our fifth grade class was visited by Knowledge Points, our business partner at Garrison Mill.  The presentation was an excellent overview of time management skills and habits of mind related to organization.  Students viewed a power point presentation and made notes on their own paper packets during the program.  These packets were instructed to be placed in the front pouch of their agendas (where they can also find their Behavior Expectations pamphlet). 

Please check your child's agenda with them and discuss the presentation they viewed along with the notes they made.  They were told that their agenda is not just for school (yea!).  They should use it as their planner/calendar in order to stay abreast of their work and upcoming events.  I applaud this personally, since agendas are useful resources for information, (look in the back pages!) and can be easy to manage with time and repetition.

As with the agenda, the Take-Home Folder, (blue vinyl with clear pockets marked "Return to School" and Keep at Home") is useful for managing the many papers your child may bring home.  Homework goes in the "Return" side, while fliers for parents, (PTA, Scouts, etc.) should be in the "Keep At Home" side.  In this way, if your child and you decide to join a contest or organization, any return paperwork can be placed in the "Return" side once you have written the proper information on the paper.  If the paper doesn't require information from your family, it is yours to keep at home (and the student, your child, should be responsible for removing it). 

You can help your child organize their life by having some conversations in which you explain any organizational insights you have.  If these insights were hard won, (meaning:  you had to practice, practice, practice) share this with your child.  A little empathy can mean the difference with their ability to handle the stress that may come from learning new skills. 

Even students who have "always" been organized may find they are less sure of what they are doing.  We have taken great time to discuss and identify routines and methods which work for us in both Hazlett and McGill homerooms.  If someone needs extra instruction on time management or organization, it may be cause for a student-teacher conference. 

If the student is feeling anxious, this is the year when they need to confront the problems and approach their teachers.  Sometimes this identifies others with similar concerns.  In the past, I have reviewed our routines and plans in a small group during lunch in the classroom.  Students who need help have the opportunity to request a time to meet with me. 

When a personal question or problem arises, students have been instructed since the year's beginning that they should put a completed post-it with the request for help or an identified problem on the back right-hand side of my desk.  This has worked well so far.  It has increased my ability to address student concerns as well as use class time effectively for instruction, practice, and remediation (somewhere in there's a whole lot of fun too!).  :)

Learning curves (some might say "growing pains") come with each new shift in focus a learner may face.  Our standards are those of the Cobb County School District and the state of Georgia.  The emphasis in these standards is on what students will learn.  Key verbs are used to identify the skills the learner will do as a result of their own efforts in our classrooms.  These verbs include but are not limited to the following:

  explain; develop; find; classify; analyze; understand; model; explore; use; identify; plan; distinguish; judge; measure; recognize;  investigate; compare and contrast; infer;

As you can see, different levels of ability are developed through a variety of expected tasks and skill applications.  Gone are the days when teachers "did" everything.  Research shows that the "doers" are the ones in the class who are the learners as well.  All students can be successful doers in our fifth grade.   

It is important that each student feels empowered to take charge of their learning.  The standards are set for them to meet or exceed, and the standards require reflective thought in order for learners to identify their learning aptitudes and areas of need. 

When parents support a child's efforts and adaptations to routines, the child will believe in herself because she sees that the parents and teachers believe in her too. 

Of course, the active role you have in your child's life is important.  Checking the agenda, asking for Thursday papers from the Take-Home Folder, and asking questions about how things seem to be going are key to successful support. 

Along with these steps, know that each week, a manila envelope with your child's class number has been sent home with work samples for you to review.  These are to be returned in the envelope along with your signature on the page included inside the envelope.  This work is collected for the portfolio we are keeping on your child's progress. 

If you have not seen such an envelope, it is time to ask your child for it.  If it was returned as instructed each week, it was sent home the following week, (we've sent the envelopes home three times so far this year).  :)  Again, the work returns along with your signature.  Any notes you need to include in the packet are welcome too.

Thank you for your time and support of our program.  We are off to a great start!

Sincerely,

Alex McGill