Hawthorne Elementary School
September, 2014-2015 School Year
Dear Parents or Guardians,
Welcome to the new school year! I’m thrilled to have your child in my classroom this year and I am looking forward to getting to know you and your child better. We will be working together to ensure your child is always working to the best of their abilities and is able to achieve his or her highest potential. I am focused on creating a student-centered atmosphere for all students and I want to make sure each and every one of them is learning in a way that comes easiest for them, whether it be visually, auditory, kinesthetically (body motions), in groups, or individually. It is my job to allow students to feel safe inside the classroom and I am a big advocate for a fun, and safe classroom environment, in which all my students will have no problems taking risks when answering questions.
The following outline is to help you understand what your child will be focusing on throughout the school year. This year, we will focus on the following areas:
I will be creating websites that will enhance my students' learning that have to do with the units we are working on in class. This website in particular focuses on the money unit we will be starting. Your children will be able to count money, identify the worth of quarters, nickels, dimes, pennies, and dollars, compare dollar amounts and identify whether the amounts are greater than, less than, or equal to, and they will be able to add money together to find a total, or subtract money to see how much change they should be receiving. Students will be given many hands-on activities to complete during class but if it seems as though your child needs more support or wants extra practice, I encourage you to use this website with your child to play the many interactive games that contain immediate feedback, show the videos that can be used as a reinforcement, as well as extra credit opportunities that is listed under the "More" section.
During class, your child will be participating in an online WebQuest. I have embedded the WebQuest to this site so students and parents can access it at home, although we will only be working on it during a weeks time in class. Students will be asked to plan their upcoming birthday party and will be asked to go shopping for the groceries they will need for their guests, as well as an outfit they will be wearing on their special day! However, they must be careful, they cannot exceed their balance of $100! I created a rubric in which you can look over and see how your child will be graded. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me below.
I do have some expectations in order to support your child’s learning. Please make sure you and or your child:
Students are always expected to perform their best during school. Students will be assessed on a daily basis in a variety of ways. This will include, but is not limited to, tests, quizzes, projects, and frequent checks for understanding.
Let’s work together to make this the best school year ever for your child! If you have any questions, concerns, or something in particular you think I should know, please do not hesitate to fill out the contact form below. I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thanks for your time! All the best.
Miss. Jessica DiVenere
Email: [email protected]
September, 2014-2015 School Year
Dear Parents or Guardians,
Welcome to the new school year! I’m thrilled to have your child in my classroom this year and I am looking forward to getting to know you and your child better. We will be working together to ensure your child is always working to the best of their abilities and is able to achieve his or her highest potential. I am focused on creating a student-centered atmosphere for all students and I want to make sure each and every one of them is learning in a way that comes easiest for them, whether it be visually, auditory, kinesthetically (body motions), in groups, or individually. It is my job to allow students to feel safe inside the classroom and I am a big advocate for a fun, and safe classroom environment, in which all my students will have no problems taking risks when answering questions.
The following outline is to help you understand what your child will be focusing on throughout the school year. This year, we will focus on the following areas:
- Mathematics – We will go over addition and subtraction within 20 and then increase adding and subtracting up to amounts of 100, identifying money amounts, adding and subtracting money, using comparisons of greater than and less than, and telling time.
- English – For the writing aspect, we will work on writing our own opinion pieces, informative pieces using texts. For the reading aspect, we will focus on syllables, consonants and vowels. We will talk about the 5 W’s while reading, (Who, What, Where, When, Why and How). I will create Guided Reading groups based on each student’s reading level. (Except books in a baggy every week!)
- Science – We will be talking about living and nonliving things, and what makes up the earth. We will heavily focus on plants and how plants are alike and different.
- Social Studies – We will be talking about communities (Urban, Suburban, and Rural). We will go into depth about whom and what makes up a community.
I will be creating websites that will enhance my students' learning that have to do with the units we are working on in class. This website in particular focuses on the money unit we will be starting. Your children will be able to count money, identify the worth of quarters, nickels, dimes, pennies, and dollars, compare dollar amounts and identify whether the amounts are greater than, less than, or equal to, and they will be able to add money together to find a total, or subtract money to see how much change they should be receiving. Students will be given many hands-on activities to complete during class but if it seems as though your child needs more support or wants extra practice, I encourage you to use this website with your child to play the many interactive games that contain immediate feedback, show the videos that can be used as a reinforcement, as well as extra credit opportunities that is listed under the "More" section.
During class, your child will be participating in an online WebQuest. I have embedded the WebQuest to this site so students and parents can access it at home, although we will only be working on it during a weeks time in class. Students will be asked to plan their upcoming birthday party and will be asked to go shopping for the groceries they will need for their guests, as well as an outfit they will be wearing on their special day! However, they must be careful, they cannot exceed their balance of $100! I created a rubric in which you can look over and see how your child will be graded. If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me below.
I do have some expectations in order to support your child’s learning. Please make sure you and or your child:
- Arrives at school each day on time and ready to learn.
- Completes all homework assignments on time. There will be no exceptions!!
- Independently reads for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. (I will send home a reading log each week that a parent or guardian must initial after each night of reading).
- Contacts me right away if there are any concerns about learning or what is going on so I can help your child to succeed.
- Checks this website if your child is absent. I will upload all assignments on this site so students can print out all worksheets and activities. Your child will be given 2 days to complete their work if they are absent.
Students are always expected to perform their best during school. Students will be assessed on a daily basis in a variety of ways. This will include, but is not limited to, tests, quizzes, projects, and frequent checks for understanding.
Let’s work together to make this the best school year ever for your child! If you have any questions, concerns, or something in particular you think I should know, please do not hesitate to fill out the contact form below. I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Thanks for your time! All the best.
Miss. Jessica DiVenere
Email: [email protected]