Dear Parents,

Thank you for signing up for a conference time. You should have received confirmation of your appointment time. I will be very happy to meet with you and show you what your child is doing in class.

You may have heard by now, that I am getting a student teacher, starting in January and lasting through the first week of May. I look forward to having the opportunity to guide her in the next step of her education. The children will benefit enormously by having another adult in here to converse with them and together we should be able to meet the needs of all the children a little easier.

Also, I will be piloting a new reading program when I have the student teacher. I can assure you that they will continue to make great progress through this program. Speaking of reading, have you checked out Raz-kids.com, yet? The kids are very excited by that. I just caution you to keep an eye on what they are doing. I have noticed, through the reports that I get, that some kids are just clicking through the pages without reading the story. Then their scores are poor. Some children have told me that they can't remember the information to take the test. I suggest that they use sticky notes to help them remember- that seems to work.

Soon, more information will be coming out about our December calendar. Please don't forget to check Cubby's Corner for dates and up-to-date information about our concert and classroom parties. One of the things I would like to do with the children, is to make gingerbread houses. I tried this with first graders once and then decided not to do it again! However, fourth-graders are so much more responsible, that I think we could do this! I may need some help, so watch for more info to follow.

Please remember to have your child study their multiplication facts. On the second timed test, not all children improved. Check out www.timestables.com. there are fun activities to help the children with their math facts.

See you soon,
Jackie