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Monday, November 21, 2016

Thanksgiving Break, Field Trip, and BYOT!

 
Hello all!

I hope everyone has done their grocery shopping and is ready for turkey this Thursday!

Here are some upcoming dates and things to know over the break:

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Work/Homework:
There will be no word study this week (only 2 days of school!) We will resume word study next Monday, and the next quiz will be on Friday, Dec. 2nd.

- Please have your student go on Reflex Math 2-3 times over the break.
- I also asked the students to read every day for 15-30 minutes
- Science Habitats/Ecosystems test is coming up on Nov. 30th! Please be sure to study! Studying/Reading notes pages can count as reading... :)

- Teachers Makin' Tracks Movie Night is Friday, Dec. 9th - Movie TBA
- Dig It performance is Thursday, Dec. 15th @ 8:30am

Field Trip Chaperones:
Just a reminder that our field trip is on Thursday, Dec. 8th. We will be visiting the Smithsonian National Zoo! I have seen on the zoo website that the Giant Panda, Bao Bao, will be moving to China in January! We are going to the zoo at the perfect time to see her before she leaves!

Chaperones: THANK YOU so much to everyone who volunteered. I had so many respond on the first day that it was impossible to do a "first come first serve" so I put all of those in a bag and picked at random. Our 5 chaperones will be:
- Parent of Judah S.
- Parent of Nick F.
- Parent of Zainab M.
- Parent of Jack R.
- Parent of Natalie J.

Again, I do appreciate the number of you who responded that you would like to chaperone! I would like to point out that the zoo is a FREE entrance, so you're welcome to come walk around with us! However, if you do so, your student will need to come home with us after the trip and return to school to be picked up/go home.

The kids are all excited for this trip!

BYOT:
After Thanksgiving break, I would like to start implementing BYOT in our classroom. The students and I have been doing a few different activities and using technology to learn how to best use technology in our class. I plan on starting this by having students bring in their devices 2 days per week (I will set the days), to try it out and also see how much we use our technology. This way we can best determine the extent of our  technology use and how to use it effectively to support learning in the classroom. If at the start of 3rd quarter I find that we are using the technology effectively, I will increase the number of days that they can bring their devices.

For our class to use BYOT, ALL STUDENTS must return a contract. If you do not want your child to participate, or if you do not have a device for your child to bring, please still return the form UNSIGNED with a notice at the bottom letting me know they will not participate. If have a few laptops in the room that they can use at these times. I will send out the dates for students to bring in their devices after I have ALL forms returned.

I will send home contracts with your student TOMORROW in their home folder. If your child is not in school tomorrow, I will send home a copy with them on Monday, Nov. 28th, when we return to school.

In preparation for BYOT, I would appreciate if you could log on to LCPS GO with your student so they know how to access it from their device - Both ONLINE and via the APP (if they have the app on their device). We will use many apps on LCPS GO to start with BYOT.

Please know that it will be used as a tool to support learning in the classroom. Please also let me know if you have any questions about BYOT.


Headphones for BYOT:
To best utilize BYOT in the classroom, it would be beneficial for all students to have headphones. If you have a spare set of headphones your child could bring in on BYOT days, that would be great. If you have a pair they could keep IN school, that would be great as well!

It is NOT a requirement for students to have headphones. However, if you would like to purchase headphones for your student they can easily be found (CHEAP!) at dollar stores or places like Five Below: https://www.fivebelow.com/catalogsearch/result/?q=headphones

If your students has headphones to bring in, please send them into school on Wednesday, Nov. 30th.



I hope that everyone has a very relaxing and enjoyable Thanksgiving! Eat lots of food!