As many of you have read, or certainly heard from you students, MRA is cracking down on homework. Mrs. Shelley has addressed the new policy in various forms over the past few weeks. What does this mean for 5th and 6th graders, you may ask? In Alder East and West, any time a student has 3 or more outstanding assignments, parents will be notified, and a conference may be called. As you are well aware, we assign a weekly homework packet to all students. The packet is sent home on Fridays and is typically due back the following Friday. In addition to the homework packet, Mrs. Hood and I both expect that any work not completed during the math period becomes homework for that evening. That work is due at math time the following day.
In the Alder classrooms, we have planners. While we had used these very loosely in the first half of the year, as of Monday the 2nd of February, all Alder East students are to write daily objectives, and any homework assigned into the planner. The planner should be going home with students each night. So, a good practice might be to ask your student to show you their planner nightly. On Fridays, students are to leave their planner open after filling it out. Then, I initial the planner (and check off that I've seen and accepted it in Jupiter). Going forward, parents should sign the planner over the weekend. This is an assignment, and will be recorded on Monday morning. This also counts toward the 3 assignment policy.
In addition to checking and signing the planner, please read the front page of the homework packet, and sign it so I know you've read it. I frequently use this page to explain homework expectations on specific assignments, or make announcements or reminders you should be aware of. I realize that this may seem tedious. However, we, as a staff at MRA, are trying very hard to be excellent communicators with you, so that you know what is going on with your kids.
I can speak from my own experience with three kids (two in high school, and one in middle school) that it is so difficult to keep track of everyone's schedules and all their needs. Please remember that you can go to the MRA website for links to the MRA Newsletter, all staff blogs, and more.
I am committed to writing a weekly blog, generally on Fridays, to keep you up to speed on classroom specific news. I always send a reminder note via Jupiter after I post. I am also trying to post more in the Forms area, so that if you miss a letter, or handout that comes home, you can find it here. This week I've added the parent letter about the research project we're working on in class. I've also added the timeline for completion of this project. The expectation is that students will complete this work at school. However, there are a number of students who still need to do some research in order to complete an outline and be ready to begin writing a rough draft on Monday.
Please check your students' planners tonight to see if they need to do a bit more research. Thank you to all of you who took the time to take your child to the library, or search the internet for some valid resources. This is a big projects, but they're learning a lot. I appreciate all the support.
If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to comment, or email me at [email protected]
Have a great week!
In the Alder classrooms, we have planners. While we had used these very loosely in the first half of the year, as of Monday the 2nd of February, all Alder East students are to write daily objectives, and any homework assigned into the planner. The planner should be going home with students each night. So, a good practice might be to ask your student to show you their planner nightly. On Fridays, students are to leave their planner open after filling it out. Then, I initial the planner (and check off that I've seen and accepted it in Jupiter). Going forward, parents should sign the planner over the weekend. This is an assignment, and will be recorded on Monday morning. This also counts toward the 3 assignment policy.
In addition to checking and signing the planner, please read the front page of the homework packet, and sign it so I know you've read it. I frequently use this page to explain homework expectations on specific assignments, or make announcements or reminders you should be aware of. I realize that this may seem tedious. However, we, as a staff at MRA, are trying very hard to be excellent communicators with you, so that you know what is going on with your kids.
I can speak from my own experience with three kids (two in high school, and one in middle school) that it is so difficult to keep track of everyone's schedules and all their needs. Please remember that you can go to the MRA website for links to the MRA Newsletter, all staff blogs, and more.
I am committed to writing a weekly blog, generally on Fridays, to keep you up to speed on classroom specific news. I always send a reminder note via Jupiter after I post. I am also trying to post more in the Forms area, so that if you miss a letter, or handout that comes home, you can find it here. This week I've added the parent letter about the research project we're working on in class. I've also added the timeline for completion of this project. The expectation is that students will complete this work at school. However, there are a number of students who still need to do some research in order to complete an outline and be ready to begin writing a rough draft on Monday.
Please check your students' planners tonight to see if they need to do a bit more research. Thank you to all of you who took the time to take your child to the library, or search the internet for some valid resources. This is a big projects, but they're learning a lot. I appreciate all the support.
If you have any questions or feedback, please feel free to comment, or email me at [email protected]
Have a great week!