Room 11’s September 2019 Newsletter

Room Parents
I’d like to thank Kai’s mom and Ryan’s dad, who volunteered to be our room parents this year. I
am very grateful to have two wonderful room parents this school year. Thank you very much for
volunteering. You will be hearing from our room parents soon!

Back-to-School Night
Thanks to all of the parents who were able to come to Back-to-School Night. It was very nice to
see so many of you who have come by to introduce yourselves, and to meet parents I hadn’t met
before.

I was so focused on the brief time we had together, that I forgot to let you know that it’s not all
work, work, work. We play games and do movement activities. I don’t want students in their
seats all day, so students pair with their table partners for discussion, as well as rotate to talk with
different students in pairs and small groups. Some assignments are individual, but many involve
partners or group work. I am trying to use the time the best I can to keep students motivated and
engaged in learning, and at the same time to keep moving forward with our various very
challenging language arts and math programs. I am very aware that these are students who have
just left the second grade and are becoming comfortable with third grade expectations and
curriculum, and I have been very impressed with how they’ve come to school ready to learn.
This is a great group of kids!

Donations: Thank You Very Much for Your Donations

Many thanks to the families who have made donations of supplies to our class. Thank you to the
family of Angel D., who donated tissues, paper, paper towels, zip lock bags, pens, and wipes.
Thanks to Hayden’s family, who donated index cards, pens, tissues, wipes, rules, notebooks,
folders, glue sticks, highlighters, markers, and sharpies. Thanks to Ryan’s family for their
donation of tissues and glue sticks. Ella C’s family donated pencils, wipes, paper, tissues, and
hand sanitizer, and Pedro’s family donated hand sanitizer, wipes, and tissues.

Thank you very much for all of your donations to our class. They are greatly appreciated! We can
always use donations of tissues, pencils, and used tennis balls (for the chair legs).

Benchmark Advance
Our language arts program, Benchmark Advance, is very challenging, and it usually takes at
least six- or seven school days (or more) to finish each section. I send the homework packets
home with a due date at least ten days after your child receives the packet. I go over the material
contained in the packet, but students may not be able to finish the packet when it is first assigned
because some material will be covered after the packet is sent home. When the packet is due, a
spelling test will be given – the spelling words are on the last page of the packet. The lesson
assessments will be given when each section is completed. The reading books and worksheets
will go home after the unit is completed. Students should not take them home before then – they
need to stay in school.
Engage NY/Eureka Math
Our new math program is also very rigorous and challenging, and critical reading skills are
essential to the program. One of the biggest challenges I see is that students are not reading the
problems carefully enough to completely answer the question. I encourage students to underline
key words in each problem. We spend time in class doing this; I hope this will transfer to the
homework also. I usually check at least one problem before students leave to make sure students
know what to do. I wish we had more time for math, but even over an hour a day is not enough
time, especially since I am dedicating part of the time for Xtramath and Zearn.

On-Line Supplemental Programs You Can Use at Home

In your child’s planner are pasted many user names and passwords for the various on-line
programs we are using in class. These are ALL available for you to use at home, and I encourage
you to make sure your child takes advantage of these programs. I hope to spend some time in
class on these programs as frequently as possible, but I hope you will take advantage of these
learning opportunities at home too. Students seem to really like the Xtramath and Zearn. We
haven’t used the Amplify Reading program yet because I’m still assessing students on Dibels.

Xtramath: The Xtramath program reviews addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division
skills. It usually takes students around 5 minutes to complete each day. I get a report on your
child’s progress every week. The first one (last Friday only) is pasted into your child’s planner.
Green means at least 95% correct; yellow means 10-25% incorrect or too few answers given; red
means more than 25% incorrect or very few answers given. A grayed box means your child did
not finish the session.

Zearn: Zearn is aligned with our math program. Students started at Module 1, Lesson 1 last
week. Ideally, students will preview each day’s lesson before the lesson. Since we started a little
late (it took time to get all the passwords and to configure the Chromebooks we use in class),
most students are on the second- or third lesson. Zearn can be used to review or preview lessons,
so this is a wonderful resource for your child to use at home.

Amplify Reading
This is a brand-new program available to third-graders this year. This language arts program is
geared specifically to your child’s reading level, based on the Dibels assessments I am giving in
class. This is an adaptive, researched-based program that immerses students in language,
decoding, and comprehension and differentiates instruction based on student progress.

Conferences
Thank you to those of you who signed up for a conference at Back-to-School Night. I will send
confirmations home next week. Please choose a date and time for a conference if you have not
already done so; there are many dates and times available for all days. Please let me know if you
need to change our conference date/ time as soon as possible, so I can open up that slot to
someone else. If a child shares time between two households, I will be happy to conference with
each parent individually; just sign up for a separate dates and times.
Sign and Returns (S&R)
There will be a lot of papers that will need your signature throughout this school year. Please
sign and return these papers promptly. Also, check your child’s planner because papers that need
to be signed and returned (S&R) are noted. Homework/Conduct reports are sent home weekly on
Thursdays and should be signed and returned the following day. I get them ready to send out on
Wednesday after school, so if I do not receive your child’s Homework/Conduct report until
Thursday, he/she will not get one until the following week.

Homework Check-Off
I check off and return math homework and weekly homework packets. I try to be timely and
accurate, but sometimes I make mistakes. It may be a good idea for you to hold onto returned
homework assignments. That way, if I mark on your child’s homework/conduct report that an
assignment was not returned and you have it, you can show me that it should have been checked
off in my assignment book, and I will be happy to correct my error. Once a few weeks have
passed and the assignment is not noted as missing on the homework/conduct report, you can
discard the papers (or keep them, if that’s what you do).

I have noticed that some students are throwing away returned papers and you do not have an
opportunity to see them. Some students are throwing papers away because I have marked on
them that they are not correcting their homework or that the assignment was incomplete and they
don’t want you to see my comments. If an assignment is incomplete, I write a date by which the
student can complete the assignment and turn it in for credit.

Student “Leader”
Every day, I have a “leader” who leads the class in reviewing the spelling words for the week.
Student “leaders” will introduce themselves and share one or two positive things about
themselves; it could be recent accomplishments, something they are looking forward to,
something about their families, hobbies, anything they would like to share with the class. They
could also bring up current events that have piqued their interests or something they have read or
heard about that is of interest to them. Students will have these opportunities to lead the class at
least three- or four times this school year.

Water Bottles
At the end of the week, I use the water left in the water bottles to water the plants and then I
recycle the bottles. Non-disposable containers should be taken home. Some students look like
they have a lunch from home, but they still line up for a cafeteria lunch. Make sure your child
knows whether they should eat the lunch you packed or get a lunch from the cafeteria. If you did
not qualify for free or reduced lunch, you will be billed by the cafeteria.

Volunteer Forms
Parents will not be able to volunteer in the classroom, the parent center, or go on field trips
without a volunteer form and TB test on file in the main office. We expect to go on at least one-
or two field trips this school year, and I will need many parents to accompany our class. Please,
if you are even thinking of helping out, make sure you fill out the volunteer form and get the TB
test. You can pick up volunteer forms at the office. TB tests are available through your doctor or
at LAUSD clinics. New this year, volunteers also need to be fingerprinted.
After School Help
I am usually here after school preparing for the next day. If your child needs extra assistance,
this is a good time to ask for extra help in math or language arts. If your child stays after
school, make sure he/she clears it with the coach first.

E-mailed Newsletters, Etc. or Paper Copies

I’ve always made paper copies of newsletters, projects, etc. In an effort to save paper, I will
probably send out a form asking if you’d like a paper copy or an emailed copy of information
I send home. If an emailed copy of this newsletter is okay with you, let me know and I will
email the newsletters instead of printing them for you.

E-Mail Address and Contact Information

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me by leaving a message at the school
office (818-349-4381), dropping me a note, or stopping by before or after school. My e-mail
address is cti0506@lausd.net, but I don’t always check my e-mail daily.

Website
My class website is ctizumi@weebly.com. I will try to keep it updated throughout the year.

Please feel free to stop by before or after school if you’d like to chat about your child.