Welcome Back!

Well, we got the first week of school under our belts, and I have to say that it went pretty smoothly. Welcome back to school! I hope you had a restful summer and are ready to work hard and learn a lot this year.

Discovery Den

Our library has undergone some changes this summer to make room for the Discovery Den, a MakerSpace. The Discovery Den is a place where the students can come in and be creative. It is a work-in-progress, but the overall goal of the space is to have different activities set out at each table that allows the students to build and create and use their imaginations. Some of the activities I am planning for the year are Minecraft, Scratch Coding, arts/crafts activities, engineering challenges, and Lego building challenges. This is just the tip of the iceberg and it will evolve as we figure out what we want more or less of.

At this time, classes will be scheduling a time to visit the Discovery Den once a week during intervention time. Every student may or may not get to visit the Discovery Den every week, but it is our goal to have every student get a chance to come as often as possible. 

Donations for supplies are accepted and greatly appreciated.

Library Time

In addition to Discovery Den time, Language Arts classes are scheduled to come in each week to check out books, have a lesson on library skills, or technology skills. All students are allowed to check out 2 books at a time. The teachers and I encourage students to find books that are "just right" for them. We will be talking to the students throughout the school year about finding a book that is the right level and interests them. This is a very important piece of the reading comprehension puzzle.

Accelerated Reader

After a student finishes reading a book, they will use the Accelerated Reader program to take a quiz on the book. This is usually a 5, 10, or 20 question quiz (depending on the length of the book), and it asks questions about the story to check for basic understanding. Accelerated Reader awards points for each book (depending on the length of the book). Each child will have 2 goals for each six weeks: 

• a point goal - This goal is based on the student's independent reading level and is unique to each student.
• average percent correct - Students should maintain a quiz average of 85% or higher. This means that a students should score an 80, 90, or 100 on most of the quizzes they take. 

Accelerated Reader Parent's Guide

I hope that you have a great school year. Please let me know if you have any questions or if I can help you in anyway. I am in the business of growing readers and want to help your child find their love of reading.