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The Shakespearean Sonnet

January 26, 2009

Hello all,

Apologies for the delay in newsletters, but as I’m sure you heard, Elysha gave birth to our daughter, Clara Susan, yesterday, and I’ve been busy getting plans ready for the time that I will be at home with her.  If all goes well, I plan to teach until Wednesday and then take a week off beginning Thursday, when Elysha and Clara come home from the hospital.  During that time, I’ve planned a bunch of activities for the kids to do, and most are independent, self-guided assignments that they should find both fun and challenging. 

For those of you with kiddos who are attending CMT Academy, please remember that your child will be remaining here after school until 5:00 on Monday, Tuesday and Thursdays.  Though I will be teaching CMT Academy, I won’t be teaching the first week and a half of it, leaving my class in the able hands of Mrs. Raynis and Mr. Swale. 

Thank you all for the well wishes that you have been sending, too.  It means a lot.  I can’t tell you how much fun it has been to share the news of the baby with your children.  I continue to feel like I have been blessed with a very special class of kids this year, and I’m so happy that this is the year that Clara was born.  Your kids have been so sweet and thoughtful and it has made this time in my life even more special.  It’s been difficult leaving the hospital each evening in order to come to work in the morning, but having your kids to share the day with me has certainly made things a lot easier.

It’s a special group of kids.        

Homework

MATH

The kids went home with some math review, and the problems are formatted to appear exactly like they will on the CMT.  This is entirely a review of previous lessons, so my hope is that the assignment is a breeze and serves only as practice.  If your child is struggling on a specific skill, I’ve asked him or her to mention this to me at our Friday meeting. 

And please, be sure that your child is spending time memorizing and reviewing his or her basic facts as well.  Have I mentioned how impossibly difficult math will be and probably is for those kids who are not in the process of memorizing these facts?  It’s a must for mathematic success.         

READING

Your child went home with a reading assignment and an assignment on sentence combining, a skill that often befuddles a majority of the class.  Hopefully this additional practice will serve them well. 

GEOGRAPHY

Your child also went home with this week’s geography packet on Mexico.  He or she will be quizzed on the material contained in this packet on Friday. 

WRITING

Once again, your child will be writing an essay this week, this time on his or her pet peeves.  I can’t tell you the improvement that I have seen in the quality of these essays over the last month, and the scores have reflected this growth.  Most important for most of the kids is their writing stamina, meaning the amount of time they spend writing and the number of words on the page.  Some students are still not writing enough in the assigned time to score well, so they need to get those fingers moving faster!

Most kids can also work on improving their elaboration and use of specific detail to support their ideas.  Providing well described examples is an excellent way to accomplish this.    

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read and comment on these essays each week.  Your words mean a lot to your child and have helped a great deal in the process.  I’d also like to thank Mr. Lee, who was kind enough to write on last week’s topic and share his work with the kids.  It was a great opportunity for the kids to hear the words of an adult and they had lots of compliments and comments for him.   

If you would like to do the same and either send in the piece or pop in on Friday to read it to the class, we’d love to hear from you as well!  

Warmly,