Weekly Update

Dear Families,

Spring is finally on its way! The days are getting longer, the snow is melting and the winds are warmer. Daylight Saving Time begins on Sunday this weekend. Please ask your child to explain why we change the time twice a year and what specific benefits we get from that.

Besides warmer weather, Spring is also a time for parent-teacher conferences at HCS. They are scheduled for Thursday, April 15th and Friday, April 16th. The students will attend school for half of the day, with dismissal at 11:30am. I have attached a sign-up sheet to this newsletter. Please indicate your 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice. Do not forget to enter your name and e-mail/phone number in case I need to contact you to re-schedule or find a new time-slot. I will do my best to accommodate everyone’s schedules. If you have specific requests and cannot make any of the time-slots available, please do not hesitate to contact me. As indicated in last week’s newsletter, our marking period ends on April 2nd. Students will bring home report cards the following week, April 9th.

Our science unit on Light Energy is coming to an end. I have published the Voicethread assessment on our classroom digital portfolio. The digital portfolio has been linked as a separate entry on the school web-site for quick access. It still remains within the blog, but you can also access it directly from the options on the school web-site (Please note that you can also access it directly from its own url www.summitprojects.pbworks.com). The students have viewed the assessment in class and will have opportunities to prepare their statements and responses. I encourage the students to work together and discuss the assessment at home with the parents. They will, however, respond independently. (Please click here to view the assessment). On Monday next week, the students will participate in three more experiments on this topic.

3rd graders will also finish their unit on multiplication soon. The unit will wrap up with an assessment before the students perform their second VT Standards Portfolio piece in algebra. Our next unit will be on fractions and probability. Please visit the Digital Portfolio for new lessons and projects, which are periodically posted.

The students started using e-mail this week. We had a great lesson with Ms. Wilson, our school’s Technology Integration Specialist. Please ask your child to describe the rules and expectations for the use of e-mail at our school. They all did a great job, visiting google maps, where they compared the vegetation of Hinesburg and that of Kenya.

News & Reminders:
• Our classroom has the opportunity to participate in a Peer Relationship Study through the University of Vermont. If your child has a letter from UVM this week, please return your response as soon as possible. We cannot start this exciting project until all students have replied. Please return this request even if you decline participation. Thank you!
• Our new idiom of the week is “Saved by the Bell”. Please ask your child to use it in a sentence.

Have a great weekend!

Regards,
Maria McCormack