The Rodrigues Report November 28, 2011 READ, READ, READ! EQT study packets will come home this week. Please review these. Our Christmas party will be on the 20 th. I have sent home information on this. Please send me a note if you have a question, and remember it’s a SECRET. If work is sent home, please return it the next day. Please feel free to send a note and schedule a conference. I can meet any day at 7:45 or 11:35. Just let me know! We will have an early dismissal on the 20 th at 2:00. As HOMEWORK, please utilize Ticket To Read and Big Universe. These are free sights for your child paid for by the district; they are wonderful tools that are readily available! EQT’s are this Thursday and Friday. Please make plans to be here on time and ready! It is essential to be reading with your child each and every night! Reading: final y and e (funny, spy, she); compare and contrast; making predictions Sight Words: always, become, day, everything, nothing, stays, things Amazing Words; adult, healthy, shuffle, measurement, teeter, crooked, bounce, handsome Math: addition drills; fractions; number sense Language: WRITING

Hints For Working At Home Read to your child. Find things that they like. Let them read what they feel comfortable with; the library is a wonderful resource! Have your child use our Amazing Words in everyday life. The more the word is used, the better chance it has of becoming part of a child’s vocabulary. Research tells us that we fall short on standardized tests based on vocabulary and not on subject knowledge. Use the words! Children should write what they think. Work with your child on writing stories and thoughts. Keep a journal at home where your child can reflect on the day in just a couple of sentences. Emphasize meaning and handwriting. Sight words can easily become part of our automatic reading vocabulary by composing and decomposing them. Find them on menus, signs, food packaging, books you read. When children are aware of their learning they can own their learning! Fun is key to learning! If a child is stressed there is not a positive correlation. Exercise and play will let your child feel refreshed and ready to learn.

Wonderful Websites! readinga-z.com coolmath.com pbskids.com schooltube.com aaamath.com

AR Pointers * I provide books on a daily basis for each child to use toward points. Each book a child plans to test on must be a book that the child can read INDEPENDENTLY. The test will not be read to them. I have worked very hard with the children on reading a book several times before they attempt an AR test. Several parents use the reading logs and AR logs that I have sent home. This is helpful for children who are reading a lot at home. Most of the books that our children are reading are only going to have five questions on the test. If a child misses one question their score is already an 80%; the percentage we much achieve to reach our goals is 85%. It’s very important to be quite familiar with the text being tested. Tests may only be taken at school. Goals are not set at random; they are calculated according to scores from the Star Test taken at the beginning of the quarter.