Donaldson, Latirah

Winter Festivity Parties: will take place on Thursday, December 19th for all grade levels.  Please be cognizant of our entry procedures for our Winter Holiday Celebration:

• Visitors will be limited to 1-2 visitors per student.
• Visit the  Visitor Sign up Genius Link on your teacher’s class page.
• Please understand that if your name is not on the list, you may not be allowed to enter the class party.
• Each guest will receive a ticket that must be presented when you sign in with the receptionists.
• Tickets are non-transferable.
• Please refrain from cell phone/camera use while visiting your child’s classroom. Not all parents have consented to have their children photographed.
• Any student who plans on being signed out early by someone other than their parent/guardian, must be accompanied with a note stating permission.

All guests planning to attend classroom celebrations are asked to park in the designated area outside of the gym entrance.  All guests are asked to enter and sign in with our receptionists located in the gym lobby.  It is district policy that photo identification is presented to our reception area each and every time you enter our school.  Absolutely no one will be permitted to participate unless they are signed in and are presented with their visitor’s badge.  Your badge must be on you at all times while you are on school premises.  We discourage you from signing your child out after the Winter Holiday Celebration, as there will be instruction time for the remainder of the day.

In class, we will be working on:

Our December class reading goal is 50 steps! Students should try to read 2 steps nightly at home. Remember each step is 15 minutes. Please remember to have your child log their time.

Reading - This week we began our nonfiction unit. Students are learning strategies and skills necessary to successfully navigate various types of nonfiction. Students will also work in small groups to research various types of extreme weather. 

Writing - Our new writing unit is persuasive writing. We all have strong opinions abput one thing or another. Students will work to help their reader see things "their way".

Math - We have completed 4 topics in math. This week students take the math benchmark test, topics 1 - 4. We will then move into Topic 5 - Division.

Nightly student job responsibilities: 
Read 2 steps (a total of 30 minutes) and get log signed.
Study spelling words 
Complete math worksheet and study fast facts. 

Pre- and Post On Demand Writing Assessments

For each Unit of Writing’ Workshop, students complete a Pre-on Demand writing sample at the onset of the new unit and then a Post On Demand piece upon completion of the unit. The Pre On Demand piece is a formative assessment used to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the student(s) before beginning the unit of study.The Pre On Demand sample does not count toward the student’s grade. This assessment equips the teacher with an understanding of the student(s) needs while preparing instruction to meet the needs of his(her) learners. 

At the end of each unit, the students will complete a Post On Demand sample which is a summative assessment counting toward the student’s performance on the unit. The teacher analyzes each piece to identify the growth the student has made since writing the first sample.

Each assessment is scored on a rubric that analyzes development of ideas, organization, elaboration as well as conventions including sentence structure, punctuation, capitalization , and grammar. It is expected that the child will show growth from the onset. 

The rubric is scored on a scale of 1 - 4, with four being the highest score.

It should be noted that the rubric used is set on a June expectation.

4= writing exceeds grade level expectations

3= writing is on grade level and meets the expectations of the grade level.

2= writing is approaching grade level expectations.

1= writing is below grade level expectations

 Some important upcoming events: