Mr. Rojas, Room #122 August 18, 2015

Parent Letter #1

Dear Parent or Guardian, On behalf of McKinley School, I would like to welcome your child to our fifth grade class. Let me assure you that I am committed to making this year a successful educational experience for your child. To this end, we need to keep the lines of communication open. I hope you will share your thoughts and concerns about your child’s education and progress with me. I will periodically be in communication with you as well. For now, please read the contents of this letter and the attached letters. They explain much of what our program is all about. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email me (my preferred mode of communication) or call the school and leave a message for me. I will reply as soon as I can (I will not be responding to emails during classroom time as my focus will be given to the students). I encourage you to keep a file of important papers sent home from school, such as these. That way you will be able to refer to them as questions arise. My e-mail: [email protected] Our Classroom Website: www.rrojas.com Our School Website: www.mckinleyarts.com McKinley School’s Phone Number: (626) 396-5630 Parent/Teacher Communication Online: classdojo.com (see login letter) Student Communication Online: Google Classroom Homework Webpage: www.rrojas.com/home/homework Classroom Website: I have a classroom website that gives my students wonderful opportunities for deeper learning and research. This website (www.rrojas.com) has easy access and can be shared with family members and friends. Here you will find lots of resources for various projects we will do throughout the year, educational links related to what I teach in the classroom (after learning a skill or content, the student can come to our website and enjoy activities related to it), educational games, and much more. Pictures of our classroom in the midst of special activities and field trips will be posted there as well. Performing Arts in 5th Grade: This school year, Ms. Orlova will continue to offer an optional pull-out class for strings and band once a week (the time TBA). Aside from that, I will do a “Modern Band” class during school hours for all 5th grade students in a rotation schedule with the two other 5th grade classes (two official 30-min sessions per class). Students will get a general music appreciation experience as well as learn to play the Ukulele (primary instrument), with the option for learning other instruments such as the guitar, keyboard, bass and drums as the year progresses (basic mastery of Ukulele required). In this rotation schedule my students will also receive art with Ms. Gangi-Hall and P.E. with Ms. Gwinn. Technology in our Class: My website was designed particularly to provide enriching learning activities in the subjects we cover in 5th grade. With greater access to Chrome Books, we will also be using technology extensively on a daily basis, all throughout the year. Students will receive a district-assigned Gmail account that gives them access to Google Docs (word processing) and Slides (a presentation online program similar to PowerPoint), among other resources. They will also be enrolled in a number of online programs for spelling (SpellingCity), Language Arts (Lexia Core 5), Google Classroom (a student website that will host all the different online assignments), Accelerated Reader, and 3+ online math programs targeting different aspects of 5th grade math. These online resources are especially chosen for their effective and strategic manner in which they target various skill. I am fully knowledgable of these online resources and know how to use them to maximize student learning, support and intervention. I will be using some of these programs for homework (students do need paper and pencil to work out problems). The main reason for using these online math

programs is that they provide immediate feedback to the student and they also track their progress over time. This provides the student and I with up-to-date information on how the child is doing. If you do not have technology or internet access at home, let me know and we will come up either with a plan or an alternate homework assignment. Major Projects this School Year: As part of our district’s focus on project-based learning as a teaching tool to help students ascend to higher critical thinking skills and meet Common Core Standards, we will be tackling some new types of projects that we may have never done before. The major goal of these is to get students to do real-world application of the concepts they are learning in school and to give students “voice and choice,” within given parameters. The technology piece is key to providing students with tools for research, collaboration, creativity and more impressive and varied presentations of findings. Homework Policy: Homework is assigned, in my class, every night from Monday night through Thursday night (no weekends!). The homework will vary each night except for the expected 30 minutes of reading every night. Students will be expected to bring their homework and homework packet to class every day as we talk about assignments and correct math homework on a daily basis. Please check that your child is doing quality work on their homework. Parental accountability with homework benefits your child greatly and keeps him/her on the path to academic success. McKinley Cell Phone Policy: According to district policy, students are permitted to bring cell phones to school under very specific regulations. Cell phones can only be contained in a student’s backpack. They cannot be out (visible) and cannot be turned on during school hours. The cell phones are allowed only for emergency purposes (earthquakes, hurricanes, elephant stampedes, etc.) and for before and after school hours. Online Gradebook: This year all elementary parents will receive a letter or email from the district specifying how you can log in to see your child’s gradebook online - Aries Parent Portal. This is another form of communication that is key to informing you of your child’s ongoing progress. Flip-Top Bottles: In order to protect our learning time, students are expected to bring a water bottle to school. We also hope to have a bottled water dispenser that students can use in the classroom. Reading Done at Home: Your child is expected to do a minimum of 30 minutes of reading at home 4 days a week (Monday-Thursday) for a minimum total of 2 hours of reading a week. Of course, I hope students do way more reading than this. To be a successful student, a child needs to have good reading skills. Studies show that the more a child reads, the better those skills become. In reading, students are exposing themselves to excellent writing, new experiences, and new vocabulary. You best support for your child is making sure purposeful reading happens, in which a book is read from beginning to end. I will be assessing comprehension using Accelerated Reader (AR). Because it is an expectation, I will set specific goals for your child based on their reading level. Your child’s progress in AR will also inform the reading grade. Students are welcome to check out a book from our classroom library, and/or school library but it must be returned in a timely manner and in good condition. I look forward to working with your child and to a great year! Sincerely, Mr. Rojas