Happy New Year, Students and Parents!
I pray that you have had a fun and restful break, and are excited about coming back to school! I love January--it's so calm and focused, after all the excitement of the holidays. We have some great history units and novels to read this semester!
I would like to tell you first about a couple of changes. I will not be micro-grading your handwriting any more. You each have mastered cursive writing, and understand how the letters are to be made. You will still get a handwriting grade, and it will still be an E,S,N, or U. But it will be based on how legible your writing is on your papers, including spelling tests. If one of your letters looks like another letter (an "e" looks like an "l," or an "r" looks like a "u") I will count the word wrong. So be prepared to use what you have learned as you develop your own cursive handwriting style.
The next change I will implement deals with late work. If you do not turn in a paper ON TIME, you need to be prepared to stay in from music and/or PE the day the assignment is due! As per school policy, you will have extra time to get worked turned in if you are home sick, or have a family emergency that keeps you from being at school. But remember that in this age of technology, you can always access papers and assignments here on the blog by linking to Box.Net where I have them posted. If you are too sick to read or work on school work, you will get extra time. But if you are waiting for your fever to be gone or your antibiotics to kick in, you can probably manage to stay caught up while you are home.
Finally, I think we all agreed that you liked the way you were able to work ahead, using the weekly assignment charts each week. So, I will continue to give you your assignments and papers for the week on Monday. We will have some Large Group Instruction Time each day, and you will have your Individual Time to work at school so that you don't have homework.
Look tomorrow for another post from me that will have our week's work! Enjoy your weekend and this beautiful sunshine!
Mrs. Horner
