Bonjour!

We started off today by working on another comprehension activity.  Today we read a story about Sarah who decided to help her family conserve energy after hearing about how energy usage causes pollution.  The children had to read the story and then answer corresponding questions.  I would still suggest that this be a nightly practice at home as well, as comprehension is a big part of helping a child improve with their reading.  In language today we also worked on root words, special sounds and vowel sounds.  In our IB unit of inquiry today we read a story called Conserving Energy, which gave a lot of scientific facts about how and why we should conserve energy.  The students then went back to their journals and wrote down one thing they are going to try to do at home to save energy, and how they are going to do it. During math today the children worked on problem solving with length and height (grade one) and adding and subtracting with tens (grade two).  They also went to french and music classes.

Homework:  Read for 15 minutes and record in the reading chart, practice weekly spelling words, Letters and Sounds page 94 - 95, math pages 116 - 117, and complete journal (1 idea you have for saving energy at home, and 1 way you are going to accomplish that).

Important information:  Tomorrow we are beginning our final task of this unit.  The children are all going to be asked to choose a friend from another class to write a letter about energy to.  They are going to have to provide their friend with information about the types of energy, the uses of energy and the ways they have learned to conserve energy.  I have posted a copy of the rubric at the end of this posting.  This will be the rubric I am going to be using to assess the letters once they have been completed on Friday.

I have had a few parents ask me for extra math practice for their students.  I understand that the students are not bringing home as much math homework as they may have in previous years.  This is a philosophy of Jump Math which encourages children to complete their math work at school so that they can be fully viewed and assessed by the teacher, rather than the teacher viewing the work they have completed at home. 
I do appreciate the desire for extra practice with math homework outside of school though.  I want to suggest an online math program for any families who are looking for extra math homework.  This online program is called Khan Academy and is a recommended program of SJA.  Each student can log on and create an account and they can independently go through a LARGE variety of math lessons from a range of topics from single digit addition to advanced algebra.  I can track their progress from my own account to see how they are growing and improving.  To be able to log on to the site, the students must have access to a google or facebook account.  I would suggest doing this as a shared/supervised activity with your children where an adult's account can be used to log on.  To find out how to log on to the site, or to go ahead and join Khan Academy please view their website at http://www.khanacademy.org/ 
Once you have logged in using a facebook or google account, you may then add me as a coach if you would like so that I can view and track progress.  At the bottom of the login page click on the 'add a coach' link.  Then enter my coach I.D which is 'csnider@stjudesacademy.com' and click 'register coach'.  From here I will be able to watch with you as your child advances through their lessons.


The SJA Gala is taking place on Saturday, February 11th and begins at 6pm.  The theme for this year is 'Love Through the Ages'.  Families and friends are all invited for this exciting evening of concerts, auctions, dinner and dancing.

SJA re-enrollment packages went home on Friday.  If you have not seen this important package yet, please keep your eye out for it tonight.

Best regards,

Mrs. Nelson

Work habits	Excellent. Worked very well with no interruptions.	Very good.  Worked well with few interruptions.	Fair.  Worked with many interruptions	Poor. Was not able to work due to interruptions.
Quality of cursive writing.	Excellent.  Cursive showed a great deal of effort.  There were little to no errors. Proofreading was evident.	Very good.   Cursive showed effort.  There were some errors that did not distract. Proofreading was almost always evident.	Fair. Cursive showed little effort.  There were errors that distracted.   Proofreading needs improvement.	Poor. Cursive showed no effort.  There were many errors that made the letter difficult to read.   Proofreading was not evident.
Quality of information.	Excellent. A great deal of information about energy was offered.  Many vocabulary words from the unit were used.  The writing made sense.	Very good. Information about energy was offered throughout.  Vocabulary words from the unit were used.  The writing mostly made sense.	Fair. Some information about energy was offered.  Some vocabulary words from the unit were used.  The writing sometimes made sense.	Poor.   Little/no information about energy was offered.  Little/no vocabulary words from the unit were used.  The writing made little/no sense.
Quality of letter writing format.	Excellent. Letter was always clear and easy to follow.  All aspects of an informal letter format were followed.	Very good. Letter was usually clear and easy to follow. Most aspects of an informal letter format were followed.	Fair. Letter was sometimes clear and easy to follow.  Some aspects of an informal letter format were followed.	Poor Letter was not clear and was not easy to follow.  Little/no aspects of an informal letter format were followed.