Sunday, March 25, 2018

Hi All,

Happy spring!

We are entering our final week of Biography in RTI. When we return from Spring Break, we will have a brief 2 week Unit focused on Point of View and Author’s Purpose. After that, RTI will end, and reading instruction will be done in home room. We will be doing historical fiction book clubs, and using Esperanza Rising as our mentor text. Right now, the class is loving The Wild Robot Escapes as a Read Aloud. In math, we are focused on Geometry, and are also reviewing multiplication strategies. We are wrapping up our Social Studies chapter on the Missions, Pueblos, and Presidios, and the Hyperdocs have been homework for a couple weeks. Children have begun research for their California Report, which will be done in class over the next several weeks. If you haven’t heard, ask your child what topic they’ve selected!

While the rains have been welcome these past few weeks, the combination of spring fever and rainy day recess (inside) has pushed problem student behavior over the edge. Please remind your child of your expectations regarding behavior. One problem that has been coming up a lot is teasing. Please remind your child to be respectful to their classmates, and to be aware of others’ feelings. I am seeing hurt feelings escalate into other inappropriate behaviors, especially when the kids feel unheard by their peers.  On that note, this Thursday afternoon we will be having “The Big Spin” awards assembly that recognizes students with exemplary effort and behavior in Reading, PE, Citizenship, and Overall Academics. All kids with no pink slips are included in the Spin part of the assembly.

Finally, on Monday I am sending home the corrected Unit 4 Math Tests. For those interested in improving their results, there is a “Revise, Reflect, Review” form attached to the test. On it, I ask students to identify the problems on which to retest, revise them, reflect on the “why” of their error, and then review the type of problem so they can improve their understanding. Please return the test with form attached on Wednesday, in order to retest on Thursday before Spring Break.

Take care,

Carroll Mayer

Monday, March 5, 2018

Hi Parents,

A few things that are coming up this week:


  • Field trip to Cabrillo on Friday. I am still missing 8 permission slips! 
  • Math test on Monday, March 12th. The kids will bring home a Review Sheet on Friday. Important ideas are: Subtraction and Addition to 6 digits, Rounding, Elapsed time using a timeline, and story problems applying metric units of measurement.
  • Trimester officially ends on Tuesday, March 6th. Report cards will go home on Friday, March 16th.
  • The auction fundraiser is this Saturday. If you haven't bought tickets, there's still time to purchase them. It is going to be extra fun this year, and raise a lot of money for Rio del Mar kids!
Have a great week!

Carroll Mayer