Dear Parents,
Today the children and I discussed different technological opportunities that exist for students at Antonia Elementary and specifically in your child’s fourth grade class.
Antonia Elementary has been utilizing the Study Island program for a couple of years now. Today the class went to the computer lab and visited http://www.studyisland.com . While on StudyIsland, your child took a communications art pretest. Now your child can log in from home and practice any skill in communication arts and play a wide range of games. Your child has their individual login name and password for this program in their daily planner.
Also, your child was introduced to a program from Scholastic called RAZ-KIDS. This is a computer based reading program is free to the children in my classroom this year. I do require children to read for at least fifteen minutes each night. This program is a fun way for a child to practice reading, and it does count toward the 15 minutes of reading. Your child has direction to log in written in their planner.
Today we also reviewed the reading program that I introduced in my welcome letter at the beginning of the year. Our school uses a Treasures reading series. The publishers also have a web page designed to focus on the specific skills taught in each chapter. The page can be found at http://activities.macmillanmh.com/reading/treasures/stories/storylist/41.html
Children can use this link to practice skills for tomorrows test in reading by clicking on
| The Mystery of the Missing Lunch. |
Finally, http://www.spellingcity.com is a wonderful resource to practice spelling words each week.
I hope these pages help your child in having a successful school year.
Sincerely,
David Venable
http://DavidVenable.educatorpages.com
Sept 14 – Start of Grandparents Week Breakfast served 8:10am-9:00am
Sept 15 - Rock & Mineral Club 3:40–4:30 pm
Sept 17 – GREEN Day for Kindergarteners
- Fall Fundraiser orders due
- Fall Festival Committee Meeting 6:30pm in the library
Sept 18 - Antonia Spirit Wear Day
Sept 20 - Arnold Days Parade 1pm – 3pm
Sept 24 – ½ Day of School (12:10 Dismissal)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Dear Fourth Graders and Parents,
Welcome to the 2009-10 school year at Antonia Elementary School. I hope you had an enjoyable and relaxing summer. We are going to have a wonderful and productive school year. During our first week of school, we will be spending time going over classroom, school and district rules, policies and procedures. I will not be assigning homework until Wednesday, August 26. If you have any questions or concerns for me, please call the school at 636-942-2181 or e-mail me at davidvenable @att.net.
Let me tell you a little about myself. While I was thrilled to have been asked to join Mark Rudanovich and the staff at Antonia Elementary, I am not a new teacher. I have been teaching for sixteen years in the Fox C-6 School District. For six year I taught fifth grade at Meramec Heights Elementary, and for the past ten years I have been working with fourth graders at Rockport Heights. My wife, who works as a teacher assistant in the Special School District, and I have two children. Our son, Zachary, is a first grader at Pevely Primary. Our daughter, Alexandrea, is an eighth grader at the Missouri School for the Deaf.
Over the next few weeks, I will be sending several notes home explaining policies for spelling tests, homework, classroom work and grading. However, it is my belief that the most important ingredient in creating a successful student is open communication between parents and teachers. To encourage this, I maintain a classroom web page that is updated daily with homework assignments, classroom activities and school schedules. The webpage can be found at http://DavidVenable.educatorpages.com . Also, the children will bring home progress reports about every two weeks. If you would like, these progress reports can be e-mailed home. The schedule will be set after school begins and will be posted on line.
Sincerely, David M. Venable
Fourth Grade Teacher
davidvenable@att.net