Parent Letter - 3/9/2009

Dear Parents,

I hope your weekend was enjoyable.
This week is a short week with an early dismissal on Thursday at 11:30am followed by conferences. If you have not yet signed up for conferences, there are still many openings on Friday. Please see the times below for open slots and let me know what works for you. Please remember these are not Parent-Teacher conferences. Although we will meet at the end of the conference time, the intention is for your child to show what they have been learning. If you need to talk about a particular issue with your child, we can schedule another time to meet. The conferences will be just 15 minutes so, please be prompt.

Tuesday night is our Life on the Edge - Ocean night at ISM in the Multiuse Room, 6:30 - 8:00pm. The students from both classes will be showing their food web boards they have been working on. There will also be many hands-on activities such as thinning dune plants, fish printing, interacting with a storm drain model, listening to our conversation with the Alvin submarine, tasting ocean treats, and observing a very old shell collection brought in by a friend of one of the fourth grade families. Please join in on the fun!

Spring break begins this Saturday, March 14th and goes through March 29th.
We will see you all back at school on March 30th.

We will have a field trip on Wednesday, April 8th to Colton Hall in Monterey to see where the California Constitution was signed. We will then walk over to the Monterey Library for a short program on library resources.
We plan to take the city bus to Monterey but we will need a couple of chaperones to accompany us. Please let me know if you are available. Field trip forms will go out when we return to school after the break. Thanks!

There will be a lighter load of homework this week. We will start the next math unit after spring break. Reading 20 minutes and completing handwriting pages will continue. I will let the students know in class about any other assignments.

Information about Upcoming Parent/Teacher Conferences

Next Thursday, 11/6/08 students will be dismissed at 11:30 AM and there will be no classes for students on Friday 11/7/08. Parent/teacher conferences are scheduled for these times.

The first conference of the year is a teacher led conference. You and your child will meet with your child's teacher. The goal of every parent/teacher conference is for the parent, the child and the teacher to leave with a clear understanding of how the child is doing in his or her classroom.

In all grades the teacher will be showing parents and students samples of the student's work. It is often helpful for teachers to also show parents exemplars, or examples of assignments that demonstrate what is expected of all students. I have asked teachers, when appropriate to provide exemplars of typical student work.

Here are some questions to consider during the conference:

• Is the child having difficulty doing work in a subject, what kind of help does the child need?
• Is the child getting work done during class and turning it in?
• Is the child getting homework completed and turned in on time?
• Does the child actively participate during lessons?
• Is the child an independent learner?
• Is the child using his time in the classroom wisely?
• Does the child actively participate and contribute when working with a partner or in a group?
• Does the child choose to go above and beyond when he or she capable?
• How does the child approach homework? When does he or she do homework, how long is it taking, where does the child do his or her homework?
• What are the child's interests at home?
• If the child is capable of doing the work, but is not completing it, what can the student, parents and teacher do to help the child meet his or her responsibilities?

In the primary grades most of the discussion will take place between teacher and parent. During the conference a primary age child will receive a lot of encouragement and some suggestions. As children mature they are encouraged to participate more fully in their conference. The input and commitment to the process of older students is necessary for a successful result.

Spanish teachers and Mr. Robby our physical education teacher will be available to meet with parents throughout the day in their respective offices. If you would like to meet with our art, music, or drama, specialists or with Mrs. Madden our algebra and pre-algebra teacher, please email them to schedule a conference as they are part time teachers and may not be on campus when you are here for your child's classroom conference.

If you have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me at (831) 583-2165 or epearlstein@ismonterey.org.

Eric Pearlstein
Associate Director