Working together...Looking for Parent Resources?

September 27, 2014

Good afternoon!

The only thing that beats an anticipated Buckeye Victory is the sight of your children walking into Columbia Elementary.  It amazes me each day we see the students, how much energy and joy they bring to us.  My hopes are that we capture this same excitement and joy for school throughout their educational careers into advanced education or college. That would be a true accomplishment!

This week we had the great pleasure of meeting with several sets of parents from our school.  In each of these conversations, it was very clear that we are all working together for the same purpose, to better educate our student/s, their children.  The most discussed topic was how can we all work together better to increase the student's achievement in the classroom.  Therefore, I would like to take some time this week to provide some feedback on some useful resources that are available to our parents for our students:

1) If you go to our District Website at www.mvcsd.us you will find the following links to resources that are available from any computer under the "Student and Parent" section:

a) Progress Book-If you have not already logged into Progress Book, with the information that we provided on a letter that was sent home with all students in Grades 2-5 not too long ago, make sure you do so.  If you have lost this information or did not receive it, please contact Mrs. Darcy Miller or myself in our office to get it. Progress Book provides you with 24/7 access on how your child, our student, is doing in our classes.

b) "Successmaker from Home"-Each student has their own login information in grades KDG-5 to log into this great Reading and Math Intervention Program.  This program will help each student to work and progress at their own level.

c) Study Island-For students in Grades 3-5, make sure they take a time to use Study Island for Reading (Grades 3-5), Math (Grades 3-5), and Science (Grade 5).  This program will help refresh and improve their current skills in these areas.

d) Think Central-This is a Math website that goes along with our Math Program at Columbia.  Each student has their own login information.  Please contact your child's teacher if you need this information.  When the student logs in, they will see their own homepage with lessons that match what they are doing in their class.

e) There are also Earobics (KDG Language Arts Program) and Fast ForWord(Language Arts Program) links on our district website for specific students that we are targeting.  You would know if your child is using one of the two of these programs.  Both are outstanding and backed with a great amount of research!!

2) www.starfall.com-Is a good English Language Arts online program to help primary students, grades KDG-2nd, to practice and strengthen their English Language Arts and Math Skills.  This is available for mobile use too.

3) Practicing for The New State Tests(This is Very Important):

a) Ohio's New PARCC State Test for English Language Arts and Math -CLICK HERE and Go To "Practice Tests" scroll down on the drop down menu and choose either Math or English Language Arts.
-Our students are now going to be tested twice a year in Grades 3-5: 1) The first test will be in February for a Performance Based Test (or PBA for short) 2) The second Test will be an End of the Year Test (or EOY for short) in April.  While the plan is for these tests to be online next school year, we will be testing the old fashion way on paper and pencil this year.

*It is critical that we practice with our students for these new upcoming tests to improve their performance.

4) To help without online resources:

a) Reading:
-Reading with your child every night or most nights
-Make sure the child is not memorizing the passages but reading and sounding out words
-Ask comprehension questions to the child about the details of the story after he/she reads it. Make sure you are asking questions that involve detailed feedback and not just one or two word answers.
-Ask the teacher for a list of High Frequency Words for your child's grade level.  Make sure he/she has a strong grasp on these vocabulary words.
-Allow the student to choose books that interest them and allow them to see you enjoying reading.
-Play games with the student during day to day activities (i.e. during car rides ask about the spelling of certain words that you see or have the student develop grocery lists for you).

b) Math:
-Practice basic math facts together (addition and subtraction; multiplication and division). Make sure these basic math facts are in the student's muscle memory (they can give you the answer in a heart beat).
-Allow the student to practice his/her math skills in daily real life scenarios (i.e. paying for something or saving for something that they want).
-Allow the student to write out their explanation of how they got the correct answer for a problem.  Math is involving a lot more writing now a days than it use to.
-A large population of our student body is involved in sports. Do not be afraid to have them use math for the particular sport that he/she is involved in or enjoys watching.

5) By law, all public schools have to follow the same state prescribed Content Standards.  To better understand these standards and to see how you can help support these efforts, please CLICK HERE to go directly to The Ohio Department of Education's Website.

As we are all on the same team for our students, I hope these resources are helpful to you and our students.

Have a great weekend!

Go Tigers and Go Buckeyes!
Matt