Mr. Kravetz's Hobbit Hole

This has been a great week, especially as it was Spirit week, too. The biggest announcement is Parent-Teacher Conferences next Wednesday and Thursday. I am excited to meet everyone. Also, it would be great if you brought your child with you if at all possible. As a reminder, our Astronomy Science Projects are due on November 6th. There are several that have already started which is wonderful.

It has been a great week and we got many things turned in that were missing. Great job encouraging your child to do missing work. Overall, the next Science Project will be over Astronomy and due on November 6th. Other than that, the biggest thing to mention is Parent-Teacher Conferences. They are on October 11th and 12th. You can start signing up for a slot at the following link:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0c4da4a628a3fc1-parentteacher1.

We had a great week presenting Science Projects and even doing clusters today. I hoped everyone enjoyed them. The next project due is the first Book Report. It is due next Friday, Sept. 22nd. As mentioned before, it can just be turned in as any expression (product). All that is required, other than an actual project, are the following: plot, main characters (at least 2), and the setting (where it mostly takes place).

Things have also been going better with behavior and students turning in missing work. As far as work goes, I think I will be sending home daily emails starting Monday to parents with children that have any missing assignments. Nothing fancy, just an FYI that they need to do it for homework.

The biggest thing to note for today’s update is the Science Project due on Monday. Many students have all ready started and some have even finished. If your child is doing anything digital, the project can be emailed to me at ekravetz@ascentutah.org. If it is a video, it may be too large to email, so feel free to upload to your preference (google drive, youtube, etc.) and email me the link. Projects that are late will receive a maximum score of 80% if not ready by Monday, 70% if not ready by Wednesday and 0% if not ready by Thursday.
We had the privilege of having some guests from another school come and present a Bee project they are doing and have asked us to participate in. It mainly involves each student filling out a booklet observing how many bees they see in a particular area (school garden, own backyard, park, etc.). These need to be the same place, though. Students have the liberty of deciding what place that is though. They can start right away or start Monday, but it’s important to do it every day once they start so they can give accurate information to the other school. Here is a link explaining more: https://prezi.com/view/lpKkfVOzxQs6UV9tfdIv/.

We made it through our first full week of school this week, and we even did some benchmarks to get us going. As a reminder, our first Science Project is on the Scientific Method (or Engineering Process) and is due on September 11th. It can be presented in any way so long as it is within 2 – 3 minutes. It can be over the steps in general or an experiment/invention they have done and explain the steps throughout the process. In addition, the first Book Report is due on September 22nd. It can be done in any format as well, but will not be presented to the entire class. It does need to include in some form the main characters (1 to 3 is fine), the overall plot, and where it mainly takes place.

On another note, the school has given each class and emergency bag with a few basic things in it. They have also given us small ziplocs (about 6″ x 3″) for each student that can include a note and/or family picture and a non-perishable treat in the event of a long term emergency situation. That way each student can have something of a personal nature to help comfort them as well as something for a snack. Feel free to send with your child those things next week or as soon as you can if you want to include something.

On a final note, assignments have not all been turned in. Please look below to see if there is a number of missing assignments next to each subject and encourage your child to do them if there is. If you are not aware, you can easily view your child’s actual assignments and how well he/she did on them and what is missing through Aspire as often as you like. I keep it fairly updated.

It has been a great first week and we have dived straight into this year’s curriculum. I hope your child is coping well being back at school. Also, we have a couple of projects coming up already and wanted you to be aware of the dates. On September 11th, our first Science Project will be due. It is over the Scientific Method and Engineering Process. On September 22nd, our first Reading Project will be due. Students have been given a rubric in Science that they can show you and it will apply for both projects. Basically, they can pick any type of project to turn in (or present in class for Science) that covers the topic or book they have chosen to read. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Welcome to the Class Blog! To the right you will find many useful links to use throughout the school year. They are to help you and your child track grades and to progress academically. The Scholastic Reading Club link is for anyone that wishes to order any books from Scholastic, whether during a book fair or not. Just type in the code NLBBN if prompted and the books will come straight to the class for your child to pick up. No due dates and orders help to earn more books for the class library. Other than that, I hope we have a great year and am looking forward to being your child’s teacher.