September 14 - 18, 2020

Hard to believe we that we just completed our fourth week of the 2020-2021 school year! I am impressed with how our attendance at meetings has increased and the students' level of participation has grown as well. We are definitely getting into the swing of things and getting used to the schedule, but there are a few areas that I am going to reach out to you parents for help!

Cameras...PLEASE encourage your children to turn on their cameras whenever possible. It will help your child connect to his/her classmates and make it seem more natural when we return face-to-face. There will be times when I am giving a test and I will NEED to have cameras on. We did that this week and most of the students cooperated, but please make sure your child knows the importance of this.

Unmuting...When you child is called on to answer a question in class, I would also love it if you would explain the importance of them unmuting and allowing us to hear them speak. I try to explain that if we were in class, it would not be polite to ignore me if I called on them; and it really isn't much different in this virtual setting. I love how many of the students are getting comfortable with volunteering as they see that I will definitely give them guidance if they need it.

Assignments... This is a BIGGIE! I spend A LOT of time every evening sending reminders to students who have not completed assignments during the day. Our goal as a class is for that number to decease exponentially. I have set the due time for 5:00 so I can get the work graded and plan out my next steps for the following day. (Do I need to review? Did it seem that most of the students understood? Do I need to meet with a small group in the afternoon?) I have also set that time because the work SHOULD be completed during the 12:30-3:00 time block. Please take some time each day to look over the assignments tab AND the chat with me. Some of the students turn in work prior to it being completed and you will see notes from me in their chat, as it looks like there isn't anything due, but there is some work that has been left unfinished.

Chat...Please keep an eye on the chat feature and let me know of any chats that you feel need to be addressed. The students can speak with anyone in Fresno Unified on this chat, and that is a lot of social media to put in the hands of our 9/10-year-olds. Most of it has been going smoothly, but it never hurts to be extra vigilant in this area.

The California Adventure Notebook covers look amazing!! I would encourage you to have your child take you to our Flipgrid site and view the great artwork and presentations from our Room 11 students! You can get to the videos through our link on the assignment, Clever, or enter the class code Hueneroom11 on flipgrid.com. If you have packaging tape at home, feel free to cover the entire piece of tagboard on the journal cover. I usually make the strips too long on purpose and just fold them onto the inside of the cover. If you don't have packaging tape, please don't go buy it! I will tape any that need it when we return face-to-face. If we don't cover them completely, they start to rip from being taken in and out of our desks.

We are starting into our first multiplication chapter and it is super important that your child knows their basic multiplication facts with automaticity! There is a program on their Clever page called "Xtra Math" that is great for teaching facts. Mr. Figura also has some good programs on the Manchester GATE computer lab site for basic fact practice.

Thank you for all of the work you are doing at home to support me and your child through our eLearn experience! I saw many more students with headphones this week and it was much easier to hear many of them as well. I want to remind you that if having one of our student desks in your home would help clear up some space for you and give your child a designated space to work, please reach out to me and I will get one ready for you to pick up.

Enjoying our room 11 students and families,

Lanie Huene