The text of the text I just sent...

Hi again. Here's the text of the text I just sent to all parents of the class. I wish you all the very very best. God bless, and take it easy.


"Hi, I'd like to just say farewell to you, all parents of 6th Class: You're all so loving to your children, and that love enables your child to blossom and shine. 
I also want to thank you from the depths of my heart for all your support to me this year: it's all about teamwork. 
And I wish you well with everything, especially your ongoing parenting. 
Take it easy, 
Martin Stuart. 
Oh, final posts (photos etc) now on talbotmrstuart.blogspot.ie"

And, PS, thanks to everyone too for the thoughtful, lovely gifts and cards. Very very kind.

Occasional Newsletter (June 19th, 2013) for Parents

Hi, this is the text of the newsletter I sent home today...

Occasional Newsletter, Mr Stuart’s Class

June 19^th 2013:  So much going on!

Hi! There’s so much going on, I thought I’d put together this note, which you could use as a basis for a list to tick-off:

1. ·         School Reports: I’ve written them all. It took a long time as each child is so different and there’s so much good to write about for each child. Mr Ruddy will read them and sign them. The school requests either a stamped-addressed envelope OR 60 cents for the price of a stamp; I can then post them out to you (I’d like to post it to you this week so you can have a chance to discuss anything with me if you wish).
2. ·         School Play: Costumes/Outfits (black, white; OLD clothes; leggings/tracksuit bottoms; feel free to roughen their look—rips, dirt, ‘blood’ etc)

• ·         School Play: everyone in our class in by 7.20pm on Thursday (concert begins at 7.30).
• ·         TIP for Seating For the School Play: During rehearsals I noticed that if I am sitting on one side of the hall, I cannot see half of the class’s faces. SO, DO ASK your child which side of the hall (left or right as you are looking at the stage) to sit on so that you can see them. That way, you’ll see your child best.
• ·         Questionnaire for Parents: Thanks so much to those who’ve already given it back; if you’d like to fill it in and return it still, I’d be glad to hear your thoughts; thanks!
• ·         Lunches: Reminder: Glanmore have stopped their lunches to the school.
• ·         Friday: Basketball Blitz (6^th classes against each other)(sponsorship cards; money going towards fixing the community’s church roof which is leaking badly)
• ·         Next Week: Monday: Hopefully Sports Day for 4^th and 6^th Class, if the weather gods shine on us.
• ·         Next Week: Tuesday: the DFL Tour (3 children with the most stamps going on a day out)
• ·         Next Week: Wednesday: the three 6^th Classes tour to Avon Rí  Adventure Centre: if your child hasn’t yet paid fully, please do so THIS week (Wed/Thurs/Fri).
• ·         Next Week: Thursday: Graduation Ceremony in the school for 6^th Class
• ·         Next Week: Friday: In at 9am, ‘work’ til we go to the Church for a final goodbye

Any questions, please contact me as normal.

Best,

Martin Stuart

Tips for You As Parents to Help with your Child's READING COMPREHENSION

Hi,

One of you emailed me yesterday about extra maths help for her child and in email chat we also talked about Reading Comprehension.

In an email I just sent her I detailed for her the various specific Reading Strategies that your children have been taught to help them more easily understand what they read.

It's important because, of course, the less they understand of what they read, then the less use it is to them. And likewise the more they understand of what they read, the more use it is to them.

So the question is... just what are those Reading Strategies?

Well, here's bits of the email I sent. I hope you find it useful for YOUR child too. 

"All it is is helping her understand what she's reading. 

The current internationally-accepted way of teaching it is to help the kids try to consciously use specific 'strategies' when reading. 

... has been taught these strategies directly over the course of the year, and indeed over the last few years. 

By using them consciously, she will soon use them unconsciously. While we, as adults, might assume that all readers do these naturally, they don't. And so we need to actively teach them.

I can, if you would like, copy some sheets for you, which I think would be very helpful to you and indeed as a reminder to her.

Meanwhile, I will list here the strategies, together with a brief description of each.

BEFORE READING

1. Predicting   --- helps activate prior knowledge. It is based on clues in the text (pictures, subtitles, etc)
2. Self-questioning: Providing a framework for active learning as students engage with the text to find answers (basically this means to ask yourself one or more questions BEFORE you begin reading -- that way, you are concentrating more on understanding what you are reading.)
3. Skimming -- glancing quickly through material to gain an overall view of a text
4. Scanning -- glancing through a text to locate specific details, e.g. names, dates, etc

WHILE READING

1. Inferring -- THIS IS CRUCIAL -- taking information from a text and creating their own interpretation beyond the literal level. e.g. John looked to make sure the shopkeeper wasn't looking. Then he quickly put a Mars bar into his bag and walked out. (Infer: John was stealing the Mars bar.)
2. Connecting -- connecting prior knowledge to the new information. 
3. Comparing -- thinking more specifically about connections they are making, e.g. How is this different to...?
4. Synthesising: Piecing information together as students read a text, to keep track of what is happening.
5. Creating Images -- Creating sensory images to assist with overall comprehension of a text (the more senses you employ the better -- imagine the taste, smell, touch...)

AFTER READING

1. Determining Importance -- Prioritising the most important information, be it from a phrase, a sentence, a paragraph, a page, a chapter, or the whole text. Being able to do this really helps with the next strategy, summarising...
2. Summarising -- Re-writing or re-stating in your own words the text, using key words to capture the MAIN focus. Focus on the most important bits only. If something is not all that important, don't include it in a summary. You are reducing the size of the text. You are capturing the main idea(s)/point(s)."

If any of you would like me to photocopy for you some sheets that give more detail on this, I will gladly do so. 

All the best to you,

Martin

New Idea For This Class: "Help Each Other Hour"

A New Idea For This Class: “Help Each Other Hour”

Each class is different and as a teacher I try out different ideas to see what works best for each class. A new idea I have is an “Help Each Other Hour”. When I suggested it to the class, they were surprised, many thought about it, and many liked it. Here’s how it might work...

One hour a week, after school, they can work in pairs or any-sized groups on anything they like. I’ll be in the classroom, supervising for safety’s sake and providing whatever resources I can but not actually teaching (I’ll be hoping to be doing my own work: planning, preparing, writing up reports, and so on). I’ll be volunteering my time so there’ll be no charge. It’ll be on Mondays. Let’s give it a go, see how it works, and take it from there.

Obviously no child HAS TO sign up and also I don’t want to be spending any time or energy having to deal with children breaking the school rules, so, to be fair to all the children, any child who wants to take part will have to sign a ‘Good Behaviour Contract’ and if they mess up they will be barred.

Mr Stuart, 20^th March, 2013

I give permission for my child _________________________________ to take part in the “Help Each Other Hour” on Mondays after school until 3.40pm. The first Monday will be the Monday after the Easter Holidays on the 8^th April. I understand there is no cost. I understand school rules must be followed. I understand this is an opportunity for my child to develop teamwork skills with children who want to work and do well. I understand this is an opportunity for my child to work on anything they like in the classroom, maybe on one of the five computers, by themselves, in pairs, or in any sized-groups.

What your child can work on is only limited by his/her imagination: it can be part of one of the school subjects (Art, Music, Drama, Writing, Reading, Maths, Irish, Religion, Praying, History, Geography, Maps, Typing, Computer Skills, Science...) or it can be something else altogether.

Signed (parent): __________________________________  Date:      ______ March, 2013

Good Behaviour Contract (to be signed by each child taking part)

I would like to take part in the “Help Each Other Hour” each Monday. I understand that school rules apply and that Mr Stuart will bar me if I mess. I will behave well. I want to do well. I want to use this opportunity to learn; I am grateful for it. I want to uncover some of my skills, to strengthen some of my strengths, and to enjoy myself learning with others.

Signed (child): ______________________________  Date:      _____ March, 2013

The Newsletter I Sent Home on the 8th March (2013)

Mr Stuart’s Occasional Newsletter to Parents 8th March, 2013 Hi, Bits and pieces of news here. Please read them all; they’re all important in their own way. Sorry I don’t have more time to prepare a classier-looking newsletter. Martin Stuart The Focus The Next Two Weeks As well as normal teaching, we’ll be focusing on: ·         Anti-Bullying Lessons and Anti-Cyberbullying Lessons ·         St Patrick and celebrating the best of Irish life and culture ·         “Taking Care of Babies” lessons (RSE) ·         The Transfiguration and then all about the events of Holy Week ·         Division and 2D Shapes, and then a fair but tough Assessment Test, the results of which we’ll pass on to you, so you can see how your child is truly doing in Maths.

Kidblog.org/MrS2013 I encourage you to encourage your child to keep posting on this safe website. The kids have really taken to it, and many have posted lots of interesting things for others to enjoy. I vet each and every post and comment, so I ensure it’s a safe, happy, positive experience for them all. If you haven’t already done so, then ask your child to let you see how it all works. They’ve lots of great things to show off to you!

“Great Week” Certificates Each week I text the parents of those children who have earned a “great week certificate” for the week. This is for their great behaviour, effort, and honesty each and every day. If you do not receive a text, that means that your child has ended at least one day of the week on the ‘bad’ side of the board. On average each week 14 or 15 children receive these certificates. If your child is not receiving them, then feel free to ask me or them why. I’d love to discuss this with you. If you want, and if coming in to the school is a problem, I will call you to discuss your child’s effort and behaviour.

Class Behaviour In  the last few weeks I have noticed the behaviour of some children getting worse. Some days we are wasting maybe a quarter of the possible time for learning on dealing with their bad/disruptive behaviour. It’s NOT all the kids, just a few. We’ve talked about it as a class and agreed that those children who are getting the yellow and red cards for this need to change their behaviour. They are being selfish in wasting everyone’s time and everyone’s opportunities to learn.

Tables That Are Clear of Everything Since early January the class has had a “Clear Table” policy. And it has helped many children concentrate better. The policy means that a child’s table should have on it only what he/she needs for the lesson they’re doing... the other books should be in their bags. (At the end of the day a child can leave books neatly on their table so as not to have to carry them home.) A few children find this hard. They moan about their bags not being big enough. If this is true of your child, please give him/her an extra or a bigger bag (any type of bag at all).

A New Idea For This Class: “Help Each Other Hour” Each class is different and as a teacher I try out different ideas to see what works best for each class. A new idea I have is an “Help Each Other Hour”. When I suggested it to the class, they were surprised, many thought about it, and many liked it. Here’s how it might work... One hour a week, after school, they can work in pairs or any-sized groups on anything they like. I’ll be in the classroom, supervising for safety’s sake and providing whatever resources I can but not actually teaching (I’ll be hoping to be doing my own work: planning, preparing, writing up reports, and so on). I’ll be volunteering my time so there’ll be no charge. It’ll be on Mondays. Let’s give it a go, see how it works, and take it from there. Obviously no child HAS TO sign up and also I don’t want to be spending any time or energy having to deal with children breaking the school rules, so, to be fair to all the children, any child who wants to take part will have to sign a ‘Good Behaviour Contract’ and if they mess up they will be barred.

Five Computers in Our Classroom! Yes, it’s true. Soon after we come back after Easter we’ll be getting five computers into our classroom. It’s going to be magic! I’ll be planning to let children develop their ICT skills while working on various subjects. I’ll be having the children working in pairs, as they learn ICT skills that way better and quicker and it’s good for them to develop teamwork skills. Sometimes children don’t know how lucky they are, but this class seem to: they know what a wonderful resource these computers will be to their learning. They’re rightfully excited. talbotmrstuart.blogspot.ie kidblog.org/MrS2013 usefulsiteforparents.blogspot.ie www.mathletics.com

New opportunity for your child to enjoy learning... kidblog.org

Good day! As most of you are no doubt aware by now, the kids have taken bigtime to idea of blogging! They're all able to go on to the website kidblog.org where we have our own website, where each child has their own blog page, to make their own. The great thing about this particular site is that it is totally safe because it's totally private -- unlike facebook and other sites which can be dangerous places for children as young, innocent, and impressionable as your child. Kidblog is totally private because each child has their own name and own password and nobody else anywhere can see anything any child posts. It's also totally safe because I vet each and every post and comment that they 'submit for review' when they want to post something -- I am going to use my best judgement to try to ensure everything is in good taste and unoffensive.

I have already clarified with the class, in a post of my own which we all read through and discussed in class, what I expect behaviour-wise. That said, I am confident this class will work together in a positve manner to build each other up with positve support.

The blog is really their 'baby' and I'm excited to see how it develops. The initial enthusiasm and rush of posts suggests it might indeed become a valuable place for them, where they get to participate more in their learning and become ever-more independent learners, where they share their interests and best work, and where they learn in a safe environment to become polite, capable, and creative web-citizens.

If you'd like to give me feedback on this or if you have any questions, please just contact me as usual. Cheers!