Family Literacy Workshop

Your child's future depends a lot from support at home.

Actively-engaged parents make a significant difference in how children will perform at school and in their future as professionals. As teachers, we feel it is our responsibility to work as a team to see our students not only succesful during their school years but happy as lovers of reading and writing.

We hope to see you at AST'S FIRST FAMILY LITERACY WORKSHOP this coming Thursday, at 2:45.

Kinder School parents:

We have been reading Arthur books, learning about all the characters and about Marc Brown, Arthur book's author. Your children love Arthur, DW, Francine, Binky, Brain and all the rest of the "gang". We have a lot of Arthur books in our library, so stop by and bring some home for your boys and girls. I am sure they will love to read more books about the aardvark who lost his tooth and learns to accept his sister, DW.

1st Grade parents:

We have been learning about parts of a book and why library books need a special "address" where they live (call number). As your child about this. You will be surprised of how much they know!

2nd Grade parents:

We are becoming small experts on how to find books through the use of the library's electronic catalog. This is what we will be concentrating on for a few weeks now.

3rd Grade parents:

Your children divided themselves into three groups to describe three different jackets. Then, each group read their description for the rest of the class to draw. It was funny what the class drew from what the children described!! The purpose of this exercise was to learn why we need to be very specific when we are describing an object. Now we will talk about book descriptions, and what goes into describing a book adequately. This is important for fourth grade work.

4th Grade parents:

Your students are engaged now in comparing books in the Easy and Fiction Collections. Once this is done, they will fill in a Fiction Collection worksheet and take another short quiz.

5th Grade parents:

Deadlines are closer that we think!! Remember your child will need to turn in his/her rough draft, Source Cards and notes during the first week of March. I have told your child I am here at 6:45 every morning and am willing to help anyone who needs it.

Mission:"The American School provides a student-centered, enriching, college-preparatory education that emphasizes social responsibility in a safe, bi-cultural and disciplined learning environment."

Misión:"La Escuela Americana provee una educación enriquecedora, orientada al alumno, pre-universitaria y que enfatiza en la responsabilidad social, en un ambiente de aprendizaje seguro, bicultural y disciplinado."

Parents of 4th Grade:
Your child is getting ready for 5th grade when he/she will need to write a short research paper using library resources. We are reviewing how to access information, and all about the different Collections in the library. Together we have done an Interactive Writing sample for the Easy Collection. Each child has then filled out a practice sheet which has been followed by a short quiz to make sure your child is on tract. We will begin with the Fiction Collection by next week, and then continue with Non-Fiction, Biography, Story Collection and Reference. The learning strategy will be the same for each one.

Parents of 5th Grade:
As you may remember, your child has been working on a short research paper which will be the bulk of his/her grade for the year. Most students are doing great! I am proud of them!! This is a necessary skill as we approach Middle School. Note-taking is done during library period and to make sure your child does not fall behind, I periodically pick up notebooks and comment on their notes. Also, on the first week of March, I will be collection a First Draft. This first draft needs to be turned in to me with six Source Cards (2 books, 1 encyclopedia article, 2 internet articles,and 1 on-line magazine article) as well as the notebook showing notes taken during this school year. This allows me to make sure that the 780-word paper has been written from the information your child has gathered, and to make comments on the Final Paper which he/she needs to turn in in April.
This is the date due for the First Draft per section:
Section Date Due
Section A March 5
Section B March 3
Section C March 1

I have been learning a lot from notes taken by your children....on topics I did not know much about. It has been fun for me as well!!