Success in Sixth Grade
Volume 10, Issue 1
A Note from Mr. Nakano
"Accept what you cannot change. Change what you cannot accept." - Unknown
This has been a wonderful first few days with your children. They are collaborating well and using critical thinking skills to find solutions and innovative ideas (ask them about their marshmallow challenge).
Look for this newsletter to be sent periodically to keep you up to date with our curriculum and important events. The following information below will be covered in Back to School Night tomorrow, but I wanted to send this flyer out as a preview and reference document.
Back to School Night
Come take a peek into your child's classroom. We will be taking a look at our curriculum and giving you some interactive opportunities to experience how we use technology in our classroom.
We will also talk about student/parent/teacher conferences (and how to sign up for them), volunteers, and more.
Feel free to grab a chair (or grab one from the hallway). Don't worry - you won't need to be sitting on the floor or standing up the entire time (unless you want to).
Thursday, Aug 31, 2017, 06:15 PM
Canyon View Elementary School, Yale Court, Irvine, CA, United States
Nearpod and Kahoot
Part of our presentation will be done through an app called Nearpod. If you would like to follow along and participate (there will be a couple opportunities to draw with your finger), you can download the app from their website: http://nearpod.com/
There will also be a brief quiz through Kahoot. Their website at http://kahoot.it does not need an app, so you can just bookmark the site if you would like to participate.
Otherwise, I will be displaying the presentation as well on the projector, so you also see how your child participates in their learning with technology even if you don't have a device.
Parent Communication
Seesaw - We still haven't started this service yet, but this is how you will be able to view your child's online portfolio. This is helpful especially for group projects where all students can't take the same assignment home.
Calendar - Important dates will be updated here and on our Canvas page
https://classroom.google.com/calendar/this-week/course/NzIwMzg0OTk4MFpa
Instagram - Our main feed of images and videos throughout the day. When we're not posting, we're enjoying ourselves too much wrapped up in the moment!
https://www.instagram.com/misternakano/
Facebook - a combination of our Instagram and Twitter feeds
https://www.facebook.com/misternakano
Twitter - Starting this week, we'll be tweeting our daily end-of-the day tweets and mnemonic devices.
Remind
This service is how you can receive quick reminders (about 1-2 a week). These may be test reminders, special day reminders, or no homework notifications. Important information will still be initially e-mailed first, without having to subscribe to this service.
If you have a smartphone with push notifications:
http://rmd.at/gobearscv (for just class announcements)
http://rmd.at/cv6th (for reminders for all of 6th grade)
To receive text notifications:
Text @gobearscv to 81010 (for just class announcements)
Text @cv6th to 81010 (for reminders for all of 6th grade)
Websites
Additionally, classwork will often be distributed through their Google Classroom:
Your student has their IUSD login for these sites. Additionally, with their logins you can sign up for your own parent accounts. Parent accounts allow you to view your own child's work, but not participate in any of the activities.
Picture Day
Say cheese!
Wednesday, Sep 6, 2017, 08:15 AM
Canyon View Elementary School, Yale Court, Irvine, CA, United States
Make Your Mark!
To celebrate, we will be Mystery Skyping with a 5th grade class somewhere else (we'll reveal the destination after the students figure it out). We'll discuss what it means to make our mark, or "dot," in the world. What are we doing to make it memorable?
Parent Conferences
Parent Volunteers
We received a great number of responses from parents that would like to share about their career to the class. We're overwhelmed by the number and will get back to you about different opportunities throughout the year. We would love to hear from you!
My IUSD (Parent Portal)
Questionnaire
If you haven't been able to already, please fill out this questionnaire:
http://bit.ly/nakanowelcome17 to help me to get to know your child a little better. Your time and response are much appreciated.
We know that every child has unique strengths, talents, and gifts. Academic brilliance is only one example of such a gift. Other examples include ambition, curiosity, persistence, organization, courage, coordination, patience, cooperation, and creativity, to name a few. Please take this opportunity to share your views on your child's strengths.
Being your child's first educator, you will be able to provide us with insights about your child, which will help us better meet his or her educational needs. Your responses will remain confidential.
Parents often ask what I'm looking for in this survey. Feel free to write from the heart and brag heavily about your child (under 1,000,000 words J). However, there are some survey questions on a second page to help you out if you would like.