WMS: EdVenture Team: Request for a change in supplies: Please bring a composition book for math.

Dear parents and families,

We have had a busy week so far getting ready for student-led conferences, selecting work samples to share, and still making progress on our math curriculum. While helping students prepare for conferences, it has become very clear to me that many many students need some help with organizing their math work and so I have a request of you.

The short version of my request:

After Thanksgiving break, I would like to start using composition books for our math work. If you are able, please send a composition book with your child to school any time between now and the first day after thanksgiving break. The composition book will travel with your child between school and home and will serve as a single place for all math-related materials and work.

The long version of my request:

This fall there was a mysterious item on the school shopping list: a spiral bound graph paper notebook. I say it was a mystery because Mr. Knickrehm didn't know what it was for and it was very difficult to find one (most people couldn't find one). Well, I was talking with Amy Berreth (who just this year switched to seventh grade math) and she told me all about it. It turns out she used this as a single place for her students to do all their work and keep all of their papers. Amy's system used the notebook -- kind of like a science notebook -- as a place for students to do all their work and to archive all of their assessments. It was easy for her and parents to gauge a child's progress on a daily basis because at the end of each and every work period, they drew a straight line and put the date and time on it. Ah-ha! Immediately I understood why she used this system.

This year I am learning to help students strive for excellence in a self-paced manner through a very neat curriculum. But in order to self-pace the materials, there are lots of extra pieces of paper to help a student navigate through them. I have been trying to find ways of helping students keep all of these various papers organized (roadmaps, flash feedbacks, target practices, lab sheets). And it's been very difficult for most students to keep track of all their papers in the binders because things get torn accidentally and fall out. I have given a composition book to a few students already to help with organization and it usually has worked out well for them. I would like very much to begin using Amy's system as soon as possible with all of my students. But I would like students to use a composition book (the stiff-backed ones with either graph paper or lined paper inside).

I realize that at this time of year, composition books are not at their cheapest price. I think they range anywhere from $2.50 to $4.00 right about now. If this is a burden that you cannot float right now, please let me know. I have a few composition books left from when I was an eighth grade science teacher and I can give one to your child kind of like a scholarship.

Thank you for all you do to support your children and their school.

Sincerely,

Brian