Hello!
My name is Matthew and I am your child's First Year Math teacher. As promised, this is the follow up email. :)
We met as a class for the first time on Thursday and in that time your children received a sheet of paper describing what they will need for First Year Math and how to contact me (posted on the blog).
The Blog - http://firstyearmath.blogspot.com/
We have a class blog! What grew out of an experiment in keeping parents informed about class happenings last year has grown into a staple of my morning classes. A blog is kind of like an online journal that dates posts chronologically. I have grown to at most posting several times a day and at the least every other day. Once I realized that I could post pictures to the blog, my postings grew from simply words to pictures of notes from the chalk/white board... to becoming an online reservoir of my classes. There have even been videos of me teaching posted on the blog! Besides being a little nervous about watching myself teach ;), all of these mediums (text, picture, video) are meant to help keep you informed about what is going on in your child's math class and to serve as a resource for your child should they lose track of their notebooks or are absent from class.
You may be thinking, "Jeez, Matthew?! Do I have to check this blog every day??" Well, that depends. Can you manually check it everyday? Sure. Do you have to? No. It is totally up to you to choose to check in on what's happening in class. Is there a way to make it a bit easier to stay informed? Yup and I'm glad you asked! On the right hand side of the blog there is a box that says "Subscribe via email" and when you enter your email in there and follow the instructions, you can get an email (once a day if there has been a post) that contains all of the posts for that day. Sometimes the timestamp is a bit wonky, but most of the time the emails go through without a hitch.
I want to go ahead and invite you to First Year Night on Tuesday, September 16. On this night you will be able to put a face to all of your child's teachers and we will get to spend some time together. During your time with me, I'm planning on showing you the blog and some of the cool things it can do.
Emails
So, you may be wondering, am I going to continue to get long emails from you, Matthew? Only occasionally, I promise! Starting this week, notes like this will be posted on the blog and I will only email you when the information I'm sharing is time sensitive. I'll also be posting this email up on the blog as soon as I hit send. :)
Materials
On the sheet of paper your children came home with there was a list of materials they will need. You'll notice that there is only one: Pencils. They must have pencils. Writing in pencils for math is one of the hills that I will die on! Other than that? Your child is covered--they will be using a Composition Book to keep up with their notes and a yellow folder to hold everything else. More on that early in the week.
Whew! What an email!
That's more than enough for now. On Tuesday/Wednesday there will be a post on the blog about how we organize our folders and then we'll be off and running!
I hope this email finds you all well, enjoying your Labor Day weekend, and let me know if you have any questions! Love and light--matthew
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Friday, August 29, 2008
What you will need for First Year Math
This is what I gave your children today:
Bring these materials to class Tuesday and we’ll get started!
o Pencils
You may be thinking, wow! Where’s the rest of the stuff I need to bring? That’s it! We’ll be using Composition Notebooks and Pocket folders to keep up with things—and I’ve already got those for ya! ☺
How do I get in touch with Matthew?
There may be times throughout the year when you need to reach me when we’re not at school. Here are some ways to get me:
• Cell Phone – 919.414.1983. This is your best bet. If I don’t answer, leave a message and your name and number (if it’s not in the directory) and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
• Email – ross.matthew@mac.com (try this one first) or mross@cfsnc.org. I also am pretty good about checking and replying to email, but if it is urgent—call.
• Blog – http://firstyearmath.blogspot.com/ Every day I will post information about what we’re doing in class including homework and pictures from that days’ lesson or activity on our class blog
For your Parents: Email & The Blog
Parents: I have created email lists of all of your emails that are listed in the directory. Regularly throughout the year I will be emailing you updates on what we’ve been doing in class. Our primary means of everyday communication, however, will be through our class blog at http://firstyearmath.blogspot.com/ -- your homework tonight (parents!) is to check out the blog and Subscribe to receive Email Updates if you choose. I’ll also be emailing you about this so if this doesn’t make sense, no worries! I’ve got most of your email addresses, but if would like to receive updates at an email address not listed in the directory, shoot me an email ross.matthew@mac.com so that I can write it down and add it to my list!
Bring these materials to class Tuesday and we’ll get started!
o Pencils
You may be thinking, wow! Where’s the rest of the stuff I need to bring? That’s it! We’ll be using Composition Notebooks and Pocket folders to keep up with things—and I’ve already got those for ya! ☺
How do I get in touch with Matthew?
There may be times throughout the year when you need to reach me when we’re not at school. Here are some ways to get me:
• Cell Phone – 919.414.1983. This is your best bet. If I don’t answer, leave a message and your name and number (if it’s not in the directory) and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
• Email – ross.matthew@mac.com (try this one first) or mross@cfsnc.org. I also am pretty good about checking and replying to email, but if it is urgent—call.
• Blog – http://firstyearmath.blogspot.com/ Every day I will post information about what we’re doing in class including homework and pictures from that days’ lesson or activity on our class blog
For your Parents: Email & The Blog
Parents: I have created email lists of all of your emails that are listed in the directory. Regularly throughout the year I will be emailing you updates on what we’ve been doing in class. Our primary means of everyday communication, however, will be through our class blog at http://firstyearmath.blogspot.com/ -- your homework tonight (parents!) is to check out the blog and Subscribe to receive Email Updates if you choose. I’ll also be emailing you about this so if this doesn’t make sense, no worries! I’ve got most of your email addresses, but if would like to receive updates at an email address not listed in the directory, shoot me an email ross.matthew@mac.com so that I can write it down and add it to my list!
Sunday, August 10, 2008
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