Aloha Everyone!
August 1, 2023
Dear Parents/Guardians,
Aloha mai. My name is Pamela North. I am a dual certified Special Education and Regular Education teacher with a B.A. in Psychology. I have worked with students with various abilities in a variety of settings from preschool to Community College. This year I will be working with the fourth grade.
I am a proud mother of a student who attended Waikoloa School, and who since worked extremely hard to become a graduate of the University of Michigan, and an engineer in the field of medicine. While she is the obvious genius in math, we both love art, travel, learning languages and history. We enjoy being physically active, scuba diving, swimming, and outrigger canoe racing. We believe it is all of our kuleana to malama our world, including the places in which we live, work, and play. When not on the water, you can find me working hard in the garden, or around the pond, experimenting with different plants and taking pleasure in an evolving ecosystem. I am grateful for the lessons learned and the food it supplies.
Growing up in Quebec, I experienced first hand what it was like to be a second language learner in a different language/culture setting. From the perspective of a U.S. citizen born abroad, I appreciate our school's efforts to reach and teach a diverse community of learners. I appreciate inclusive practices, and targeted small group instruction being a shared responsibility. I like when teams enterprise on each other's strengths to better meet the needs of our students. I value the support and participation of parents, family members, fellow teachers, educational assistants, related service providers, administrators, and community support organizations. Our custodians, health workers, cafeteria workers, and after school care providers also play key roles in our kiddos' lives. We are ohana. It takes a village. We are Waikoloa.
Communication: Please check your Parent Square regularly. While this is a good introductory page, I believe that busy guardians should not have to click everywhere to get the information they need. I am usually available after school MTThF when not in a meeting. More traditional phone, email and text communication can be used as well to facilitate information sharing and clarification as needed. I can be reached through the office for more pressing matters.
- Parent Square ([email protected]). for daily updates and homework reminders and tips.
- My phone extension is 277.
- WEBEX or in person meetings may be requested any time. Please communicate your preference to the SSC office. Ext. 254
Behavior: The following three personal standards are expected to be exhibited school-wide to promote social/emotional learning, health and safety as well as academic success.
- Show respect.
- Make good decisions.
- Be a problem solver.
Routines and expected behaviors will be modeled, practiced, and reviewed as needed throughout the year. The following General Learner Outcomes (GLO) will be graded on quarterly report cards sent home in the Thursday envelope. A grading scale exists from 1 (rarely) to 4 (consistently). Please review the Student Handbook descriptors with your child as we will in school for the following:
- Be self directed.
- Be a Community Contributor
- Be an Effective Communicator
- Be a Complex Thinker
- Be a Quality Producer
- Be an Effective User of Technology
Accommodations and Modifications will be implemented per each child’s IEP (Individual Education Plan). We employ a variety of strategies per student’s needs to access what they need to learn. We acknowledge individual needs for more time, space, and motion. Preferred activity breaks are earned to foster more focused on task work behavior. We recognize the value of positive praise. We also award points that are sometimes used to purchase items from the school-wide tangible reward store. For safety reasons, students are reminded to stay in the supervisor’s line of sight when on a break,Please remind your child to never leave a designated area without permission from an adult.
Common Core Report Card Grades:
ME: 100% - 90%
MP: 80% - 89%
DP: 65% - 79%
WB: 49% - 64%
ME Meeting and exceeding the standards.
MP Meeting with proficiency (on grade level)
DP Developing proficiency toward grade level expectations
WB Well below standards
Common Core Standards are deconstructed by teachers so that students share opportunities to show strengths in their learning in different ways despite challenges in reading, writing and math. Report card grades are Common Core based and have to be reported as such. In addition students with disabilities will receive quarterly IEP reports on progress:
Individual Education Plan (IEP) Grades (Special Education Students only)
M Mastered
P Progress Made
E Emerging
NP No progress
NA Not applicable
Progress reports describe progress per annual IEP or Revision IEP goals and objectives. Four reporting periods (R1, R2, R3, R4) are shown on an IEP progress report. The progress report is given to parents/guardians of Special Education students at the end of each quarter. These four reporting periods are not synchronized with the school-year quarters, but start on the date upon which the initial or annual IEP occurs. Comments tend to be more detailed as compared to the standard report card.
Fourth grade assessments include state SBAC and WIDA for ELL (English Language Learner) assessments, school-wide and program assessments, and progress monitoring (eg. HMH Math, Wonders Reading, iReady). The when, where and how services and assessments are decided at the time of the IEP and as the year progresses.
Homework: Check parent square for updates.
Parent involvement always has a positive impact on student learning and we appreciate your efforts to support your child.
- Shared reading 20 min. per day = 2880 minutes over the course of 144 days school days.
- 5 min per day sight word or addition/subtraction fact or multiplication/division fact practice = 720 min. toward mastery.
- Grade level projects will take precedent.
We don't want students doing homework for 3 hours per night. Communication is key to help make adjustments as needed. Modifications and accommodations can be made as needed.
Attendance: Please contact me as soon as possible to request work when your child is absent. Frequent absences impact academic success and foster low self-esteem as students begin to feel less connected the more they are absent.
Health and Hygiene: We appreciate families keeping us apprised of any current health considerations affecting physical or emotional to best support a child’s well-being. Schoolwide mask wearing, social distancing, and hand washing policies may or may not be in effect at any time during the school-year per administration directives. (See Parent Square Updates). It is perfectly acceptable for families to direct their own child to wear a mask as needed. Reviewing proper hygiene practices, such as hand washing, and reporting unclean, or unexpected situations related to health is strongly encouraged.
Water and Snacks - Please send your child to school with a water bottle that has a cap that won't spill and that can be easily managed by your child. Please provide healthy snacks for your child as students often need to refuel throughout the day. Sugary snacks, or snacks with heavy dyes are not permitted in the classroom. COVID can severely restrict our ability to share fun celebration items like cupcakes. Please contact the office for permission before sending any such otherwise awesome treats.
While technology is advancing as a powerful tool in education, I encourage everyone to take a break from their devices to explore, wonder and discover talents beyond the classroom in engineering (eg. lego robotics), art, music, dance, sports, hikes, and more). Students can get connected to our place by exploring historic sites, participating in community events and volunteering (eg. Waikoloa Dry Forest initiative) or in the community garden. Such opportunities promote family and community bonds, confidence and joy as students discover things about themselves and others beyond the school setting.
I look forward to working with your child this year. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. I am open to meeting to discuss, review, explain, or assist in any way I can.
Aloha and Mahalo Nui!
Pamela North
