Parent Help
Grades and PowerSchool
We need to make sure that every family has an active PowerSchool account that parents (and students) are able to check on a daily basis. I work very hard to keep grades current on a daily basis. You should never have a question about your child's grades and if you do, you should contact me right away.
Progress reports and report cards are not what they used to be. The district no longer prints or emails report cards home. You must go into PowerSchool and find them. This is something you should be doing on a daily basis anyway, thus removing the need for an "official" progress report or report card.
The button below takes you to the Parent Sign In page for PowerSchool.
Progress reports and report cards are not what they used to be. The district no longer prints or emails report cards home. You must go into PowerSchool and find them. This is something you should be doing on a daily basis anyway, thus removing the need for an "official" progress report or report card.
The button below takes you to the Parent Sign In page for PowerSchool.
Agenda Cheat Sheet
We use lots of different resources, and when you go to help your child and see, "TPN: Skills and Strategies", you probably don't know what that means or where it is located. I also acknowledge that just because it makes sense to myself and the kids, it doesn't always translate to parents trying to help their children out. What follows is a cheat sheet for what all those "things" mean in the agenda and where they are located. Please let me know if there is something you think should be added to the list.
Boddle: This is a free website that we use for math. The kids like the fun, game atmosphere and I like that I can actually take grades from their work.
CCS: Common Core Sheets is a free math website that I can use to assign work for a grade or practice. Any work here will originate from a link, under the math tile in Schoology.
DE: DiscoveryEd is our science series and is found on the Classlink Page.
Documented Silent Reading: This Excel Spreadsheet is a recording page, found under the Reading tile and is what the kids use to record their daily silent reading minutes.
Epic!: This is the reading website the kids love! It is found right next to the ReadWorks button described above. It is free until 3:00 in the afternoon. It would be my number one recommendation for a subscription site if your child wanted to use it after 3:00. Money well spent for sure!
FLIP: Formally Flipgrid, is used to make videos. We will use this awesome tool for science, math, and many other areas. The kids love the fun tools. Every time we make a project, the individual videos are put together in a "Mixtape" and these can all be found here - MrFormm.com = Online - Flip - Scroll down to "Our Mixtapes" section. These are great to share with family and friends so they can see what your child is up to.
Google Chrome - This web browser is on your computer and can be used for other things.
MH: McGraw-Hill is our reading series, and it is found on the Classlink page.
Microsoft Edge - This is the web browser we should all be using for almost everything we do.
MMMR: Monday Morning Math Review is how we start out every Monday morning with a 7-question review of what I consider key math concepts for the year. These questions change every marking period and are completed withing Schoology.
OB: Open Book is the social studies book we use. The kids will download one chapter at a time onto their desktops and open the book from there. Most social studies work will be done with a combination of the OB book, resources I gather on MrFromm.com and the TPN.
PPT: PowerPoints are used all the time to learn from and to create projects to highlight what we have learned. No matter what, they all start from a link that can be found under the appropriate tile in Schoology.
P&P: Pencil and Paper - you will normally see this in math when want the kids to actually use pencil and paper (or their dry erase boards) to do math problems so that I can see them actually working the problems out.
RW: ReadWorks is a reading site we use every single day, sometimes more than once a day. You will find the link to this site by going here - MrFromm.com - Language Arts - ReadWorks button.
Schoology - Our starting point where we join our meetings, see our different subjects, and get to some of our technology.
Schoology Courses - These tiles match the report card, where math lessons will be in the "Math" tile, writing lessons in the "Written Communication" tile, etc.
Spelling City: This is our spelling program that has the weekly lists that correlate to the reading series, with three different levels of words that the kids can choose from. You get there by following these steps - MrFromm.com - Language Arts - Spelling City button.
TC: ThinkCentral is our math series, and it is found on the Classlink Page.
TM: TeacherMade is a website where I can create worksheets that can be graded. These will always originate from a link, under a tile, in Schoology.
TPN: "The Purple Notebook" or a Onenote ClassNotebook- This Microsoft product is my most valuable tool in working with your child. It allows me to "pass out" and "collect" papers to see your child's work. Amazingly, I can actually see your child's work in real time and help them as they are doing their work. Your child has this application "pinned" to their task bar and can get to it with one click of their mouse. There are tabs that lead to pages that change on a weekly basis.
V.F.T.: Virtual Field Trips start by going here - MrFromm.com - Home - Distance Learning - "MISD Virtual Field Trips". We are signed up for more than 20 of these this year and they are a great change of pace, a nice distraction to our normal routine, and new voice to listen to for at least an hour.
Weekly Journals: These are always found under the "Written Communication" tile in Schoology, along with any other writing assignments.
Boddle: This is a free website that we use for math. The kids like the fun, game atmosphere and I like that I can actually take grades from their work.
CCS: Common Core Sheets is a free math website that I can use to assign work for a grade or practice. Any work here will originate from a link, under the math tile in Schoology.
DE: DiscoveryEd is our science series and is found on the Classlink Page.
Documented Silent Reading: This Excel Spreadsheet is a recording page, found under the Reading tile and is what the kids use to record their daily silent reading minutes.
Epic!: This is the reading website the kids love! It is found right next to the ReadWorks button described above. It is free until 3:00 in the afternoon. It would be my number one recommendation for a subscription site if your child wanted to use it after 3:00. Money well spent for sure!
FLIP: Formally Flipgrid, is used to make videos. We will use this awesome tool for science, math, and many other areas. The kids love the fun tools. Every time we make a project, the individual videos are put together in a "Mixtape" and these can all be found here - MrFormm.com = Online - Flip - Scroll down to "Our Mixtapes" section. These are great to share with family and friends so they can see what your child is up to.
Google Chrome - This web browser is on your computer and can be used for other things.
MH: McGraw-Hill is our reading series, and it is found on the Classlink page.
Microsoft Edge - This is the web browser we should all be using for almost everything we do.
MMMR: Monday Morning Math Review is how we start out every Monday morning with a 7-question review of what I consider key math concepts for the year. These questions change every marking period and are completed withing Schoology.
OB: Open Book is the social studies book we use. The kids will download one chapter at a time onto their desktops and open the book from there. Most social studies work will be done with a combination of the OB book, resources I gather on MrFromm.com and the TPN.
PPT: PowerPoints are used all the time to learn from and to create projects to highlight what we have learned. No matter what, they all start from a link that can be found under the appropriate tile in Schoology.
P&P: Pencil and Paper - you will normally see this in math when want the kids to actually use pencil and paper (or their dry erase boards) to do math problems so that I can see them actually working the problems out.
RW: ReadWorks is a reading site we use every single day, sometimes more than once a day. You will find the link to this site by going here - MrFromm.com - Language Arts - ReadWorks button.
Schoology - Our starting point where we join our meetings, see our different subjects, and get to some of our technology.
Schoology Courses - These tiles match the report card, where math lessons will be in the "Math" tile, writing lessons in the "Written Communication" tile, etc.
Spelling City: This is our spelling program that has the weekly lists that correlate to the reading series, with three different levels of words that the kids can choose from. You get there by following these steps - MrFromm.com - Language Arts - Spelling City button.
TC: ThinkCentral is our math series, and it is found on the Classlink Page.
TM: TeacherMade is a website where I can create worksheets that can be graded. These will always originate from a link, under a tile, in Schoology.
TPN: "The Purple Notebook" or a Onenote ClassNotebook- This Microsoft product is my most valuable tool in working with your child. It allows me to "pass out" and "collect" papers to see your child's work. Amazingly, I can actually see your child's work in real time and help them as they are doing their work. Your child has this application "pinned" to their task bar and can get to it with one click of their mouse. There are tabs that lead to pages that change on a weekly basis.
V.F.T.: Virtual Field Trips start by going here - MrFromm.com - Home - Distance Learning - "MISD Virtual Field Trips". We are signed up for more than 20 of these this year and they are a great change of pace, a nice distraction to our normal routine, and new voice to listen to for at least an hour.
Weekly Journals: These are always found under the "Written Communication" tile in Schoology, along with any other writing assignments.
My goal is that your child will be able to do 95% of what I ask them to do on their own or with my help. With that being said, there are four areas that I need your help with.
Monday Morning Math Review = Monday Night Homework
The first thing we do every Monday morning is complete a seven-question math review. These questions change every marking period and cover, what I think are, the most important types of questions the kids should be able to do. The kids will complete this task Monday morning, have a chance to fix any missed problem on their own, and then I will post any missed questions in each child's Teams chat. I ask that you go over these with your child, so they understand what they did wrong. This should be considered a Monday night homework assignment where you and your child sit down in front of their computer, open Teams and look in the chat to see if I have posted any missed problems from the Monday Morning Math Review. If there are no problems, that means they got 100% and there is nothing to do. If you see a problem(s) posted, I am asking that you help your child write the problem out using pencil and paper and find the mistake. Please remember, the type of problems will remain the same during each marking period, so more problems will be missed the first few weeks and fewer problems missed as the marking period goes on. Then we will start all over again at the beginning of the next marking period.
Weekly Reading Homework - Wednesday 8:00 p.m. deadline
Every Monday morning, at exactly 8:00 a.m., you will receive an email that will include the answer key to that week's reading homework assignment. This reading assignment is due Wednesday night, by 8:00 p.m. The students will be encouraged to complete it early and not wait to the last minute. Because this is a regular assignment, and a reading "grade" is not placed on the report card, late assignments will be marked as a "zero" in PowerSchool, but only you and I will be able to see that "zero".
The process to complete this assignment will be taught like this...
Phase One: Students predict (guess) their ten answers BEFORE reading the story for the first time.
Phase Two: Students reread the story and change any answers.
Phase Three: Students will check with parents to compare answers to the answer key emailed home. Mistakes should be discussed and changed. Students will submit their work before 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday night.
It is expected that each child will get a 10/10 (100%) on these assignments to prove they went over the assignment with an adult who has received the answer key. This is the one time each week I need you to make contact with your child for the explicit reason to work on reading instruction. I also want you to see and experience the types of questions they are being asked to answer in the reading series and on the NWEA and M-STEP tests.
The process to complete this assignment will be taught like this...
Phase One: Students predict (guess) their ten answers BEFORE reading the story for the first time.
Phase Two: Students reread the story and change any answers.
Phase Three: Students will check with parents to compare answers to the answer key emailed home. Mistakes should be discussed and changed. Students will submit their work before 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday night.
It is expected that each child will get a 10/10 (100%) on these assignments to prove they went over the assignment with an adult who has received the answer key. This is the one time each week I need you to make contact with your child for the explicit reason to work on reading instruction. I also want you to see and experience the types of questions they are being asked to answer in the reading series and on the NWEA and M-STEP tests.
Silent Reading Documentation - The most important thing we do each day!
For many reasons, that will be explained in other places, I believe the most important thing your child should do every day is silent read for 20 minutes and document their progress. I have built these 20 minutes into our day, from 12:00 - 12:20, and I need you to make sure that your child stops their lunch break on time, has access to reading materials (online or physical books), and documents their progress in that month's reading log.
Individual Help When Contacted
There will be two different situations where I will contact you by email and ask for help: academic or behavioral help. Academic help would be where I need your help with a school assignment to help your child understand a concept or complete an assignment. This happens a lot at the beginning of the year and a good example would be where the class is assigned something to do and four kids don't get it done. If one of those four are your child, you will receive an email that will say something like, "Please have your child complete the Unit 2, Lesson 3 math assignment in Think Central".
Behavioral help occurs when your child is not following directions, or doing something different when they should be doing schoolwork. I am able to screen shot anything your child is doing at any time and I will send you proof of what they were doing. I will need your help, especially at the beginning of the year, to set the correct tone. This means that we do schoolwork during school time and other things on our own time. The easiest examples include kids watching YouTube or playing Minecraft Education when they need to be doing something else.
Behavioral help occurs when your child is not following directions, or doing something different when they should be doing schoolwork. I am able to screen shot anything your child is doing at any time and I will send you proof of what they were doing. I will need your help, especially at the beginning of the year, to set the correct tone. This means that we do schoolwork during school time and other things on our own time. The easiest examples include kids watching YouTube or playing Minecraft Education when they need to be doing something else.
Online Classroom Structure
This flow chart is meant to show the main online components of our clasroom and what we use them for.
| class_structure.pdf |