Recent class news, happenings and photos
As part of our social studies unit, the students learned about the four main California regions- coast, valley, desert, and mountain. Students read through unit lessons, took notes, and are working to create beautiful flip books showcasing the four California regions.
Students should have all notes on the inside completed, then use the directed drawing video to draw each of the covers for the four regions. All pictures should be fully colored and fully outlined. Samples are below.
Every year, Woodbury students love Grade Level PE! This is a program that is led by our PE Paraprofessional staff. They teach our children important gross motor skills by leading various stretches, games, relays, obstacle courses, and exercises. The kids always love playing the games, and the staff is great at keeping the kids engaged while exercising to stay healthy.
Please be sure your child wears comfortable closed-toe shoes everyday for their safety, and especially on PE days. We will have PE every Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. Your child will especially need good sneakers to run in, a water bottle (with their name on it), and sunscreen as necessary. If your child is ever injured or doesn't feel well enough for PE, please be sure to send a written note or email requesting an excusal.
Typically, PE is done outside on the field. If the weather is too hot or rainy, then PE is done in the multi-purpose room or in the classroom.
UPDATED 8/7/25: Thank you to all of the families who attended BTSN! The kids loved getting the special 3-2-1 notes you wrote them. Take a look at the pictures of several of them discovering the notes when they walked into class the next morning. If you did not attend, you may view the presentation slides online. Additionally, your child will be bringing home important papers that were distributed.
——————————————————————
Mark your calendars: Wednesday, August 6th is Back to School Night. The meeting will held on campus in our classroom, Room 14. The meeting is for parents to attend only.
- Grades 4-6: 5:45 - 6:30 PM
- Grades 1-3: 6:45 - 7:15 PM
Woodbury Elementary loves its parent volunteers and campus guests, but we really love and value the safety of our children a great deal. The children are our number one priority. Please be sure to sign in at the front office and wear your visitor's badge whenever you come on campus as a parent volunteer or a classroom visitor. All visitors must have their driver's license scanned into the front office's Raptor system the first time, and then visitors will sign in and out at the front office computers every time after.
Thank you for your cooperation and support.
Woodbury Elementary and IUSD is committed to teaching students to maintain a "growth mindset." What is a growth mindset? It means that someone believes they can learn or grow to be good at something or to get better at something through practice, repetition, and hard work. Someone who believes in having a fixed mindset believes that people are only born with as much ability or intelligence as they could possibly have, and that they cannot get better at something.
In the classroom, we want the children to fail occasionally. Making mistakes is a natural and NECESSARY part of learning. As their teacher, I want my students to know that I make plenty of mistakes all the time-- but that's because we're all human. And it's okay to make mistakes as long as we learn from them! I maintain a growth mindset because I know that with dedicated time and effort, I can learn many new things and grow in many different abilities. The children should be encouraged to feel and believe that they can learn and grow too. They need to believe in a growth mindset.
Tips for promoting a growth mindset in kids (adapted from Sarah McKay; yourbrainhealth.com):
Help children understand that the brain works like a muscle. It can only grow through hard work, determination, and lots and lots of practice.
Praise the process and not always the outcome. It's effort, hard work, and practice that allow children to achieve their true potential.
Don't always focus on the outcome or results, whether it is good or bad.
Embrace failures and mistakes. Children sometimes learn the most when they fail. Let them know that mistakes are a big part of the learning process. There is nothing like the feeling of struggling through a very difficult problem, only to finally break through and solve it! The harder the problem, the more satisfying it is to find the solution.
Encourage participation and collaborative group learning. Children learn best when they are immersed in a topic and are allowed to discuss and advance with their peers.
Encourage competency-based learning. Get kids excited about subject matter by explaining why it is important and how it will help them in the future. The goal should never be to get the "correct" answer, but to understand the topic at a fundamental, deep level, and to want to learn more.
This week has been such a whirlwind! I have already fallen in love with my new students, and I am just in awe of how polite and well-mannered they are. The students consistently use polite words such as "please" and "thank you." They are helpful, thoughtful, and respectful. Room 14's parents should be proud.
This website is designed to give parents a "window into the classroom." My hope is that it helps solve the dilemma that many parents face when they ask their child, "So what did you do in school today?" And the child's only response is a lackluster, "I don't know" or "Nothing." I will post many updates and pictures of what the children are specifically learning in class so that parents are aware of what occurs in the classroom.
Here are a few snapshots of what has occurred at school so far.
During the first week of third grade, the students worked on a flipbook. It was a great project to kick off the new year. The kids did such an amazing job on them. They are all so colorful and well-done.
Conferences will be conducted virtually over Zoom (unless families specifically request and confirm to meet in person). Conference appointment times will be available on:
Wednesday, August 20th
Thursday, August 21st
Friday, August 22nd
Saturday, August 23rd
I am making Saturday conference slots available to help accommodate our parents who work full-time and cannot easily step away for a mid-day / mid-week meeting (please be aware that this is only an accommodation that I happen to offer; it is not an accommodation that the whole school or other teachers might be able to offer if you have children in other grade levels).
We will discuss your child's strengths and areas of focus, and together, create a plan for your child's success. Please choose the time that works best for you and click on "Sign Up."
PLEASE be on time to your assigned date/time. Missing your conference slot or arriving late can impact the rest of the day's schedule for other families, and it is very difficult to reschedule.
Type in your child's first and last name in the "My Child's Name" slot.
Please sign up online for your preferred date and time. Conferences are about twenty minutes.
XtraMath is a web program designed to help kids master their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. Students will be encouraged to practice their math facts frequently at home in order to know all multiplication and division math facts with automaticity (within 3 seconds) by the end of the school year. The sooner the kids master their math facts, the sooner and more comfortable they will be with solving complex math problems in class and during homework.
All families were provided a parent letter with an enrollment code for their child. Students should log in to XtraMath at home to practice. We will also log in and use the program in class.
The program begins with a placement assessment. Once placement is done, each day a student signs into XtraMath they start off with a two minute Progress Quiz to check what progress they’ve made. Students do not take more than one progress quiz a day. The mastery score and fluency matrix reflect this progress.
XtraMath sessions are short — about 10 minutes or less — and are ideally intended to be done once a day. A typical session consists of a few quiz and practice activities, each lasting about two minutes.
View this Family Intro Guide to set up your child’s Xtra Math account.
Go to: www.xtramath.org
Enter “ericadyer@iusd.org” as the Teacher Email
Enter the 4-digit pin number provided by Mrs. Dyer
***Note: If your child already has an account from their 2nd grade teacher, the program/enrollment code should merge your child’s account into our third grade class if you are logging in with the same email address as when you first registered.
Students will use XtraMath to practice math facts for homework at least twice a week (T/TH). Your child can always use the resource more frequently at home to level up faster. Students will take math facts fluency assessments generally every Friday in this order: 10s, 5s, 2s, 4s, 8s, 3s, 6s, 9s, 7s
Woodbury Elementary has a math intervention program called ST Math. This engaging computer-based program is a fun way for children to practice and solidify their math skills. All Woodbury students have accounts set up for this new program already, and students will have access to JiJi Math both at school and at home. For use at home, please see the attachment below for detailed instructions.
Student Login Information (for first time login). ***Important: If your child doesn't remember his/her picture password, he/she will need to click on the rectangle with the two horizontal lines (like an equal (=) sign) and use their username/password combination. Then the program will take them through a picture password training session first. If your child DOES know their picture password, he/she can just click in their picture password to log in.
Username: student computer login (i.e. 30smithjohn)
Password: 9-digit student ID number
Watch the video below to learn how to log in.
The program begins with a math placement assessment. It will start off very easy (matching puzzle pieces together), and progress to more difficult levels to measure students' math skills. Students should continue through the initial math placement until it is complete. Afterwards, the program will automatically monitor the child's progress and adjust levels accordingly.
Yes. If you are a school, school district or homeschool family that has purchased ST Math, you may access the software on touch-enabled devices. Technical requirements can be found here.
The program is online and there’s no need to download any software. However, a high-speed Internet connection is required for each device running ST Math. See the Technical Requirements.
Yes! Subscribers can use the ST Math app for Android tablets, Chromebooks, iPads, and Kindles. For more information and to download the app, go to ST Math Tech Requirements.
