There are many updates that I have to give to you. Please mark these on your calendars so that you can remember them.
The Halloween party will be held on Wed., Oct. 31st. The party will begin at 2:35 and the parade will begin around 3:05. This is different than most years, having the party first and the parade second.
Please remember that your child may dress up in an APPROPRIATE costume. There will NOT be time for your child to put on any Halloween make up of any kind! Please remember that the costumes may not have any type of weapons with them. The children will not have much time to change so please make sure that their costumes are easy to put on. It may be a good idea to label your child's costume with their name as well. You are free to take your child home after the parade as long as you tell me first and check them out in the main office.
Conference times will be sent home today. Please write your conference time down on the calendar since our time is limited to 20 minutes. If we find that we need additional time to talk I will reschedule an additional time for us to meet so that I can stay on schedule. Your child's report card will be sent home Nov. 5th in their red folder.
Tomorrow we will be celebrating the end of our SS unit by watching the move The Newsies. The movie theater has graciously donated popcorn for the kids to eat. Children may bring in a drink to have during the movie. They may also bring in a snack to share with the class if they want. If your child cannot eat popcorn they may bring in an alternate snack.
Next week is Red Ribbon Week. There will be several special activities happening during the week. I have listed them below:
Monday - Red Ribbon Day - Wear your red ribbons (provided by the school) to signify your belief in a drug free life.
Tuesday - Black and orange day - doing fun and healthy activities with friends.
Wednesday - Costume Day - wearing your costume at the party to signify that drugs cannot be disguised. They are dangerous.
Thursday - Backwards day - wear your shirt backwards to signify that you are turning your back on drugs.
Friday - Hat day- Hats off to a drug free life.
Please continue to have your child practice learning their states, capitals, and abbreviations of the U.S. A trimester test was given and many children were not proficient on the NE region states.
Our class continues to work on homework completion. This is an area that is concerning to me. Children need to learn to be responsible for their learning and their assignements.
As the weather grows colder I am looking for items that can be used for arts and crafts for indoor recess. Some favorites are beads, buttons, foam, lanyard string, coloring books, and glitter.
Thursday, October 25, 2012
Friday, October 12, 2012
Falling into Fall
As we fall into the colder weather please make sure that your child has warm clothes for recess. In our classroom it is hard to know what to wear since it is either very hot or very cold in the room. having your child wear layers is the best way to survive the changing temperatures both inside and outside. I would like to reccomend that girls not wear sandals anymore since they cannot wear them at recess or PE. Having a coat, hat, and mittens for recess would be great!
This week we worked very hard on learning common and proper nouns in grammar. We worked on comparing and contrasting our reading stories and making sure that we understood the author's purpose. The children had to make inferences to understand what the authors purpose was.
In writing we worked on understanding what a topic sentence is and how to write one. Mrs. Christenson has been coming in to teach writing with us. We are gearing the children up to write an opinion piece.
In math we have been working on learning place value, and how to convert decimals to fractions and vice versa. We also worked on ordering decimals from smallest to largest. We have two children who are still in the 5 minute addition club. Our goal is that by next Friday all children have moved into the subtraction club. Please have your child work on learning their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts! The majority of 4th graders are not fluent in their math facts. That is a fundamental foundation for all we learn in math this year.
In Social Studies we took the NE region states and capital test. The results will be sent home sometime next week. We will be finishing the Progressive Era next week. To celebrate our completion of the unit all 4th graders will be watching the Disney movie The Newsies on Oct. 26th. We are working on having a movie theatre donate popcorn to the kids and then I will allow the kids to bring in a special drink of their choice. More information will come as the event gets closer.
We have finished the rock and mineral unit in science and the kids have been focusing on test taking strategies until the next science kit comes.
Thank you to Olivia and Zoe D. for donating class pets to the room. We are now the proud "parents" to a tadpole and a gecko. Several kids have asked about bringing in other animals for pets. At this time I think we have enough pets in the room. I would like to save those "special" pets like snakes and spiders for Mr. Bergert and the 5th grade. :)
Please continue to work on homework completion with your child. They need to know that they have responsibilities they must uphold.
This week we worked very hard on learning common and proper nouns in grammar. We worked on comparing and contrasting our reading stories and making sure that we understood the author's purpose. The children had to make inferences to understand what the authors purpose was.
In writing we worked on understanding what a topic sentence is and how to write one. Mrs. Christenson has been coming in to teach writing with us. We are gearing the children up to write an opinion piece.
In math we have been working on learning place value, and how to convert decimals to fractions and vice versa. We also worked on ordering decimals from smallest to largest. We have two children who are still in the 5 minute addition club. Our goal is that by next Friday all children have moved into the subtraction club. Please have your child work on learning their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts! The majority of 4th graders are not fluent in their math facts. That is a fundamental foundation for all we learn in math this year.
In Social Studies we took the NE region states and capital test. The results will be sent home sometime next week. We will be finishing the Progressive Era next week. To celebrate our completion of the unit all 4th graders will be watching the Disney movie The Newsies on Oct. 26th. We are working on having a movie theatre donate popcorn to the kids and then I will allow the kids to bring in a special drink of their choice. More information will come as the event gets closer.
We have finished the rock and mineral unit in science and the kids have been focusing on test taking strategies until the next science kit comes.
Thank you to Olivia and Zoe D. for donating class pets to the room. We are now the proud "parents" to a tadpole and a gecko. Several kids have asked about bringing in other animals for pets. At this time I think we have enough pets in the room. I would like to save those "special" pets like snakes and spiders for Mr. Bergert and the 5th grade. :)
Please continue to work on homework completion with your child. They need to know that they have responsibilities they must uphold.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Testing and Tenement Week
This week the students have been busy taking the unit 1 reading test. I will send you their results as soon as I get them graded. So far I am impressed with the time the children are taking on the test to read and re-read each question. I feel very positive about their upcoming results!
The students will also be taking the unit 3 math test this week. As we have taught this unit it is apparent to all of the 4th grade teachers that all the kiddos need more practice on their basic math facts. The Truman Website has a great game called Math Flashcards that the kids have all been to that they can use at home to help them get to know their math facts more fluently! We still have 7 kids in the class who have not passed the 5 minute club addition. These kids should be practicing this test every night at home until they pass it.
The children have finished up the Earth Materials unit in science so now they are working on solving story problems. It is called Learn It, Know It, Show It. They will also be working on the RUCKUS story problem plan to help them understand story problems better.
Homework completion has gotten a bit better. The class earned one mystery motivator last Friday for having a successful week of returning homework. This week all children have NOT returned their homework so they will not earn their reward. Our class yellow ticket jar is almost full again. This time the kids voted to earn a movie and popcorn party. I plan to ask the Carmike Cinema to donate the popcorn to us when we earn this reward.
Please remember that tenement houses are due this Friday as are the book orders!
I plan to assemble the tenement houses in the glass case by the gym. If you are at school be sure to look at them!
Please make sure that your child have a coat at school as the weather turns colder!
The students will also be taking the unit 3 math test this week. As we have taught this unit it is apparent to all of the 4th grade teachers that all the kiddos need more practice on their basic math facts. The Truman Website has a great game called Math Flashcards that the kids have all been to that they can use at home to help them get to know their math facts more fluently! We still have 7 kids in the class who have not passed the 5 minute club addition. These kids should be practicing this test every night at home until they pass it.
The children have finished up the Earth Materials unit in science so now they are working on solving story problems. It is called Learn It, Know It, Show It. They will also be working on the RUCKUS story problem plan to help them understand story problems better.
Homework completion has gotten a bit better. The class earned one mystery motivator last Friday for having a successful week of returning homework. This week all children have NOT returned their homework so they will not earn their reward. Our class yellow ticket jar is almost full again. This time the kids voted to earn a movie and popcorn party. I plan to ask the Carmike Cinema to donate the popcorn to us when we earn this reward.
Please remember that tenement houses are due this Friday as are the book orders!
I plan to assemble the tenement houses in the glass case by the gym. If you are at school be sure to look at them!
Please make sure that your child have a coat at school as the weather turns colder!
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