The first half of the school year is flying by! We've been working on all kinds of things. Students are becoming great at using text features and knowing how a non-fiction text is organized. They're using what they know about creative beginnings, good endings, and the parts of a paragraph to write personal narratives about our field trip to Honey Creek Schoolhouse. We'll be adding the finished writing to our digital learning portfolios soon! Students have also begun doing scientific observations of plants growing in different locations around the school. Ask your student how long they think the plant in our storage room will last or what happened to our plant that stayed outside during the deluge of rain.
Students attended a presentation by our local fire department this week where they learned how important an exit plan is for their homes. They'll be bringing home a handout about home fire exit plans. Our local firefighters also showed us all the pieces of safety equipment they wear. We'll be having a little fun snack tomorrow afternoon in celebration of Fall and Halloween. I hope everyone has a safe and fun weekend. Hopefully the weather won't ruin anyone's plans! It was a big week in 4th grade!
Grade cards went home this afternoon and I know that Science grade is confusing. Here is what happened with it. Our scoring is based on a 4 point scale. The grade card system is set up to let me enter Math and Reading grades using that scale. The Science section is not. So, when I entered scores in as 3 out of 4 (I gave every student this score because we've done one part of the unit and we're still working on the other), they showed up as a 75% or a C. I know that's confusing and I'm sorry. I'm getting used to this new grade book system and am happy to answer any questions you have. We spent today at Honey Creek Schoolhouse and had a wonderful time. The weather was beautiful, the school was amazing, and we had a lot of fun! Here are some pictures of our day! Hello 4th grade families! I hope everyone has been having a nice week off. We had a busy but great last week before Fall Break. Students presented their book reports to the class. There were so many excellent shoe box scenes, posters, and presentations! I know I heard about several books I want to read soon. We're also getting very close to everyone mastering their 1-10 multiplication facts. When everyone completes theirs we will have a celebration!
In the coming week students will begin new units in reading, math, and writing. We will also begin our first, albeit brief, social studies unit. Read more about those things on the homepage! Our class gets to go to Honey Creek Schoolhouse on Friday! Every student needs a packed lunch and clothing appropriate for spending time outside. No sandals, please! Students may dress in 1880s-inspired clothing if they wish, but they do not need to. We have also started literature circles. The whole 4th grade has been broken up into groups to read and evaluate either a novel or poetry. Students will be building fluency, expression, and comprehension skills in these groups. As a reminder, students bring home an assignment sheet every week. The assignment sheet has a reading log on the front and homework activities on the back. We will be switching from math facts to language review for the homework activities for the next few weeks. Students also bring home a poem to practice their reading fluency. They should read the poem to someone 4-5 times throughout the week. Take-home binders with homework are checked every Monday. Thank you and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone back after a great break! I'm sorry about the later update this week. Our week is off to a great start. Several students presented their book reports and they are fantastic. So creative! So thoughtful!
Students worked very hard last week on learning to infer what an author is saying in addition to the words written. We'll continue working on making inferences this week. Several students have mastered multiplication facts 1-10! When the whole class has them mastered, we'll have a celebration! Three cheers for fact fluency! Students have also worked very hard to finish up their science posters about animal adaptations. Students have learned how and why different animals have adapted their behaviors and their bodies to their environment. Remember that school pictures are tomorrow! I've set up a sign up through Sign Up Genius for parent-teacher conferences. They will be held toward the end of October. Here is the link, if you're interested in arranging one. There will also be information coming home with your student. They are not required, but I'm always happy to discuss your student's progress! This week will be a busy one! Your student will have earned their week off for Fall Break! Old National Bank is giving away a $1,000 grant to the school with the most votes. No sign-up, no strings, just a little boost for our school! Here's the link! You will be asked to enter your email address, but it says you will not receive communications from them for entering.
We've had a wonderful week in the classroom! Students are finishing their classified ads featuring adjectives and adverbs. The ads are clever, creative, and often hilarious. What a great group of writers! They will be on display in our hallway soon! We held Student Council Elections today. Several students chose to write speeches and run for three available positions. Our representatives will join other fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students to plan events and discuss school issues. Students also took home information about our first field trip of the year! We will go to Honey Creek Schoolhouse on Friday, October 15th. Please read the letter for more information and return the completed permission slip to school. As the letter explains, students may dress in 1800's-style clothing if they want, but they do not have to. Being dressed for the weather will be the most important part. Book report presentations will begin Monday, September 28th. 5-6 students will present their project each day. We have looked at a few sample projects in class over the past few weeks. Hopefully, your student is excited and almost finished with their book! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! First of all, I hope everyone got a chance to enjoy this beautiful Fall weather! I'm glad it seems to be cooling down a bit.
As we move further into the school year it is so important to make sure students continue to do reading throughout the week. Ideally, students should be reading around 20 minutes a night for 3-4 nights per week. I completely understand that schedules can get crazy and I've made sure to let the kids know that if they need to read a little longer for 2 nights or for shorter amounts of time on several days that's fine. The important part is that they are getting 60-80 minutes of reading outside of school each week. Students and/or parents should be logging this reading on the reading log at the bottom of their weekly assignment sheets. The assignment sheets also have information about what we're working on and any reminders about events at school. Make sure to check in with your student about their assignment sheet. We have started tracking our progress on the Essential Skills for 4th grade. Students keep tracking sheets in their academic binder to record assessment scores and write short reflections about their progress. This is a great way for students to see how far they've come and think about how they can continue to improve. The YMCA Energize program came to Lakeview on Thursday. Students learned about the My Plate diagram for healthy eating and about ways to be active without a lot of space. They also got to practice relay races for a little casual competition and emphasis on following directions. We're looking forward to our next Energize program in November. School pictures will be taken on September 29th. More information will be sent home when it is available. Fall Break is October 5th through 9th. School will not be in session during that week. Thanks for all you do! |
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April 2016
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