Week 22

Good afternoon!

We all had so much fun at the Fire Safety Village! The kids were all smiles all day long!

Next week in…

Spelling: NONE

Grammar: Prepositional phrases

Reading: Fables

Writing: Character opinion writing

Science: Stars/Planets/Moon (Test THURSDAY)

Math: Adding mixed numbers

Reminders:

-          The kids will be taking their Fire Safety Post-Test on Wednesday. This will be a health grade so they do need to study. I told them to bring home their Fire Safety Workbook.

-          I decided to move the science test to Thursday to give the kids an extra day to study.

-          We will be exchanging Valentines on Valentine’s Day. Information will go home in the Thursday folders next week (which I will send home Monday- it has just been one of those weeks!)

-          Writing Fair writing is due to me on February 6^th.

-          Make sure your child is reading each night and is recording their reading on their reading log. I will be checking for these on Monday. If your child is with me for reading, they were told about the summary they should write. They should follow the somebody, wanted, but, so, then strategy and then turn that into a paragraph which should be at least 5 sentences. I told them they can turn it in any day during the week, but I will be checking for them on Friday.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

Week 21

Good afternoon!

I hope you all had a wonderful week!

Next week in…

Spelling: New spelling words, two spelling BINGO activities due Friday, and quiz Friday

Grammar: NONE

Reading: Myths

Writing: Writing about characters in books

Science: Moon phases

Math: Adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators

Reminders:

-          If your child is purchasing Chick-Fil-A for the Fire Safety Village, the money is due Monday!!! If we do not have the money by Monday, they will need to have a packed lunch or buy a lunch.

-          We go to the Fire Safety Village on Wednesday January 25^th. Please have your child wear their class t-shirt. If it is cold, you may want to put a long sleeve shirt on under it. Make sure they are dressed appropriately for the weather and they MUST wear tennis shoes since we will be outside most of the day and riding around on “go-carts”.

Shout out to Ben Trussell for representing our class in the school Spelling Bee!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Week 21

Hi parents!

Wow! What a crazy week! Although I must say, I could get used to 3 day work weeks.

Next week in…

Spelling: NONE

Grammar: reference materials

Reading: non-fiction text features

Writing: opinion writing about characters in books

Science: stars and planets

Math: fractions

Reminders:

-          No school on Monday!

-          We are taking our field trip to the Fire Safety Village on January 25^th.

-          Don’t forget, we are now selling breakfast! Let your child sleep in a few extra minutes and they can grab breakfast at school!

Have a wonderful, long weekend!

Happy New Year!

Hi parents!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday and I hope 2017 is going smoothly for you so far! My break consisted of sleeping in, not changing out of my pajamas, and wedding planning!

Thank you all again for being so generous with your gifts, they were all very appreciated.

As we begin the second half of the year, I will be implementing some small changes that will only help your child grow. On Monday, the students will receive a reading log where they will record their 2 hours of reading each week. They had previously recorded their hours in their agenda, however I found that it was too difficult to keep up with in their agenda and I feel a reading log will be more sufficient. There is a more detailed letter attached to the reading log that will help explain this a little better. The reading log is mandatory for all students.

Also, once a week the students (ONLY those that are with me for reading) will be required to write a summary about the book they are reading. The summary should be 5-7 sentences and the students should know the strategy we use for summarizing (Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then). This must be completed at home and they may turn these in whenever they want throughout the week, but I will be checking for completion AND A PARENT SIGNATURE every Friday.

Reminders:

-         Report cards will be sent home this Friday.

-         On Wednesday January 25^th we will be going to the Fire Safety Village. Please make sure you turn in both the permission form AND the informed consent paper. I must have both in order for your child to attend.

I am looking forward to starting this next half of our school year. I have seen huge growth in each student and they are truly the reason I love coming to work each day. May is going to be here before we know it!

I hope you have a great rest of your week!

Week 15

We made it to Thanksgiving break!!!!!!!

This week in…

Spelling: NONE

Grammar: We discussed what figurative language is and different types of figurative language including similes, metaphors, proverbs/adages, idioms, and personification.

Reading: We read different poems and discussed the various elements of poetry including line, verse, stanza, rhyming, and repetition.

Writing: The kids worked on completing their body paragraphs and began working on strong introductions and conclusions.

Social Studies: We learned about the last 3 explorers: John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, and Henry Hudson. There will be no test over the explorers!!!

Math: We discussed how to multiply using the distributive property and partial products.

After the break in…

Spelling: The kids will have a new spelling list. They will need to know how to spell the months of the year, the days of the week, their address, and an emergency contact phone number (could be a parent’s phone number). We are finding that many kids do not know the correct spelling for the months and days of the week and some do not know their address.

Grammar: NONE

Reading: We will be discussing the 3^rd type of writing, drama. We will discuss the different elements of dramas and the kids will perform their own reader’s theater on Friday! I will try to get them videoed and on the blog for you to see.

Writing: We will finish writing the opinion essays. These will be due on Friday December 2^nd.

Science: Our new unit will be over sound and light. We will begin this unit on Monday.

Math: We will begin discussing how to multiply 2 digit by 2 digit numbers.

Reminders:

-         -  Next week is Thanksgiving break and we do not have school all week!!! (Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let you forget!)

-        -   I will be submitting a Scholastic order December 12^th. If you order books and do not want me to give them directly to your child, please let me know.

-         -  The break is a great time to practice math facts!!! Please help us continue to improve your child’s math fluency. Traveling over the break? No worries! Calling out math facts is a great way to practice in the car or on a plane too!

o   Here are some additional multiplication fact websites:

§  http://www.multiplication.com/quiz/old/self-correcting-multiplication-online-quizzes

§  http://www.multiplication.com/

§  http://www.softschools.com/math/multiplication/multiplication_drills_game/

§  http://www.math-play.com/multiplication-games.html

§  http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/quick-flash-ii

§  http://mrnussbaum.com/multiplication/

-         -  As a way to celebrate the holidays, we will be doing a class book exchange. Each child should bring in a book that would interest another student. Boys will be exchanging with boys and girls will be exchanging with girls. Please bring in an unwrapped book with your child no later than December 16^th. We will be doing the book exchange during our holiday celebration on the 20^th from 12:40-2:00. If you know your child is going to be absent that day, they may still bring in a book and we will do an exchange for them so they can still participate in the fun! Scholastic is a great place to purchase books! They have books at a reasonably cheap price. To order a book on the Scholastic website, go to https://clubs.scholastic.com/ and use our class code Q79JX to give our class points so we can purchase more books and other resources for our class.

I hope you all have a nice, relaxing, and fun Thanksgiving break! I am thankful for each and every one of your kiddos. They may drive me crazy at times, but overall, they make me fall in love with teaching more and more every day! They are the reason I love coming to school each day! Thank you for trusting me with your precious children each day.

Week 14

Hi parents!

One more week until Thanksgiving break!!! Woohoo!

This week in…

Spelling: The kids completed Spelling BINGO activities. We took our spelling quiz this morning.

Grammar: NONE

Reading: We discussed one of the 3 types of writing, prose. We talked about the characteristics of prose and gave examples of prose. We also discussed the importance of asking questions before, during, and after reading a book. The kids came up with “thick” and “thin” questions to help with comprehension.

Writing: We continued our opinion/persuasive writing pieces.

Social Studies: We began our unit on Explorers. We discussed Christopher Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and Juan Ponce de Leon.

Math: We discussed multiplying two by one digit numbers using base 10 blocks and the area model.

Next week in…

Spelling: NONE

Grammar: We will be discussing figurative language. The kiddos will make a quilt explaining and illustrating similes, metaphors, adages/proverbs, personification, and idioms.

Reading: We will be discussing the 2^nd type of writing, poetry.

Writing: We will work on wrapping up their first opinion pieces by writing conclusions and editing with a partner.

Social Studies: We will learn about the last 3 explorers in our unit: Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, and John Cabot.

Math: We will begin discussing ways to multiply two by two digit numbers.

Reminders:

-        -   I will be submitting a scholastic order on December 12^th. 

-       -    Progress reports will go home next Thursday. Your child will only receive a progress report if they are failing a class. Please make sure you are checking Parent Vue.

-        -   Chicken Biscuits will be sold Friday.

-         -  Breakfast will start being served on December 5^th. Chick-Fil-A will no longer be served on Fridays once breakfast begins.

-         -  We will have a Thanksgiving treat on Friday from 10:20-11:00.

I hope you have a great weekend!

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Week 13

Hi parents!

Only 2 more weeks until Thanksgiving break!!!

This week in…

Spelling: We decided as a team that having a spelling, grammar, and reading assessment on Friday was too much so we are going to switch back and forth between spelling and grammar each week. Mrs. Burns will continue to give her spelling list to a couple of her kiddos each week.

Grammar: We continued talking about capitalization. We took a quiz this morning.

Reading: In reading we wrapped up our discussion on point of view. The kids have done a phenomenal job with this!

Writing: We have continued to discuss opinion writing and how to write strong, persuasive essays.

Science: The kids took the Forces and Motion test on Wednesday. Those were sent home yesterday in the Thursday folders. They took the Simple Machine test this afternoon.

Math: We have continued to discuss multiplication patterns and multiplying with base 10 blocks. As promised, I have  a video explaining how we multiply in 4^th grade. I have also emailed a PowerPoint and a parent letter with more explanations.

Next week in…

Spelling: The kids will get a new spelling list next week. You can find the spelling words under the Spelling section on my blog. 

Grammar: NONE

Reading: We will be discussing questioning and prose.

Writing: We will continue to discuss opinion writing and how to make strong arguments using evidence and examples.

Social Studies: Our new unit on Explorers will begin on Monday. The explorers we will be discussing next week are Christopher Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and Ponce de Leon.

Math: We will be discussing multiplication of 1 by 2 digit numbers with models and multiplication with regrouping using base 10 blocks.

Here is the link to the video that I made! https://www.educreations.com/lesson/embed/41207482/?s=h4C4dQ&ref=app

I hope it is helpful!

Don’t forget:

-         - There is no school on Tuesday (Election Day).

-         - We will be selling chicken biscuits on Friday.

-         - I will let you know of the date I will be placing the next order as soon as possible, but it will be around the second week of December.

If you have any questions, please let me know!