October 28th

Conference Week!
I have really enjoyed meeting with all of the families during this week. I have an amazing classroom with amazing students and meeting the parents of these students makes it all make sense.

This week we built series circuits and tested a variety of conductors and insulators. Students brought in items from home to test. The students really enjoyed working with the different materials.

In Language Arts we continue to talk about asking questions to help develop our understanding. Please continue to read with your students and encourage to ask questions about the things that they are reading. This week we also talked about the moral of a story. As a class we read and listened to The Paper Bag Princess. Feel free to ask your students what the lesson of that story was! 

As you might have noticed there is not a lot of homework coming home. Students are encouraged to strengthen their skills by utilizing the links on our classroom blog. The Learning Links section has a variety of activities for each subject. Multiplication and division facts continue to be an important key to solving more complex mathematical concepts. Please encourage your students to check out the activities!

Over the last couple of weeks we have been VERY lucky to have dads come and participate in our career share. The students are really enjoying learning about different careers. I look forward to many more visits!

Making Change

This week we have been working on the skill of making change. The websites below are great ways for your student to practice making change.


http://justkidsgames.com/play.php?MakingChange

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/MakingChange/default.htm

http://www.superkidz.com/counting.html

http://www.mrnussbaum.com/lunchlady/index.html

October 22

What an eventful week we have had! It was so nice to see some of you at Family Math Night last night! This week we focused on the skill of Questioning. Students have been asking questions about a variety of objects, including a new food. Ask them to tell you a little about Quinoa! Questioning is a great way to get students to start thinking about what they're reading.


In Social Studies this week students started a Missouri Rivers Project. Students will be working in pairs to complete a PowerPoint that shares information about Missouri's rivers. I look forward to sharing your students work with you!


Next week we will be focusing on Electricity and building a variety of circuits.


Because of our short week students will not be taking a spellinng test until Monday of next week.


Report cards are coming home today. Please look at your student's report card, sign their envelope and return it to school on Monday. Your student's conference time can be found on their grade card.

October 15, 2010

There is NO school on Monday, October 18th for students!

Touchdown Family Math Night

Where: EL

When: Thursday, October 21st 6:30- 7:30pm

Why: Play fun math games with family and friends

Please bring new kids' boxers and socks to donate to the PH Clothing Center

Our Fall Festival is right around the corner... Friday, October 22nd! Fourth Grade's theme is the 60s and 70s! Come dressed like a groovy hippy from the 60s or a disco dancer from the 70s!

Parent Teacher Conferences are October 27 and the 28th. I will send home a conference reminder and questionnaire on Tuesday the 19th. Please return the questionnaire by October 25th.

Working with Words

This week you will be getting our second round of "Working with Words". This part of the Language Arts curriculum is based on "Words Their Way" by Donald Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane Templeton, and Francine Johnston. I assessed the children's knowledge of phonics and spelling patterns and then matched them with the level of word study they need. Each week your child will get a new page of sorting words, focusing on a specific letter sound or spelling pattern. We discuss the words and then sort them into groups. During the week we sort, resort, speed sort and play games to build up our familiarity with the sound or pattern. Sorting is a thinking skill which requires attention, discrimination and seeing and hearing patterns. I like this program because the children work at their own skill level, it's hands on, playful and the activities vary. Check out the activities that are listed on your child's working with words list. I will send home a list of possible sorts that you may supervise or do with your child. Practice some of the activities each night. Allow for some creative sorting and categorizing. They only take 5 - 10 minutes and it's well worth it.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Oct. 18 - No School - teacher workday

Oct. 21 - Touchdown Family Math Night 6:30-7:30

Oct. 22 - Progress Reports sent home

Oct. 27 - Parent Teacher Conferences 5:00-8:00

Oct. 28 - No School - Parent Teacher Conferences 12:00-8:00

Oct. 29 - No School

Nov. 8 - PTA Meeting 6:30

Nov. 19 - Midterm

October 12th

Today was a busy day in Room 117. This morning we worked hard to finish our Missouri research. Most of us have our research done and are ready to present tomorrow. All groups will try to  present their information tomorrow.

In reading this week we are working in small groups to identify reading skill that we need to work on. Each of your students has been put into a group. Today we focused on setting goals.

In math we continue to work with multiples and factors. Tomorrow we will be taking a review quiz (it might be a good idea to study math facts tonight!)  We have been playing multiple turnover this week to practice working with multiples and factors.

A friendly reminder that School Picture Day is Thursday.

p.s. If you have filled this information put in your planner you may pack your backpacks and line up at the door. If you can do that quietly we will play a round of my favorite game.

Updates

Week of October 4, 2010
Picture Day- October 14th! Please refrain from scheduling appointments on this day. Students, make sure to pick out your favorite shirt and bring your smile!

Science:  Check out the photos of our first science experiment on static electricity on the home page.  We'll begin making circuits next week.  After finding our batteries corroding in our science kits, we are in need our some D batteries. We also are in need of flashlight bulbs.   If you are able to donate either of these items to our electricity study we would really appreciate it.

Reading:  We read one of my favorite books, When The Relatives Came, to practice making text-to-self connections to our reading.  We're also working on author's purpose.  We read Mighty Jackie, a great  story about a female baseball player to practice.  Next week, we'll continue to work on author's purpose and then we'll take a Treasures test on author's purpose.

Writing:  For our writing assessment, we read The Mysteries of Harris Burdick.  After reading, each fourth grader chose one of the illustrations from the book as a story starter.  Students have worked super hard on their prewriting and rough drafts so far.

Spelling/Word Study: 
This week you will be getting our second round of "Working with Words". This part of the Language Arts curriculum is based on "Words Their Way" by Donald Bear, Marcia Invernizzi, Shane Templeton, and Francine Johnston. I assessed the children's knowledge of phonics and spelling patterns and then matched them with the level of word study they need. Each week your child will get a new page of sorting words, focusing on a specific letter sound or spelling pattern. We discuss the words and then sort them into groups. During the week we sort, resort, speed sort and play games to build up our familiarity with the sound or pattern. Sorting is a thinking skill which requires attention, discrimination and seeing and hearing patterns. I like this program because the children work at their own skill level, it's hands on, playful and the activities vary.   I will give kids their new words on Monday and then the test will be on Friday. 

This is an example of one of our multiplication stories.

Math:  Students are writing multiplication stories and are showing two ways to solve the problems.  We also began taking multiplication tests.  This week kids took O's/1's and 2's.  Each child will work their way through all the problems.  When they complete multiplication, then they'll begin on division!  

Social Studies:  This week we have been working complete our Missouri Webquest. Next week we will be taking a series of small assessments to test our knowledge.