With all of our wonderful weather causing us to miss school days, it seems almost impossible that it is already February. The students have been doing a wonderful job with being flexible as our schedules are adapting to the missed days. February will undoubtedly be a very exciting month here at school. We had the One District One Book kickoff today! The students had a wonderful time in their family classrooms doing activities to get them started with this year's book, The World According to Humphrey. Each family brought home their own copy of the book as well as a bookmark and flier with reading schedules and other great stuff. Please take some time to look these over with your student. This is a great way for families to come together and enjoy READING:) February is also "I Love to Read" month which fits in perfectly. There will be other activities, including the Bingo sheet that came home, to help us celebrate reading all month long.
Conferences begin February 11th! If you have not yet returned your reminder slip, please do so as soon as possible so we can be sure to have everyone scheduled. Your students and I are very excited to share with you all of the great progress they are making in 4th grade!
I am planning to do a Valentine Exchange on February 13th since there is no school on the 14th. I will send out details and a class list next week. We will also be having our 2nd auction that day. Permission slips for this will also be coming home next week.
Next Week's Plan...
Reading: We are continuing to look at informational text next week. We will be focusing on different types of text and graphic features. The students will be practicing identifying different features and well as examining "why" the authors included them in the text.
Writing: In writing we will be writing informational summaries and looking at how informational essays are organized.
Math: They will be taking the Unit 7 test and beginning Unit 8.
New fact/reading logs went home today and are due next Friday, February 7th.
Have a great week!
Friday, January 31, 2014
Friday, January 24, 2014
Last Week of January!
We are already approaching the last week in January. This is a great time to check in with your child about how they are doing in terms of reaching their reading and math goals. Late slips went home with students today if they have missing work. If your child received one in their agenda, pleas sign and return.
Next Week Plans:
Reading: We are going to be focusing on informational text throughout the next couple of weeks. Next week's focus will be on finding cause and effect relationships and summarizing. We will also be looking closely at the structure/organization of informational texts. Encourage any informational reading at home! Some examples include newspapers, magazine articles, recipe books, encyclopedias, manuals and informational sites on the internet.
Writing: We will be working on writing informational summaries. Our grammar strategy for the week focuses on verbs.
Math: The students will be completing Unit 7. They will be testing either Thursday or early the next week. We will write this in agendas when a date is finalized.
New fact and reading logs went home today and are due next Friday, January31st.
Other:
We were able to get over 20 new books for our classroom using the points earned from student orders. The class got to pick certain titles they wanted to add to our library. Thank you to everyone who uses the book orders for encouraging your student to read!
Next Friday is our next 2-hour late start. It is also our kick off day for One District One Book! I am so excited for our community to once again participate in this shared reading experience. Watch for the details to come home next Friday. This will include a family copy of the book, reading schedule and other activities.
W.I.N. UPDATE: After collecting data with many things such as MAPS testing, fluency, reading levels and spelling inventory, we have decided to restructure some of our WIN time. Students may be moving to a new WIN or word study teacher based on their specific reading and spelling needs. All 4th grade teachers will be sending letters home to outline these changes by the end of next week.
I will be sending conference reminders home next week. Please double check that the time still works for you. These will once again be student-led.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a great week and stay warm!
Next Week Plans:
Reading: We are going to be focusing on informational text throughout the next couple of weeks. Next week's focus will be on finding cause and effect relationships and summarizing. We will also be looking closely at the structure/organization of informational texts. Encourage any informational reading at home! Some examples include newspapers, magazine articles, recipe books, encyclopedias, manuals and informational sites on the internet.
Writing: We will be working on writing informational summaries. Our grammar strategy for the week focuses on verbs.
Math: The students will be completing Unit 7. They will be testing either Thursday or early the next week. We will write this in agendas when a date is finalized.
New fact and reading logs went home today and are due next Friday, January31st.
Other:
We were able to get over 20 new books for our classroom using the points earned from student orders. The class got to pick certain titles they wanted to add to our library. Thank you to everyone who uses the book orders for encouraging your student to read!
Next Friday is our next 2-hour late start. It is also our kick off day for One District One Book! I am so excited for our community to once again participate in this shared reading experience. Watch for the details to come home next Friday. This will include a family copy of the book, reading schedule and other activities.
W.I.N. UPDATE: After collecting data with many things such as MAPS testing, fluency, reading levels and spelling inventory, we have decided to restructure some of our WIN time. Students may be moving to a new WIN or word study teacher based on their specific reading and spelling needs. All 4th grade teachers will be sending letters home to outline these changes by the end of next week.
I will be sending conference reminders home next week. Please double check that the time still works for you. These will once again be student-led.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Have a great week and stay warm!
Friday, January 17, 2014
Next Week
Happy Friday!
We had a very productive week, as it was the first full week we have had in some time. We finished up our winter MAPS testing on Wednesday with the reading portion. I was so proud of how our students did and the progress they are making. Keep in mind that this is not the only data we use in terms of monitoring their progress. We also use fluency scores, reading levels and spelling inventories to be sure they are making adequate progress. Results for all of these will be shared at February conferences which are right around the corner!
Next Week Plans:
Reading: We will be completing our lessons focusing on sequence of events. The students practiced reading closely for signal words to help them tell the order of events in the story. Our next few lessons will focus on informational text. We are going to spend some time next week examining different types of informational texts and its features.
Writing: We have been working so hard on our final drafts for our fictional narratives. If theirs was not turned in today, it is due on Tuesday. We will be moving on to informational writing next.
Math: They will be completing Unit 7 on division. Here are some practice questions they can do to help them be prepared for the test.
1. The reading club is going to the library. Seven students can ride in each van. The club will fill as many vans as possible, and the remaining students will ride in their teacher's car. If 31 students are going to the library, how many students will ride in the teacher's car?
2. Howard cut a 13-inch-long piece of string into 4 equal parts. How long was each piece?
3. George received 385 baseball cards from his friends. He gave 199 of them to his brother. He plans on evenly splitting the rest into 6 envelopes. How many will go into each envelope?
Reminder... There is NO school on Monday.
New reading and math fact logs went home today and are due next Friday.
Have a great week!
We had a very productive week, as it was the first full week we have had in some time. We finished up our winter MAPS testing on Wednesday with the reading portion. I was so proud of how our students did and the progress they are making. Keep in mind that this is not the only data we use in terms of monitoring their progress. We also use fluency scores, reading levels and spelling inventories to be sure they are making adequate progress. Results for all of these will be shared at February conferences which are right around the corner!
Next Week Plans:
Reading: We will be completing our lessons focusing on sequence of events. The students practiced reading closely for signal words to help them tell the order of events in the story. Our next few lessons will focus on informational text. We are going to spend some time next week examining different types of informational texts and its features.
Writing: We have been working so hard on our final drafts for our fictional narratives. If theirs was not turned in today, it is due on Tuesday. We will be moving on to informational writing next.
Math: They will be completing Unit 7 on division. Here are some practice questions they can do to help them be prepared for the test.
1. The reading club is going to the library. Seven students can ride in each van. The club will fill as many vans as possible, and the remaining students will ride in their teacher's car. If 31 students are going to the library, how many students will ride in the teacher's car?
2. Howard cut a 13-inch-long piece of string into 4 equal parts. How long was each piece?
3. George received 385 baseball cards from his friends. He gave 199 of them to his brother. He plans on evenly splitting the rest into 6 envelopes. How many will go into each envelope?
Reminder... There is NO school on Monday.
New reading and math fact logs went home today and are due next Friday.
Have a great week!
Friday, January 10, 2014
Another Short Week!
Our weather has forced us to to adjust to another short week of school. We are all excited for the heat wave (30s) that we will have this weekend.
We had some reward time today for those that are all caught up with their work. Unfortunately, 16 of our students had to miss out. All students with missing wok brought home a yellow sheet today that needs to be signed and returned. January has been a famous month for routines to start slipping. Thanks for your continued support at home to help your student be responsible and successful!
Here is what next week will look like...
Reading: We will be continuing to search for facts and opinions and examine how and why authors use them in their writing. We will also start our next lesson which focuses on the sequence of events.
We got new reading logs today and they are due next Friday. Due to the weather cancellations, our reading MAPS test has been moved to this coming Wednesday.
Writing: We will be continuing to work on our fictional narratives. First drafts are due on Monday. We will be working through the remainder of the writing process throughout the next week.
Math: They are still hard at work practicing long division. Division is like everything else in life.. the more you practice it, the better you get! Please help your child by giving them long division problems to practice at home if there is not an assignment.
Mr. Krupa and I were extremely proud of the students' scores on their math MAPS tests. If your child has not told you how they did, please ask them! We will go over results and improvement trends at February conferences.
Others: Prairie Fire audition permission slips went home this week and are due next Friday. Book orders are also due Friday.
Have a great weekend!
We had some reward time today for those that are all caught up with their work. Unfortunately, 16 of our students had to miss out. All students with missing wok brought home a yellow sheet today that needs to be signed and returned. January has been a famous month for routines to start slipping. Thanks for your continued support at home to help your student be responsible and successful!
Here is what next week will look like...
Reading: We will be continuing to search for facts and opinions and examine how and why authors use them in their writing. We will also start our next lesson which focuses on the sequence of events.
We got new reading logs today and they are due next Friday. Due to the weather cancellations, our reading MAPS test has been moved to this coming Wednesday.
Writing: We will be continuing to work on our fictional narratives. First drafts are due on Monday. We will be working through the remainder of the writing process throughout the next week.
Math: They are still hard at work practicing long division. Division is like everything else in life.. the more you practice it, the better you get! Please help your child by giving them long division problems to practice at home if there is not an assignment.
Mr. Krupa and I were extremely proud of the students' scores on their math MAPS tests. If your child has not told you how they did, please ask them! We will go over results and improvement trends at February conferences.
Others: Prairie Fire audition permission slips went home this week and are due next Friday. Book orders are also due Friday.
Have a great weekend!
Friday, January 3, 2014
Welcome Back!
We had a great 2 days back at school. It was wonderful hearing about all of the holiday fun our students had over the long break. As you may have already heard, school is scheduled to be CLOSED on Monday due to anticipated cold temperatures. That leaves us with another short week ahead. Here is what is on our schedule for next week!
Writing: Today we started talking about fictional narratives and began the writing process with pre-writing. We will be working on these for the next 2 weeks while completing each step in the writing process together. You will see your child's final graded narrative at February conferences!
Reading: Next week our main focus will be on identifying facts and opinions in the text. We will be looking at a couple of different texts and determining how and why the author chose to use the facts and opinions included. All 4th graders brought home new reading logs today and they are due next Friday. Please check in with your student on where they are at with their genre and books finished goals.
Math: They will be continuing Unit 7 which focuses on division. They have a fact practice log to complete which is also due on Friday.
Science: We started rotating to a new science room today! Our class shifted over to Earth Science with Mr Krupa! They have a weather packet that is due next week.
MAPS testing round 2 is taking place next Tuesday and Thursday. Please help your child be successful by making sure they get a good night of sleep and have a good breakfast.
Have a wonderful and warm weekend!
Writing: Today we started talking about fictional narratives and began the writing process with pre-writing. We will be working on these for the next 2 weeks while completing each step in the writing process together. You will see your child's final graded narrative at February conferences!
Reading: Next week our main focus will be on identifying facts and opinions in the text. We will be looking at a couple of different texts and determining how and why the author chose to use the facts and opinions included. All 4th graders brought home new reading logs today and they are due next Friday. Please check in with your student on where they are at with their genre and books finished goals.
Math: They will be continuing Unit 7 which focuses on division. They have a fact practice log to complete which is also due on Friday.
Science: We started rotating to a new science room today! Our class shifted over to Earth Science with Mr Krupa! They have a weather packet that is due next week.
MAPS testing round 2 is taking place next Tuesday and Thursday. Please help your child be successful by making sure they get a good night of sleep and have a good breakfast.
Have a wonderful and warm weekend!
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