February 6, 2017 Update

Hello, dear families!  It's time for an update here, and then in two to three weeks we will get to visit in person with your 4th grader about their progress. They have each brought home a bright orange sheet confirming your conference times, so hang on to that. Thank you for your prompt replies and flexibility!  

A couple more special dates to keep in mind -- we will celebrate our next Reward Day on Friday, February 10th.  The kids voted to wear comfy clothes, bring a small pillow/blanket to spread out for extra reading time, and have lunch together in our classroom. We also agreed on one hour of the day devoted to games, both board type and - with your permission and knowledge - they may bring in an Ipad or Ipod to play appropriate games.  We will also be doing some art, watch a nature video, and treat ourselves to hot cider from my crockpot.  It took some extra time this round to gather our required 30 Classroom Pride Paws to qualify for this day, so this is a hard won accomplishment for us.  Also, on Tuesday, February 14th, we will take our last class period to exchange valentine cards - hopefully you saw the class list of names that came home during the past week.  We have a couple of moms who have volunteered to bring us a healthy snack for this time, and we are centering our celebration particularly on KINDNESS, which is a special focus for all of our classrooms this month.  Also, Monday, February 20th, is a Professional Development Day, and there will no classes for students that day.

In Writer's Workshop, we have completed authoring our own "How To.../Informational Books.  To wrap up this unit, and to show how well each student has learned to impart organized and engaging information about a topic, our 4th graders will be writing an "on demand' piece of informational writing this coming Monday.  They have 45 minutes to write on a topic of their choice, and they may bring in a source to help them with their information if they choose.  Please look for a half sheet in Take Home Folders from Friday explaining this writing activity.  If you can talk this over with your 4th grader to give them a chance to explain what they have chosen for their topic, and how they plan to explain 'how to' do an activity or task (such as how to play a certain game, or prepare a certain recipe, or create a craft item....), this will help them be ready.  Thank you!

We are so wrapped up in our class Read Aloud book, Number The Stars, in Readers' Workshop, that we can barely stand to put the book down.  The thoughtful discussions, questions, musings, and predictions from our students get deeper and richer as we go along, which is why these sessions are my favorite part of the day!  Our students are also finding some of their favorite books to read independently in this Historical Fiction genre, and as they review them with each other, they are inspiring their classmates to line up to be the next one to read their book.  So fun!

We are getting to the last week or so of Unit 4 in our Bridges Math.  Our work has centered on subtraction strategies and also measurement (metric and customary) in the form of length, time, liquid volume, and mass/capacity.  Some of our students are finding that they need extra practice with their 'borrowing' skills, so any help there at home would be so helpful.  I would also like to put in a word again about spending time with your 4th grader in practicing their skill with the basic multiplication and division facts.  As we have explored all the strategies of using these operations with fractions and decimals, and our increased exposure to word problems, it is discouraging for your student to discover they get the new concept but are held back or slowed down because they can't recall their basic facts.  Your support at home can make such a big difference!

Some 'housekeeping':  Monday will be Take Home Folder inspection day, so would you make time to go through papers that may have collected here WITH your 4th grader?  While you are at it, may I suggest that this cleaning out activity also extend to backpacks?  Hopefully, you don't discover any icky surprises, but from a little of what I've seen, you may be in for some!  :)  Also, the plan to include a clean, dry pair of extra socks would be a very good idea for many of our kids - after the noon hour recess, there are many wet and cold feet trekking back into the classroom. Some students also don't have a dry pair of shoes to put on if they came in boots and don't have an extra pair at school for gym.  We have some messy, cold winter weeks still ahead.  Thanks!

Sometime in March, we plan to take all of our 4th graders to tour our State Capitol building and visit the Wisconsin Historical Museum, so stay tuned for those plans.  March will also bring you the second report card after the 2nd Trimester ends on March 10th, and the last week of that month is our Spring Break week. 

I will continue to send home quick reminders and announcements in the meantime, but I look forward to gathering with you soon at conference time with you and your 4th grader.  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

January 9, 2017 Update

Dear 4th Grade Families ~ Happy January to everyone!

It felt good to gather back together as a class last week after our two week break, even if we all felt rather 'rusty' at first.  We all said our brains felt 'smooshy'!  We eased back into our routine as gently as we could, sharing about our books and getting updated with adding new ones to our collection.  We have begun one of my most favorite Readers' Workshop units - Historical Fiction.  All our kids are gradually moving toward choosing their own independent reading book in this genre, and we are starting our Class ReadAloud book, Number The Stars, by Lois Lowry.  This captivating story brings us into learning about WWII and what happened in Germany and Denmark with the Nazi's and Jewish people, etc.  The good thing about reading this story is that it introduces this heavy subject to our children through the eyes of a child, and so a gradual realization of what different groups of people went through during this historic time is handled carefully.  I highly recommend that our parents read this book as well.  I have collected at least 6 bins of HF books by now for our fourth graders to read, which cover many different eras of history, so it will be a very enlightening time for us - that's why it's one of my favorite reading times of the year! 

We began our math classes this past week reviewing the very 'meaty' Unit 3 skills. This unit was our most involved unit yet with new skills (fractions and decimals!).  After three days of review, we took the final test, and wow!  We ended up with the best set of scores overall as a class so far this year!  I have to admit I didn't expect that, since during our lessons and our review sessions, many of our kids expressed doubt that they were getting some of it - it was a lot of new material!  I took that opportunity (more than once/several times/ okay, whenever I found the chance!) to point out to our hardworking kids that "see, when you keep trying, when you don't give up, when you keep asking questions and practice - it pays off and you learn more than you realize!").  Yay!  We probably built up our stamina in math class during this unit!  Next week we dive into Unit 4 - I will keep you updated on those skills after we get started, and how you can help and support at home.  When pages do come home, take a look and ask your 4th grader what it's about - having to explain what they are doing is a great way to learn the material more thoroughly.

In Writers' Workshop, we spent the week wrapping up our persuasive essay project.  We have been typing this second essay project right on our Chromebooks, loving how easy it is to compose and edit this way.  Plus, we are working on our keyboarding skills as well!  We will be phasing into a unit on Informational Writing next - practicing writing with clear descriptions and instructions so that our readers can follow the steps easily. We will be teaching others about something that we, as the authors, are 'experts' on already - can we explain it in a way that someone who does not know about this subject can still understand it?  By the way, I hope you enjoyed those colorful copies of the personal essays our students brought home in December about a special person in their lives.  I thought they were so precious!

Social Studies has us beginning to explore with the first non-native people to come to this area of Wisconsin.  How did this affect the native people who lived here already?  Why did these new people come here in the first place?  How does this area and the people change as more and more discover what an amazing place this is in which to live?  It's great stuff!!  We plan to take all of our 4th graders to a State Capitol tour later in February/early in March, as well as tour the State Historical Museum.  After we cover this time in Wisconsin history, these visits are so very meaningful!  In Science with Mrs. Bertz, they are delving into the Unit on Magnetism and Electricity.

The January Scholastic Book Orders came home Friday in Take Home Folders.  We set a deadline for ordering at January 13th - this coming Friday!  I have found several books I want to add to our collections in the room with the bonus points we earn through your orders.  Please also take a look at the information and permission slip that came home explaining the new Math 24 Club - six weeks on Thursdays after school with Mrs. Boles and Mrs. Schelitzche - a very fun way to play around with numbers (and get better at all basic math facts without feeling like it's work at all!).

Upcoming dates to keep in mind:  On two Mondays there will no classes - January 16th and 23rd.  The 23rd marks the halfway point of our school year already!  Our second trimester ends in early March, and we will be holding parent conferences again during the last week of February and first week of March. I will be getting to you a schedule on which to sign up by early February.

In the meantime, I hope we can all stay healthy during this cold stretch of winter.  It is great to see all the warm winter gear coming in for our outside times (though this past week we were not even able to get out there for three days!  Augghhh!).  I would like to advise everyone to throw an extra pair of warm socks into backpacks.  The kids are coming in with sometimes wet and always cold feet - so a dry pair of socks to pull on after a recess is very nice!   I will keep you posted on items/events/reminders big and small! 

Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

December 5, 2016 Update

Happy December to all!  One of our three weeks this month is done already.  This time of year goes by so quickly!  We are focusing on using these days to do all we can before a nice two week break from the routine.  Here is what we are doing in our classes at this point:

In Readers' Workshop we have been digging into nonfiction reading from all kinds of resources (books, magazines, online articles) and analyzing how the information is arranged and how that helps us understand the content.  We are practicing how to find the main ideas one section/paragraph at a time, and identify the supporting details. We are learning the most efficient way to take notes, and then developing our own original sentences to summarize the information.  These are skills our kids will need in every course they take throughout their school years.  In the meantime, we are all discovering amazing facts and situations from around the world - very cool!  (This leads to some interesting discussions!) 

The first essays written last month by our students have been excellent!  Our students really picked up very well how to structure an essay with their thesis statement, their reasons, and the evidence/examples to back up their thoughts!  These first essays centered on an important person in each student's life, and you will find them to be very touching.  Special copies are coming home to be given to their 'person' for the holidays.  We are now writing an essay where our fourth graders take a stand on a social issue.  They will need to back up their thesis statement with a bit of research for solid evidence behind their opinions.  Our goal is to complete these by our winter break.

Math class has us very involved with understanding the concept of fractions and what a fraction really means.  We are getting some work with adding and multiplying fractions as well.  By the end of next week, we hope to have Unit Three completed.  I found my list of math websites that I've collected over time, and will send home a copy of that list this week.  Some families wanted to know how to help their student get more proficient with their basic facts and other basic skills, so some of these sites should be helpful, and make it more fun to practice. 

In Social Studies, we have had the best time studying glaciers!  This has led to viewing some awesome videos of glaciers from around the world, and helps us picture what our area might have looked like over 10,000 years ago.  The landforms created by the last Ice Age are still in evidence today, and it was new information for our kids as we identified kettles, eskers, kames, drumlins, and moraines.   We are now moving into studying Wisconsin's varied topography and all-important waterways, and their influences on our history and lives today.  I just love how our textbook, written by the Wisconsin Historical Society, ties our history with our current ways of living in Wisconsin.  At the end of February, our 4th graders will get to tour the State Capitol Building, and also the Wisconsin Historical Museum, which becomes a very meaningful trip after our discussions and lessons in class.  Science with Mrs. Bertz is winding up the big unit on Rocks and Minerals by winter break.

I continue to strive for valuable time each day in which our 4th graders can 'get lost' in a good, just-right book.  We book share together to keep new title ideas coming for each other, to stay excited about the next promising book.  Classmates have been pitching in to organize our growing classroom collection, and that also gives them opportunities to find some new books they might not have considered or discovered before.  Everyone will be coming home with two or three books for the two weeks off - thank you very much for keeping 'reading time' a priority in your homes, between family gatherings and celebrations.  I will be submitting the December Scholastic Book Orders tomorrow night, in case anyone still wants to place an order.  I expect we should get our box of new books before we leave school for the holidays.

I wish you all some beautiful family time during our time off from school.  May everyone become renewed and ready to meet back together again in January!  In the meantime, I will get to see many of you on December 14th for the Winter Tea and Tunes (4th grade starts at 8:20am that day).  Report cards for the first trimester should be coming home this Friday.  I will still send out emails for any reminders or other event info as needed before December 16th.  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

November 4, 2016 4H Update

Hello to all of our 4H Families!  I am very much looking forward to meeting with you all during the next two weeks for our parent/student/teacher conferences.  Your student and I will have some work samples to show you, and we can talk about some goals to make 4th grade be the most successful and satisfying year for your child possible. In the meantime, here are some updates on the learning that has been happening in Room 117 lately!

We have switched gears in Literacy over the last week.  Our Realistic Fiction projects have been wrapped up. Yesterday we placed all of our hard work, from very messy, important rough draft pages to our neatest handwriting final copies, into our special Writing Binders.  This work reflects a valuable baseline for where our 4th graders are with their ability to follow the story arc from grabbing beginnings, through complete sentences and paragraphs, character and plot development, to a realistic, satisfying ending.  Now we all know some necessary areas on which to work as we continue our writing lives this year.  We are now developing our skills with Essay writing.  This week our whole class went through 'essay writing boot camp'.  In two class periods as a whole group we created our first complete essay together, and now we have a model to follow as each student gets to writing their own thesis statements with reasons and evidence to back up their opinions.  Switching from fiction writing to more formalized opinion writing brings some groans at first, but after putting together our first essay as a class, and getting to choose their own first topic where they may have strong feelings, the mood has changed to pride and some heartfelt writing.  So cool!

In Readers' Workshop, while our students continue to devour many favorite fiction books, we are also diving into a very diverse collection of nonfiction sources.  We are going to be analyzing the best ways to read nonfiction, how to pick out the most important points, and how this can help us be efficient researchers of new information.  Warning - your student may be coming home with some new facts and information to share!  In Social Studies, that has hopefully already been happening! (Ask your student what is special about Wisconsin's location in the world with respect to latitude and longitude!)  We will be moving into the world of our state's Ice Age in the coming days, and how that has affected our landscape and ways of living here to this day.  Science class with Mrs. Bertz is moving through their unit on Rocks and Minerals, and your students had a quiz on Minerals this past week.

We are most of the way through Unit 2 in our Bridges Math at this point. We spend a large part of our classes digging into real life (word problem) situations that require us to figure out what equation is needed to solve the problem, and then explore several different ways that equation can be solved.  As we all get more comfortable with this format, I am amazed at the creative thinking and reasoning that many of our students are demonstrating.  Of course, this kind of 'problem string' thinking does require our students to hang in there with the steps and logical thinking process.  If someone gets lost or tunes out at any point, it can be difficult to get back into it.  So we are having to practice our stamina to stay engaged and involved with the discussion, and that does take time and practice.  I am confident we will see growth throughout the year as our 4th graders mature and develop their skills to stay focused.  The key is to keep involved in the discussion, watching, sketching out ideas, asking and answering questions...

Activities outside of our core subject work also continue to keep us all very busy: 

Five Swim Classes have begun - the next classes will happen this coming Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, and finally the following Tuesday (November 7, 9, 11, and 15).  Students need to bring suits, towels, and a waterproof bag those days!  Our gym teachers are also planning an exciting UW Dance Team session and there is a permission form to sign if your 4th grader wants to participate!  

Thank you for sending in BOX TOPS as you collect them for us all this month of November.  We want to win a Pizza Lunch from the PTO - and of course break a record to collect all we can to help our school! 

The November Scholastic Book Order forms came home yesterday - take a look.  The deadline for submitting orders is November 14th.  Also included is the flyer from our annual Scholastic Book Fair, which will be in our LMC during the official parent conference week, November 15 through 17.  I can also give your student the chance to shop there during the school day that week. 

Thank you to Mrs. Rosera for sending you the details about these events, along with the announcement about December 14th's Winter Tea and Tunes. With the end of November we come to the end of our first trimester already!  The first report card will then get prepared and will come home in the second week of December. 

More picture envelopes appeared in my mailbox late Friday, so those will get sent home on Monday. 

One 'homework' assignment your student has over the weekend, is to go through their Take Home Folder with you, and decide which papers are to stay home - or need returning with your response - or need to be saved in the folder (such as the master spelling list). Thank you for getting caught up with these papers together.  If too many sheets pile up in these folders, it gets too difficult to find important info and meet due dates. 

Whew!  I will continue to send you email updates for special reminders and news as we go along!  As always, I do appreciate your questions and updates about special situations with your own child, and we will get to visit in person over the next two weeks.  Remember to check your calendars for our conference time together!  See you soon!  Melanie Hannam

October 10, 2016 Update

Hello to our 4H families!  In class this past week, we all paused to reflect together on how it has felt to complete our first full month of 4th grade already.  We agreed it seems both a long time because we've done so much and gone through so many changes, and also a short time because we've been so busy that time flew by!  And with the first week of October already done, we continue to add to our new experiences.  The World Dairy Expo field trip gave us such a memorable day.  It was raining through the morning, and then just as we got to the gates of Alliant Energy, the sun came out with a glow, and it shone on us the rest of the day.  We got to see many of the 2,500 cows who were being groomed, fed, milked, and led around the show ring in the Coliseum, and the calves got lots of petting.  We all now know what a milking machine actually feels like, and there were many exclamations like, "I never knew cows were THIS big!"  I was so proud of our kids, who were accurately identifying the correct breeds, knew the answers to many of our guides' questions, and did a great job of listening and questioning.  I send many thank you's to our wonderful chaperones who kept us all together in the crowds.  I took dozens of beautiful pictures, and am working on the best way to share them with you all.

Back in the classroom, we have accomplished the work of Unit 1 in our new Bridges math curriculum, and taken the first post assessment.  I am analyzing the data, and this gives me valuable information about what our students are understanding and what we need more work on. This curriculum is strong on breaking apart story problems into equations, and then solving those equations using more than one strategy.  Much of this work requires a new set of skills, and will take time and practice to master.  We try to do as much together in class as we can, where we can guide them through the steps of this reasoning.  I haven't sent home much in the way of homework so far because of this.  As students get more confident with what the pages in their workbooks want them to do, homework may come home a little more consistently, but it will usually be finishing up what we have started in class.  One way that you can help your students at home is to give them chances to review and practice their basic multiplication facts.  We are using them daily in our work at school, and I try to work in opportunities to practice wherever I can, but many will need more time on their own to master multiplication (and division will come much more easily once the multiplication facts are mastered).

In social studies we will be moving from Wisconsin agriculture to the history of our land (the Glacial Age!) and then into how the first people in our area lived, survived, and evolved.  Our visit to Pope Farm Park this coming Thursday morning will be the perfect start to our study!  We will be at the Pope Farm Conservancy (for those who are new to the area, it is just two miles from WM on Old Sauk Road) from 8:30 to 11:00, and any and all parents who want to meet us there, please do join us!  You can meet our buses at the lower parking lot.  We are so fortunate to live in such a historically significant area, and our expert guides will be making a big point about that.  I learn something new every time I go to these sessions.  We will all want to watch weather reports for this morning - this vast and hilly conservancy can be very windy, so we will want to dress accordingly to be comfortable.  We will be hiking all over this park!

Writers' Workshop has all of us setting a storyline and a main character into a realistic fiction story where there will be a problem or challenge that needs a solution.  This coming week we will be able to combine all of our notes into our story arc, and dig in with telling (writing) that story!  As our students share their ideas, it is so entertaining to see where their imaginations are taking them!

We continue to love our reading time each day.  Thank you for making this time a priority at home, too.  Bringing those favorite books back and forth every single day is hopefully becoming an important ritual and habit for each one of us.  I have had a chance to meet one on one with each of your 4th graders over the last two weeks, listen to them read out loud to me, and talk over their own particular goals for making their reading a growing, rich part of their lives.  By the way, you should have found the October Scholastic Book Order forms in Take Home Folders on Friday.  As always, you are never obligated to buy books, but if you and your students decide to do so this month, our due date to submit your order is Friday, October 14th.  The easiest way to order is online (our account number is a sticker inside your student's Take Home Folder), or you can send cash or a check made out to Scholastic Book Club to me at school, and I can enter your order before I submit the whole thing next weekend.  

I will soon be sending home a schedule of the possible parent/student/teacher conference time slots for certain days during the second and third week of November.  I always like to include our 4th grade students in our conferences together because we are ALL on the team, especially the student!  You will be able to mark your first, second, and third choices for times that work for all of you to come, and then I will confirm your time as soon as I hear back from everyone.  At this conference, we can show you work samples and progress and will talk over best goals for the coming months.

On Friday, our class was given the honor of hauling in dozens of giant pumpkins to school from a bright red wagon outside for our PTO event.  It was turned to be such fun for the kids, and I got video of their excitement.  We added yet another precious memory to our 4th grade experience!  Till next note!  Melanie

September 26, 2016 Update

Greetings to our 4H families!  We are into our last week of September already.  Our first month of 4th grade has gone by so very quickly, yet in another way it seems like much more than 4 weeks since we first all met. Our days have been so full of getting to know each other and our new routines at school that I feel like we have 'traveled' a long way already!  One month later from Back To School Night, and now I have 25 new friends in my life, along with each of their families, that I didn't have before!  There is still so much to learn about each other, but we have made a solid start, building trust and communication, which is setting the foundation for a very fulfilling school year ahead.

Each day has brought us deeper into our lessons in Room 117.  I am so pleased to see how quickly our reading class has become probably almost everyone's favorite part of the day.  We all look forward to our 'pin-drop' time to get lost in our favorite books.  We are also about halfway into our first class read aloud book, Crenshaw, written by Katherine Applegate (who also wrote The One and Only Ivan).  The class discussions during these precious times each day bring out some of our students' deepest thoughts and reflections, and as they share their ideas and opinions, they help each other think more and more deeply with each passing week.  This is a perfect model for each student individually to develop their own comprehension - we are creating habits that should last through a lifetime of rich reading experiences.  Our mini-lessons in Readers' Workshop are beginning with character development as the doorway to understanding our stories with greater depth.  Oh, I could do these lessons all day long!

One big thing I am emphasizing is that our 4th graders bring their reading 'bags' back and forth every single day!  These 2 gallon zipper bags should hold their purple reading folder and their current reading book.  Homework in other subjects will vary each day, but not with reading!  I encourage each family to carve out a quiet reading time and place in your home most every evening for your child to just read!!  Time spent reading at their just right level has been proven over and over again to be the single most important ingredient to becoming a better reader - and becoming one who loves to read as well!  When bags get left at home, it is a real disappointment when we have our class reading time, and a favorite book is not there to dig into because it got left at home.  I like the reading bags because it protects and preserves our books from all the contents of their backpacks.  I thank you for your support with good organizational habits to make sure all important items get into backpacks each day.  Take Home Folders are also an 'every day' item that must go back and forth.  These often contain papers you need to see - either to keep at home or send back to school with your signature or feedback.

In Writers' Workshop, we have begun work on how to create a 'story arc'.  We are writing some realistic fiction that contains a well developed character, a setting that is easily pictured by the reader, and gives our characters a challenge that needs a believable resolution.  I am also giving our 4th graders opportunities to reflect on their reading by writing in their "Thoughtful Logs" - this gives them a chance to explain themselves on paper, developing both their writing skills and the depth of their thoughts. I will often be writing them back in these Logs, which is always fun.

In Social Studies, we are talking COWS!  In preparation for our trip on October 5th to the World Dairy Expo, we are all becoming experts on some rather amazing facts about cows - and the dairy industry of our state as well. Be prepared to be 'educated' by your 4th grader as they come home with this new knowledge!  :)  Thank you to all who have volunteered to join us for our Expo tour that day.  No limit to how many parents want to come - just email me if you are joining us and didn't already note that on the permission slip.  As the permission slip states, parents can meet at school (I will send out more details later this week) and band together to carpool, following the buses to the Alliant Energy grounds.  No charge for any of us!  Quick note - if you are chaperoning, make sure you have returned that Volunteer Disclosure Form - I have a few parents who haven't returned that yet.  I can send home another copy if you need one. I will email you all with special reminders about that day later this week.

Finally, I want to give you a little progress report on our math work.  We jumped right in with lessons from the first day of school.  The lessons take us through a lot of group discussion on different strategies for how to solve a problem.  This is an unfamiliar way for many of our students (and parents!) to do math class.  I have already seen some increased skill by our kids on how to solve one problem in several different ways, along with the ability to express their reasoning so another can understand - a big part to learn as well!  So far there has been less time spent on filling out worksheets and taking home pages to answer - you have probably noticed!  Homework pages will not come home consistently - much of the work gets done in class during the lesson routine, and also with partner work.  This reinforces the reasoning strategies that Bridges Math wants to develop in our students, and I prefer being able to be with our kids when they work through their own pages, so I can guide their thinking and collaboration with each other.  I will continue to keep you posted as we go along and let you know how best to support your math student this year.

TA! DA!  Our class has earned our first Reward Day!  We have collected 30 Class Pride Paws by meeting expectations for behavior and conduct in all areas of our school community!  As a class, we have decided the following:  On Friday, September 30th, our 4th graders in Room 117 may come to school dressed in comfy clothes, bringing along slippers if desired, and a small pillow or stuffed animal. They may also bring along a small blanket.  We will spend our morning between encore classes and lunch having a cozy Read- In, with snacks!  After lunch we will continue with reading and watching a National Geographic video, maybe with more snacks!  It took some great effort to collect 30 Paws, and many in our class even donated some of their individual Paws to make it happen!  These special days make for great memories in 4th grade.

I will be back in touch with all the last details for our October field trip later this week.  Student pictures arrived in my mailbox on Friday, so those who took pics on September 16th will be bringing them home Monday.  Picture orders can come back to me within the next week.   Enjoy the last days of September!   Sincerely, Melanie Hannam 

September 10, 2016 Update

Hi, 4H families!   We had a very busy and satisfying week getting into our routines and expectations, and digging deeper into our first lessons in math, social studies, science.  We are very proud of ourselves for building our stamina in reading.  We've been practicing each day to increase our ability to 'lose' ourselves in our reading books (pin drop silence in the room, eyes on the page, and so 'into' our stories that we forget we are in Room 117!). When I have to call an end to our independent reading time, I love it when I hear groans of protest and pleading for "just a few more minutes!"  We are on our way!

I wanted to give you some details on a few upcoming events and activities.  I have sent home the first of our monthly Scholastic Reading Club book order forms.  Do not ever feel obligated to buy books, but in case your 4th grader successfully convinces you that he/she just HAS to have this book, I can assure you that I have not found a better deal on such a complete selection of the most popular books anywhere.  We have a class account where you can place an order online - see the link on the bottom of every order form.  I have also given each student a sticker for their Take Home Folders which gives you our account number to get into our classroom account.  This is such a super easy way to place an order - I think it is very user friendly.  You can also send in the paper order form to school with your 4th grader, and the preferred method of payment is a check made out to Scholastic Book Club (or cash).  Our deadline for getting in your September order is September 19th.  I will submit our orders at the end of that day. Over the years, I have been able to build up such a rich classroom library because the bonus points our room receives with each book ordered give us free books for the classroom - it's awesome and so fun!  (I do get pretty excited about new books!)

Next week on Tuesday our first orchestra lessons begin.  Out of our classroom family of 25 (a new student coming Monday!), we have 13 orchestra students!!  Every Tuesday there is a whole group lesson/practice time that begins promptly at 7:15 AM.  Students can come down to hang up backpacks, etc. in their cubbies, and then head straight to the lunchroom to be ready to go by 7:15.  Then throughout that morning of classes, each instrument group will have a small group lesson for 30 minutes on a rotating schedule.  Students should bring home their instruments every Tuesday afternoon so they can practice at home during the week.

Also this coming Tuesday, everyone at WM gets to tie dye a new T-shirt for the 2016-2017 school year!  We think we are so lucky in 4th grade, because our color is EVERY color - rainbow!  I will have the shirts ready to rubberband in class on Monday, and then Tuesday morning our class is scheduled to dye our shirts at 10am.  Your child will bring home the shirt in a plastic bag, also containing instructions on how to do the wash process within the next couple of days.

Remember that I update the Homework Page of our classroom blog every day after school, not only with homework items, but also any due dates, reminders, and announcements of upcoming activities. Give it a look!  Feel free to email me anytime if you have any questions or want to let me know something in particular about your 4th grader.  Oh, and also, if you still have some parent papers to turn in, I would love to get them all during the next week - thank you!   More news coming soon!

Melanie Hannam