Hello to our 4H families. We talked in class this week how we are amazed it is the end of September already. We feel like we have known each other longer than one month. Every day I see relationships among our group grow and develop a better understanding of each other. A big challenge for many in our class is that of being able to follow directions accurately and promptly, and meeting our expectations for respectful listening and working together. I am beginning to see some students realizing that they must step up their efforts now that they are fourth graders and becoming among the oldest students in their school. I believe we are going to see some real maturing this year.
Thank you for looking over those first math tests which came home Friday, and having your student return them Monday if possible with your signature. I have appreciated your feedback to my note about our scoring protocol. We have jumped right into Unit 2, which so far is building upon past lessons about place value. Please continue to place a high priority on time at home for your student to practice their basic math facts in all 4 operations. We are doing 3 minute trials every morning to answer 100 facts in each operation. The students are tracking their results, and it is evident when they have put in some extra time to practice. Knowing their basic facts is a huge factor in being able to master the new skills being taught in the 4th grade curriculum!
When we all shared our highlight of the week with each other, I told the class that one of my favorite times was when we were writing this week. Your students are developing new found stamina in time spent just writing! They actually surprised me! Even those who struggle to get their ideas down on paper are making amazing progress in the amount of writing they are able to produce. We are finding stories inside ourselves that just come bubbling out! This is going to give every student so much to work with as they improve their descriptive storytelling, along with sentence and paragraph structure, spelling, and punctuation.
In reading, we are shifting from recognition of effective story settings to memorable character development. This has been really fun, as we practice visualizing colorful character traits and finding good descriptions in our own reading books. We continue to find time most days to have silent reading time, still a favorite of everyone in class, and we have added one more experience - we have begun a class read-aloud book called "The One and Only Ivan", by Katherine Applegate. This 300 page book looks simple, with uncrowded pages of writing, but it invites some deep thinking and rich discussion. Like Ivan (a gorilla!) says in the first pages: "Humans waste too many words." Your child and I will keep you posted on other Ivan thoughts and what we think of Ivan!
The big event next week is our trip on Wednesday to the World Dairy Expo at the Alliant Energy Center. So far we have 4 parents coming to chaperone, and with Linley and myself, this gives us each groups of 4 students to guide. This is easily doable, but it would be more fun to have more of you, so let me know if I can add you to our 'troop'. Our class does stay together with our own Dairy Guide, but it is crowded there, and it is so nice to have many adult eyes helping to keep track of our kids. Remember, our buses will leave school at 10:50 that day, carpools of parents can follow buses in their cars, and we will return to school by 2:30. I have copies of maps of the grounds for every chaperone as well. A note about LUNCH that day: Students need to bring in a sack lunch (and some ordered the school's sack lunch) to eat in the classroom at 10:30 on Wednesday. It is an early lunch for us, but we also get treated to milk and cheese during our tour, which will hopefully fuel us through the day.
Thanks for reading my notes, and for all of your support! Melanie
Melanie Hannam
4th Grade Teacher
West Middleton Elementary
608-829-9398
mrshannamsclass.blogspot.com
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Saturday, September 22, 2012
September 21, 2012 Weekly Update
Hello to all of our 4H Families!
Friday afternoon we all packed up and organized our belongings a little earlier than usual, and our class took the time to gather on the carpet together. Everyone had a chance to tell what parts of the past week were highlights for them. As each student took their turn to share, Linley and I could see the variety of ways our students have found connections to their work, their play, and each other. The highlight for us has been the truly amazing insights our students have been sharing in our discussions about our reading and our writing. Their responses show that they are already reaching deeper in their understanding of stories that they both hear together and read on their own. We are also seeing questions and contributions during math class that show developing reasoning skills, and their growing comfort level with asking questions and sharing their discoveries is helping their classmates learn. It isn't all coming from me - so cool! Amid all the academic learning going on, we are also consistently training for better listening skills, efficient use of time, and being helpful and supportive of each other. A couple of indoor recesses this week demonstrated that our kids are able to enjoy games together with beautiful cooperation. This looked very different from our first days in school when we couldn't even all sit on the carpet together without some 'scrapping' going on!
In our constant planning to make every part of our days together meaningful, we feel like we've made some really gratifying progress. We are seeing our 4th graders continue to develop stamina - this week we easily reached our goal of pin drop silence for independent reading for 20 minutes (celebrating ourselves with chocolate chip cookies!). They are pleading for a 30 minute session! This stamina has begun to transfer to our writing block, where we are starting to conference with individual students as they write. The willingness of most of our students to hoist themselves up into our 'author's chair' to read their writing to the class has been another favorite activity. Again, this is proving to be a valuable chance to learn from each other.
Nuts and bolts information: The first unit math test for 5th grade math students is Monday, and for 4th grade math students it is on Tuesday. 4th grade students should have brought home both math journals as well as a set of review problems to complete. My hope is that these review sheets will be a good check of understanding of the main concepts, and the books might be helpful for any questions. Take time to look the review over with your student this weekend, and on Monday we will check these together in a final practice for the unit test. After I get the tests checked, they will come home for your signature on a cover sheet, and I would like the tests all returned to me. I like to keep all the unit tests together for each student so we can keep track of their mastery and look at all of them at conference time. Thank you for doing this.
Speaking of math, some of our district math specialists have shared a link to an online math practice website with games and activities that look quite helpful for a wide variety of basic skills. It is https://sites.google.com/a/mcpasd.k12.wi.us/math-fun/ .
As we get acquainted with our state of Wisconsin, and prepare for our field trip on October 3rd to the World Dairy Expo, we have been learning about the breeds and the anatomy of the dairy cow! Shifting into Agribusiness next week, and some map study of our state is on the agenda for next week. I still need a few trip permission slips and $1 from students. Parents, if you can come with us (carpools from school can follow our bus to the Alliant Energy Center), we would LOVE to have you come. I have a list started and there is room for whomever can clear their schedule from 10:45 to 2:30 on October 3rd. Just let me know!
Picture Day on Friday went smoothly, and you should find your child's proof envelope in their Take Home Folder. You may send back to school your order, or do your ordering online. The retake day for pictures is October 16th. Envelopes can come back that day, but are not necessary.
Over the last two Fridays, our class was able to take our Fall, 2012 MAPS Assessment for Reading and Math in the computer lab. The results give us a look into the specific skills in these subjects where this particular test determines the skills your child has mastered, skills they are in the process of learning, and skills they need yet to acquire. I can use these results to guide my planning for lessons. These assessments will be done again in winter, and in spring - and we will look for progress made. The kids did a great job staying focused and they hung in there, hopefully doing their best job.
September Scholastic Book Orders were sent in this week, and during the first week of October, you will receive the choices for that month's ordering, if you so choose.
I have so appreciated your feedback as well as your willingness to keep me informed about your child, as I get to know each one better with every passing day. We keep developing our trust level, and that makes all the difference with how well your student learns and enjoys school. I am grateful for the privilege of working with your children.
Melanie Hannam
Friday afternoon we all packed up and organized our belongings a little earlier than usual, and our class took the time to gather on the carpet together. Everyone had a chance to tell what parts of the past week were highlights for them. As each student took their turn to share, Linley and I could see the variety of ways our students have found connections to their work, their play, and each other. The highlight for us has been the truly amazing insights our students have been sharing in our discussions about our reading and our writing. Their responses show that they are already reaching deeper in their understanding of stories that they both hear together and read on their own. We are also seeing questions and contributions during math class that show developing reasoning skills, and their growing comfort level with asking questions and sharing their discoveries is helping their classmates learn. It isn't all coming from me - so cool! Amid all the academic learning going on, we are also consistently training for better listening skills, efficient use of time, and being helpful and supportive of each other. A couple of indoor recesses this week demonstrated that our kids are able to enjoy games together with beautiful cooperation. This looked very different from our first days in school when we couldn't even all sit on the carpet together without some 'scrapping' going on!
In our constant planning to make every part of our days together meaningful, we feel like we've made some really gratifying progress. We are seeing our 4th graders continue to develop stamina - this week we easily reached our goal of pin drop silence for independent reading for 20 minutes (celebrating ourselves with chocolate chip cookies!). They are pleading for a 30 minute session! This stamina has begun to transfer to our writing block, where we are starting to conference with individual students as they write. The willingness of most of our students to hoist themselves up into our 'author's chair' to read their writing to the class has been another favorite activity. Again, this is proving to be a valuable chance to learn from each other.
Nuts and bolts information: The first unit math test for 5th grade math students is Monday, and for 4th grade math students it is on Tuesday. 4th grade students should have brought home both math journals as well as a set of review problems to complete. My hope is that these review sheets will be a good check of understanding of the main concepts, and the books might be helpful for any questions. Take time to look the review over with your student this weekend, and on Monday we will check these together in a final practice for the unit test. After I get the tests checked, they will come home for your signature on a cover sheet, and I would like the tests all returned to me. I like to keep all the unit tests together for each student so we can keep track of their mastery and look at all of them at conference time. Thank you for doing this.
Speaking of math, some of our district math specialists have shared a link to an online math practice website with games and activities that look quite helpful for a wide variety of basic skills. It is https://sites.google.com/a/mcpasd.k12.wi.us/math-fun/ .
As we get acquainted with our state of Wisconsin, and prepare for our field trip on October 3rd to the World Dairy Expo, we have been learning about the breeds and the anatomy of the dairy cow! Shifting into Agribusiness next week, and some map study of our state is on the agenda for next week. I still need a few trip permission slips and $1 from students. Parents, if you can come with us (carpools from school can follow our bus to the Alliant Energy Center), we would LOVE to have you come. I have a list started and there is room for whomever can clear their schedule from 10:45 to 2:30 on October 3rd. Just let me know!
Picture Day on Friday went smoothly, and you should find your child's proof envelope in their Take Home Folder. You may send back to school your order, or do your ordering online. The retake day for pictures is October 16th. Envelopes can come back that day, but are not necessary.
Over the last two Fridays, our class was able to take our Fall, 2012 MAPS Assessment for Reading and Math in the computer lab. The results give us a look into the specific skills in these subjects where this particular test determines the skills your child has mastered, skills they are in the process of learning, and skills they need yet to acquire. I can use these results to guide my planning for lessons. These assessments will be done again in winter, and in spring - and we will look for progress made. The kids did a great job staying focused and they hung in there, hopefully doing their best job.
September Scholastic Book Orders were sent in this week, and during the first week of October, you will receive the choices for that month's ordering, if you so choose.
I have so appreciated your feedback as well as your willingness to keep me informed about your child, as I get to know each one better with every passing day. We keep developing our trust level, and that makes all the difference with how well your student learns and enjoys school. I am grateful for the privilege of working with your children.
Melanie Hannam
Saturday, September 15, 2012
September 14, 2012 Weekly Update
Hello to our 4th grade families!
We filled our first full week of school with our first lessons in math, reading, writing, and social studies. We are getting closer each day to our prescribed schedule, but we are also still making time to continue practicing our routines and expectations. We are working the most on respectful listening to both each other and the teacher. We also fit in a few 'story times' where the students get the chance to share their experiences (and then we turn them into writing ideas! :) ). Our class is very proud of our rather effortless reach toward our goal of 20 minutes of reading 'stamina'. This has turned out to be a favorite part of the day for all of us - pindrop silent time to get lost in our reading books. We all want more - that's a great situation to have in our clasroom!
Math lessons have begun with geometry - segments, lines, rays, angles, polygons... I have been insisting that each student brings home the two math journal/studylinks each night (even if they feel they have completed the assignment), so that they will show you and can explain to you what they learned and practiced that day. Please ask your student to demonstrate to you what they did in math that day, and that will give you both a good idea if they are grasping the new concept. I tell the kids that if they are able to explain and demonstrate the concept to someone else, it helps them learn more deeply, and they prove to themselves that they understand it. There was so much new vocabulary to grasp this week, that on Friday we cut back and spent the class hour reviewing and giving more practice on all of the previous 4 lessons. We continue to review each day as we add new concepts, so if it appears uncertain after the first day, we have more chances to practice and ask questions.
We've tied our reading and writing lessons together as we examine what makes for an effective description of 'setting' in a story. We have also been practicing together how to write a "Thoughtful Log" entry after hearing/reading a story. We have turned our composition notebooks into these Thoughtful Logs, and have begun using them to respond in writing about our connections with the reading piece, as well as share our opinions and answer with some deeper thinking comprehension skills. Our first lessons have generated some valuable discussions with our class already, and I can't wait to see how this will translate into more reflective writing and the growth of comprehension skills.
Has your student come home with some 'udderly' amazing facts about dairy cows? (sorry, couldn't resist) We jumped into Wisconsin Agriculture with a study of the six major breeds of dairy cows and more crazy information about these unique animals than we ever knew existed! Some of the students even asked to have copies made of these facts to take home, and so I will do that for everyone. We received confirmation this week that we are approved for our trip to the 2012 World Dairy Expo at the Alliant Energy grounds on Wednesday, October 3rd. All three 4th grade classes will leave on a bus at 10:50 am that day (we'll have an early 'lunch' at 10:30 in the room that morning), and will meet our tour guides at 11:30. We will leave the grounds by 2 pm so that we are back to school in time for buses home. Any and all parents that are interested in joining us - please know that you are welcome!! We'd love to have you tour around with us - the more the merrier - plus, the smaller our groups of kids among us, the easier it will be. We will see grooming, milking, judging, calves, and more. Last year, it worked well for parent chaperones to meet at school, carpool in a few cars, and follow the buses there. So let me know if I can put you on our parent chaperone list and I will keep everyone informed as we come closer to October 3rd.
Our September Scholastic Book Order forms went home last Monday. This Monday, the 17th, is the last day to send in your money and orders, and I will get them sent out. I want to thank the many parents who have volunteered to help with room celebrations and special events, and a big thank you to Stephanie Reinke for becoming our PTO Representative. Any news from the WM PTO will come to you through her. The new tie dye T-shirt project began on Thursday in art class, and next Thursday will be the big dye day! Thank you to Jean Yosick and Joyce Rolnick for coming in to help us there! Check the Google Calendar on our classroom website for upcoming school events, especially Picture Day on September 21, and the Back To School Night event on September 28.
As always, I invite you to email me any concerns, questions, and information you need to tell me regarding your student - I find them very helpful! Here's to a renewing weekend, and an energy filled week ahead! Melanie
We filled our first full week of school with our first lessons in math, reading, writing, and social studies. We are getting closer each day to our prescribed schedule, but we are also still making time to continue practicing our routines and expectations. We are working the most on respectful listening to both each other and the teacher. We also fit in a few 'story times' where the students get the chance to share their experiences (and then we turn them into writing ideas! :) ). Our class is very proud of our rather effortless reach toward our goal of 20 minutes of reading 'stamina'. This has turned out to be a favorite part of the day for all of us - pindrop silent time to get lost in our reading books. We all want more - that's a great situation to have in our clasroom!
Math lessons have begun with geometry - segments, lines, rays, angles, polygons... I have been insisting that each student brings home the two math journal/studylinks each night (even if they feel they have completed the assignment), so that they will show you and can explain to you what they learned and practiced that day. Please ask your student to demonstrate to you what they did in math that day, and that will give you both a good idea if they are grasping the new concept. I tell the kids that if they are able to explain and demonstrate the concept to someone else, it helps them learn more deeply, and they prove to themselves that they understand it. There was so much new vocabulary to grasp this week, that on Friday we cut back and spent the class hour reviewing and giving more practice on all of the previous 4 lessons. We continue to review each day as we add new concepts, so if it appears uncertain after the first day, we have more chances to practice and ask questions.
We've tied our reading and writing lessons together as we examine what makes for an effective description of 'setting' in a story. We have also been practicing together how to write a "Thoughtful Log" entry after hearing/reading a story. We have turned our composition notebooks into these Thoughtful Logs, and have begun using them to respond in writing about our connections with the reading piece, as well as share our opinions and answer with some deeper thinking comprehension skills. Our first lessons have generated some valuable discussions with our class already, and I can't wait to see how this will translate into more reflective writing and the growth of comprehension skills.
Has your student come home with some 'udderly' amazing facts about dairy cows? (sorry, couldn't resist) We jumped into Wisconsin Agriculture with a study of the six major breeds of dairy cows and more crazy information about these unique animals than we ever knew existed! Some of the students even asked to have copies made of these facts to take home, and so I will do that for everyone. We received confirmation this week that we are approved for our trip to the 2012 World Dairy Expo at the Alliant Energy grounds on Wednesday, October 3rd. All three 4th grade classes will leave on a bus at 10:50 am that day (we'll have an early 'lunch' at 10:30 in the room that morning), and will meet our tour guides at 11:30. We will leave the grounds by 2 pm so that we are back to school in time for buses home. Any and all parents that are interested in joining us - please know that you are welcome!! We'd love to have you tour around with us - the more the merrier - plus, the smaller our groups of kids among us, the easier it will be. We will see grooming, milking, judging, calves, and more. Last year, it worked well for parent chaperones to meet at school, carpool in a few cars, and follow the buses there. So let me know if I can put you on our parent chaperone list and I will keep everyone informed as we come closer to October 3rd.
Our September Scholastic Book Order forms went home last Monday. This Monday, the 17th, is the last day to send in your money and orders, and I will get them sent out. I want to thank the many parents who have volunteered to help with room celebrations and special events, and a big thank you to Stephanie Reinke for becoming our PTO Representative. Any news from the WM PTO will come to you through her. The new tie dye T-shirt project began on Thursday in art class, and next Thursday will be the big dye day! Thank you to Jean Yosick and Joyce Rolnick for coming in to help us there! Check the Google Calendar on our classroom website for upcoming school events, especially Picture Day on September 21, and the Back To School Night event on September 28.
As always, I invite you to email me any concerns, questions, and information you need to tell me regarding your student - I find them very helpful! Here's to a renewing weekend, and an energy filled week ahead! Melanie
Saturday, September 8, 2012
September 7, 2012 Newsletter
Hello to all of our "4H" families after our first week of school!
What a full and busy week this has been! I so enjoyed meeting each of you on Orientation Day, and it was so helpful to be able to have our first conversations about your 4th grader. I feel like I had so much I wanted to share with you, and I appreciated having that chance to fill you in on so many details. These newsletters will give you all a chance to stay caught up on events and activities week by week. I will be emailing my notes to our classroom group - if you would prefer additional email destinations, or want to change where my notes go, feel free to email me your preferences, and I can adjust the list. I will also be copying my newsletters to our classroom blog each week.
With each of the past three days in our classroom, our group has become more and more of a community. We've had such a solid beginning to getting acquainted with each other. We have two students in our room who are new to West Middleton this year, and I am very pleased and proud to see how welcoming and helpful and friendly our classmates have been. It is a priority in our room to treat each other with respect and helpfulness, and I saw many examples of that each day already. Miss Carlson, our student teacher, and I have really enjoyed seeing how each of our students has opened up more each day, sharing their personalities and ideas and stories.
We have spent much of each day introducing our class to many of the expectations and routines we will be following throughout the year. We are already getting very efficient about transitioning quickly and quietly between our desks and carpet meeting area, and achieving "pencil" straight and quiet lines in the hallways and after recesses (a beautiful sight to behold!). We've been practicing quick responses to our classroom signal for attention (ask your student about "uno, dos, tres..."). Time spent perfecting these skills pays off all year in very few wasted minutes. With every year, I feel more and more the pressure to make every minute we are together more productive, because there is so very much to learn!
We also got an amazing start toward developing "stamina". We are all challenging ourselves to extend the number of minutes each day that we can ALL remain focused, without a single interruption, on our reading and writing. The kids are all motivated to see how long we can go, and we are loving the chances to read and get lost in our books in a pin-drop silent room (we could actually hear the pin drop - even with the ventilation system blowing!). I am very much enjoying the groans when the timer goes off after each reading session. I have found that the wonderful benefit of practicing the discipline it takes for this silent reading time transfers to our quiet work times in other subjects!
Thank you to all who indicated that you would be available at certain points to help us out with special events like field trips, classroom celebrations, and some classwork. Some of you expressed to me that you might be willing to be a PTO classroom representative and/or a room parent. If we have more than one doing this, you can work as a team, making it super easy. Would you please email me if you are willing to help out here, and then I will put you in touch with each other? Thanks so much! I can share my family email list with you so it will be easy to send out PTO news notes, or any other notes for our classroom families.
Please take note: After the first two days, we saw it became necessary to rearrange our Daily Schedule in several ways! Most notably, our lunch time is now 11:10 to 11:40. That change resulted in changes to our reading and writing blocks. I sent home a revised Daily Schedule grid, so hopefully you found it in your 4th grader's Take Home Folder. I have also made the changes to the Schedule Page on our classroom blog.
On Monday, we begin our first math lesson in our new journals. We will also take the next steps with our Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop, and begin getting acquainted with our beautiful state of Wisconsin. I will begin daily posts to our blog's Homework Page. Please always feel free to email me any of your questions or concerns, and any notes about your child that I should know - it's so helpful! If you call my classroom number, I will always return your call as soon as I possibly can.
I am so excited to have your children in my room this year, and I look forward to sharing all the challenges and triumphs of Fourth Grade with them and with you. Melanie
What a full and busy week this has been! I so enjoyed meeting each of you on Orientation Day, and it was so helpful to be able to have our first conversations about your 4th grader. I feel like I had so much I wanted to share with you, and I appreciated having that chance to fill you in on so many details. These newsletters will give you all a chance to stay caught up on events and activities week by week. I will be emailing my notes to our classroom group - if you would prefer additional email destinations, or want to change where my notes go, feel free to email me your preferences, and I can adjust the list. I will also be copying my newsletters to our classroom blog each week.
With each of the past three days in our classroom, our group has become more and more of a community. We've had such a solid beginning to getting acquainted with each other. We have two students in our room who are new to West Middleton this year, and I am very pleased and proud to see how welcoming and helpful and friendly our classmates have been. It is a priority in our room to treat each other with respect and helpfulness, and I saw many examples of that each day already. Miss Carlson, our student teacher, and I have really enjoyed seeing how each of our students has opened up more each day, sharing their personalities and ideas and stories.
We have spent much of each day introducing our class to many of the expectations and routines we will be following throughout the year. We are already getting very efficient about transitioning quickly and quietly between our desks and carpet meeting area, and achieving "pencil" straight and quiet lines in the hallways and after recesses (a beautiful sight to behold!). We've been practicing quick responses to our classroom signal for attention (ask your student about "uno, dos, tres..."). Time spent perfecting these skills pays off all year in very few wasted minutes. With every year, I feel more and more the pressure to make every minute we are together more productive, because there is so very much to learn!
We also got an amazing start toward developing "stamina". We are all challenging ourselves to extend the number of minutes each day that we can ALL remain focused, without a single interruption, on our reading and writing. The kids are all motivated to see how long we can go, and we are loving the chances to read and get lost in our books in a pin-drop silent room (we could actually hear the pin drop - even with the ventilation system blowing!). I am very much enjoying the groans when the timer goes off after each reading session. I have found that the wonderful benefit of practicing the discipline it takes for this silent reading time transfers to our quiet work times in other subjects!
Thank you to all who indicated that you would be available at certain points to help us out with special events like field trips, classroom celebrations, and some classwork. Some of you expressed to me that you might be willing to be a PTO classroom representative and/or a room parent. If we have more than one doing this, you can work as a team, making it super easy. Would you please email me if you are willing to help out here, and then I will put you in touch with each other? Thanks so much! I can share my family email list with you so it will be easy to send out PTO news notes, or any other notes for our classroom families.
Please take note: After the first two days, we saw it became necessary to rearrange our Daily Schedule in several ways! Most notably, our lunch time is now 11:10 to 11:40. That change resulted in changes to our reading and writing blocks. I sent home a revised Daily Schedule grid, so hopefully you found it in your 4th grader's Take Home Folder. I have also made the changes to the Schedule Page on our classroom blog.
On Monday, we begin our first math lesson in our new journals. We will also take the next steps with our Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop, and begin getting acquainted with our beautiful state of Wisconsin. I will begin daily posts to our blog's Homework Page. Please always feel free to email me any of your questions or concerns, and any notes about your child that I should know - it's so helpful! If you call my classroom number, I will always return your call as soon as I possibly can.
I am so excited to have your children in my room this year, and I look forward to sharing all the challenges and triumphs of Fourth Grade with them and with you. Melanie
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