Hello again to all! I so enjoyed the opportunities to visit with all of our families during conferences over the past two weeks. Thank you for coming! It was wonderful to be able to sit around the table with you and your fourth grader and talk together. We can do that anytime - we don't have to wait till March to meet again! Emails and phone calls are also welcome at any time.
With four full weeks until our Winter Break, we have dug in to some very productive work this past week. We've been reading and writing with renewed effort. We finished our class read-aloud, The One And Only Ivan, and we miss him! We were able to watch an online interview with the author, Katherine Applegate, after we read the last page of the book. Everyone listened closely as she discussed how she gets her ideas for writing, and how 'writing is hard work' but so rewarding, and that she is always revising and editing her words. In our Writer's Workshop, we moved from writing thesis statements and supporting evidence as a whole class, to writing our first individual essays. These papers are a very good first attempt, and we will spend the next week expanding and explaining our reasoning with more detail. I am proud of our students for their good work on something entirely new to them. By the way, our December Scholastic Book Orders are due to be turned in by Monday, December 3rd. This will allow me to get the order sent out in time to get our new books back before we leave for Break.
We took another spelling test this past week, and on the same day, everyone received their new list of words. You will notice that we are stepping up our efforts here as well - with 20 words to practice now. We have until next week Friday, December 7th, to prepare for that spelling test. Speaking of spelling, the West Middleton Spelling Bee is taking place at 8:30 am on Monday, December 10th, and parents are welcome to attend. After five qualifying rounds in our classroom, we will be represented by Rose Giefer, Sydney Yosick, Zach Yosick, and Anezka Helmers.
We are almost halfway into Unit 4 in math class, and have been learning to read, write, and order decimal numbers so far. Our 4th graders are demonstrating an excellent understanding of the concept of what a decimal number represents - keep up the good work! Oh, and speaking of work --! After 'whomping' the kids with multiple pages of basic division facts during Thanksgiving week, we were all anxious to see if all that extra practice paid off on this week's timed test. Did it ever!! Wow. Out of the 17 students present to take the 3 minute timed test of 100 division problems yesterday, 14 students raised their scores - and by an average of 20 points!! Typical improvements in past weeks have averaged 5 point jumps. Two students reached their goal of 100%. This is quite impressive compared to past weeks - and of course, Mrs. Hannam didn't waste the opportunity to point out the value of hard work and diligent practice to make a difference - :)
Please take note of some special upcoming events: The annual West Middleton Winter Tea is Wednesday, December 5th. Our class is scheduled to attend at 12:05 to 12:30 that day. If you are able to join us there at that time, we will be happy to see you. We will be having lunch in our classroom at 11:10, and it sounds like we will be treated to the best pizza in town that day, in celebration of Luigi's birthday. Confirmation will come to you by email early in the week. Also, on Friday, December 7th, our classroom will host a special guest at 2:00. Mike Welch, owner and instructor of Infinity Martial Arts, has offered to come to our room to run a class for all of us! Along with karate moves, he teaches respect and self respect, self defense, and how to deal with bullies.
Looking ahead to the last week of school before break, I am in need of some help on a couple of different days. On Monday, Dec. 17, I have a special art project planned for our kids (sorry, I can't give away too many details to parents), and could use 2 or 3 other adults to help me from 2:00 to 2:45. If you think you'd like to assist with this project, let me know. Also, the last hour of our last day of school this month, on the 21st, we would like to continue our tradition of a holiday class party, and we will need some parents to help plan for a few treats and activities. Please email me if you would like to be on a team to organize for this - and thank you so much!!
I will keep you informed of any and all important reminders and special events as we speed through the busy month of December. Melanie Hannam
Friday, November 30, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
November 9, 2012 Weekly Update
Hello, families. It felt good this past week to get back into some regularly scheduled reading and writing classes. We continue to find all the moments we can to read both independently and aloud together, and analyze our characters. In Writer's Workshop, we have begun a new focus on essay writing. We are learning to "live wide-awake lives" as writers, noticing details around us that others often pass by. It has proven to be a new way of thinking for many of our kids, and we feel like writer/detectives, finding stories and ideas in small things that we haven't taken notice of before. We will soon turn these ideas into opinions, and practice backing up those opinions with evidence. Being able to defend a viewpoint on paper will most certainly be a necessary skill in future years in school.
This coming week we will be reviewing the content of Unit 3 in Math, and the final test will probably come next Thursday. Watch for review practice sheets to come home for homework next week. Our next Spelling Test is also scheduled for next Thursday.
Extra events continue to crowd our calendar and keep us motivated. This coming Monday on November 12th, it is "I Spy" Day at West Middleton. Our lunchroom will be turned into an art gallery, with projects and music created by all of our classes on display all day. That evening from 6:30 to 7:30, parents and families are invited to stop and in and take a good look at all the creations by our talented students.
Also next week, our WM Community Service Club is hosting a coin drive to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy. On Monday, students are encouraged to bring in all the pennies and nickels they can find, on Tuesday they bring in dimes, on Wednesday they bring in quarters, and on Thursday, they may bring in any coins, paper bills, or checks made out to the Red Cross. Thank you!
There will be no school on Friday, November 16th, since teachers will be holding parent teacher conferences on the evenings of November 15th and 20th. If you still need to double-check your conference time with me, just send me an email. Otherwise, I am assuming the time slot I sent you is going to work, and I will see you - AND your student - at that time. I am very much looking forward to visiting with you!
Each classroom will hold their own rounds to qualify for the WM Spelling Bee during the short week of school right before Thanksgiving break, narrowing ourselves down to the final four students to represent our class. The words to practice should be located in your student's Take Home Folder - we have several students who love this event and have been practicing. Remember, we will have full days of classes on the 19th and 20th, but on the 21st, the day before Thanksgiving, it is a CRT Day, and buses will be picking up students at 11:00 am.
This past week, as you know, was also our last week with Linley Carlson, our wonderful student teacher. We have all become such a team together in Room 117. We will all be missing her greatly, but we are also excited for her to get a new experience with first graders at Sunset Ridge. We held a little going away party for Miss Carlson on Thursday, her last day. She surprised us with specially made cupcakes ("Owl miss you" cupcakes) and personalized cards and notes for each of us. We surprised her with our tub of school and classroom supplies - and we did take her completely by surprise!! It was great! Thank you again to all of our families who joined us in this gift for Linley. We will all see her one more time because she is joining us for both conference days. She has written to our families with this note:
Dear 4th graders and parents,
I want to thank you for the lovely gifts that I received on my last day in Mrs. Hannam's class. I will cherish the past two months that I was able to spend with all of the talented boys and girls in Mrs. Hannam's class. I could not have asked for a more incredible experience and have been very fortunate to teach such amazing students! Thank you again! It was very hard leaving such an incredible class on Thursday. I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences.
Sincerely,
Linley Carlson
And with that -- see you all soon at Parent Conference time! Melanie
This coming week we will be reviewing the content of Unit 3 in Math, and the final test will probably come next Thursday. Watch for review practice sheets to come home for homework next week. Our next Spelling Test is also scheduled for next Thursday.
Extra events continue to crowd our calendar and keep us motivated. This coming Monday on November 12th, it is "I Spy" Day at West Middleton. Our lunchroom will be turned into an art gallery, with projects and music created by all of our classes on display all day. That evening from 6:30 to 7:30, parents and families are invited to stop and in and take a good look at all the creations by our talented students.
Also next week, our WM Community Service Club is hosting a coin drive to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy. On Monday, students are encouraged to bring in all the pennies and nickels they can find, on Tuesday they bring in dimes, on Wednesday they bring in quarters, and on Thursday, they may bring in any coins, paper bills, or checks made out to the Red Cross. Thank you!
There will be no school on Friday, November 16th, since teachers will be holding parent teacher conferences on the evenings of November 15th and 20th. If you still need to double-check your conference time with me, just send me an email. Otherwise, I am assuming the time slot I sent you is going to work, and I will see you - AND your student - at that time. I am very much looking forward to visiting with you!
Each classroom will hold their own rounds to qualify for the WM Spelling Bee during the short week of school right before Thanksgiving break, narrowing ourselves down to the final four students to represent our class. The words to practice should be located in your student's Take Home Folder - we have several students who love this event and have been practicing. Remember, we will have full days of classes on the 19th and 20th, but on the 21st, the day before Thanksgiving, it is a CRT Day, and buses will be picking up students at 11:00 am.
This past week, as you know, was also our last week with Linley Carlson, our wonderful student teacher. We have all become such a team together in Room 117. We will all be missing her greatly, but we are also excited for her to get a new experience with first graders at Sunset Ridge. We held a little going away party for Miss Carlson on Thursday, her last day. She surprised us with specially made cupcakes ("Owl miss you" cupcakes) and personalized cards and notes for each of us. We surprised her with our tub of school and classroom supplies - and we did take her completely by surprise!! It was great! Thank you again to all of our families who joined us in this gift for Linley. We will all see her one more time because she is joining us for both conference days. She has written to our families with this note:
Dear 4th graders and parents,
I want to thank you for the lovely gifts that I received on my last day in Mrs. Hannam's class. I will cherish the past two months that I was able to spend with all of the talented boys and girls in Mrs. Hannam's class. I could not have asked for a more incredible experience and have been very fortunate to teach such amazing students! Thank you again! It was very hard leaving such an incredible class on Thursday. I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences.
Sincerely,
Linley Carlson
And with that -- see you all soon at Parent Conference time! Melanie
Saturday, November 3, 2012
November 2, 2012 Weekly Update
Warm November greetings to our 4H families! We ended our October by finishing all of our exam sessions for the WKCE assessments, and began our November by celebrating all the progress we've made with our academics and classroom behavior over the first two full months of the school year. With the first full week of November we are looking forward to resuming our regular class schedule.
On Wednesday, upon completion of our testing, we were treated to one of the nicest "Harvest Party" hours we could have had. Thanks to the leadership of Mary Ozers and her creative team of Jean Yosick, Heather Bogner, Beth Hamilton, and Judy, McKenzie grandmother, we enjoyed some Halloween puzzles and games, a skeleton art project (you will see our wall of 'dancing skeletons' when you come in for conferences - so creepy cool!), and the most delicious treats, including the chance to decorate our own brownie square! The generosity and creativity of our moms has been just awesome, and THANK YOU! for all your efforts. It was so much fun having you with us, too!
We weren't done celebrating that day. Our class had been planning how to recognize the progress of our 4H class community, and on November 1st we put our plans into action. We came to class in comfy clothes, brought a blanket or pillow, found our specially prepared and loaded book boxes, and settled in to READ to our hearts' content - that is, whenever we didn't have a math or specials class to attend! The day flew by, the reading sessions went way too fast, and ahhh... it was so peaceful in our room! Lunch that day was an amazing treat. Luigi's dad, Vincenzo Pugliese, personally brought in a dozen of his luscious cheese pizzas from Cafe Porta Alba. Wow! Everyone just loved them! Thanks SO much for your generosity, Vincenzo and Stephanie! It was a memorable day. We ended our time together by discussing what we need to accomplish with our classroom behaviors and performance before we can have another celebration day.
In Reader's Workshop, we have been practicing how to analyze the connections the characters in our books make with each other, and how to put our interpretations of those connections into our own words in our Thoughtful Log journals. This is encouraging some deeper thinking, and is still a work in progress. Ivan and Stella are helping us, too (from our Class Read-Aloud book, "The One And Only Ivan"). We also wrote friendly ghost stories for Halloween, and are sharing them by flashlight. In science we have progressed from exploring magnetism to creating complete electrical circuits (we can now officially say that the light bulbs are coming on in Room 117!). In math class, we are more than halfway through Unit 3 - a big focus here is on gaining some substantial progress with multiplication facts. I want to encourage every family to create a routine for consistent, nightly practice for ready and quick, accurate recall of multiplication and division facts. This skill is essential to best success with our Everyday Math curriculum.
In other news, be aware that on Thursday, November 8th, West Middleton is hosting the Hot Lunch Program's harvest meal, where families can call in 'reservations' to eat with their child. Our 4th grade time is 11:00 on Thursday, and we will be eating in the gym that day. You may meet your student in the entryway of the school (we will be in Music class right up to 11:00).
On Friday, I gave every one of our students three different book order forms for the month of November - Arrow, Tab, and a 'Holiday' order form. If you choose to order any books for your child, the deadline for turning in orders and checks (made out to Scholastic Book Club) will be Friday, November 9th. If any family wants to secretly order any books for Christmas gifts (I will also give out the December order forms by Dec. 1st and should get them back before Winter Break), you can seal your order in an envelope and write me a note about it.
This coming week I will be sending out copies of the sign-up sheet many of you filled out on Orientation Day about a parent/teacher/student conference time. The two days (from 3:00 to 7:00pm) that our entire building will be holding conferences are November 15 and 20. If you still need to sign up for a time or want to change the time you'd written, just let me know once you see the list or make a trade with another family and just let me know. There are actually not quite enough time slots for our whole class during these two sessions, so if you'd like to arrange another day after school, I will be most happy to accommodate that! Remember, I want our 4th graders to be present for our conferences - you have important work to show your parents!
I want to remind everyone that also happening this coming Thursday on November 8th, we will be saying goodbye to our lovely and talented student teacher, Linley Carlson. Our class will take time at the end of the day to express our appreciation to her for all her dedication, hard work, and friendship, and send her off with our best wishes! Everyone will get one more chance to see Linley after that, since she is coming to our conferences on November 15 and 20! We will miss her SO much!
Whew - there is always so much going on! Thank you for all your communication about your 4th grader by phone or email or visits - it has really helped me get better in tune with your child, and what they most need from me for success in their academic and social goals. Melanie Hannam
On Wednesday, upon completion of our testing, we were treated to one of the nicest "Harvest Party" hours we could have had. Thanks to the leadership of Mary Ozers and her creative team of Jean Yosick, Heather Bogner, Beth Hamilton, and Judy, McKenzie grandmother, we enjoyed some Halloween puzzles and games, a skeleton art project (you will see our wall of 'dancing skeletons' when you come in for conferences - so creepy cool!), and the most delicious treats, including the chance to decorate our own brownie square! The generosity and creativity of our moms has been just awesome, and THANK YOU! for all your efforts. It was so much fun having you with us, too!
We weren't done celebrating that day. Our class had been planning how to recognize the progress of our 4H class community, and on November 1st we put our plans into action. We came to class in comfy clothes, brought a blanket or pillow, found our specially prepared and loaded book boxes, and settled in to READ to our hearts' content - that is, whenever we didn't have a math or specials class to attend! The day flew by, the reading sessions went way too fast, and ahhh... it was so peaceful in our room! Lunch that day was an amazing treat. Luigi's dad, Vincenzo Pugliese, personally brought in a dozen of his luscious cheese pizzas from Cafe Porta Alba. Wow! Everyone just loved them! Thanks SO much for your generosity, Vincenzo and Stephanie! It was a memorable day. We ended our time together by discussing what we need to accomplish with our classroom behaviors and performance before we can have another celebration day.
In Reader's Workshop, we have been practicing how to analyze the connections the characters in our books make with each other, and how to put our interpretations of those connections into our own words in our Thoughtful Log journals. This is encouraging some deeper thinking, and is still a work in progress. Ivan and Stella are helping us, too (from our Class Read-Aloud book, "The One And Only Ivan"). We also wrote friendly ghost stories for Halloween, and are sharing them by flashlight. In science we have progressed from exploring magnetism to creating complete electrical circuits (we can now officially say that the light bulbs are coming on in Room 117!). In math class, we are more than halfway through Unit 3 - a big focus here is on gaining some substantial progress with multiplication facts. I want to encourage every family to create a routine for consistent, nightly practice for ready and quick, accurate recall of multiplication and division facts. This skill is essential to best success with our Everyday Math curriculum.
In other news, be aware that on Thursday, November 8th, West Middleton is hosting the Hot Lunch Program's harvest meal, where families can call in 'reservations' to eat with their child. Our 4th grade time is 11:00 on Thursday, and we will be eating in the gym that day. You may meet your student in the entryway of the school (we will be in Music class right up to 11:00).
On Friday, I gave every one of our students three different book order forms for the month of November - Arrow, Tab, and a 'Holiday' order form. If you choose to order any books for your child, the deadline for turning in orders and checks (made out to Scholastic Book Club) will be Friday, November 9th. If any family wants to secretly order any books for Christmas gifts (I will also give out the December order forms by Dec. 1st and should get them back before Winter Break), you can seal your order in an envelope and write me a note about it.
This coming week I will be sending out copies of the sign-up sheet many of you filled out on Orientation Day about a parent/teacher/student conference time. The two days (from 3:00 to 7:00pm) that our entire building will be holding conferences are November 15 and 20. If you still need to sign up for a time or want to change the time you'd written, just let me know once you see the list or make a trade with another family and just let me know. There are actually not quite enough time slots for our whole class during these two sessions, so if you'd like to arrange another day after school, I will be most happy to accommodate that! Remember, I want our 4th graders to be present for our conferences - you have important work to show your parents!
I want to remind everyone that also happening this coming Thursday on November 8th, we will be saying goodbye to our lovely and talented student teacher, Linley Carlson. Our class will take time at the end of the day to express our appreciation to her for all her dedication, hard work, and friendship, and send her off with our best wishes! Everyone will get one more chance to see Linley after that, since she is coming to our conferences on November 15 and 20! We will miss her SO much!
Whew - there is always so much going on! Thank you for all your communication about your 4th grader by phone or email or visits - it has really helped me get better in tune with your child, and what they most need from me for success in their academic and social goals. Melanie Hannam
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