Hello once again, dear families. I so enjoyed meeting with all of you for conferences over the last two weeks. Report cards will be coming home on March 21st. As always, you can feel free at any time to call, email, or request a meeting time to talk with and about your 4th grader. I think it is so good for them to see how much we all care about their progress and achievement in school.
Friday morning this past week started out with a little extra 'breakfast' in 4th grade math class, as we celebrated the end of our unit on fractions. We divided several steaming hot pizzas into various sizes, did some adding up, and then subtracted - by gobbling those fractional slices right up and out of sight in record time! Along with this delicious end, we are checking our last journal pages Monday, doing a two page review over the weekend (check the Take Home folder), and then our Unit 7 Test will be on either Tuesday or Wednesday. We will make the decision about which day on Monday - it depends on how much we accomplish in class on Monday and how many questions there may be.
Literacy classes this week have us diving into something new - memoir. Even at 10 years old, every one of our 4th graders has discovered an endless supply of memories about special events, people, and places that have made a deep impression on their lives - and we've heard dozens of stories all week to prove it! We've shared photographs and treasured objects that hold special meaning for each of us, and more stories came pouring out. It has been so much fun! This weekend, I have asked each student to take a few notes in their new "Memory Logs" which they have brought home. I have requested that they each find one or more family member or close special friend, with whom they have shared a memorable time, reminisce together to see what they each remember best about this time, and jot down some notes so that they may share and write about it next week in class. Thank you for helping your child find some quiet time to have this conversation with that special someone. Through all these activities, we are attempting to identify what makes an experience so memorable and significant - is it the actual event, or could it be because of the feelings experienced and/or the person with whom the event was shared?
Today, you should also find your student's 'published' realistic fiction booklet in the Take Home Folder. If you haven't had a chance to read this yet, please do. This represents their longest writing project so far this year, and much time and effort went into creating it. I gave our 4th graders a choice to keep it at home, or they may return it to school to be saved in their green writing binders. Enjoy your child's imagination!
We continue our study of rocks and minerals, now investigating what happens to make igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic rock. We found some awesome video clips of exploding Mt. Kilauea in Hawaii, watching red hot lava flow over highways and meet the ocean waves in clouds of steam... so cool!
After having all week to practice the first 25 words of the new (5th grade) high frequency spelling words, we took the test on Friday. Next week we will concentrate on the second 25 words. Giving your student some extra practice with these words will be helpful. I am handing off more of the responsibility for being prepared for testing on these words to our students - by not giving them as many structured assignments to help them practice as in the past. This will be a lesson in figuring out for themselves how much each of them must work to be prepared, and then do whatever it takes for them personally to be ready! This can be a difficult lesson in responsibility for some to learn, but it is not too early to practice this!
In other business, it is now time to order the 2012-2013 West Middleton Yearbooks - until the deadline of April 12th. If your student's order form can't be located, there are extras in the classroom. Also, we have quite a number of students in class who still do not have good pencils to use. Each student is expected to have a few good pencils, sharpened, with erasers, at their desks. This must be the time of year when those wonderful supplies they came to school with on September 1st, finally give out. Thank you to those who sent in Kleenex boxes! We could still use a few more to get us through the end of the year. I am amazed at how fast we go through Kleenex! Thank you.
One last request: If you know your student will be missing any school days next week due to leaving for a spring break trip early, would you send me a quick email? It helps our attendance record keepers if they can stay on top of all the planned absences ahead of time - thank you. I will end my note by wishing you all a restful and fun break week, whether you are taking off on a trip or sticking close to home. May your days together create more of those special memories that could one day be recorded in a journal somewhere, only to be discovered with delight years later. Happy Easter and Happy Spring! Melanie Hannam
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Saturday, March 2, 2013
March 1, 2013 Weekly Update
Hello to all of our 4H families. March has arrived, and it is shaping up to be a very busy month - though it's only three weeks before the Spring Break Week of March 25 through 29. We start off celebrating Literacy Week from March 4th through 8th. On Monday a group of actors that perform for students will act out stories written by our own students. They are an improv group that includes students from the audience in each act for each story. On Tuesday the last period of the day will have all of our students moving to a different room and teacher from their own, to hear a story read out loud. Wednesday is Wordy Wardrobe Day - wear a shirt with words to celebrate literacy. Thursday is the day to recycle and share literature. Students may bring in gently used books from home to contribute to the 'book shop' and may pick up a different used book in return. If you have books at home that you'd like to give a new home, send them all in any day this week before Thursday, and we will get them to the proper place. On Friday, it is the ever popular "Dress Like Your Favorite Book Character Day". Students should keep the outfits fairly simple, and bring along the book that goes with the outfit, if possible. We will parade around the hallway circle that morning!
I look forward to talking with all of you during one of the two coming Conference Days, Thursday, March 7th or Tuesday, March 12th. Our students will have a chance to show you their latest work, and we'll talk about good goals for the last third of the school year. I plan to stay as closely on schedule as possible, but if you are early or do have a few minutes' wait, be sure to check out our updated photo albums which will be on chairs outside our classroom door. We have some beautiful shots of our Winter Prairie Hike, our Valentine Party, our latest Science experiments, and Writing class. Take note: The second trimester ends on March 8th, we have till March 15th to enter report card data, and you will receive those reports on March 21st, right before Spring Break.
We've missed some math classes over the last week or so, due to snowy delays, music rehearsals, and a field trip day! In 4th grade math, we are digging into fractions. Be sure to check in with your student when they bring home their two math journals, and ask them to show and explain to you what they are learning. This will give you - and them - a chance to be sure they are grasping the new skills. In science we have been conducting experiments with rocks and minerals, which has been good practice for not only the content area, but also for the important skills of listening and following directions accurately - whew! - not always a pretty sight in Room 117! In Writer's Workshop, half of our classmates have completed their Realistic Fiction "Book" and the rest should finish this coming week, hopefully in time to show you at Conference time. We have also been moving on into analyzing story meaning and character details more deeply, writing our realizations and opinions in our Thoughtful Logs. This has been a real challenge for most of us, and it has stretched some students' writing skills. Amid some groans and frustrations, it has been truly rewarding - and eye opening to some of our reluctant writers - to see some very perceptive reflections written down! They CAN do it!!
I will end my update with a humble request to help us with our supply of Kleenex boxes, if you can - we are down to our last box! Thank you so much! The only other supply that needs attention is each student's collection of good pencils - we are seeing more eraser-less stubs with each passing day! I will talk to you all very soon! Sincerely, Melanie Hannam
I look forward to talking with all of you during one of the two coming Conference Days, Thursday, March 7th or Tuesday, March 12th. Our students will have a chance to show you their latest work, and we'll talk about good goals for the last third of the school year. I plan to stay as closely on schedule as possible, but if you are early or do have a few minutes' wait, be sure to check out our updated photo albums which will be on chairs outside our classroom door. We have some beautiful shots of our Winter Prairie Hike, our Valentine Party, our latest Science experiments, and Writing class. Take note: The second trimester ends on March 8th, we have till March 15th to enter report card data, and you will receive those reports on March 21st, right before Spring Break.
We've missed some math classes over the last week or so, due to snowy delays, music rehearsals, and a field trip day! In 4th grade math, we are digging into fractions. Be sure to check in with your student when they bring home their two math journals, and ask them to show and explain to you what they are learning. This will give you - and them - a chance to be sure they are grasping the new skills. In science we have been conducting experiments with rocks and minerals, which has been good practice for not only the content area, but also for the important skills of listening and following directions accurately - whew! - not always a pretty sight in Room 117! In Writer's Workshop, half of our classmates have completed their Realistic Fiction "Book" and the rest should finish this coming week, hopefully in time to show you at Conference time. We have also been moving on into analyzing story meaning and character details more deeply, writing our realizations and opinions in our Thoughtful Logs. This has been a real challenge for most of us, and it has stretched some students' writing skills. Amid some groans and frustrations, it has been truly rewarding - and eye opening to some of our reluctant writers - to see some very perceptive reflections written down! They CAN do it!!
I will end my update with a humble request to help us with our supply of Kleenex boxes, if you can - we are down to our last box! Thank you so much! The only other supply that needs attention is each student's collection of good pencils - we are seeing more eraser-less stubs with each passing day! I will talk to you all very soon! Sincerely, Melanie Hannam
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