October 18, 2013 Weekly Update

Greetings to all of our 4H families.  We were so fortunate on Thursday afternoon - just in time for us, the drizzle ended, the clouds parted, and all 66 fourth graders from WM enjoyed a beautiful, mostly sunny fall afternoon trekking all across Pope Farm Park with gardeners, naturalists, and archaeologists.  Our sessions focused on how the native people who lived right in this area 13,000 years ago were able to thrive and survive.  Our kids were highly engaged in their simulated hunt for necessary supplies, tools, food, and shelter.  It was a memorable afternoon!  Thank you again for coming with us:  Cindy M., Hana A., Betty S., Jamie F., Wendy A. - it was fun sharing this experience together.

 

Back in the classroom, we are wrapping up another writing project, focusing on strong beginnings and significant endings.  In reading we have been delving into tips and strategies for knowing the characters in our books more deeply, and therefore, our understanding and our engagement in our reading also becomes deeper.  Math class has all groups beginning Unit 3 this week.  For the 4th grade students, the unit focuses on all aspects of multiplication - not only becoming more accurate with the facts, but also understanding factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers, division, and number sentences.  Social studies continues to give us opportunities to become familiar with our state's rivers, lakes, boundaries, neighbors, major cities, and landmarks.  We are leading up to a big study of the glacial age and how it has affected Wisconsin.  Science with Mrs. Bertz has been full of experiments with rocks and minerals.

 

Right along with all of our studies comes the development of good work habits and the goal of increasing the ability of each of our students to become organized and meet deadlines for completed assignments. Some of our students are not taking advantage of good strategies for keeping track of papers and due dates, such as using their planner and keeping their Take Home Folder organized.  I would like our 4th graders to be in charge of their folders, and their 'to do' lists in their planners, supported by you.  Sitting together for 5 minutes each day/evening after school and allowing your child to take you through their papers (what needs to stay home, what needs your attention, what needs to remain in the folder, what needs to go back to school) is to be their responsibility - please allow them to be in charge.  Let them tell you what is due and when, so that it remains their job, and not yours - thank you!  :)  It is the same with their reading log and their math books - you can support them best by asking them to show you what they are doing.

 

You have probably heard about the "Pride Paws" being handed out all through West Middleton.  Students earn these slips of paper whenever a staff member observes them demonstrating safe, responsible, and respectful behavior anywhere in and around school. All classes are focusing on hallway performance now through November.  Starting this week, Willy's Warehouse will be open for business!  Pride Paws are saved and 'spent' every two weeks at our new school store - Willy's Warehouse!  Orders will be submitted every other Friday, and within the next week, students will receive their purchased 'merchandise' which will usually go right into backpacks to be taken home.  The kids are pretty excited about it.

 

I am just about ready to send home the entire list of our Parent/Student/Teacher Conference schedule for November 19th and 21st.  This will confirm everyone's time, and if you encounter a problem with your time, you might be able to switch with another family if necessary.  Do let me know if you have any changing circumstances or questions.  Please remember that next week is a short week of school, with no classes on Thursday and Friday.  In addition, I have been invited to be a member of a team from our school who will attend seminars on 5 different days throughout the school year on 'The Culturally Responsive Classroom' - and the first day will be Tuesday, October 22nd.  Therefore, Mrs. Connie Johnston will be our guest teacher that day.

 

The following week - and the last week of the month already! - includes Halloween.  I will be looking for any parents who might like to plan a little celebration for the last 40 minutes of the day on Thursday, October 31st - some goodies to eat, an activity like a craft or a game or two...  whatever you might dream up!  Keep it in mind, and if I hear from you, I will put you in touch with others who have responded, and you may plan away!  Thank you, thank you!

 

Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

October 11, 2013 Weekly Update

Hello, 4H families!  This past week has been another full and busy one in Room 117.  In Writer's Workshop, we have organized our Writing Binders by inserting our first section with a cover sheet entitled "My Personal Narratives".  Now we have launched into analyzing what makes for a 'grabbing' story lead, and using dozens of books from our library, our class brainstormed a wonderful list of different techniques for story beginnings.  We are also identifying story endings that have meaning and relate back to the idea of the story (so there will be no more "and then we drove home and went to bed. The End.")  Our students created at least six original ways to begin a story, picked out their favorite one, and are now writing the rest of the story - so those will be fun to share next week.

 

We came to a good point in Reader's Workshop this week to stop and closely examine those Reading Logs that everyone has been filling out daily both at home and at school.  There is much to discover about each of our 'reading lives' as we look at the data we are collecting on these sheets.  Ask your 4th grader what they are noticing about their reading habits so far this year!  During conferences, we will take another look together at these logs.  We began our new Class Read Aloud book, "Out of My Mind" by Sharon Draper - and it has pulled us in from the first page.  It is such an enlightening story - parents, if you get a chance to read a copy, you will certainly enjoy this book as well!  The new thoughts and realizations about what it must be like to be 'Melody', the main character, are just tumbling out of our kids, and our class discussions get deeper by the day.  Ask your 4th grader to explain a bit about this story so far - it will be fun to hear their impressions!

 

In Social Studies, we have been traveling all over Wisconsin, using state road maps.  Along with brushing up on map skills, we are becoming familiar with locations of major cities, highways, rivers and lakes, boundaries, and attractions all over our state.  This is leading us into our deeper study of Wisconsin landforms, the history of the glaciers, and then how this land became settled.  Our field trip to Pope Farm Park next week on Thursday afternoon will be perfectly timed to enhance our study.  There are 3 parents who have let me know they would like to join us - please do email me if you also can come and spend from 12:30 to 2:30 at the Park with us.  It will be a fun activity to share with your child and the naturalists and historians who will lead us in our 'adventures'.  We will not change our normal school lunch plans for this trip - your child may still bring their own lunch or order the hot lunch like any other day.  We will just go down to the lunchroom 5 to 10 minutes earlier than usual that day, so we may board our buses by 12:20.  I am told we can all meet at the LOWER parking lot of the Park, not the higher lot.  

 

All of our math students are wrapping up Unit 2 with final tests (4th graders - this Friday / 5th graders - next Monday).  Everyone is being encouraged to keep practicing those basic facts!  Many are showing some steady improvement, but we need to see even more.  Students in my 4th grade group are keeping track of their results each week on the back pages of their Studylink books, so ask them to show you how those numbers are looking - are they climbing, or plateauing?  Thank you for supporting practice time at home  - it makes all the difference.

 

We had an exciting surprise this week - we have welcomed a new girl to our 4H family!  Cecelia D. has joined us from a Madison elementary school, and everyone has been so welcoming and helpful in making her feel comfortable and at home with us.  I am so proud of our friendly and thoughtful classmates!

 

On Friday this week, you will find a Parent Conference Sign-Up Sheet in your student's Take Home Folder.  Please give it some thought, check calendars, and mark your 1st, 2nd, 3rd choices for time slots, and then I will confirm one of those times with you once I hear back from everyone.  Thanks so much.  This weekend I will place any final orders for our October Scholastic Book Orders online.  If you still want to order online, feel free - I can wait till Sunday to do my part.  Just a heads up - early in November I will be sending home the usual order forms for that month and there will also be an extra catalog form for Gift Books for the holidays. 

 

I look forward to seeing some of you at Pope Farm Park next week - hope we still have some of the gorgeous weather we had this week!  As always, feel free to email me anything you wonder about or need to inform me.  Our kids are having some awesome days in 4th grade - it's been so much fun!  Melanie Hannam   

October 4, 2013 Weekly Update

Hello to our 4th grade families!  Today some of our students remarked, "It's Thursday already?!"  This week did seem to go by especially quickly, partly due to our beautiful Tuesday afternoon touring the grounds of the World Dairy Expo in Madison.  We couldn't have ordered a more comfortable day to wander through immaculate cow barns, milking parlors, and dairy tents.  It was so much fun to watch our kids look around in awe at sights quite new to most of them.  They especially couldn't get enough of watching and identifying the different breeds of perfectly groomed cows at every turn, and all of us were exclaiming at their SIZE - when we get within arm's reach of these gentle but powerful animals, we realize just how massive they are!  I want to again thank our terrific chaperones for coming along and keeping us together:  Mary O., Patty S., Lisa B., Kim P., Jamie F., and Rufino A.  Our students did a most wonderful job with listening to the many guides who were full of information, and I heard many intelligent questions being asked, as well.  Way to go, fourth graders!   We all said we wished we could take a field trip for every unit we cover in social studies and science this year!

 

On October 17th, we do have another opportunity for a couple of hours away from the classroom again - thanks to our school district.  From 12:30 to 2:30 that day, all 3 of our classrooms are invited to Pope Farm Park on Old Sauk Road for a hands-on program with guides, naturalists, and historians.  Three parents have volunteered so far to join our class there that day - please let me know if you would like to come, too.  We can have as many parents with us as we'd like - you are most welcome!  See the info half of your permission slip for a refresher on all the details (all parent signatures have already been turned in - thank you!)

 

Coming home this Friday, October 4th:  The October Scholastic Book Order forms - remember that you may order through me and send me a check made to Scholastic Book Club with your order form, or you may order directly online (which has proven to be very easy and convenient!).  We are setting a deadline for our order this month of Friday, October 11th.  Also coming home this Friday is a small laminated login card attached to an information sheet about how you and your student can access "Everyday Math Online".  Your 4th grader can find games and other activities on this site which will help them practice basic facts, and other math concepts.  Take a look and give it a try!  Almost all of our math students, whether they attend the 4th grade or the 5th grade class in math, need more practice with accuracy and recall of their basic facts - this is another fun way to get that practice.

 

Friday, October 4th, is also the date for the PTO-sponsored West Middleton Fall Dance in the gym from 6 to 8 pm!  This event also includes a Pumpkin Sale.  These pumpkins got delivered to our school entryway this afternoon, and what a collection of huge, perfect pumpkins they are!  It creates an atmosphere of instant Autumn at school.

 

Very soon I will send you a sheet with a list of time slots for our two parent/student/teacher conference evenings on November 19th and 21st.  You will have the chance to mark your first, second, and third choice for times, and I will confirm those with you after hearing from everyone.  It is so valuable for our students to be present as we discuss their goals and progress, so hopefully there will be time slots that work for everyone's schedules.

 

This week we are over the halfway point in Unit 2 for math already and it is going so well!  We are polishing off our first three personal narrative writing projects and organizing them into those binders which will collect all of our 4th grade writing this year (a real keepsake).  In reading class we have been using both our personal reading books and our class read-aloud book, "Stone Fox" to practice reading "Stronger, Faster, Longer", "reading ourselves awake" and to read "like the words are GOLD!"   Next week we shift our social studies emphasis to Wisconsin's Ice Age history and the resulting landforms, along with adding to our mapping skills, and in science, Mrs. Bertz has our students deep into experiments with Rocks.

 

One last thing - and not the least thing!  Our class has been very motivated to demonstrate orderly and respectful behavior in ALL of their classes throughout the building.  We have been collecting 'compliments' from teachers and other staff members and keeping track!  We set ourselves a target of 25 positive remarks and today we reached our goal!  Therefore, we have voted that the way we most want to celebrate our achievement is to enjoy a 'read-in' day, which will take place next week on Friday, October 11.  On this day, we may each bring in a small blanket or pillow, wear 'comfy' clothing and/or slippers in the classroom, and read our way through our book collections.  We will also munch (Mr.!) Hannam's special carmel corn, and watch the movie version of the book we will have completed by then, "Stone Fox" (produced for NBC back in 1987!).  We just wanted to let you know about this special day ahead of time!  They have earned it - and I love their idea for 'all day stamina' with their books, of course!

 

We'll let you know how everything goes next week!  Until then, Melanie Hannam