December 12, 2014 Update

Hi, families.  As you may have noticed, this past week our 4th grade level math students have been introduced to multi-digit multiplication problems. We are taking some extra days just to get the steps practiced - over and over as much as we can.  (First, 1 digit times 2 digit numbers, then 1 digit times 3 or 4 digit, followed by 2 digit times 2,3,4 digit numbers - have your student show you in their journals and studylink pages).  This has been a big, new skill for most of our kids.  Any extra problems you can throw at them throughout the next days and weeks, the better!  They all need the practice! 

Here's a special note for all parents who may wonder about different ways these problems are solved:  You will see pages in their books practicing both "partial products" and "lattice" methods.  I have looked into 5th grade and beyond math curriculum, and after this year, these methods are not used any more.  Therefore, after reminding our students how these methods work (and some kids really like them and can find them useful), we are pretty much abandoning these alternative methods and sticking with the faster and more efficient "traditional" method to solve mult-digit multiplication problems.  If any parents feel 'rusty' with this, let me know - I have a step by step guide sheet illustrating the traditional, and can send one home. 

I must say here that for any 4th grader who has still not mastered his/her basic multiplication facts, this stage of math is very frustrating and difficult.  It is one thing to master the steps of new and longer problems, and then add to that the inability to recall the facts themselves, it makes doing this work incredibly difficult and tedious.  I urge all families to give special attention to your child's ability to know their basic facts with quick recall and accuracy - practice as often as you can together - even odd moments in the car, etc., ask what 6 x 9 is, 7 x 8......and so on!  Not being proficient with facts in all four operations will also be crucial when we will soon get to long division problems and fractions.  Like I tell the kids, this is not going away - they will need to use their facts all through their school years and lives, so it is worth the extra effort in 4th grade.  I think some of our kids hope this will all just sort of 'sink in' to them without having to work and practice!  THANK YOU for your extra support with this subject!!!

On a more triumphant topic, our classroom has won the West Middleton Box Tops for Education Contest!  Therefore, this coming Monday, December 15, there will be no need to send in lunches for our 4th graders!  The PTO is treating us to a pizza lunch, with juice boxes and cookies!  Woohoo!!  Thank you for your support at home - we collected 3,029, more than double the next place winners!

Report cards are coming home today!  Please remember to sign the envelope and send that back to school next week.  You may keep all the papers inside that envelope.

Next Wednesday at 12:30 is the Winter Tea.  Our time is 12:30, with the first 10 minutes of singing from our 4th graders, and the rest of the time to munch treats and have a visit with everyone.  All family members are welcome!  Students are asked to dress nicely that day, but also remember they do have one outdoor recess after lunch, too. 

We have earned our second Reward Day in Room 117 - having collected another 25 compliments from staff throughout the building for model behavior!  Way to go, 4H Kids!!  We will use the last day before Winter Break to have lots of reading time, some game time, a movie time, dress in comfy clothes, bring a pillow or small blanket, and have treats!!  Early next week, I will contact all parents who offered snacks for that day, and get organized.  Thank you!

Enjoy the weekend!  Melanie Hannam

December 5, 2014 Update

Warm December Greetings to our 4H Families!  I so enjoyed the chance to meet with each of you and your families during our conferences last month!  Please know that any time during the year that you feel like a sit down visit with or without your 4th grader would be helpful, we can do that! 

We have three weeks this month to see how much we can accomplish in Room 117!  We have made some excellent progress in new lessons about informational reading material in Readers' Workshop, identifying text features that grab our attention and help us learn nonfiction information.  Ask your student to point out the most effective text features in any info book/magazine you hand them, and they will likely be able to point out numerous features.  Next we will go on to the important skills of summarizing and notetaking within those pages.

In Writers' Workshop, our students have already written at least two essays!  They are learning to state strong thesis statements, and back them up with reasons and examples.  We will write several more essays about social issues and important people and places in our lives.  Our students are taking to this topic with great enthusiasm!  (It helped that we began together by defending 'ice cream'.  :)  )

I have introduced "Gold Star Researchers" to the class this past week.  This 'project' will last all the rest of the school year.  I want you to have the details, too, since most of this work gets done on our students' own time.  It happens just about every day that during our class discussions in every subject, some interesting, unusual, intriguing fact or question comes up that we all wish we knew more about!  We can't follow every side road to explore these ideas during class (though we wish we could!).  So I have presented to the students an opportunity to explore any topic that really piques their interest.  They may research that subject in more detail through books and/or the internet, and even through people in their lives who have the expertise. Then they may prepare any kind of report or presentation to us all in class whenever they are ready (no deadlines or due dates ever).  This may take the form of a written report, a poster or other project, a google presentation, bring in an expert....  Once a student has 'educated' all of us on his/her discoveries, he/she receives a GOLD STAR on our wall of stars! Their names are written on a special star, all of which will create a trail across our walls, and the windows, and the ceiling....!  It is fun to watch the trail grow with stars and names, students will receive extra credit in my grade book, they learn to do research (in their own words!!), they gain experience in presenting, and we all - including me - learn so much more about such a wide variety of topics.  I love that I become not the only teacher in the room! 

We all have a request to relay from our school social worker, Susan Sims-Mormino: 

WINTER BOOTS NEEDED: If you have any gently used winter boots that you no longer need, we would greatly appreciate your donation! We will add them to our winter clothing supply for students in need. These are also helpful for kiddo's who sometimes forget their boots at home :-) Please send donations to Susan Sims-Mormino, School Social Worker. Thank you!

Also, all of our 4th grade students are planning a special holiday art project, as a gift to their families.  On Friday morning, December 12, from 9 to 10 am, our own class will be working on this project, and it goes very smoothly if I could have the help of two or three other adults during that time.  If you are available (land like paint!), please let me know. I will confirm with the first three parents who respond.  Thank you so much - this project always turns out to be so awesome!!

On the last afternoon before Winter Break, on December 19th, I would like to let our class kick back and enjoy a movie connected to our literature/social studies units, and have a couple treats.  If you are interested in bringing in a goodie, or something to drink with that goodie, let me know.  Again, thank you for your support!

We will let you know next week, but our class has HIGH hopes of winning the BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION school contest for bringing in the most box tops!  So stay tuned for hopefully exciting news.  Also coming next week -- the first trimester report cards.  Look for them to come home on Friday, December 12.  The envelope needs to be signed and returned to me, but you may keep all the contents inside that envelope. 

Keep in mind that I will submit any book orders from our Scholastic December flyers on the evening of December 8th.  We should get our new books before Winter Break.  Also, make sure the West Middleton Winter Tea on Wednesday, December 17th, is on your calendar!  We will meet you in our "Winter Wonderland" lunchroom at 12:30 that day, first to sing to you and then to share cookies and hot chocolate and visit till 1:10. 

As more events and news flashes come to our attention at school, I will be sure to pass along all information and reminders to you!  Enjoy this busy and exciting month!