January 23, 2015 4H Update

Hello to all. I'd like to bring you up to date with our activities in Room 117 over the last couple of weeks.  Friday, January 23rd, marks the exact halfway point of our school year!  We are approaching the end of several mid-year assessments!   Our class has completed MAPS testing in the computer lab for both Reading and Math.  I am also wrapping up my individual meetings with each of our students, where they have read a story (or two or three!) out loud to me, and then we discuss their comprehension of the story.  When we have conferences in March, I can show you progress with both assessments.  This coming Tuesday, January 27th, all of our 4th graders will be taking part in NAEP testing (see the letter that went home earlier this month).  This involves three 30 minute tests in the areas of Reading, Math, and Science.  Our kids have been troopers through all of these 'additions' to our learning days.

Math class, as you know, has involved the process of learning long division during Unit 6.  Almost everyone is feeling more confident with each passing day.  All students could use more practice, so whenever there are 5 or 10 minutes available, jot down a problem or two like the ones you've seen come home, and slide that paper in front of your 4th grader to solve!  (These would be problems of 2,3, or 4 digit numbers being divided by any 1 digit number.)  The last lesson of this unit does introduce 2 digit divisors, so we will be practicing those briefly (Part B on the test).  We are treating all remainders as fractions at this point in the year.  This work with long division has caused more than a few of our students to become painfully aware that they are still lacking in their quick recall of basic facts!!!!  Please continue to give your child support and practice with basic facts, especially multiplication and division facts.  We will be taking our final Unit 6 test sometime in the next week.  Then, fractions are on the horizon!

In Reader's Workshop, we have all found our first Historical Fiction books to read on our own!  As a class, we are also reading together "Number The Stars" by Lois Lowry.  This gripping story is a perfect example of what it is like to become immersed in another time period through the eyes of fictional characters.  We are learning history as we enjoy getting to know characters who represent what real people have gone through.  This story takes place in Denmark during the Nazi occupation, so this book also opens our 4th graders' eyes to a very difficult event in our world's past.  I want to assure you that we are treating their first exposure to these events carefully and sensitively. For about the next month, your student will be trying to keep up with the free reading book of their choice along with their choice of a historical fiction book.  Thank you for helping them manage their reading time to include both (or if they want to exclusively dig into historical fiction for awhile, that is just fine).

In Writer's Workshop, we are using our newly acquired knowledge of what makes an effective Informational Book, using a variety of Text Features, and we are creating our own Info Books!  These will involve topics about which each student already feels comfortable sharing in step by step detail.  This will allow them the chance to use Text Features (both computerized or hand written/drawn) to make their own book effective and appealing to their audience.  We will not only share our books with each other, but we will also 'teach' our first grade buddies when we have completed our projects! 

Social Studies class has been all about understanding what it was like for the native Americans in our area of Wisconsin as European explorers and fur traders, followed by the new United States government after the American Revolution, all brought their influence, customs, and new laws to rapidly settling new lands.  I have so enjoyed hearing the thoughts and opinions of our students as they realize that there are many sides and viewpoints to the same events and issues. (Plus, you may get some requests to travel to Prairie du Chien or Portage... :)  In Science, they are working on experiments to prove the presence and power of magnetism as they approach they study of electricity.

Our January Scholastic Book Order should be arriving any day now.  Thanks for continuing to check into your student's Take Home Folder with them each day for any notices that come home, along with papers that might need signing.  We've had some illnesses make the rounds in our room over the last couple of weeks - many thanks to those of you who sent in cleaning wipes.  We are making good use of them!  I will send you another update in a couple of weeks - in the meantime, we are staying cozy and productive with our napping polar bears keeping an eye on us in Room 117!  :)  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

January 9, 2015 4H Update

Happy new 2015 to all of you!  It feels good to say that we are one of very few schools who put in a full 5 day week of classes this past week!  In our classroom, we swept out some cobwebs in our brains after two full weeks off, and ended up being very productive.  In spite of the difficult weather, we kept warm in our room, digging in to our work and activities.  Our kids handled all 5 indoor recesses very well, organizing themselves into some great games and art projects (it was good relationship-building time!).

We shared with each other all the books we've been reading lately, and have sparked some new ideas for each other.  This coming week in Readers Workshop we begin a new unit using  Historical Fiction books.  In addition to each student's independent reading book, they will be choosing another book where the story is set in another time period.  We will be exploring what it is like to be transported to a very different time and place in our reading, and what we can learn through the eyes of characters who lived through experiences we may not have ever realized or understood before!  Many of these stories are award winners, so the writing is some of the best that our students will be reading all year.    

The January Scholastic Book Order flyers went home this week.  Take a look, and as always, if you would like to order, you have the choice of online ordering or sending in a check with the order form to school.  We decided on a due date for orders - Friday, January 16th.

Every year at this time, all 4th graders in Dane County have the opportunity to enter a Haiku writing contest.  We learned this week how to write Haiku (a three line poem with 17 syllables).  Our kids caught on quickly, and all have been producing several Haiku during moments of inspiration throughout the week.  We will collect up all of our attempts, each student choosing their favorite 2 or 3, and we will get those typed up to submit by January 21st.  It's been a fun and valuable writing experience whether we end up with any official winners or not.  We will be notified by March if anyone in our school has a poem chosen by the judges, and then there is a program held to honor those writers with their families, with all winning poems printed into a booklet.  We will collect all of our poems in our Writing Binders, so you can see them.  I love what our kids are doing - some very creative 'word-smithing' going on!   

In Science with Mrs. Bertz, our class is moving into a new unit on magnetism and electricity.  In Social Studies, we are transitioning from the "Old Time" when native tribes had the land all to themselves, to when the first European explorers and traders found this area we know now as Wisconsin.  Life changes forever for the people of this time, and we find out how and why!  We are looking forward to our next big field trip during the last week of February - details will be coming.  We are planning a tour of our State Capital and the Wisconsin Historical Museum!

Important dates for the month of January include several days containing testing sessions for our 4th graders.  On both January 8th and 12th, I am meeting individually with each student to listen to them read a leveled passage and hold a comprehension conversation together.  We do this 3 times throughout the year to determine updated reading skills.  Also done 3 times this year is the MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) Assessment in the computer lab for both reading and math. We will do our sessions on January 13th and 15th - this coming week!  And then on January 27th, there is another assessment being given to just the 4th graders in reading, math, and science.  You should have received a letter this past week explaining this test.  If there are any questions, please let me or Mr. Macklem know.  If you could support your student with a particularly good night's sleep and breakfast for each of these upcoming days especially, that would be ideal. 

A little housekeeping note:  Our classroom has just about run out of cleaning wipes.  If you think of it next time you are shopping for such supplies, would you include Room 117 on your shopping list?  With all the cold and flu bugs being passed around this time of year, I am trying to be diligent about wiping off desk surfaces, etc. even more often than usual.  We're still pretty good with our Kleenex box supply.  Thank you!!

It has just been decided this past week that we will hold our next Parent/Teacher/Student Conferences during the month of March, around the dates of March 3rd and 10th.  I will send home a list of possible times for days during that timespan, in February.  At the Conference, I can share the updates on your child's reading and math assessments, along with their progress in our classroom units of study.    

In the meantime, let's hope we get some more agreeable weather, and that we all stay healthy!  I will continue to stay in close touch with you!  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam