Hello, 4H Families,
How did we get to the middle of October already?! Right outside our classroom door this past week, the school's library was a hub of activity with the annual Scholastic Book Fair. It warmed the hearts of all of us teachers and Mr. Powers, our librarian, to see so many kids so excited about NEW BOOKS. It spilled through the doorway of our classroom - our 4H students couldn't wait to dive into their finds, including the new books that found their way into our growing classroom library. I send many, grateful thank you's to all who donated a new book to our collection. Wow, I felt like the kids - all I want to do is dig into a new story! This week has inspired several in our classroom to help out organizing our bookshelves as we find room to include every book, and as they work, they are collaborating on best ways to organize, as well as discovering books they hadn't seen yet, sharing with each other about them - it is very cool to listen to these conversations. I see a few more reluctant readers are getting swept into the enthusiasm, too. I am so proud of all our readers in Room 117! Also, we have hit the highpoint of action in our class read-aloud book, "Tuck Everlasting" and we are all now in a state of suspense until next week to see how it all turns out and comes to an end. I have promised the students the chance to view the movie version made a few years ago, so we may compare that with the book (they are in for some surprises).
All 4th grade math groups took the Unit 2 post-test this past week. During the coming week, parents will see these tests coming home for a signature, as well as a summary sheet attached that lists each skill/concept and how your student responded to each one. I would like to receive these signed assessments back after you have seen them, so that we may collect a record of your child's progress in his/her folder. We can discuss them at conference time. Keep in mind that these assessments have two parts: Part A contains skills that should be 'secure' (mastered) in 4th grade. This is the only part that receives a grade. Part B contains skills that are taught and practiced so that students get their first exposure to them, but these are not required for mastery until later in the year or in 5th grade. Many of our 4th graders do demonstrate mastery now, but even if they don't, they will have the groundwork laid for when those skills are presented again in the future (the 'spiral' philosophy of Everyday Math). On the summary sheet, each skill will have the designations: S (for secure), D (for developing), or B (for beginning). Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thanks for sending the assessments back to school promptly. I like using them as guides for more instruction. We are all noticing many students who do not feel confident yet with borrowing across 4 digits (numbers into the thousands), and basic facts with adding and subtraction need more practice for better accuracy. Thank you to all families who help their child make it a priority most evenings by providing time to brush up on the basic facts for all operations. This will make all their other math work go so much more smoothly. On Monday, our students will be divided into new groups for Unit 3 (according to scores achieved on Friday's pre-test), and they may have new rooms and teachers for this unit.
We eased our way out of our Wisconsin Agriculture unit in social studies by 'researching' such products as ginseng, edamame, craisins, and cranberry juice. We sampled the last three of these, and students either added to their list of foods they like - or not! :) We have jumped into three different days of science experiments with magnetism! We have budding scientists in our room, as excited students made their own discoveries about the properties of magnetism. We are easily accessing new vocabulary and understanding about this property, and our work sets the stage for our discoveries about electricity. I took some video of our magnetism discovery days and will share this on our blog soon.
This month our Guidance classes, led by our school counselor Mrs. Hellenbrand (2nd and 4th Thursdays for 35 minutes each), are discussing "Character". This next week is "Character Counts" Week, and in recognition of the traits of good character, each day is designated as the following: Wear purple on Monday for Citizenship, wear green on Tuesday for Responsibility, wear yellow on Wednesday for Respect, wear blue on Thursday for Honesty, and wear red on Friday for Caring. Wearing these colors is, of course, optional.
On Friday we welcomed a new student to our room. We are happy to introduce Markees Johnson to our "4H" family. He comes to us from Illinois. I am so proud of our kids, who easily and naturally included him in their activities and helped him out with all there is to know about our busy room. We now have 21 students in Room 117.
Upcoming events later this month: The window for WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam) is October 24 through November 25. Our 4th grade classes will be holding testing sessions during the first two weeks of November. More specific details will follow soon, but I just wanted to give you all a heads up on the time frame, so that all can plan for particularly good attendance, good nights' sleep, and good breakfasts during those weeks. On a much lighter note, Halloween occurs on a Monday this year. Our school does not encourage wearing costumes that day, but our class does have their first opportunity for an Autumn/Harvest/Holiday party that afternoon from 2:00 to 2:40! :) If you are a parent who would like to be part of a small group who would like to plan a couple of activities/games/art projects and/or provide some treats for that time period, would you please let me know? I will put any who let me know of their interest in contact with each other, and you can coordinate your plans. All of us in Room 117 will be so grateful, and this wonderful class is due for a little party time.
Enough news for this time! Soon it will also be time to confirm times for our parent/student/teacher conferences (after school times on November 8, 9. 10, and Friday morning, November 11 - no school that day). Many of you signed up for time slots on September 1st, and I will confirm those with you, as well as contact everyone else about best times you and your student can come. Thank you to all for an inspiring week of learning in 4th grade - it was a week of diligent work but full of fun learning as well! Melanie Hannam
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