Hello again to all our 4H families. The kids were all very happy and excited to see that snow collect this week! Recess has become a whole new experience (and our hallway cubbies are stuffed with dripping snow clothes and boots). Many are finding out it is a good idea to pack some extra socks and an extra pair of shoes for back in the classroom, and extra dry gloves, a cap, a sweatshirt... This time of year also reveals some needs for students who do not have adequate gear for this weather. If you go through closets and storage containers and find outgrown winter coats, boots, snowpants, and any extra hats and mittens/gloves, our school could use these items to help some in need. Our social worker has discovered particular need for snowpants and coats in sizes 8, 10-12, 14-16. If you send any clothing in with your student, I will make sure it gets to the right place. Thank you so much!
Inside Room 117, we stay warm and busy as we spend our time investigating moraines, drumlins, eskers, and other glacial features in Wisconsin. We have been learning that we all happen to live in a unique and special area of Wisconsin, and we wish we could head out and follow the Ice Age Trail across our beautiful state. We have also spent our week during writing classes gathering up many long lists of descriptive words in nature, putting them together and gradually forming phrases into 3 lines of Haiku poetry. The first one took some real effort, but we noticed that each time we went back to our 'word-smithing' the ideas and words came together more easily, and by the end of the week, many students proudly had multiple poems printed out neatly on final draft paper. Next week we will get them typed up properly, and be able to submit our best ones in the Haiku contest being held for 4th graders in Dane County. Stay tuned. This week also saw very encouraging progress for a good number of our students in achieving their highest scores for 3 minutes of math basic facts testing - it is obvious some are kicking into extra practice time, and it is showing up already! We also took our next spelling test and we had the highest number of correct words we have had yet! Our Fantasy Island maps are turning out beautifully and most are now ready to be laminated and mounted in the hallway this coming week. It was an important week in math class as well, with our students learning and practicing double digit multiplication. We are giving them the opportunity to learn the partial products algorithm, as well as the lattice method, but we are expecting them to demonstrate their ability to use the traditional method on most assignments and the final unit test.
We spent an hour on Monday in the computer lab taking the MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) Reading Assessment, and next week we will take the Mathematics Assessment. I am able to immediately receive a description of skills that each student has demonstrated are secure for him/her, skills that should currently be at their instructional level, and skills that are next to develop. There is much to analyze in these reports, and they will give me more direction for my instruction within these subjects.
We talked in class this week how amazing it is that next week's end will bring us to the halfway mark of our 4th grade year already! We can't believe it! Time surely does fly when we are having fun - and working hard! Thanks for all of your support from home with your student's efforts. It is such a joy to dig in to our work each and every day together. Till next week's note - (remember there is no school both of the next two Mondays, the 16th and the 23rd) - Sincerely, Melanie
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