Warm November greetings to our 4H families! We ended our October by finishing all of our exam sessions for the WKCE assessments, and began our November by celebrating all the progress we've made with our academics and classroom behavior over the first two full months of the school year. With the first full week of November we are looking forward to resuming our regular class schedule.
On Wednesday, upon completion of our testing, we were treated to one of the nicest "Harvest Party" hours we could have had. Thanks to the leadership of Mary Ozers and her creative team of Jean Yosick, Heather Bogner, Beth Hamilton, and Judy, McKenzie grandmother, we enjoyed some Halloween puzzles and games, a skeleton art project (you will see our wall of 'dancing skeletons' when you come in for conferences - so creepy cool!), and the most delicious treats, including the chance to decorate our own brownie square! The generosity and creativity of our moms has been just awesome, and THANK YOU! for all your efforts. It was so much fun having you with us, too!
We weren't done celebrating that day. Our class had been planning how to recognize the progress of our 4H class community, and on November 1st we put our plans into action. We came to class in comfy clothes, brought a blanket or pillow, found our specially prepared and loaded book boxes, and settled in to READ to our hearts' content - that is, whenever we didn't have a math or specials class to attend! The day flew by, the reading sessions went way too fast, and ahhh... it was so peaceful in our room! Lunch that day was an amazing treat. Luigi's dad, Vincenzo Pugliese, personally brought in a dozen of his luscious cheese pizzas from Cafe Porta Alba. Wow! Everyone just loved them! Thanks SO much for your generosity, Vincenzo and Stephanie! It was a memorable day. We ended our time together by discussing what we need to accomplish with our classroom behaviors and performance before we can have another celebration day.
In Reader's Workshop, we have been practicing how to analyze the connections the characters in our books make with each other, and how to put our interpretations of those connections into our own words in our Thoughtful Log journals. This is encouraging some deeper thinking, and is still a work in progress. Ivan and Stella are helping us, too (from our Class Read-Aloud book, "The One And Only Ivan"). We also wrote friendly ghost stories for Halloween, and are sharing them by flashlight. In science we have progressed from exploring magnetism to creating complete electrical circuits (we can now officially say that the light bulbs are coming on in Room 117!). In math class, we are more than halfway through Unit 3 - a big focus here is on gaining some substantial progress with multiplication facts. I want to encourage every family to create a routine for consistent, nightly practice for ready and quick, accurate recall of multiplication and division facts. This skill is essential to best success with our Everyday Math curriculum.
In other news, be aware that on Thursday, November 8th, West Middleton is hosting the Hot Lunch Program's harvest meal, where families can call in 'reservations' to eat with their child. Our 4th grade time is 11:00 on Thursday, and we will be eating in the gym that day. You may meet your student in the entryway of the school (we will be in Music class right up to 11:00).
On Friday, I gave every one of our students three different book order forms for the month of November - Arrow, Tab, and a 'Holiday' order form. If you choose to order any books for your child, the deadline for turning in orders and checks (made out to Scholastic Book Club) will be Friday, November 9th. If any family wants to secretly order any books for Christmas gifts (I will also give out the December order forms by Dec. 1st and should get them back before Winter Break), you can seal your order in an envelope and write me a note about it.
This coming week I will be sending out copies of the sign-up sheet many of you filled out on Orientation Day about a parent/teacher/student conference time. The two days (from 3:00 to 7:00pm) that our entire building will be holding conferences are November 15 and 20. If you still need to sign up for a time or want to change the time you'd written, just let me know once you see the list or make a trade with another family and just let me know. There are actually not quite enough time slots for our whole class during these two sessions, so if you'd like to arrange another day after school, I will be most happy to accommodate that! Remember, I want our 4th graders to be present for our conferences - you have important work to show your parents!
I want to remind everyone that also happening this coming Thursday on November 8th, we will be saying goodbye to our lovely and talented student teacher, Linley Carlson. Our class will take time at the end of the day to express our appreciation to her for all her dedication, hard work, and friendship, and send her off with our best wishes! Everyone will get one more chance to see Linley after that, since she is coming to our conferences on November 15 and 20! We will miss her SO much!
Whew - there is always so much going on! Thank you for all your communication about your 4th grader by phone or email or visits - it has really helped me get better in tune with your child, and what they most need from me for success in their academic and social goals. Melanie Hannam
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