Hello again to all! I so enjoyed the opportunities to visit with all of our families during conferences over the past two weeks. Thank you for coming! It was wonderful to be able to sit around the table with you and your fourth grader and talk together. We can do that anytime - we don't have to wait till March to meet again! Emails and phone calls are also welcome at any time.
With four full weeks until our Winter Break, we have dug in to some very productive work this past week. We've been reading and writing with renewed effort. We finished our class read-aloud, The One And Only Ivan, and we miss him! We were able to watch an online interview with the author, Katherine Applegate, after we read the last page of the book. Everyone listened closely as she discussed how she gets her ideas for writing, and how 'writing is hard work' but so rewarding, and that she is always revising and editing her words. In our Writer's Workshop, we moved from writing thesis statements and supporting evidence as a whole class, to writing our first individual essays. These papers are a very good first attempt, and we will spend the next week expanding and explaining our reasoning with more detail. I am proud of our students for their good work on something entirely new to them. By the way, our December Scholastic Book Orders are due to be turned in by Monday, December 3rd. This will allow me to get the order sent out in time to get our new books back before we leave for Break.
We took another spelling test this past week, and on the same day, everyone received their new list of words. You will notice that we are stepping up our efforts here as well - with 20 words to practice now. We have until next week Friday, December 7th, to prepare for that spelling test. Speaking of spelling, the West Middleton Spelling Bee is taking place at 8:30 am on Monday, December 10th, and parents are welcome to attend. After five qualifying rounds in our classroom, we will be represented by Rose Giefer, Sydney Yosick, Zach Yosick, and Anezka Helmers.
We are almost halfway into Unit 4 in math class, and have been learning to read, write, and order decimal numbers so far. Our 4th graders are demonstrating an excellent understanding of the concept of what a decimal number represents - keep up the good work! Oh, and speaking of work --! After 'whomping' the kids with multiple pages of basic division facts during Thanksgiving week, we were all anxious to see if all that extra practice paid off on this week's timed test. Did it ever!! Wow. Out of the 17 students present to take the 3 minute timed test of 100 division problems yesterday, 14 students raised their scores - and by an average of 20 points!! Typical improvements in past weeks have averaged 5 point jumps. Two students reached their goal of 100%. This is quite impressive compared to past weeks - and of course, Mrs. Hannam didn't waste the opportunity to point out the value of hard work and diligent practice to make a difference - :)
Please take note of some special upcoming events: The annual West Middleton Winter Tea is Wednesday, December 5th. Our class is scheduled to attend at 12:05 to 12:30 that day. If you are able to join us there at that time, we will be happy to see you. We will be having lunch in our classroom at 11:10, and it sounds like we will be treated to the best pizza in town that day, in celebration of Luigi's birthday. Confirmation will come to you by email early in the week. Also, on Friday, December 7th, our classroom will host a special guest at 2:00. Mike Welch, owner and instructor of Infinity Martial Arts, has offered to come to our room to run a class for all of us! Along with karate moves, he teaches respect and self respect, self defense, and how to deal with bullies.
Looking ahead to the last week of school before break, I am in need of some help on a couple of different days. On Monday, Dec. 17, I have a special art project planned for our kids (sorry, I can't give away too many details to parents), and could use 2 or 3 other adults to help me from 2:00 to 2:45. If you think you'd like to assist with this project, let me know. Also, the last hour of our last day of school this month, on the 21st, we would like to continue our tradition of a holiday class party, and we will need some parents to help plan for a few treats and activities. Please email me if you would like to be on a team to organize for this - and thank you so much!!
I will keep you informed of any and all important reminders and special events as we speed through the busy month of December. Melanie Hannam
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