September 19, 2014 Weekly Update

Hello to all!  We have completed our 3rd week of the new school year!  This weekend I will be ordering our first books from Scholastic Book Club.  Families will get the chance to order new books during every month of the school year.  Also, the annual Scholastic Book Fair will come to our LMC during the parent conference days in mid-November.  Speaking of books, the question came up over the last week in class about the use of electronic readers (Kindle, Nook, Tablets...) in school.   I am willing to give students the opportunity to use these devices during our daily reading time in class.  I have told them it will be up to parents, and that they should be stored at their desks during the day and that they are responsible for taking good care of them.  Also in Readers' Workshop this week, we have discussed and written out our personal 'Reading Resolutions' which means we are all identifying goals which will make our reading lives richer and more a part of our daily routines than ever before!  Thank you for your support at home in providing the time and space and priority to have 'nose in the book' chances whenever possible!

In math, all of our groups are completing Unit 1.  Within the next few days we will be reviewing the new skills and vocabulary and then taking our first Unit Test.  Once we have the chance to go over every item together after the test is returned, students will be taking them home for you to see and getting your signature.  They will also be instructed to RETURN these test pages back to school!  We save all reviews, tests, and special notes in our yellow math folders.  This folder becomes very important to look over during conference time, as well as provides an ideal collection during next summer for reviewing and brushing up on skills to avoid "rust" before 5th (or 6th) grade math classes!   The other special note about math:  Please continue to regularly help your 4th grader practice his/her basic facts in all 4 operations.  We are seeing improvement already, but many of our students need to work hard on mastering their quick and accurate recall of the basic facts.  At the end of each week, you should find in Take Home Folders the daily 3 minute drills we do in class, so you can keep track of your child's progress.  They also record their results on the back page of their Studylink books.  Learning their basic facts well is crucial to succeeding and progressing in math and is a real priority!  There is enough need in our groups this year that I am also working to take extra time during the school day to provide more instruction/practice time just for acquiring these skills.

In Writers' Workshop, we are getting closer to officially writing our realistic fiction stories by developing believable characters with realistic challenges to resolve - or not resolve!  In Science with Mrs. Bertz, our class is - literally - digging into rocks, discovering the properties of rocks and minerals.  Social Studies has us all making sure we know addresses and emergency phone numbers, as well as learning what 'agriculture' actually includes, especially in our state.  We will be digging deeper into the dairy aspect of agriculture now as we approach our first field trip on October 1st to the World Dairy Expo.  Thank you for returning your signed permission slip along with $1 for student admission.  I have heard from a couple of parents about chaperoning - remember, we welcome all who can come join us that day (11:00 to 2:30 total time if you ride with us from school and back).  Just let me know!  We'd like a parent for about every 5 students.  We will all wear our new Tie Dye Shirts that day as well!

Other business:  Orders for school pictures taken Friday can be done online, or envelopes can be returned to school by September 25th. Retakes are scheduled for November 4th.  Remember there is no school for students on Friday, September 26th (a professional development day for staff). Also, good for you to know is that we are in the midst of two sets of progress assessments.   On Monday morning, our class will be in the computer lab for at least an hour to take the math MAP (Measures of Academic Progress).  This past Thursday we did the reading MAP.  Over the next two weeks, I will also be meeting with each individual student to listen to them read a short leveled story and have a 'comprehension conversation' about what they have read.  Each of these assessments will take place 3 times over the course of the school year.  It is very helpful to your student if they can get a good night's sleep and a good breakfast.

As we say goodbye to summer and officially greet autumn, we are filling our days to the max with meaningful lessons and some deep conversation about being readers and writers, about being a helpful and caring member of our classroom and school, along with LOTS of needed practice with listening skills and organization!  Thanks for your teamwork on these endeavors!  More news again soon!  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

September 12, 2014 Weekly Update

Hello, dear 4H families!  We have completed our second week of school (and we had some pretty 'tuckered out' kids by Friday afternoon!).  I wish everyone a weekend of good rest, so we are all fresh to start out a new week on Monday.  We did keep going at a steady pace this past week, getting into our first lessons in every subject area.  I will bring you up to date on our work:

Math class has begun with a unit on Geometry.  There are lots of new vocabulary words/definitions to learn, and you will see some helpful reminder sheets coming home next week so you can practice a bit more together.  It's a fun unit because there is a good amount of sketching and drawing included - a good way to practice that vocabulary.  Perhaps more pressing than this unit is our students' recall of the basic facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  Almost everyone is 'rusty' - and if you can even spend just 15 minutes most evenings reviewing facts, it really does make a difference in a hurry. Thank you for your support with this!  We start out every class with a 3 minute opportunity to see how many problems we can answer correctly out of the 100 basic facts for each operation.  We are keeping track of our scores so we can see them go UP with each passing week.  Most weeks you can depend on the following:  Mondays:  Addition / Tuesdays:  Subtraction / Wednesdays:  Multiplication / Thursdays:  Division / Fridays:  We take a look at our progress and hand back the week's pages to put in Take Home Folders so you can see how the week went.  I record the scores, and the students do, too - see the back of their Studylink booklet.  During the 4th grade year, the math curriculum requires and assumes that students are proficient with all 4 operations - the new skills go SO much easier if our kids are not also struggling to recall their facts. 

One more note about math class that is important for you to know:  After we introduce and practice the new math skill each day together, our students get the chance to try out the lessons by working in their Journal and Studylink booklets.  Most days there is time to begin this work in class.  Sometimes they can finish it all in class - BUT I have announced to them that they must still bring home both books each day so you can see what they are working on - please ask them to show and explain it to you!  This is another excellent way to reinforce the new concepts.  If students cannot complete the items on their pages in class, the rest is to be completed at home.  (It is rare for work time on this at home to go over 30 minutes!  If it gets to be much longer than 30 to 45 minutes max, then please stop and let me know they worked this long, and I can help them finish in class the next day.)  I have told the kids that I never 'grade' this work!  I want them to feel ultra comfortable trying out new skills on these pages - the goal here is to try and practice every item, even if they aren't sure they are doing it correctly.  You do not have to stress over making sure they are answering everything perfectly.  I would like to see every item attempted with their best efforts.  Then the next day in class, we take time to go over items together, self checking and correcting pages - which gives each student yet a third chance to practice/review/reinforce their knowledge. 

On to our other subjects!  In Readers' Workshop we have been happily building our stamina for sustained "pin-drop" quiet reading time - we love it!  We are practicing good reading habits and using our Reading Logs to keep track, and our kids have been really enjoying Book Share Time.  This gives them the chance to hear what other books classmates are excited about reading, and we have all begun a Wish List of books to keep in our purple reading folders.  We should never run out of book ideas this year!  We still have until next week Friday, September 19th, to order from the September Scholastic Book Club selections, either online (class activation code is MFRC8) or by sending me a paper copy of the order form with checks made out to Scholastic Book Club.  Writers' Workshop has us digging into ideas for writing realistic fiction stories.  Our ideas are coming from small moments in our own lives, and we are developing lists of ideas and expanding these ideas into possible story lines with each passing day.  We have also begun to write entries into our Thoughtful Logs.  These journals are giving each student a chance to reflect upon their own opinions and reactions to what is happening in the books they are reading.  This exercise gives our kids more practice with writing skills, and best of all, it gives them practice expressing their thoughts on paper and reflecting more deeply about what they are reading.  I really see the value in combining reading and writing whenever possible!

We have begun map study in Social Studies, centering mainly on Wisconsin.  We will gradually transition into Wisconsin agriculture in the next weeks as we prepare for our first field trip!  It was just confirmed this past week that we are able to attend the World Dairy Expo at the Alliant Energy grounds on October 1st!  Permission slips will come home next week with all the details.  We can take as many parent chaperones as are able to come (from roughly 11:00 am until 2:30 pm) -- so let me know if you can join us for this special trip!  In the past, parents have carpooled from school and met us there, but this year with needing two buses for 4 classes, we think we should have enough room for parents to ride with us.  Some parents may still want to drive themselves, and we will be receiving parking vouchers for anyone who does take their own car.  I will keep you posted on all details.

Business notes:  On Monday, we will be tie dying our new West Middleton T-Shirts!  Look for them to come home in a plastic bag with washing instructions.  We will all be wearing them for our October Field Trip.  Another Picture Day is scheduled for this coming Friday, September 19th, with yet another makeup day to happen in October.  On October 3rd in the evening, the PTO is hosting our annual Fall Dance and Pumpkin Sale!  Flyers about this event have come home.  Please check daily with your student and their Take Home Folders.  We've had a lot of mail come home so far this year!!

Thank you for your support at home with good breakfasts and school snacks, gym shoes and socks, long and restful nights' sleeps (hopefully for all of us!), and your guidance with your student's keeping track of papers and assignments.  Remember the daily update on the Homework/Reminders page of our classroom blog.  I will be back in touch soon!  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

September 5, 2014 Weekly Update

Hello to all of our "4H" families!!  I send you this update hoping I am reaching all of our families - if you prefer additional email addresses or different ones, please do let me know, and I will adjust my contact list.  My updates will also appear on our classroom blog, and I encourage you to take a look there also for our Calendar of Events, our Daily Schedule page, and also The Homework Page.  Every day after classes end, I post everything we have written on our homework/reminders list in class (which our students are also copying into their planners).  It's a great way to double check assignments and reminders and upcoming activities.

At our class meeting during the last hour on Friday, we all pretty much agreed that we have begun an awesome year of Fourth Grade!  It was an action packed first week learning about each other, along with the expectations and routines that will make us efficient, organized, and working together for LOTS of exciting learning ahead. 

I want to thank all of you for the thorough and very helpful answers to my Parent Questionnaire about your child.  I loved reading your notes, and it makes such a difference in helping me know and understand my new students.  Please feel free to continue to email me or call whenever you want to fill me in on any circumstances that will help me work best with your child.  Another important part of our communication will be the routine of going through - with your child - their Take Home Folder every day after school.  It is divided into two sides - one side for items for you to see that stay home, and the other side for items you should see that need to come back to school.  I am encouraging each of our 4th graders to take the lead on this quick daily responsibility - I would like them to initiate sitting down together to go through papers AND their planners with you, explaining what they are doing and where they need your inspection, signature, etc.  Thank you for helping to 'coach' them into this habit - this is a great first step in developing their own responsibility and initiative.

Some business notes: 

-An extra pair of gym shoes to keep at school is highly encouraged, along with stashing an extra pair of socks in the bottom of backpacks for wet or messy days outside.

-Students may bring a water bottle to keep at their desks during the day.

 

-We do take time for a midmorning snack.  Students may bring a one serving bag or container each day (no large multi-serving bags, please).  Sometimes parents have purchased, through Lunch Express, a box of snacks to share with the whole class.  This is always a nice treat for the kids every once in a while.

-The best breakfast you can manage to give your child with our new early morning start time is SO important.  Our lunch time is at 11:30 this year, but even with fitting in our snack time halfway through our almost 4 hour long morning, the kids get pretty hungry. 

-We have almost 10 orchestra students in our class this year.  Orchestra whole group sessions will be on Tuesday mornings from 7:30 to 7:55.  The small group lessons with Mrs. Corey will also take place at rotating times throughout every Tuesday morning as well.  That should be easy to remember, with having to bring instruments to school those days.  The first day of lessons is this coming Tuesday, September 9th!

-The chance to order reading books through Scholastic Book Club will happen every month!  Yay!  The first order forms will come home early next week.  We usually give ourselves one to two weeks to get orders placed - and I will always post the due dates.  Every time students order books, our class gets bonus points for new books for our own classroom library, and that has been the biggest reason our classroom library has developed into something I am very excited about - we have a very rich reading library right in class!  You have two ways to order - by sending back to school the paper order form with a check (no cash) made out to the Scholastic Book Club, OR - my favorite way - ordering online!  Give it a try if you haven't already - I love it!  It is very user friendly and so fast!  You will need our class activation code:  MFRC8.  Let me know if you have questions about this.

In the coming weeks, I will send out more details about our first lessons in Readers' Workshop, Writers' Workshop, Spelling, Social Studies, and Science.  We have already begun to practice building our "stamina" for independent reading in class (a favorite part of the day for most of us!).  We will start switching for math groups on Monday.  For the first unit students will all stay with their homeroom teacher, except for those who do the 5th grade math curriculum with Mrs. Boles, our new Advanced Learning Specialist.  And big news -- our first Field Trip has already been scheduled!   On October 1st, all of our 4th grade classes will spend much of the day at the World Dairy Expo, which is held at the Alliant Energy grounds.  We welcome any and all parents who want to join us as chaperones!  I will send specific details very soon.  Right now, it looks like the time commitment will be roughly 11:00 to 2:30 that day.  This trip is a big hit with everyone who goes, and it is full of first time experiences, sights, sounds, (and smells!).  :)   Stay tuned for all details! 

This has gotten to be long enough for now!  There is so much to share!  We are off to an excellent start, and I look forward to talking with each of you again soon.  Whether you have already been in to visit the classroom, and especially if you have not, please do stop in to say hi very soon so we can meet!  Until next note.... Sincerely, Melanie Hannam