Hello, dear "4H" families!
I am so happy to welcome you all to our new class family! You will be hearing from me regularly through email to keep you updated on our work and activities in Room 117, sometimes through a longer newsletter, and often through quick notes when it's helpful to keep you informed of upcoming events and reminders. You can always feel comfortable reaching me through email. If you want to call, remember that during school day hours, it will automatically switch to a phone message for me, and I will return your call as soon as I can. If you need to reach me during the day without delay, you may call our school office (829-9360) and you can be put through to my phone immediately, or Mrs. Anderson can get a message to me. See my contact info below, and my email is: mhannam@mcpasd.k12.wi.us . If you prefer an additional, or different, email to receive my newsletters and quick notes where you are now receiving this note, just let me know and I will adjust my group list!
Our classroom blog also has a link below. Take a look! It will contain all my newsletters on the main page, where there is also a google calendar for upcoming events. If you submit your email address on the main blog page, you will be able to receive notice in your inbox of newsletters that I post. However, I do also send these through email. I can also send print copies home if you request that. Another page has our Daily Schedule, and one other page is our Homework Page! Every single day, right after classes end, I update this page with all assignments and reminders for due dates and activities. This is a valuable page for parents who want to be sure their 4th grader is getting all the news home accurately :)
I want to thank you for the time you are taking to fill out my student information sheets that went home on Back To School Night (or in your student's Take Home Folder this past week). I've received back just over half so far, and they help me get to know your child so beautifully. I appreciate your honesty and your trust in me to take care of your child with sensitivity and understanding. My main goal even beyond academic progress is that your 4th grader feels safe and cared for in our classroom community. Our class of 24 students and I have already talked together about what it feels like to be a "framily" - we are friends and a special kind of family, where we can all feel comfortable helping each other grow and learn, without fear of making mistakes or trying something new. We are there for each other. I want your child to grow in self-confidence, and to discover a never-ending love for investigating new knowledge and trying new skills.
In hopes of keeping this first note from getting too long, I want to explain some of the first important items to know: (I will fill you in with other notes in the coming days!)
SNACKS: Students can bring in their own snacks each day. With such early bus times, it's tough to get in a good breakfast. Every day, we go to our Specials Classes from 8:00 to 9:00, and when we return to our classroom at 9, we have our snack time (they are pretty hungry by then!), and hold our morning meeting. We go to lunch this year at 11:30. So please send along food that has some healthy substance to carry your child through a busy morning of literacy and social studies/science. Water bottles at their desks throughout the day is a great idea! Also, please read through the pages I sent home about treats for the class - there are many great suggestions to treat the class with healthy options, for birthdays or any other time. (Birthdays could also mean treating the class with a 'non-food' item!) Going through the school lunch program is another way to send in treats or snacks. We do not have any nut allergies so far in our classroom this year, though we do have some restrictions on food dyes, milk, eggs, wheat products. By the way, 4th grade does not get a milk snack through school as it was in 3rd grade.
SCHOOL PICTURES: If your student got their picture taken earlier in August, the envelope should have found its way home, and I can collect your order through tomorrow! If you want a retake, or still need a school picture taken for this year, the photographers are coming back on Friday, September 16th!
GYM SHOES: It is highly recommended that a simple (not expensive) pair of gym shoes be stored at school for gym days, so students are always prepared for class. Out of our six day rotation, FOUR days are gym days! That way no one has to remember on which days they should come with the right footwear, which is tricky during sandal weather now, and boot weather this winter! Thank you so much for helping us all avoid the hassle and disappointment when our kids can't participate on the gym floor just because they don't wear proper shoes.
ORCHESTRA LESSONS: I am amazed - we have 13 students in our class who are taking orchestra lessons! The first whole group lesson starts on Tuesday, September 13th, at 7:15AM!! Small group lessons will also be on Tuesdays, in half hour sessions throughout the morning. I am sure you will get information from our Orchestra Leader very soon.
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Our wonderful PTO will again be providing a white t-shirts to every WM student to tie dye in special colors for each grade level. This activity will take place on September 13th this year, and instructions for washing them that week will come home with the shirts sealed in a bag.
In 4th grade, we do field trips!! Our first two come fast: On October 5th, we visit the World Dairy Expo - it ties in perfectly with our social studies focus on all things WISCONSIN! More details coming soon. Also, on October 13th, our class goes to nearby Pope Farm Park, compliments of our school district, to participate in sessions with naturalists, geologists, gardeners, and historians. We have such history and evidence of our state's unique geology right in our 'backyard' at the Park. More details later on that trip.
MATH: All of our grades in the district from K through 5th, are now using Bridges Math for our math curriculum. We teachers did several days of training on the program this summer. It involves our students' engagement more than ever before in investigating different ways to solve problems. I expect that the homework load for this subject will be as it always has been for my classes -- we work as much as we can IN class to complete our practice work, and some days (most days?) there may be parts of pages to complete at home for the next day. As I get better acquainted with the lessons, I can fill you in more completely in the coming weeks.
LITERACY: Reading and Writing are favorite times in our classroom for me, and I hope that my students will ALL feel the same way before too long! The only constant for 'homework' each day is that our 4th graders will always have a good book with them, to read at school AND at home. I love it when students can tell me they read not only for 30 minutes at home each day, but that time was forgotten, and they read even longer because they got lost in their story! More detail about our routines and special units of study will come!
SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE: I will be teaching Social Studies to both my own class and Mrs. Bertz's 4th grade class, and Mrs. Bertz will be teaching Science to both of our classes. We will keep our own classes for our 'own' subject on Days 1, 2, 3 and switch our classes on Days 4, 5, 6. Again, more details to come!
I think I will stop for now with information and notes! A new school year can be overwhelming at first for parents as well as for kids! We enjoyed a great first two days together, but we still have so much to learn about each other, and about our routines at school. Every day we will get better acquainted with each other, and I look forward to a very fulfilling school year for all of us! More news coming soon!
Sincerely,
Melanie Hannam
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