February 6, 2017 Update

Hello, dear families!  It's time for an update here, and then in two to three weeks we will get to visit in person with your 4th grader about their progress. They have each brought home a bright orange sheet confirming your conference times, so hang on to that. Thank you for your prompt replies and flexibility!  

A couple more special dates to keep in mind -- we will celebrate our next Reward Day on Friday, February 10th.  The kids voted to wear comfy clothes, bring a small pillow/blanket to spread out for extra reading time, and have lunch together in our classroom. We also agreed on one hour of the day devoted to games, both board type and - with your permission and knowledge - they may bring in an Ipad or Ipod to play appropriate games.  We will also be doing some art, watch a nature video, and treat ourselves to hot cider from my crockpot.  It took some extra time this round to gather our required 30 Classroom Pride Paws to qualify for this day, so this is a hard won accomplishment for us.  Also, on Tuesday, February 14th, we will take our last class period to exchange valentine cards - hopefully you saw the class list of names that came home during the past week.  We have a couple of moms who have volunteered to bring us a healthy snack for this time, and we are centering our celebration particularly on KINDNESS, which is a special focus for all of our classrooms this month.  Also, Monday, February 20th, is a Professional Development Day, and there will no classes for students that day.

In Writer's Workshop, we have completed authoring our own "How To.../Informational Books.  To wrap up this unit, and to show how well each student has learned to impart organized and engaging information about a topic, our 4th graders will be writing an "on demand' piece of informational writing this coming Monday.  They have 45 minutes to write on a topic of their choice, and they may bring in a source to help them with their information if they choose.  Please look for a half sheet in Take Home Folders from Friday explaining this writing activity.  If you can talk this over with your 4th grader to give them a chance to explain what they have chosen for their topic, and how they plan to explain 'how to' do an activity or task (such as how to play a certain game, or prepare a certain recipe, or create a craft item....), this will help them be ready.  Thank you!

We are so wrapped up in our class Read Aloud book, Number The Stars, in Readers' Workshop, that we can barely stand to put the book down.  The thoughtful discussions, questions, musings, and predictions from our students get deeper and richer as we go along, which is why these sessions are my favorite part of the day!  Our students are also finding some of their favorite books to read independently in this Historical Fiction genre, and as they review them with each other, they are inspiring their classmates to line up to be the next one to read their book.  So fun!

We are getting to the last week or so of Unit 4 in our Bridges Math.  Our work has centered on subtraction strategies and also measurement (metric and customary) in the form of length, time, liquid volume, and mass/capacity.  Some of our students are finding that they need extra practice with their 'borrowing' skills, so any help there at home would be so helpful.  I would also like to put in a word again about spending time with your 4th grader in practicing their skill with the basic multiplication and division facts.  As we have explored all the strategies of using these operations with fractions and decimals, and our increased exposure to word problems, it is discouraging for your student to discover they get the new concept but are held back or slowed down because they can't recall their basic facts.  Your support at home can make such a big difference!

Some 'housekeeping':  Monday will be Take Home Folder inspection day, so would you make time to go through papers that may have collected here WITH your 4th grader?  While you are at it, may I suggest that this cleaning out activity also extend to backpacks?  Hopefully, you don't discover any icky surprises, but from a little of what I've seen, you may be in for some!  :)  Also, the plan to include a clean, dry pair of extra socks would be a very good idea for many of our kids - after the noon hour recess, there are many wet and cold feet trekking back into the classroom. Some students also don't have a dry pair of shoes to put on if they came in boots and don't have an extra pair at school for gym.  We have some messy, cold winter weeks still ahead.  Thanks!

Sometime in March, we plan to take all of our 4th graders to tour our State Capitol building and visit the Wisconsin Historical Museum, so stay tuned for those plans.  March will also bring you the second report card after the 2nd Trimester ends on March 10th, and the last week of that month is our Spring Break week. 

I will continue to send home quick reminders and announcements in the meantime, but I look forward to gathering with you soon at conference time with you and your 4th grader.  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

January 9, 2017 Update

Dear 4th Grade Families ~ Happy January to everyone!

It felt good to gather back together as a class last week after our two week break, even if we all felt rather 'rusty' at first.  We all said our brains felt 'smooshy'!  We eased back into our routine as gently as we could, sharing about our books and getting updated with adding new ones to our collection.  We have begun one of my most favorite Readers' Workshop units - Historical Fiction.  All our kids are gradually moving toward choosing their own independent reading book in this genre, and we are starting our Class ReadAloud book, Number The Stars, by Lois Lowry.  This captivating story brings us into learning about WWII and what happened in Germany and Denmark with the Nazi's and Jewish people, etc.  The good thing about reading this story is that it introduces this heavy subject to our children through the eyes of a child, and so a gradual realization of what different groups of people went through during this historic time is handled carefully.  I highly recommend that our parents read this book as well.  I have collected at least 6 bins of HF books by now for our fourth graders to read, which cover many different eras of history, so it will be a very enlightening time for us - that's why it's one of my favorite reading times of the year! 

We began our math classes this past week reviewing the very 'meaty' Unit 3 skills. This unit was our most involved unit yet with new skills (fractions and decimals!).  After three days of review, we took the final test, and wow!  We ended up with the best set of scores overall as a class so far this year!  I have to admit I didn't expect that, since during our lessons and our review sessions, many of our kids expressed doubt that they were getting some of it - it was a lot of new material!  I took that opportunity (more than once/several times/ okay, whenever I found the chance!) to point out to our hardworking kids that "see, when you keep trying, when you don't give up, when you keep asking questions and practice - it pays off and you learn more than you realize!").  Yay!  We probably built up our stamina in math class during this unit!  Next week we dive into Unit 4 - I will keep you updated on those skills after we get started, and how you can help and support at home.  When pages do come home, take a look and ask your 4th grader what it's about - having to explain what they are doing is a great way to learn the material more thoroughly.

In Writers' Workshop, we spent the week wrapping up our persuasive essay project.  We have been typing this second essay project right on our Chromebooks, loving how easy it is to compose and edit this way.  Plus, we are working on our keyboarding skills as well!  We will be phasing into a unit on Informational Writing next - practicing writing with clear descriptions and instructions so that our readers can follow the steps easily. We will be teaching others about something that we, as the authors, are 'experts' on already - can we explain it in a way that someone who does not know about this subject can still understand it?  By the way, I hope you enjoyed those colorful copies of the personal essays our students brought home in December about a special person in their lives.  I thought they were so precious!

Social Studies has us beginning to explore with the first non-native people to come to this area of Wisconsin.  How did this affect the native people who lived here already?  Why did these new people come here in the first place?  How does this area and the people change as more and more discover what an amazing place this is in which to live?  It's great stuff!!  We plan to take all of our 4th graders to a State Capitol tour later in February/early in March, as well as tour the State Historical Museum.  After we cover this time in Wisconsin history, these visits are so very meaningful!  In Science with Mrs. Bertz, they are delving into the Unit on Magnetism and Electricity.

The January Scholastic Book Orders came home Friday in Take Home Folders.  We set a deadline for ordering at January 13th - this coming Friday!  I have found several books I want to add to our collections in the room with the bonus points we earn through your orders.  Please also take a look at the information and permission slip that came home explaining the new Math 24 Club - six weeks on Thursdays after school with Mrs. Boles and Mrs. Schelitzche - a very fun way to play around with numbers (and get better at all basic math facts without feeling like it's work at all!).

Upcoming dates to keep in mind:  On two Mondays there will no classes - January 16th and 23rd.  The 23rd marks the halfway point of our school year already!  Our second trimester ends in early March, and we will be holding parent conferences again during the last week of February and first week of March. I will be getting to you a schedule on which to sign up by early February.

In the meantime, I hope we can all stay healthy during this cold stretch of winter.  It is great to see all the warm winter gear coming in for our outside times (though this past week we were not even able to get out there for three days!  Augghhh!).  I would like to advise everyone to throw an extra pair of warm socks into backpacks.  The kids are coming in with sometimes wet and always cold feet - so a dry pair of socks to pull on after a recess is very nice!   I will keep you posted on items/events/reminders big and small! 

Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

December 5, 2016 Update

Happy December to all!  One of our three weeks this month is done already.  This time of year goes by so quickly!  We are focusing on using these days to do all we can before a nice two week break from the routine.  Here is what we are doing in our classes at this point:

In Readers' Workshop we have been digging into nonfiction reading from all kinds of resources (books, magazines, online articles) and analyzing how the information is arranged and how that helps us understand the content.  We are practicing how to find the main ideas one section/paragraph at a time, and identify the supporting details. We are learning the most efficient way to take notes, and then developing our own original sentences to summarize the information.  These are skills our kids will need in every course they take throughout their school years.  In the meantime, we are all discovering amazing facts and situations from around the world - very cool!  (This leads to some interesting discussions!) 

The first essays written last month by our students have been excellent!  Our students really picked up very well how to structure an essay with their thesis statement, their reasons, and the evidence/examples to back up their thoughts!  These first essays centered on an important person in each student's life, and you will find them to be very touching.  Special copies are coming home to be given to their 'person' for the holidays.  We are now writing an essay where our fourth graders take a stand on a social issue.  They will need to back up their thesis statement with a bit of research for solid evidence behind their opinions.  Our goal is to complete these by our winter break.

Math class has us very involved with understanding the concept of fractions and what a fraction really means.  We are getting some work with adding and multiplying fractions as well.  By the end of next week, we hope to have Unit Three completed.  I found my list of math websites that I've collected over time, and will send home a copy of that list this week.  Some families wanted to know how to help their student get more proficient with their basic facts and other basic skills, so some of these sites should be helpful, and make it more fun to practice. 

In Social Studies, we have had the best time studying glaciers!  This has led to viewing some awesome videos of glaciers from around the world, and helps us picture what our area might have looked like over 10,000 years ago.  The landforms created by the last Ice Age are still in evidence today, and it was new information for our kids as we identified kettles, eskers, kames, drumlins, and moraines.   We are now moving into studying Wisconsin's varied topography and all-important waterways, and their influences on our history and lives today.  I just love how our textbook, written by the Wisconsin Historical Society, ties our history with our current ways of living in Wisconsin.  At the end of February, our 4th graders will get to tour the State Capitol Building, and also the Wisconsin Historical Museum, which becomes a very meaningful trip after our discussions and lessons in class.  Science with Mrs. Bertz is winding up the big unit on Rocks and Minerals by winter break.

I continue to strive for valuable time each day in which our 4th graders can 'get lost' in a good, just-right book.  We book share together to keep new title ideas coming for each other, to stay excited about the next promising book.  Classmates have been pitching in to organize our growing classroom collection, and that also gives them opportunities to find some new books they might not have considered or discovered before.  Everyone will be coming home with two or three books for the two weeks off - thank you very much for keeping 'reading time' a priority in your homes, between family gatherings and celebrations.  I will be submitting the December Scholastic Book Orders tomorrow night, in case anyone still wants to place an order.  I expect we should get our box of new books before we leave school for the holidays.

I wish you all some beautiful family time during our time off from school.  May everyone become renewed and ready to meet back together again in January!  In the meantime, I will get to see many of you on December 14th for the Winter Tea and Tunes (4th grade starts at 8:20am that day).  Report cards for the first trimester should be coming home this Friday.  I will still send out emails for any reminders or other event info as needed before December 16th.  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

November 4, 2016 4H Update

Hello to all of our 4H Families!  I am very much looking forward to meeting with you all during the next two weeks for our parent/student/teacher conferences.  Your student and I will have some work samples to show you, and we can talk about some goals to make 4th grade be the most successful and satisfying year for your child possible. In the meantime, here are some updates on the learning that has been happening in Room 117 lately!

We have switched gears in Literacy over the last week.  Our Realistic Fiction projects have been wrapped up. Yesterday we placed all of our hard work, from very messy, important rough draft pages to our neatest handwriting final copies, into our special Writing Binders.  This work reflects a valuable baseline for where our 4th graders are with their ability to follow the story arc from grabbing beginnings, through complete sentences and paragraphs, character and plot development, to a realistic, satisfying ending.  Now we all know some necessary areas on which to work as we continue our writing lives this year.  We are now developing our skills with Essay writing.  This week our whole class went through 'essay writing boot camp'.  In two class periods as a whole group we created our first complete essay together, and now we have a model to follow as each student gets to writing their own thesis statements with reasons and evidence to back up their opinions.  Switching from fiction writing to more formalized opinion writing brings some groans at first, but after putting together our first essay as a class, and getting to choose their own first topic where they may have strong feelings, the mood has changed to pride and some heartfelt writing.  So cool!

In Readers' Workshop, while our students continue to devour many favorite fiction books, we are also diving into a very diverse collection of nonfiction sources.  We are going to be analyzing the best ways to read nonfiction, how to pick out the most important points, and how this can help us be efficient researchers of new information.  Warning - your student may be coming home with some new facts and information to share!  In Social Studies, that has hopefully already been happening! (Ask your student what is special about Wisconsin's location in the world with respect to latitude and longitude!)  We will be moving into the world of our state's Ice Age in the coming days, and how that has affected our landscape and ways of living here to this day.  Science class with Mrs. Bertz is moving through their unit on Rocks and Minerals, and your students had a quiz on Minerals this past week.

We are most of the way through Unit 2 in our Bridges Math at this point. We spend a large part of our classes digging into real life (word problem) situations that require us to figure out what equation is needed to solve the problem, and then explore several different ways that equation can be solved.  As we all get more comfortable with this format, I am amazed at the creative thinking and reasoning that many of our students are demonstrating.  Of course, this kind of 'problem string' thinking does require our students to hang in there with the steps and logical thinking process.  If someone gets lost or tunes out at any point, it can be difficult to get back into it.  So we are having to practice our stamina to stay engaged and involved with the discussion, and that does take time and practice.  I am confident we will see growth throughout the year as our 4th graders mature and develop their skills to stay focused.  The key is to keep involved in the discussion, watching, sketching out ideas, asking and answering questions...

Activities outside of our core subject work also continue to keep us all very busy: 

Five Swim Classes have begun - the next classes will happen this coming Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings, and finally the following Tuesday (November 7, 9, 11, and 15).  Students need to bring suits, towels, and a waterproof bag those days!  Our gym teachers are also planning an exciting UW Dance Team session and there is a permission form to sign if your 4th grader wants to participate!  

Thank you for sending in BOX TOPS as you collect them for us all this month of November.  We want to win a Pizza Lunch from the PTO - and of course break a record to collect all we can to help our school! 

The November Scholastic Book Order forms came home yesterday - take a look.  The deadline for submitting orders is November 14th.  Also included is the flyer from our annual Scholastic Book Fair, which will be in our LMC during the official parent conference week, November 15 through 17.  I can also give your student the chance to shop there during the school day that week. 

Thank you to Mrs. Rosera for sending you the details about these events, along with the announcement about December 14th's Winter Tea and Tunes. With the end of November we come to the end of our first trimester already!  The first report card will then get prepared and will come home in the second week of December. 

More picture envelopes appeared in my mailbox late Friday, so those will get sent home on Monday. 

One 'homework' assignment your student has over the weekend, is to go through their Take Home Folder with you, and decide which papers are to stay home - or need returning with your response - or need to be saved in the folder (such as the master spelling list). Thank you for getting caught up with these papers together.  If too many sheets pile up in these folders, it gets too difficult to find important info and meet due dates. 

Whew!  I will continue to send you email updates for special reminders and news as we go along!  As always, I do appreciate your questions and updates about special situations with your own child, and we will get to visit in person over the next two weeks.  Remember to check your calendars for our conference time together!  See you soon!  Melanie Hannam

October 10, 2016 Update

Hello to our 4H families!  In class this past week, we all paused to reflect together on how it has felt to complete our first full month of 4th grade already.  We agreed it seems both a long time because we've done so much and gone through so many changes, and also a short time because we've been so busy that time flew by!  And with the first week of October already done, we continue to add to our new experiences.  The World Dairy Expo field trip gave us such a memorable day.  It was raining through the morning, and then just as we got to the gates of Alliant Energy, the sun came out with a glow, and it shone on us the rest of the day.  We got to see many of the 2,500 cows who were being groomed, fed, milked, and led around the show ring in the Coliseum, and the calves got lots of petting.  We all now know what a milking machine actually feels like, and there were many exclamations like, "I never knew cows were THIS big!"  I was so proud of our kids, who were accurately identifying the correct breeds, knew the answers to many of our guides' questions, and did a great job of listening and questioning.  I send many thank you's to our wonderful chaperones who kept us all together in the crowds.  I took dozens of beautiful pictures, and am working on the best way to share them with you all.

Back in the classroom, we have accomplished the work of Unit 1 in our new Bridges math curriculum, and taken the first post assessment.  I am analyzing the data, and this gives me valuable information about what our students are understanding and what we need more work on. This curriculum is strong on breaking apart story problems into equations, and then solving those equations using more than one strategy.  Much of this work requires a new set of skills, and will take time and practice to master.  We try to do as much together in class as we can, where we can guide them through the steps of this reasoning.  I haven't sent home much in the way of homework so far because of this.  As students get more confident with what the pages in their workbooks want them to do, homework may come home a little more consistently, but it will usually be finishing up what we have started in class.  One way that you can help your students at home is to give them chances to review and practice their basic multiplication facts.  We are using them daily in our work at school, and I try to work in opportunities to practice wherever I can, but many will need more time on their own to master multiplication (and division will come much more easily once the multiplication facts are mastered).

In social studies we will be moving from Wisconsin agriculture to the history of our land (the Glacial Age!) and then into how the first people in our area lived, survived, and evolved.  Our visit to Pope Farm Park this coming Thursday morning will be the perfect start to our study!  We will be at the Pope Farm Conservancy (for those who are new to the area, it is just two miles from WM on Old Sauk Road) from 8:30 to 11:00, and any and all parents who want to meet us there, please do join us!  You can meet our buses at the lower parking lot.  We are so fortunate to live in such a historically significant area, and our expert guides will be making a big point about that.  I learn something new every time I go to these sessions.  We will all want to watch weather reports for this morning - this vast and hilly conservancy can be very windy, so we will want to dress accordingly to be comfortable.  We will be hiking all over this park!

Writers' Workshop has all of us setting a storyline and a main character into a realistic fiction story where there will be a problem or challenge that needs a solution.  This coming week we will be able to combine all of our notes into our story arc, and dig in with telling (writing) that story!  As our students share their ideas, it is so entertaining to see where their imaginations are taking them!

We continue to love our reading time each day.  Thank you for making this time a priority at home, too.  Bringing those favorite books back and forth every single day is hopefully becoming an important ritual and habit for each one of us.  I have had a chance to meet one on one with each of your 4th graders over the last two weeks, listen to them read out loud to me, and talk over their own particular goals for making their reading a growing, rich part of their lives.  By the way, you should have found the October Scholastic Book Order forms in Take Home Folders on Friday.  As always, you are never obligated to buy books, but if you and your students decide to do so this month, our due date to submit your order is Friday, October 14th.  The easiest way to order is online (our account number is a sticker inside your student's Take Home Folder), or you can send cash or a check made out to Scholastic Book Club to me at school, and I can enter your order before I submit the whole thing next weekend.  

I will soon be sending home a schedule of the possible parent/student/teacher conference time slots for certain days during the second and third week of November.  I always like to include our 4th grade students in our conferences together because we are ALL on the team, especially the student!  You will be able to mark your first, second, and third choices for times that work for all of you to come, and then I will confirm your time as soon as I hear back from everyone.  At this conference, we can show you work samples and progress and will talk over best goals for the coming months.

On Friday, our class was given the honor of hauling in dozens of giant pumpkins to school from a bright red wagon outside for our PTO event.  It was turned to be such fun for the kids, and I got video of their excitement.  We added yet another precious memory to our 4th grade experience!  Till next note!  Melanie

September 26, 2016 Update

Greetings to our 4H families!  We are into our last week of September already.  Our first month of 4th grade has gone by so very quickly, yet in another way it seems like much more than 4 weeks since we first all met. Our days have been so full of getting to know each other and our new routines at school that I feel like we have 'traveled' a long way already!  One month later from Back To School Night, and now I have 25 new friends in my life, along with each of their families, that I didn't have before!  There is still so much to learn about each other, but we have made a solid start, building trust and communication, which is setting the foundation for a very fulfilling school year ahead.

Each day has brought us deeper into our lessons in Room 117.  I am so pleased to see how quickly our reading class has become probably almost everyone's favorite part of the day.  We all look forward to our 'pin-drop' time to get lost in our favorite books.  We are also about halfway into our first class read aloud book, Crenshaw, written by Katherine Applegate (who also wrote The One and Only Ivan).  The class discussions during these precious times each day bring out some of our students' deepest thoughts and reflections, and as they share their ideas and opinions, they help each other think more and more deeply with each passing week.  This is a perfect model for each student individually to develop their own comprehension - we are creating habits that should last through a lifetime of rich reading experiences.  Our mini-lessons in Readers' Workshop are beginning with character development as the doorway to understanding our stories with greater depth.  Oh, I could do these lessons all day long!

One big thing I am emphasizing is that our 4th graders bring their reading 'bags' back and forth every single day!  These 2 gallon zipper bags should hold their purple reading folder and their current reading book.  Homework in other subjects will vary each day, but not with reading!  I encourage each family to carve out a quiet reading time and place in your home most every evening for your child to just read!!  Time spent reading at their just right level has been proven over and over again to be the single most important ingredient to becoming a better reader - and becoming one who loves to read as well!  When bags get left at home, it is a real disappointment when we have our class reading time, and a favorite book is not there to dig into because it got left at home.  I like the reading bags because it protects and preserves our books from all the contents of their backpacks.  I thank you for your support with good organizational habits to make sure all important items get into backpacks each day.  Take Home Folders are also an 'every day' item that must go back and forth.  These often contain papers you need to see - either to keep at home or send back to school with your signature or feedback.

In Writers' Workshop, we have begun work on how to create a 'story arc'.  We are writing some realistic fiction that contains a well developed character, a setting that is easily pictured by the reader, and gives our characters a challenge that needs a believable resolution.  I am also giving our 4th graders opportunities to reflect on their reading by writing in their "Thoughtful Logs" - this gives them a chance to explain themselves on paper, developing both their writing skills and the depth of their thoughts. I will often be writing them back in these Logs, which is always fun.

In Social Studies, we are talking COWS!  In preparation for our trip on October 5th to the World Dairy Expo, we are all becoming experts on some rather amazing facts about cows - and the dairy industry of our state as well. Be prepared to be 'educated' by your 4th grader as they come home with this new knowledge!  :)  Thank you to all who have volunteered to join us for our Expo tour that day.  No limit to how many parents want to come - just email me if you are joining us and didn't already note that on the permission slip.  As the permission slip states, parents can meet at school (I will send out more details later this week) and band together to carpool, following the buses to the Alliant Energy grounds.  No charge for any of us!  Quick note - if you are chaperoning, make sure you have returned that Volunteer Disclosure Form - I have a few parents who haven't returned that yet.  I can send home another copy if you need one. I will email you all with special reminders about that day later this week.

Finally, I want to give you a little progress report on our math work.  We jumped right in with lessons from the first day of school.  The lessons take us through a lot of group discussion on different strategies for how to solve a problem.  This is an unfamiliar way for many of our students (and parents!) to do math class.  I have already seen some increased skill by our kids on how to solve one problem in several different ways, along with the ability to express their reasoning so another can understand - a big part to learn as well!  So far there has been less time spent on filling out worksheets and taking home pages to answer - you have probably noticed!  Homework pages will not come home consistently - much of the work gets done in class during the lesson routine, and also with partner work.  This reinforces the reasoning strategies that Bridges Math wants to develop in our students, and I prefer being able to be with our kids when they work through their own pages, so I can guide their thinking and collaboration with each other.  I will continue to keep you posted as we go along and let you know how best to support your math student this year.

TA! DA!  Our class has earned our first Reward Day!  We have collected 30 Class Pride Paws by meeting expectations for behavior and conduct in all areas of our school community!  As a class, we have decided the following:  On Friday, September 30th, our 4th graders in Room 117 may come to school dressed in comfy clothes, bringing along slippers if desired, and a small pillow or stuffed animal. They may also bring along a small blanket.  We will spend our morning between encore classes and lunch having a cozy Read- In, with snacks!  After lunch we will continue with reading and watching a National Geographic video, maybe with more snacks!  It took some great effort to collect 30 Paws, and many in our class even donated some of their individual Paws to make it happen!  These special days make for great memories in 4th grade.

I will be back in touch with all the last details for our October field trip later this week.  Student pictures arrived in my mailbox on Friday, so those who took pics on September 16th will be bringing them home Monday.  Picture orders can come back to me within the next week.   Enjoy the last days of September!   Sincerely, Melanie Hannam 

September 10, 2016 Update

Hi, 4H families!   We had a very busy and satisfying week getting into our routines and expectations, and digging deeper into our first lessons in math, social studies, science.  We are very proud of ourselves for building our stamina in reading.  We've been practicing each day to increase our ability to 'lose' ourselves in our reading books (pin drop silence in the room, eyes on the page, and so 'into' our stories that we forget we are in Room 117!). When I have to call an end to our independent reading time, I love it when I hear groans of protest and pleading for "just a few more minutes!"  We are on our way!

I wanted to give you some details on a few upcoming events and activities.  I have sent home the first of our monthly Scholastic Reading Club book order forms.  Do not ever feel obligated to buy books, but in case your 4th grader successfully convinces you that he/she just HAS to have this book, I can assure you that I have not found a better deal on such a complete selection of the most popular books anywhere.  We have a class account where you can place an order online - see the link on the bottom of every order form.  I have also given each student a sticker for their Take Home Folders which gives you our account number to get into our classroom account.  This is such a super easy way to place an order - I think it is very user friendly.  You can also send in the paper order form to school with your 4th grader, and the preferred method of payment is a check made out to Scholastic Book Club (or cash).  Our deadline for getting in your September order is September 19th.  I will submit our orders at the end of that day. Over the years, I have been able to build up such a rich classroom library because the bonus points our room receives with each book ordered give us free books for the classroom - it's awesome and so fun!  (I do get pretty excited about new books!)

Next week on Tuesday our first orchestra lessons begin.  Out of our classroom family of 25 (a new student coming Monday!), we have 13 orchestra students!!  Every Tuesday there is a whole group lesson/practice time that begins promptly at 7:15 AM.  Students can come down to hang up backpacks, etc. in their cubbies, and then head straight to the lunchroom to be ready to go by 7:15.  Then throughout that morning of classes, each instrument group will have a small group lesson for 30 minutes on a rotating schedule.  Students should bring home their instruments every Tuesday afternoon so they can practice at home during the week.

Also this coming Tuesday, everyone at WM gets to tie dye a new T-shirt for the 2016-2017 school year!  We think we are so lucky in 4th grade, because our color is EVERY color - rainbow!  I will have the shirts ready to rubberband in class on Monday, and then Tuesday morning our class is scheduled to dye our shirts at 10am.  Your child will bring home the shirt in a plastic bag, also containing instructions on how to do the wash process within the next couple of days.

Remember that I update the Homework Page of our classroom blog every day after school, not only with homework items, but also any due dates, reminders, and announcements of upcoming activities. Give it a look!  Feel free to email me anytime if you have any questions or want to let me know something in particular about your 4th grader.  Oh, and also, if you still have some parent papers to turn in, I would love to get them all during the next week - thank you!   More news coming soon!

Melanie Hannam

September 5, 2016 Classroom Update

Se​ptember 5, 2016

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

August, 2016:

I want to welcome our new "4H" families!  This is the main page of our classroom blog!  There is also a page showing you our daily schedule of classes, as well as a HOMEWORK/REMINDERS page, where all of our students and families can check for DAILY updates.  A Google Calendar will also keep us on track for upcoming events and special days during the school year.

I will be back in touch very soon.  On August 30th at 4:30 to 6:30 here at school I hope to meet each and every one of you, and students may bring in any school supplies they have collected so far.  The PTO is treating us to an ice cream social, too!

In the meantime, I have to find room for all of our polar bears....!!!!!!  :)Mrs. Hannam

April 30, 2016 Update

Hello to all of our 4H families!  This past month has gone so very fast!  We have been filling our days with good books, new math lessons, a change in our social studies and science focus, and making plans for an exciting new month ahead with special events for our 4th graders!  We have ended our Forward Exam - with just a handful of make-up sessions left to do. Our fourth graders handled it all very well, and hopefully put forth their best effort.  I do not know exactly when you will receive results, but I will be sure to let you know as soon as I learn anything.

We have all discovered some new books to share with partners as we dove head first into our "Social Issues Book Clubs" the last few weeks.  This has been a fun experience as our kids are reading books that are surprising them - they are enjoying stories and characters they might not otherwise have discovered on their own.  We are talking together daily about the struggles and challenges their characters are facing, and comprehension skills are getting a renewed 'workout'.  Our students are helping each other identify more than one lesson and message in each book as they analyze their stories together.  I love overhearing some deep thinking comments coming from their club meetings.  We are beginning to write out our impressions and ideas from both short and long stories, as we evolve into writing some literary essays in the process. 

In Math class, we are coming to the end of Unit 10, practicing patterns and symmetry along with some new work with integers - adding positive and negative numbers.  This is requiring our students to dig in and build persistence in their learning as they try to understand what can be a confusing concept at first.  We are going to keep practicing for some extra days, and our final unit test will take place during the middle of next week.

We have all been having fun watching the rapid daily progress of sprouting seeds in Science!  In Social Studies, we have left our Wisconsin textbook to roam farther away from home.  We are traveling through several regions of our beautiful United States to compare the geography, climate, people, and notable sights and landmarks (Midwest, West, Southwest, Northeast, Southeast Regions).  We have already begun a mental list of places that our kids wish we could all take trips to see (warning to parents!! :) ).

One special event that takes place in May every year for our 4th graders is the 4th Grade Track Meet at the Middleton High School Track and Field.  On May 10th, you are most welcome to stop by and try to catch your son or daughter run a race or compete in a field event.  The approximate schedule of events is on the back of the permission slip that you kept after sending in the bottom part with your signature.  Speaking of signatures --- your 4th grader will be bringing home a contract that outlines the expectations for respectful, responsible behavior on this busy day at the MHS Track.  It is a day with less structure than a usual day in school, along with increased responsibility on the part of our students to be on time for events, and as a part of a crowd of several hundred other 4th graders.  This contract should be read together, signed by both you and your child, and returned to school as soon as possible.  Thank you very much for your support and encouragement here.

The month of May also includes a morning tour of Glacier Creek on May 13th, another half day with naturalists and guides at Pope Farm Park on May 24th, and a couple of special presentations and assemblies.  I will email you details of these events as we come closer to each one, and you may look for more permission slips to sign!  Our special trip to Cave of the Mounds will be on June 7th.

With the last weeks of elementary school for your child approaching, it is an exciting time of year.  It is going by very quickly, and we are trying to savor and enjoy and learn all we can yet fit into our days together.  Thank you for your encouragement at home to keep up your child's motivation to stay focused on good work and self control.  This gets to be more of a challenge as we spend our last month together before big changes ahead!  :)Melanie Hannam

February 29, 2016 Update

Hello to all of our 4H Families!

Tomorrow is Leap Day! -- and the end of two big winter months.  I have high hopes for signs of spring in March!  There are just short of 4 weeks of school in March, with Spring Break Week from the 21st through the 25th.  I am looking forward to our chance to sit together around the table with you and our 4th graders during conferences - a chance to show you some good work and our goals for the last trimester of our year.  The second trimester officially ends on March 4th, and you will receive the second of three report cards before Spring Break.

We have moved from Historical Fiction in our Readers' Workshop to a short unit on Poetry and poetic language.  We are amazing ourselves with our ability to find poetic and vivid language that touches right to our hearts even in our 'prose' reading books!  That's been a revelation to us all, and I am quite proud of how our students are finding these colorful and meaningful passages.  It is helping them to read more deeply, and this is a big step toward improving our reading skills.  Discussions are getting deeper as well, as we ponder together what some of these lines really could mean. I love it!!  Writing Workshop is going right along with the reading unit - we are starting with writing Haiku poems.  Wow, I was so excited this week as I started the class off with the basic techniques of 'wordsmithing' and even before I thought they were ready, students were asking if they could keep on going, and they started putting together their lines into very descriptive Haiku!  We have decided we want to print out our best ones and mount them in the hallway by conference time, so you can all see them when you come. Fun stuff!

We went on our annual field trip this past week to the Capitol and saw each of the most beautiful meeting halls in that historical building, which all happen to be in our Wisconsin textbook.  The kids were thrilled to see these fancy rooms and even sit in the cushy leather chairs.  At the Historical Museum, being able to gather our whole class into the "Aztalan House" also pictured in our book, and handling real beaver and mink pelts like the fur traders we've been studying were highlights. I am so thankful to all of our chaperones who were able to come with us.  In Social Studies we have moved from native culture to fur traders from France and then Britain, to the new "Americans" taking over, and now - to how this Great Lakes territory became the state of Wisconsin.  Science with Mrs. Bertz will be completing the Magnets and Electricity experience in the next couple of weeks.

This coming week, we will do our last math lessons in Unit 7, review for a couple of days, and then have the final test later in the week.  Please check in with your 4th grader as you look through their workbooks.  Ask them if they can show you how they add and subtract fractions, especially the ones with unlike denominators. 

About half our class so far has returned the envelopes for purchasing the 2015-2016 West Middleton Yearbook.  The due date for your order is March 13th.  If you do not have the special envelope any more, please have your 4th grade let me know and I will see if I can find more.  This book becomes a meaningful keepsake, and during one of the last school days in June, we hold a special "signing' time for our kids, which becomes even more meaningful now for our 4th graders who will be moving on and spreading out to Glacier Creek next year.  If anyone needs assistance with purchasing this booklet, do let me know. 

I am happy to let you know that we have added a new friend to our class in the past week - we are now a classroom family of 22!  Her name is Najmo, and her family moved last year to Wisconsin from the country of Somalia.  We are having fun getting acquainted, and I am impressed by how beautifully our classmates have welcomed her and made her feel comfortable with us.

This coming week is "Literacy Week"!!  Each day we will all be adding in some special activities and extra chances to enjoy the art of literature in many forms.  Please see the Homework Page of our classroom blog (link below my name) to see the list of each day's events.  Monday is "PJ" or comfy clothes day, and will include a period of time when our entire building will just Drop Everything And Read!  Friday morning will include our annual Dress Like A Book Character parade around the hallways.  Outfits can be very simple to elaborate, along with the book that features your character.  Cameras will be out!  We are decorating our classroom door with all of our favorite book titles and authors, and on Thursday we have a visit from a local author.  The Drama Club will present "Fractured Fairy Tales" on Tuesday - and Wednesday we want to wear clothing with WORDS on them.

As we work our way through the next month, I will keep you posted on any other details!  Please check that your conference time is on your calendar, and we will talk soon!  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

January 18, 2016 Update

Hello to our 4H Families, and I hope you are all staying warm and cozy in this super cold.  It was a well timed day off from school today.  The last two weeks since our Winter Break have been busy with new lessons and some quite rewarding classroom discussions. 

We have started our Historical Fiction unit in Readers' Workshop, using Number The Stars by Lois Lowry as our class read aloud mentor text (such a captivating book - I highly recommend it to all!).  It has opened up a whole new awareness of World War II and the Holocaust to our 4th graders.  I appreciate how it gently presents the serious issues involved with this time period, centering on a preteen girl and her family in Denmark who leads us through her growing awareness of what is happening in Europe.  We see the events unfolding through her eyes, and even though she is fictional, the events she lives through are accurate. We are also researching more on the historical facts as we go along.  Our kids are very wrapped up in the suspense, and the new thoughts, questions, and ideas that are occurring to them daily as we read and discuss are so exciting and satisfying.  They are hopefully carrying this enthusiasm and good thinking into their own new historical fiction books.  They chose their first stories this past week, and they should be doing their best to read these every day.  I give them time in class as much as I can, and hope they can read them at home, too.  Thanks for supporting them with special time to read as much as possible.

Writers' Workshop is helping us to write up information from history in a logical and clear way.  We are using our social studies topics.  Right now we are well into discovering how the first native people in the area of Wisconsin and the Great Lakes survived and adapted over time to living in this climate with the resources of this rich land.  I am walking our class through a first informational report, and then each student will have the chance to write their own historical account.

Our last unit in math had us learning the steps to longer multiplication problems (thanks so much for the extra practice help at home!).  I hope you've had a chance to look over their Unit 5 tests and sign them.  They need to come back to school this week so we can save them. The unit we started this past week is mainly about learning the steps to long division problems!  Any time you can throw an extra problem (or three or four!) your student's way, please do!  You will see what kind of problems we are tackling each day from their homework - we are working our way up gradually to bigger numbers and longer problems.  Remember you can take a look at our assignments and reminders for all subjects and other activities on the Homework Page of our classroom blog.  I update it every singe day after school.

Otherwise, there are quite a few extra opportunities for growth and teamwork happening these days -- our Battle of the Books teams (competition coming up in early February), the Fruit Bowl Writing Club, the Math 24 Club...and soon to be announced, our own classroom Gold Star Researchers (stay tuned).  We will get through this winter with a flurry of fun learning activities!  I will keep you posted on all events and reminders!  Until next note --!  Melanie Hannam 

December 7, 2015 Update

Happy December, everyone!  Here's an update on what we've been working on in class lately!

In Reader's Workshop, we've been wrapping up our unit on exploring non-fiction - digging into all kinds of resources, finding out what makes each book/magazine/article/online report a valuable and helpful source of new information.  Along the way we've been having a good time learning new facts about such wide ranging topics as extreme weather, natural disasters, global warming, drones, wild animals and sea creatures, glaciers, current events...  I am also taking the opportunity whenever I can to give our students practice picking out the main ideas, identifying the supporting details, and learning the most efficient way to take notes - all skills that will serve them well in their future years.  When we return from winter break, our focus will move to Historical Fiction, where we will also get experience reading and sharing our ideas within student Book Clubs.

I would like to encourage all of our families to keep it a priority, as much as it is possible in your busy days, to make special quiet time for your student to read and "get lost" in a good book daily.  I know this can be a challenge.  We stop and talk often in class about where and when we have each managed to find a time to cozy up with a good story, and it sounds like most of our kids love those times.  This is probably the single most effective way to foster a love of reading and your child's reading skills, along with the ability to stay focused, and they will grow with every single day this can happen. 

Writer's Workshop has been full of essay writing, and our students have done a beautiful job with clear thesis statements and supporting evidence.  We are just wrapping up one last essay about an important person in our lives. We are typing them on our Chromebooks in the classroom which is also great for more keyboarding practice. These last essays will be coming home to be presented as gifts to their 'person' - and they are quite touching.  Enjoy!

We've been using our various spelling lists to give ourselves additional creative writing experience along with handwriting practice!  (Much needed!!)  We turn our lists into creative sentences and imaginative stories as we practice the spelling patterns.  This coming week we will receive one more big list of seasonal words before the holiday break which should give us another fun chance to practice our writing skills.

In Social Studies, we are finishing our chapter about the geography of Wisconsin.  Warning -- many ideas for cool family trips around our beautiful state keep cropping up in our discussions!!  :)   Our next focus will take us back in time to how the first known native people of our state survived. We will move through time to discover how and why the first Europeans came here, and then on to how we became a state, exploring all the fascinating changes that had to happen along the way. In Science, it looks like our kids are coming to the end of their Rocks and Minerals Unit with Mrs. Bertz.

We should be able to take our final test on Math Unit 4 around the middle of this week.  I took some extra days during this unit because it covers some major new concepts.  We got into decimal numbers, banking, and the metric system!  Yikes - all big, new information for our 4th graders!   The whole concept of what numbers mean when they are behind the decimal point takes some new understanding.  Using the idea of money helps that, so that led to the very informative lessons on withdrawals, deposits, interest, and balance (hence the questions that came home about savings accounts, etc.!!).  Our decimal work was also the perfect set up to understand how the metric system works, which is also quite new to our kids.  Meaty, useful stuff -  these topics got a solid start here, and will be expanded upon and reinforced in future work both in this grade and in fifth grade.  

Whew, we pack so much into our days!  Along the way we've had fun with our Class ReadAloud book, Rain, Reign, collecting Pride Paws and growing our 'compliment chain' with our appropriate behavior and social skills, fighting to stay number one in the school wide contest for Box Tops For Education (we find out on Wednesday!), and of course, our Read-In Day was a hit.  Thank you for your support with homework, regular reading times, and staying up to date with the contents of your student's Take Home Folders and Assignment Notebooks.  Along with checking the Classroom Blog for the daily homework and reminders, these are the best ways to foster your own child's growing ability to be responsible for themselves.

It will be fun to see many of you on the morning of our Winter Tea on December 16th.  I like to take some family pictures that day.  See you then! 

Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

October 2, 2015 Update

Hello to all of our 4H families!  We had such a busy, fun week!  Our two field trips turned out to be full of new and valuable experiences for the kids, from handling a 1000 year old stone artifact to petting a fuzzy calf!  We trekked all over Pope Farm Park in autumn sunshine to role play survival for the winter as early Native Americans, and got up close and (sometimes very!) personal with both ends of a cow and a milking machine!  :)  I so enjoyed having so many of you join us as chaperones, and wholeheartedly want to thank you for being with us!  I should be able to send you all some pictures soon (many thanks to Mr. Olson, who became our unofficial photographer!).  We all created some precious memories together, and the following two days of the week back at school felt good - we were ready to settle in, make some excellent progress with our lessons, and have some good laughs together, too.

We also shared some tears - thanks to the finale of our class read-aloud book, Stone Fox.  Wow, this book never fails to hit right in the heart, and you truly could have heard a pin drop as we reached the gripping end of this story together.  Books like these bring home the message that reading can transport us completely into worlds and emotions and situations that we would never experience otherwise.  So cool!!  Speaking of books, you will notice that the new October Scholastic Book Order forms have come home.  Please do not ever feel obligated to order every month.  If you do want to order books this month, the due date is October 12th.  We had such great response in September that we ended up getting 39 new books for our classroom library with bonus points!  It took me several days to preview all of them with the class, and many of them got snatched up right away.  The love of reading is spreading fast in Room 117!   Woohoo!

We made good progress getting into Unit 2 in math, even though we missed two days of class.  Thank you for your support at home by looking into the kids' journal and studylink pages, asking them what they are learning, and also by continuing some regular practice with basic facts!  I see scores going up gradually with our daily 3 minute drills, but numbers could climb faster (and they do so noticeably) when there is extra practice at home.

We have been adding paragraphs to our realistic fiction stories in Writers' Workshop, and most of us are coming down the 'story mountain' now - trying to resolve the 'mess' we have put our characters into!  I will want to give our students the chance to edit and revise this coming week.  If you think you could be free to come in to class any day this next week or two from 1:45 to 2:30 - and like to help with spelling, punctuation, sentence structure - would you let me know when you'd like to come?  It is difficult for me to get to everyone who needs editing help when we get to this stage of writing, so the extra adult attention is so valuable!  Thanks a lot!

In Social Studies, we are transitioning from Wisconsin agriculture, to some mapping skills, and then on to the glacial history of our state, and our own area in particular.  Science continues with Mrs. Bertz leading them through experiments with rocks and minerals.

We have a number of friends in our classroom who are struggling with some self control when it comes to social conversation during class time, listening accurately to directions, and managing their papers and folders back and forth to home and school each day.  I've told our 4th graders I have given them the whole first month to work on developing good habits, and I do need to see better improvement.  Another challenge for many is their effort to work neatly and do their BEST job with each task.  I appreciate your sitting down with your fourth graders and asking them if any of these are areas they think they could improve upon.  Your support at home is powerful - so, thank you!!!

On Tuesday afternoon, October 6th, our class will spend a good hour in the computer lab to take the MAP Assessment (Measure of Academic Progress) for Math.  We will not be taking the Reading portion this year, since we are meeting with each student individually to read for us and determine their skill levels.  The MAP assessment gives us just one picture of where our students are with math skills compared to 4th graders across the country, as well as telling us which skills need more attention.  We will do this Math portion again in spring. 

Feel free to stay in touch with me with any concerns or questions, and I will do the same!  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

September 18, 2015 Update

Hello, everyone!  We have completed our third week of school already!  Everyday we get more used to our routines and expectations - and each other!  We are learning more about each other with each class, it seems, and the relationships we are building makes it more fun to work together for all of us.  We are making it a priority to treat each other with respect and kindness, and when that happens, everything just goes more smoothly.  I think I am seeing our students' stamina growing as well.  We still get times when we just need to stop and take a breather (and get the wiggles and whispers out of the way!) before digging in again, but we have had some nicely focused work sessions where they have amazed me. 

In Readers' Workshop, we are concentrating on reading deeply for details that matter, losing ourselves in the world of our books (so much fun!), and trying to 'become' the characters in the stories.  We are keeping track of the books we are reading with a special, bright colored Reading Log sheet for each month - you can find these in the purple reading folder that should be coming home every single day in a 2-gallon ziplock bag with the reading books.  In Writers' Workshop, we are also giving our attention to characters, practicing how to center our Realistic Fiction story writing around the motivations and struggles of the characters.  We are realizing that the stories we love most are the ones where the characters really matter to us - so that is how we are learning to write engaging stories!  The students have had some excellent writing sessions this week where they are really giving this a good try - I am proud of them!

Social Studies class goes way too fast.  We are still working on writing our own home mailing addresses and at least one emergency phone number all from memory.  Thanks for any extra practice on this at home!  We are also collecting all the info we can about cows and the dairy industry so we can be prepared to appreciate all we will see at the World Dairy Expo on September 30th.  You may be receiving some 'education' about cows these days from your 4th graders!  In Science with Mrs. Bertz, our students are getting a great start to the first unit on Rocks and Minerals.

We are coming to the end of our first unit in Math already.  Next week we will spend some days reviewing and practicing, and as soon as I figure out the best day for the first Unit Test, I will let you all know.  It usually goes quite well - this first unit is full of new vocabulary words, but the concepts of lines, segments, rays, angles, and polygons are not too difficult.

I would like to confirm our chaperones for our two field trip days on Sept. 29th (Pope Farm Park) and Sept. 30th (World Dairy Expo).  There is no limit to how many parents can chaperone on either one, since you can meet us at each destination and there is no admission charge (for the Dairy Expo, we have free parking vouchers for any parent drivers who can follow our buses there).  Parents who have confirmed with me that they can come are as follows:  Sept. 29 at Pope Farm Park -- Gina W., Kristen S-E, Chris K.    Sept. 30 at WDE -- Gina W., Chris K.      Three others for each trip did sign up during our Back To School Night in August, so if you plan to go, just email me and I will know for sure that you can still come, as well any other parents who want to join us.  The more, the merrier!  These are fun trips.  Thanks a lot!  I will email all chaperones with updated details toward the end of next week.

Events coming up --! 

**We will be tie dying our new WM T-shirts for this year on Monday!  You will be seeing these come home in a plastic bag that day with instructions on how to finish the washing of them to set the dye, so be prepared!  :)   I am thinking we won't have to wear the shirts to Pope Farm Park because our school will be the only ones there that afternoon of the 29th.  But we WILL want to wear them on Sept. 30th to the Expo! 

**Mark your calendars for the evening of Monday, September 28th!  If it works into your schedules, come to Culver's in Middleton for dinner!  From 4:00 to 8:00pm, they will contribute 10% of all sales to our PTO.  AND if you can make it there between 6 and 7pm, I will be the one bringing the food order to your table!!  I know it can't work for everyone, but just in case, I will see you there!

**I have a special request.  Would you look through everyone's sock drawers at home and pull out any lonely singles, any holey, worn pairs - and send them with your 4th grader to our classroom?  These old socks (athletic socks work best) are perfect as erasers for our small, individual whiteboards that we use quite often during class.  Thank you!

I will end for now, and send reminders and short update notes next week as we approach our trips and any other special activities.  As always, feel free to email me or call with any other questions or concerns!  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

September 4, 2015 Update

Greetings to all of our 4H families!  Our first week of school went so fast!  There was so much to tell each other as we got acquainted and as we learned about how we will manage our time and work (and fun) each day in 4th grade.  With each day, we will get closer to a routine.  Our class group is already showing such promise in direction following and helping each other out.  I am so happy to settle in for a fulfilling year with your 4th graders.

On Tuesday when we return, we will begin our first math lessons, using our new Journals and Studylinks.  Most days there will be pages, or parts of pages, to finish up as homework.  I want both books to go home everyday, so your child can show you (and ask them to explain to you how to do the skill!) what they worked on that day in class, and what they need to complete for the next day.  Even if the assignment gets all finished up in class, they should be bringing home both books, so you may see that they have indeed completed the items the best that they can.  Parents do not need to correct any work, but a suggestion to try an item again if you notice something incomplete or incorrect is appreciated.  I will be explaining to our math students that I do not grade anything they do in these workbooks, because this is where they practice their skills.  I never want anyone to be afraid to try something they are not sure of - I want them to feel comfortable giving every item their best effort.  I present the lesson one day, and we practice in class.  Students practice again by trying the pages in their books, and then the next day, we practice again by checking those items together and discussing again.  And remember, if you ever wonder about the accuracy of the homework assignment in their assignment notebooks, I update the Homework Page on our blog every day after school!

Another important part of our math class is Basic Facts practice in all four operations:  addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.  We will start out nearly every single class period with a chance to answer the 100 basic facts within 3 minutes.  On Mondays, we will do the 100 addition facts, Tuesdays it is subtraction, etc.  I check these papers daily and we keep track of progress.  Students may consider their facts 'mastered' once they achieve 100% accuracy within 3 minutes for each operation.  I tell them that once they achieve this, they get a 3 minute 'naptime' during this exercise!  :)  All you can do to help your child practice their facts is such valuable support!!!  I can't emphasize enough:  The 4th grade math curriculum assumes a 4th grader has mastery of all of their basic facts in the lessons that are presented every day.  If a student is still struggling to accurately recall their facts, it makes the new math skills much more difficult to practice and learn.  You will see each week's 3 minute attempts come home on Fridays, so you may be aware of how things are going for your child.  I will also send home progress reports every few weeks.  Thank you in advance for finding some way to routinely give your student the practice help he/she needs.  The clear plastic sheet protector with the fact sheets that came home in all of the parent papers is meant to stay home and be one way to practice.  If you use a slim dry erase marker on the plastic sheet, then you can use those pages over and over again. 

Speaking of the papers that went home the first night/day -- thank you so much for returning them so promptly.  I just need a few to come in yet.  One thing I thought I should explain better is that "Volunteer Disclosure Form".  It became necessary to have this on file about a year ago for all parents in the school district, before any opportunities to work with students as a volunteer and to even be able to go along on field trips!  So we are asking every one of our parents to fill out and sign this sheet at the beginning of the year, so if/when you want to join us for any activity or trip, you are all set and done with that formality.

And that leads me to the fact that all of our 4th grade classes are going on TWO field trips on the last two days of September already!!  Crazy, but that's how the schedules worked out this fall!  On September 29th, we go to Pope Farm Park for 2.5 hours to do activities with local experts in archaeology, gardening, geology, and history.  Our school district has made the commitment to send every 4th grader to these sessions both in the fall and in the spring for different activities. The Park is the perfect location to learn about Wisconsin's unique history, landforms, and geology - and we are so fortunate to have this area within two miles of our school!  If you'd like to meet us there and join us, it will be so much fun, and the more the merrier.  Just let me know - the permission slips will come home this next week, with the time frame and more details.  The following day on September 30th, we will continue our special tradition to attend the World Dairy Expo at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.  We study the agriculture of Wisconsin in Social Studies, and experiencing up close what is all involved in milk production from the most beautifully groomed cows we will EVER see, all the way to grocery store coolers, is a very memorable opportunity for our kids.  It is a highlight of our year, and parents love this trip, too, so again if you can find time to go along, let me know, and watch for that permission slip, too!  (For both of these days, we will probably have to eat a sack lunch in the classroom earlier than our normal lunch time, since we will be getting on buses around 11:00am (exact time frames will be on the permission slips), so talk over with your student this weekend if they will want to bring their own sack lunch from home, or will want to order the Lunch Express sack lunch.  We will have to fill out order forms on Tuesday so the kitchen knows what to plan for.  Thanks a lot!)

I will end for now with the reminder that if you have an Orchestra student, the first large group lesson begins at 7:15am THIS Tuesday, Sept. 8th, at school!  They will end at 7:45 each Tuesday, and get back to our room in time for our first class.  Sometime during Tuesday mornings, small group lessons also take place when these students get excused from class during different rotating 30 minute time periods each week.

I will keep you updated on all news and events, and as we go through the weeks ahead, I will fill you in on our other subjects and what we are studying and exploring.  I am happy to hear from you at any time through emails, calls, or visits!  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

August, 2015 -- WELCOME TO THE NEW 2015-2016 SCHOOL YEAR!

Hello to all of our new "4H" families!  I welcome you all to Room 117, and to our classroom blog!

Please sign up to receive my posts from this blogsite, and you will find the Daily Schedule Page for our classroom, daily posts on the Homework Page, and weekly posts about life in our 4th grade world.  

Stay tuned for more information - and feel free to ask me any questions!  

Mrs. Melanie Hannam