Happy October to our 4H Families!
We began our second month of 4th grade with our first field trip of the year, and luckily picked perhaps the last beautiful summerlike day on Wednesday to tour the World Dairy Expo. It was such a fun day and our students were all swept into a new world for a couple of hours. We will never find another place in which to see such a collection of the most pampered and cleanly groomed cows in the world - they were clearly treated like princesses! We learned about milking machines, and showmanship, and the dairy industry. A highlight for everyone was the chance to pet fuzzy Holstein calves curled up in crisp, clean straw beds. We met Alice in Dairyland and had a lesson in nutrition as well. Our kids were very well behaved, listened with good focus, and asked (for the most part!) intelligent questions of the many guides we encountered. Linley and I want to thank Trisha Pinka, Heather Bogner, Shaney Andler, Stephanie Reinke, and Vincent Pugliese for joining our group and keeping us all together as we wound our way through barns, tents, and the coliseum. We will have many good pictures to add to our classroom photo album.
Meanwhile, back in the classroom, we have continued with our progress in math class with place value, analyzing and creating tally charts and graphs, using data to figure the maximum, minimum, mode, range, and median values, as well as some substantial practice with carrying in addition. Next week, prepare for substantial practice with borrowing in subtraction. In another week we will be coming to the end of Unit 2 already. Please continue to examine your child's math books and work, ask them about these skills, and set aside time to practice basic facts as consistently as possible. I just heard of another study which reports that ability to accurately recall basic facts is one of the highest indicators of success in math. Both the 4th and 5th grade curriculums expect proficiency here, and all lessons are based on this expectation.
In reading class, we are developing our awareness of character traits and the influence this has on the entire story and our comprehension of the story. Our class read-aloud of "The One And Only Ivan" has been a perfect example of this - the better we get to know Ivan, the more we understand his story, and every aspect becomes so much more meaningful. The kids are responding to this so well - it's been really fun to share with them! In writing class this week, we celebrated how much writing we have produced so far, spreading all our projects across our desks, and organizing them into folders. We are in the process now of choosing our favorite piece to bring through the editing and publishing phases. I can tell many of our students are proud of their work. They ask to share their writing with the class, and that is also a valuable experience for everyone. We could spend half of every day just reading and writing - and some days, we just about do that! Also, the October Scholastic Book Orders went home on Friday, and we have until Monday, October 15 to turn in orders. The annual Scholastic Book Fair takes place in the WM Library all this coming week - flyers about this went home as well. I look forward to seeing many of you as you come to browse with your student.
We did make time to dig into developing our mapping skills this week. Everyone had chances to spread out their own Wisconsin State Road Map across their desks, and we have taken several 'trips' around our state, following each other's directions to find cities, rivers and lakes, highways, campgrounds and other landmarks. This is a perfect lead-in to our first chapter in our social studies books as we become experts on our state this year.
One last note: I will be leaving our classroom in the very capable hands of Linley Carlson and Shaney Andler on Thursday and Friday of this coming week, the 11th and 12th. I grew up in southern California, and It's tough to admit, but my 40th high school reunion takes place next weekend in Encinitas, just north of San Diego. I really debated about going, knowing it meant I'd miss a couple school days, but I decided I can't pass up the chance to see so many of my childhood friends and some of my all-time favorite places, all in one visit. I am even going to see one particular high school English teacher who was such a huge influence on my own writing and teaching journey. I can't wait to tell her how important her work with me became in my life (oh, what a taskmaster she was!!). I will catch up with you again the following weekend with my newsletter, and bring you all up to date again.
Thank you once again for tuning in to my notes, and for the privilege of working with your children.
Melanie Hannam
Saturday, October 6, 2012
Saturday, September 29, 2012
September 28, 2012 Weekly Update
Hello to our 4H families. We talked in class this week how we are amazed it is the end of September already. We feel like we have known each other longer than one month. Every day I see relationships among our group grow and develop a better understanding of each other. A big challenge for many in our class is that of being able to follow directions accurately and promptly, and meeting our expectations for respectful listening and working together. I am beginning to see some students realizing that they must step up their efforts now that they are fourth graders and becoming among the oldest students in their school. I believe we are going to see some real maturing this year.
Thank you for looking over those first math tests which came home Friday, and having your student return them Monday if possible with your signature. I have appreciated your feedback to my note about our scoring protocol. We have jumped right into Unit 2, which so far is building upon past lessons about place value. Please continue to place a high priority on time at home for your student to practice their basic math facts in all 4 operations. We are doing 3 minute trials every morning to answer 100 facts in each operation. The students are tracking their results, and it is evident when they have put in some extra time to practice. Knowing their basic facts is a huge factor in being able to master the new skills being taught in the 4th grade curriculum!
When we all shared our highlight of the week with each other, I told the class that one of my favorite times was when we were writing this week. Your students are developing new found stamina in time spent just writing! They actually surprised me! Even those who struggle to get their ideas down on paper are making amazing progress in the amount of writing they are able to produce. We are finding stories inside ourselves that just come bubbling out! This is going to give every student so much to work with as they improve their descriptive storytelling, along with sentence and paragraph structure, spelling, and punctuation.
In reading, we are shifting from recognition of effective story settings to memorable character development. This has been really fun, as we practice visualizing colorful character traits and finding good descriptions in our own reading books. We continue to find time most days to have silent reading time, still a favorite of everyone in class, and we have added one more experience - we have begun a class read-aloud book called "The One and Only Ivan", by Katherine Applegate. This 300 page book looks simple, with uncrowded pages of writing, but it invites some deep thinking and rich discussion. Like Ivan (a gorilla!) says in the first pages: "Humans waste too many words." Your child and I will keep you posted on other Ivan thoughts and what we think of Ivan!
The big event next week is our trip on Wednesday to the World Dairy Expo at the Alliant Energy Center. So far we have 4 parents coming to chaperone, and with Linley and myself, this gives us each groups of 4 students to guide. This is easily doable, but it would be more fun to have more of you, so let me know if I can add you to our 'troop'. Our class does stay together with our own Dairy Guide, but it is crowded there, and it is so nice to have many adult eyes helping to keep track of our kids. Remember, our buses will leave school at 10:50 that day, carpools of parents can follow buses in their cars, and we will return to school by 2:30. I have copies of maps of the grounds for every chaperone as well. A note about LUNCH that day: Students need to bring in a sack lunch (and some ordered the school's sack lunch) to eat in the classroom at 10:30 on Wednesday. It is an early lunch for us, but we also get treated to milk and cheese during our tour, which will hopefully fuel us through the day.
Thanks for reading my notes, and for all of your support! Melanie
Melanie Hannam
4th Grade Teacher
West Middleton Elementary
608-829-9398
mrshannamsclass.blogspot.com
Thank you for looking over those first math tests which came home Friday, and having your student return them Monday if possible with your signature. I have appreciated your feedback to my note about our scoring protocol. We have jumped right into Unit 2, which so far is building upon past lessons about place value. Please continue to place a high priority on time at home for your student to practice their basic math facts in all 4 operations. We are doing 3 minute trials every morning to answer 100 facts in each operation. The students are tracking their results, and it is evident when they have put in some extra time to practice. Knowing their basic facts is a huge factor in being able to master the new skills being taught in the 4th grade curriculum!
When we all shared our highlight of the week with each other, I told the class that one of my favorite times was when we were writing this week. Your students are developing new found stamina in time spent just writing! They actually surprised me! Even those who struggle to get their ideas down on paper are making amazing progress in the amount of writing they are able to produce. We are finding stories inside ourselves that just come bubbling out! This is going to give every student so much to work with as they improve their descriptive storytelling, along with sentence and paragraph structure, spelling, and punctuation.
In reading, we are shifting from recognition of effective story settings to memorable character development. This has been really fun, as we practice visualizing colorful character traits and finding good descriptions in our own reading books. We continue to find time most days to have silent reading time, still a favorite of everyone in class, and we have added one more experience - we have begun a class read-aloud book called "The One and Only Ivan", by Katherine Applegate. This 300 page book looks simple, with uncrowded pages of writing, but it invites some deep thinking and rich discussion. Like Ivan (a gorilla!) says in the first pages: "Humans waste too many words." Your child and I will keep you posted on other Ivan thoughts and what we think of Ivan!
The big event next week is our trip on Wednesday to the World Dairy Expo at the Alliant Energy Center. So far we have 4 parents coming to chaperone, and with Linley and myself, this gives us each groups of 4 students to guide. This is easily doable, but it would be more fun to have more of you, so let me know if I can add you to our 'troop'. Our class does stay together with our own Dairy Guide, but it is crowded there, and it is so nice to have many adult eyes helping to keep track of our kids. Remember, our buses will leave school at 10:50 that day, carpools of parents can follow buses in their cars, and we will return to school by 2:30. I have copies of maps of the grounds for every chaperone as well. A note about LUNCH that day: Students need to bring in a sack lunch (and some ordered the school's sack lunch) to eat in the classroom at 10:30 on Wednesday. It is an early lunch for us, but we also get treated to milk and cheese during our tour, which will hopefully fuel us through the day.
Thanks for reading my notes, and for all of your support! Melanie
Melanie Hannam
4th Grade Teacher
West Middleton Elementary
608-829-9398
mrshannamsclass.blogspot.com
Saturday, September 22, 2012
September 21, 2012 Weekly Update
Hello to all of our 4H Families!
Friday afternoon we all packed up and organized our belongings a little earlier than usual, and our class took the time to gather on the carpet together. Everyone had a chance to tell what parts of the past week were highlights for them. As each student took their turn to share, Linley and I could see the variety of ways our students have found connections to their work, their play, and each other. The highlight for us has been the truly amazing insights our students have been sharing in our discussions about our reading and our writing. Their responses show that they are already reaching deeper in their understanding of stories that they both hear together and read on their own. We are also seeing questions and contributions during math class that show developing reasoning skills, and their growing comfort level with asking questions and sharing their discoveries is helping their classmates learn. It isn't all coming from me - so cool! Amid all the academic learning going on, we are also consistently training for better listening skills, efficient use of time, and being helpful and supportive of each other. A couple of indoor recesses this week demonstrated that our kids are able to enjoy games together with beautiful cooperation. This looked very different from our first days in school when we couldn't even all sit on the carpet together without some 'scrapping' going on!
In our constant planning to make every part of our days together meaningful, we feel like we've made some really gratifying progress. We are seeing our 4th graders continue to develop stamina - this week we easily reached our goal of pin drop silence for independent reading for 20 minutes (celebrating ourselves with chocolate chip cookies!). They are pleading for a 30 minute session! This stamina has begun to transfer to our writing block, where we are starting to conference with individual students as they write. The willingness of most of our students to hoist themselves up into our 'author's chair' to read their writing to the class has been another favorite activity. Again, this is proving to be a valuable chance to learn from each other.
Nuts and bolts information: The first unit math test for 5th grade math students is Monday, and for 4th grade math students it is on Tuesday. 4th grade students should have brought home both math journals as well as a set of review problems to complete. My hope is that these review sheets will be a good check of understanding of the main concepts, and the books might be helpful for any questions. Take time to look the review over with your student this weekend, and on Monday we will check these together in a final practice for the unit test. After I get the tests checked, they will come home for your signature on a cover sheet, and I would like the tests all returned to me. I like to keep all the unit tests together for each student so we can keep track of their mastery and look at all of them at conference time. Thank you for doing this.
Speaking of math, some of our district math specialists have shared a link to an online math practice website with games and activities that look quite helpful for a wide variety of basic skills. It is https://sites.google.com/a/mcpasd.k12.wi.us/math-fun/ .
As we get acquainted with our state of Wisconsin, and prepare for our field trip on October 3rd to the World Dairy Expo, we have been learning about the breeds and the anatomy of the dairy cow! Shifting into Agribusiness next week, and some map study of our state is on the agenda for next week. I still need a few trip permission slips and $1 from students. Parents, if you can come with us (carpools from school can follow our bus to the Alliant Energy Center), we would LOVE to have you come. I have a list started and there is room for whomever can clear their schedule from 10:45 to 2:30 on October 3rd. Just let me know!
Picture Day on Friday went smoothly, and you should find your child's proof envelope in their Take Home Folder. You may send back to school your order, or do your ordering online. The retake day for pictures is October 16th. Envelopes can come back that day, but are not necessary.
Over the last two Fridays, our class was able to take our Fall, 2012 MAPS Assessment for Reading and Math in the computer lab. The results give us a look into the specific skills in these subjects where this particular test determines the skills your child has mastered, skills they are in the process of learning, and skills they need yet to acquire. I can use these results to guide my planning for lessons. These assessments will be done again in winter, and in spring - and we will look for progress made. The kids did a great job staying focused and they hung in there, hopefully doing their best job.
September Scholastic Book Orders were sent in this week, and during the first week of October, you will receive the choices for that month's ordering, if you so choose.
I have so appreciated your feedback as well as your willingness to keep me informed about your child, as I get to know each one better with every passing day. We keep developing our trust level, and that makes all the difference with how well your student learns and enjoys school. I am grateful for the privilege of working with your children.
Melanie Hannam
Friday afternoon we all packed up and organized our belongings a little earlier than usual, and our class took the time to gather on the carpet together. Everyone had a chance to tell what parts of the past week were highlights for them. As each student took their turn to share, Linley and I could see the variety of ways our students have found connections to their work, their play, and each other. The highlight for us has been the truly amazing insights our students have been sharing in our discussions about our reading and our writing. Their responses show that they are already reaching deeper in their understanding of stories that they both hear together and read on their own. We are also seeing questions and contributions during math class that show developing reasoning skills, and their growing comfort level with asking questions and sharing their discoveries is helping their classmates learn. It isn't all coming from me - so cool! Amid all the academic learning going on, we are also consistently training for better listening skills, efficient use of time, and being helpful and supportive of each other. A couple of indoor recesses this week demonstrated that our kids are able to enjoy games together with beautiful cooperation. This looked very different from our first days in school when we couldn't even all sit on the carpet together without some 'scrapping' going on!
In our constant planning to make every part of our days together meaningful, we feel like we've made some really gratifying progress. We are seeing our 4th graders continue to develop stamina - this week we easily reached our goal of pin drop silence for independent reading for 20 minutes (celebrating ourselves with chocolate chip cookies!). They are pleading for a 30 minute session! This stamina has begun to transfer to our writing block, where we are starting to conference with individual students as they write. The willingness of most of our students to hoist themselves up into our 'author's chair' to read their writing to the class has been another favorite activity. Again, this is proving to be a valuable chance to learn from each other.
Nuts and bolts information: The first unit math test for 5th grade math students is Monday, and for 4th grade math students it is on Tuesday. 4th grade students should have brought home both math journals as well as a set of review problems to complete. My hope is that these review sheets will be a good check of understanding of the main concepts, and the books might be helpful for any questions. Take time to look the review over with your student this weekend, and on Monday we will check these together in a final practice for the unit test. After I get the tests checked, they will come home for your signature on a cover sheet, and I would like the tests all returned to me. I like to keep all the unit tests together for each student so we can keep track of their mastery and look at all of them at conference time. Thank you for doing this.
Speaking of math, some of our district math specialists have shared a link to an online math practice website with games and activities that look quite helpful for a wide variety of basic skills. It is https://sites.google.com/a/mcpasd.k12.wi.us/math-fun/ .
As we get acquainted with our state of Wisconsin, and prepare for our field trip on October 3rd to the World Dairy Expo, we have been learning about the breeds and the anatomy of the dairy cow! Shifting into Agribusiness next week, and some map study of our state is on the agenda for next week. I still need a few trip permission slips and $1 from students. Parents, if you can come with us (carpools from school can follow our bus to the Alliant Energy Center), we would LOVE to have you come. I have a list started and there is room for whomever can clear their schedule from 10:45 to 2:30 on October 3rd. Just let me know!
Picture Day on Friday went smoothly, and you should find your child's proof envelope in their Take Home Folder. You may send back to school your order, or do your ordering online. The retake day for pictures is October 16th. Envelopes can come back that day, but are not necessary.
Over the last two Fridays, our class was able to take our Fall, 2012 MAPS Assessment for Reading and Math in the computer lab. The results give us a look into the specific skills in these subjects where this particular test determines the skills your child has mastered, skills they are in the process of learning, and skills they need yet to acquire. I can use these results to guide my planning for lessons. These assessments will be done again in winter, and in spring - and we will look for progress made. The kids did a great job staying focused and they hung in there, hopefully doing their best job.
September Scholastic Book Orders were sent in this week, and during the first week of October, you will receive the choices for that month's ordering, if you so choose.
I have so appreciated your feedback as well as your willingness to keep me informed about your child, as I get to know each one better with every passing day. We keep developing our trust level, and that makes all the difference with how well your student learns and enjoys school. I am grateful for the privilege of working with your children.
Melanie Hannam
Saturday, September 15, 2012
September 14, 2012 Weekly Update
Hello to our 4th grade families!
We filled our first full week of school with our first lessons in math, reading, writing, and social studies. We are getting closer each day to our prescribed schedule, but we are also still making time to continue practicing our routines and expectations. We are working the most on respectful listening to both each other and the teacher. We also fit in a few 'story times' where the students get the chance to share their experiences (and then we turn them into writing ideas! :) ). Our class is very proud of our rather effortless reach toward our goal of 20 minutes of reading 'stamina'. This has turned out to be a favorite part of the day for all of us - pindrop silent time to get lost in our reading books. We all want more - that's a great situation to have in our clasroom!
Math lessons have begun with geometry - segments, lines, rays, angles, polygons... I have been insisting that each student brings home the two math journal/studylinks each night (even if they feel they have completed the assignment), so that they will show you and can explain to you what they learned and practiced that day. Please ask your student to demonstrate to you what they did in math that day, and that will give you both a good idea if they are grasping the new concept. I tell the kids that if they are able to explain and demonstrate the concept to someone else, it helps them learn more deeply, and they prove to themselves that they understand it. There was so much new vocabulary to grasp this week, that on Friday we cut back and spent the class hour reviewing and giving more practice on all of the previous 4 lessons. We continue to review each day as we add new concepts, so if it appears uncertain after the first day, we have more chances to practice and ask questions.
We've tied our reading and writing lessons together as we examine what makes for an effective description of 'setting' in a story. We have also been practicing together how to write a "Thoughtful Log" entry after hearing/reading a story. We have turned our composition notebooks into these Thoughtful Logs, and have begun using them to respond in writing about our connections with the reading piece, as well as share our opinions and answer with some deeper thinking comprehension skills. Our first lessons have generated some valuable discussions with our class already, and I can't wait to see how this will translate into more reflective writing and the growth of comprehension skills.
Has your student come home with some 'udderly' amazing facts about dairy cows? (sorry, couldn't resist) We jumped into Wisconsin Agriculture with a study of the six major breeds of dairy cows and more crazy information about these unique animals than we ever knew existed! Some of the students even asked to have copies made of these facts to take home, and so I will do that for everyone. We received confirmation this week that we are approved for our trip to the 2012 World Dairy Expo at the Alliant Energy grounds on Wednesday, October 3rd. All three 4th grade classes will leave on a bus at 10:50 am that day (we'll have an early 'lunch' at 10:30 in the room that morning), and will meet our tour guides at 11:30. We will leave the grounds by 2 pm so that we are back to school in time for buses home. Any and all parents that are interested in joining us - please know that you are welcome!! We'd love to have you tour around with us - the more the merrier - plus, the smaller our groups of kids among us, the easier it will be. We will see grooming, milking, judging, calves, and more. Last year, it worked well for parent chaperones to meet at school, carpool in a few cars, and follow the buses there. So let me know if I can put you on our parent chaperone list and I will keep everyone informed as we come closer to October 3rd.
Our September Scholastic Book Order forms went home last Monday. This Monday, the 17th, is the last day to send in your money and orders, and I will get them sent out. I want to thank the many parents who have volunteered to help with room celebrations and special events, and a big thank you to Stephanie Reinke for becoming our PTO Representative. Any news from the WM PTO will come to you through her. The new tie dye T-shirt project began on Thursday in art class, and next Thursday will be the big dye day! Thank you to Jean Yosick and Joyce Rolnick for coming in to help us there! Check the Google Calendar on our classroom website for upcoming school events, especially Picture Day on September 21, and the Back To School Night event on September 28.
As always, I invite you to email me any concerns, questions, and information you need to tell me regarding your student - I find them very helpful! Here's to a renewing weekend, and an energy filled week ahead! Melanie
We filled our first full week of school with our first lessons in math, reading, writing, and social studies. We are getting closer each day to our prescribed schedule, but we are also still making time to continue practicing our routines and expectations. We are working the most on respectful listening to both each other and the teacher. We also fit in a few 'story times' where the students get the chance to share their experiences (and then we turn them into writing ideas! :) ). Our class is very proud of our rather effortless reach toward our goal of 20 minutes of reading 'stamina'. This has turned out to be a favorite part of the day for all of us - pindrop silent time to get lost in our reading books. We all want more - that's a great situation to have in our clasroom!
Math lessons have begun with geometry - segments, lines, rays, angles, polygons... I have been insisting that each student brings home the two math journal/studylinks each night (even if they feel they have completed the assignment), so that they will show you and can explain to you what they learned and practiced that day. Please ask your student to demonstrate to you what they did in math that day, and that will give you both a good idea if they are grasping the new concept. I tell the kids that if they are able to explain and demonstrate the concept to someone else, it helps them learn more deeply, and they prove to themselves that they understand it. There was so much new vocabulary to grasp this week, that on Friday we cut back and spent the class hour reviewing and giving more practice on all of the previous 4 lessons. We continue to review each day as we add new concepts, so if it appears uncertain after the first day, we have more chances to practice and ask questions.
We've tied our reading and writing lessons together as we examine what makes for an effective description of 'setting' in a story. We have also been practicing together how to write a "Thoughtful Log" entry after hearing/reading a story. We have turned our composition notebooks into these Thoughtful Logs, and have begun using them to respond in writing about our connections with the reading piece, as well as share our opinions and answer with some deeper thinking comprehension skills. Our first lessons have generated some valuable discussions with our class already, and I can't wait to see how this will translate into more reflective writing and the growth of comprehension skills.
Has your student come home with some 'udderly' amazing facts about dairy cows? (sorry, couldn't resist) We jumped into Wisconsin Agriculture with a study of the six major breeds of dairy cows and more crazy information about these unique animals than we ever knew existed! Some of the students even asked to have copies made of these facts to take home, and so I will do that for everyone. We received confirmation this week that we are approved for our trip to the 2012 World Dairy Expo at the Alliant Energy grounds on Wednesday, October 3rd. All three 4th grade classes will leave on a bus at 10:50 am that day (we'll have an early 'lunch' at 10:30 in the room that morning), and will meet our tour guides at 11:30. We will leave the grounds by 2 pm so that we are back to school in time for buses home. Any and all parents that are interested in joining us - please know that you are welcome!! We'd love to have you tour around with us - the more the merrier - plus, the smaller our groups of kids among us, the easier it will be. We will see grooming, milking, judging, calves, and more. Last year, it worked well for parent chaperones to meet at school, carpool in a few cars, and follow the buses there. So let me know if I can put you on our parent chaperone list and I will keep everyone informed as we come closer to October 3rd.
Our September Scholastic Book Order forms went home last Monday. This Monday, the 17th, is the last day to send in your money and orders, and I will get them sent out. I want to thank the many parents who have volunteered to help with room celebrations and special events, and a big thank you to Stephanie Reinke for becoming our PTO Representative. Any news from the WM PTO will come to you through her. The new tie dye T-shirt project began on Thursday in art class, and next Thursday will be the big dye day! Thank you to Jean Yosick and Joyce Rolnick for coming in to help us there! Check the Google Calendar on our classroom website for upcoming school events, especially Picture Day on September 21, and the Back To School Night event on September 28.
As always, I invite you to email me any concerns, questions, and information you need to tell me regarding your student - I find them very helpful! Here's to a renewing weekend, and an energy filled week ahead! Melanie
Saturday, September 8, 2012
September 7, 2012 Newsletter
Hello to all of our "4H" families after our first week of school!
What a full and busy week this has been! I so enjoyed meeting each of you on Orientation Day, and it was so helpful to be able to have our first conversations about your 4th grader. I feel like I had so much I wanted to share with you, and I appreciated having that chance to fill you in on so many details. These newsletters will give you all a chance to stay caught up on events and activities week by week. I will be emailing my notes to our classroom group - if you would prefer additional email destinations, or want to change where my notes go, feel free to email me your preferences, and I can adjust the list. I will also be copying my newsletters to our classroom blog each week.
With each of the past three days in our classroom, our group has become more and more of a community. We've had such a solid beginning to getting acquainted with each other. We have two students in our room who are new to West Middleton this year, and I am very pleased and proud to see how welcoming and helpful and friendly our classmates have been. It is a priority in our room to treat each other with respect and helpfulness, and I saw many examples of that each day already. Miss Carlson, our student teacher, and I have really enjoyed seeing how each of our students has opened up more each day, sharing their personalities and ideas and stories.
We have spent much of each day introducing our class to many of the expectations and routines we will be following throughout the year. We are already getting very efficient about transitioning quickly and quietly between our desks and carpet meeting area, and achieving "pencil" straight and quiet lines in the hallways and after recesses (a beautiful sight to behold!). We've been practicing quick responses to our classroom signal for attention (ask your student about "uno, dos, tres..."). Time spent perfecting these skills pays off all year in very few wasted minutes. With every year, I feel more and more the pressure to make every minute we are together more productive, because there is so very much to learn!
We also got an amazing start toward developing "stamina". We are all challenging ourselves to extend the number of minutes each day that we can ALL remain focused, without a single interruption, on our reading and writing. The kids are all motivated to see how long we can go, and we are loving the chances to read and get lost in our books in a pin-drop silent room (we could actually hear the pin drop - even with the ventilation system blowing!). I am very much enjoying the groans when the timer goes off after each reading session. I have found that the wonderful benefit of practicing the discipline it takes for this silent reading time transfers to our quiet work times in other subjects!
Thank you to all who indicated that you would be available at certain points to help us out with special events like field trips, classroom celebrations, and some classwork. Some of you expressed to me that you might be willing to be a PTO classroom representative and/or a room parent. If we have more than one doing this, you can work as a team, making it super easy. Would you please email me if you are willing to help out here, and then I will put you in touch with each other? Thanks so much! I can share my family email list with you so it will be easy to send out PTO news notes, or any other notes for our classroom families.
Please take note: After the first two days, we saw it became necessary to rearrange our Daily Schedule in several ways! Most notably, our lunch time is now 11:10 to 11:40. That change resulted in changes to our reading and writing blocks. I sent home a revised Daily Schedule grid, so hopefully you found it in your 4th grader's Take Home Folder. I have also made the changes to the Schedule Page on our classroom blog.
On Monday, we begin our first math lesson in our new journals. We will also take the next steps with our Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop, and begin getting acquainted with our beautiful state of Wisconsin. I will begin daily posts to our blog's Homework Page. Please always feel free to email me any of your questions or concerns, and any notes about your child that I should know - it's so helpful! If you call my classroom number, I will always return your call as soon as I possibly can.
I am so excited to have your children in my room this year, and I look forward to sharing all the challenges and triumphs of Fourth Grade with them and with you. Melanie
What a full and busy week this has been! I so enjoyed meeting each of you on Orientation Day, and it was so helpful to be able to have our first conversations about your 4th grader. I feel like I had so much I wanted to share with you, and I appreciated having that chance to fill you in on so many details. These newsletters will give you all a chance to stay caught up on events and activities week by week. I will be emailing my notes to our classroom group - if you would prefer additional email destinations, or want to change where my notes go, feel free to email me your preferences, and I can adjust the list. I will also be copying my newsletters to our classroom blog each week.
With each of the past three days in our classroom, our group has become more and more of a community. We've had such a solid beginning to getting acquainted with each other. We have two students in our room who are new to West Middleton this year, and I am very pleased and proud to see how welcoming and helpful and friendly our classmates have been. It is a priority in our room to treat each other with respect and helpfulness, and I saw many examples of that each day already. Miss Carlson, our student teacher, and I have really enjoyed seeing how each of our students has opened up more each day, sharing their personalities and ideas and stories.
We have spent much of each day introducing our class to many of the expectations and routines we will be following throughout the year. We are already getting very efficient about transitioning quickly and quietly between our desks and carpet meeting area, and achieving "pencil" straight and quiet lines in the hallways and after recesses (a beautiful sight to behold!). We've been practicing quick responses to our classroom signal for attention (ask your student about "uno, dos, tres..."). Time spent perfecting these skills pays off all year in very few wasted minutes. With every year, I feel more and more the pressure to make every minute we are together more productive, because there is so very much to learn!
We also got an amazing start toward developing "stamina". We are all challenging ourselves to extend the number of minutes each day that we can ALL remain focused, without a single interruption, on our reading and writing. The kids are all motivated to see how long we can go, and we are loving the chances to read and get lost in our books in a pin-drop silent room (we could actually hear the pin drop - even with the ventilation system blowing!). I am very much enjoying the groans when the timer goes off after each reading session. I have found that the wonderful benefit of practicing the discipline it takes for this silent reading time transfers to our quiet work times in other subjects!
Thank you to all who indicated that you would be available at certain points to help us out with special events like field trips, classroom celebrations, and some classwork. Some of you expressed to me that you might be willing to be a PTO classroom representative and/or a room parent. If we have more than one doing this, you can work as a team, making it super easy. Would you please email me if you are willing to help out here, and then I will put you in touch with each other? Thanks so much! I can share my family email list with you so it will be easy to send out PTO news notes, or any other notes for our classroom families.
Please take note: After the first two days, we saw it became necessary to rearrange our Daily Schedule in several ways! Most notably, our lunch time is now 11:10 to 11:40. That change resulted in changes to our reading and writing blocks. I sent home a revised Daily Schedule grid, so hopefully you found it in your 4th grader's Take Home Folder. I have also made the changes to the Schedule Page on our classroom blog.
On Monday, we begin our first math lesson in our new journals. We will also take the next steps with our Reader's Workshop and Writer's Workshop, and begin getting acquainted with our beautiful state of Wisconsin. I will begin daily posts to our blog's Homework Page. Please always feel free to email me any of your questions or concerns, and any notes about your child that I should know - it's so helpful! If you call my classroom number, I will always return your call as soon as I possibly can.
I am so excited to have your children in my room this year, and I look forward to sharing all the challenges and triumphs of Fourth Grade with them and with you. Melanie
Friday, August 31, 2012
Welcome to 4th grade: 2012-2013
Hello to all of my new fourth graders this year! I can't wait to meet each of you, and I look forward to seeing you and your family on Tuesday, September 4th. You have a choice to come at 8:00 am, 9:30 am, or 11:00 am to Room 117. Bring your supplies that day if you'd like, and pick a desk! We will figure out all the rest when we are together. Can't wait! Mrs. Hannam
Friday, June 1, 2012
June 1, 2012 Weekly Update
Dear Families,
We have reached the last week of school, and I can't believe it. We held our last all-school assembly this morning, using that chance to gather our West Middleton family together to honor Mr. Rykal as he begins his retirement with the end of the school year. Yearbooks will be given out during the coming week, and we will all write each other one last fourth grade note. You will see various folders and projects coming home throughout the week, so that by Friday June 8th, all gear, supplies, and papers should have found their way home. Report cards will come home Friday as well. Thankfully, the best thing of all won't end with that last class period on June 8th, and that will be all the hundreds of precious memories we have created together in our Room 117 Community. The friendships, the shared triumphs, the hard work, the laughs, the projects, the new knowledge and that joy of discovery... we will always have those. I know I will always remember this special group with great fondness, and what a most wonderful year it has been. Thank you for trusting me with your children - it has been my pleasure! Oh, I will surely miss them this summer!
We have been presenting our State Reports/Posters all week, and how we have all learned from each other. The students uncovered and displayed so many interesting facts about their states! I sat and learned right along with everyone else. To 'sweeten' the whole endeavor, several of our students brought along delicious 'props' to enhance their presentations - and wow! - we got spoiled this week! Thank you to the Lindbloms for Cecilie's New York Cheesecake (with three kinds of fresh berries), to the Lynch's for Buddy's Arizona Chocolate Chip Cookies, to the Deptula's for Cole's North Carolina Krispie Kreme Doughnuts (these were invented there, you know!), to Katie Joslyn for showering us with our own Mardi Gras beads from New Orleans, Louisiana, and finally, to the Hipwell's for Noah's Smith Island (Maryland) Seven Layer Cake! Oh, my! Our study of the United States has become quite fattening! We have more reports to share yet in the coming week.
We have just about completed the last unit of our Everyday Math curriculum, which has been all about rates and averages, and conversions between units of measure. We will spend several class periods during our last week reviewing the main concepts from the year, which we all hope no one EVER forgets! That review will take the form of a friendly multi-day contest, which makes it more fun. Also, remember that the yellow math folders coming home will contain every unit test from the year, and these provide a nice overview of the skills we covered, which would be good practice for warmups before starting 5th grade. I will also send home each student's set of two math journals, which give more examples for practice.
When you see your student's Language Binder come home next week with all their writing projects collected, take a look at the front pages. During the first week of school, they each filled out a couple of "time capsule" lists of their current preferences and opinions. They will get a chance to fill these out again in their last week, and have fun comparing where they have changed - or not! They haven't seen the September questionnaires since they filled them out. It will be interesting. Both sets of pages will be put into the front of their Binders.
We picked the chilliest day of this past week to go touring outside at Little Norway and the Cave of the Mounds, but we didn't get rained on, and we kept moving, so that helped. It was a great day. Little Norway is so beautifully landscaped, with buildings and artifacts so carefully preserved, and the guides explained the history of this settlement so clearly. The presentations of the guides at the Cave were also very thorough, and our students proudly proved themselves as they knew how to answer most every question about rocks and minerals. The hike through the amazing cave was the highlight of the day. This would surely be worth a family trip this summer. The guides were so full of information and there was just so much to take in, as I'm sure you heard, we ended up coming back a few minutes late to school, and EVERYONE had to wait for us! Yikes! (We tried a story about how a giant stalactite broke loose in front of the cave entrance, trapping us all inside, but that didn't fly, for some reason...) :) I want to send a very big THANK YOU to the parents who took the whole day to join us and help keep track of everyone: John Pertzborn-Jensen, Laura Lynch, Josephine, Renee Dahlk, Beth Graf, Tiffany Jones, and Tammy Bursac.
I hope I may have a chance to see some of you before we begin our summer vacations, and we can always email. I check email throughout the summer, so if anyone - parents and kids - want to write any notes, I will find them promptly and answer back. This will probably be my last weekly update, but if any other information needs to be shared, I will be in touch again. It's hard to say goodbye, but I expect to get many visitors from 5th grade next year - hint, hint! Best wishes for a wonderful summertime for all! Melanie
We have reached the last week of school, and I can't believe it. We held our last all-school assembly this morning, using that chance to gather our West Middleton family together to honor Mr. Rykal as he begins his retirement with the end of the school year. Yearbooks will be given out during the coming week, and we will all write each other one last fourth grade note. You will see various folders and projects coming home throughout the week, so that by Friday June 8th, all gear, supplies, and papers should have found their way home. Report cards will come home Friday as well. Thankfully, the best thing of all won't end with that last class period on June 8th, and that will be all the hundreds of precious memories we have created together in our Room 117 Community. The friendships, the shared triumphs, the hard work, the laughs, the projects, the new knowledge and that joy of discovery... we will always have those. I know I will always remember this special group with great fondness, and what a most wonderful year it has been. Thank you for trusting me with your children - it has been my pleasure! Oh, I will surely miss them this summer!
We have been presenting our State Reports/Posters all week, and how we have all learned from each other. The students uncovered and displayed so many interesting facts about their states! I sat and learned right along with everyone else. To 'sweeten' the whole endeavor, several of our students brought along delicious 'props' to enhance their presentations - and wow! - we got spoiled this week! Thank you to the Lindbloms for Cecilie's New York Cheesecake (with three kinds of fresh berries), to the Lynch's for Buddy's Arizona Chocolate Chip Cookies, to the Deptula's for Cole's North Carolina Krispie Kreme Doughnuts (these were invented there, you know!), to Katie Joslyn for showering us with our own Mardi Gras beads from New Orleans, Louisiana, and finally, to the Hipwell's for Noah's Smith Island (Maryland) Seven Layer Cake! Oh, my! Our study of the United States has become quite fattening! We have more reports to share yet in the coming week.
We have just about completed the last unit of our Everyday Math curriculum, which has been all about rates and averages, and conversions between units of measure. We will spend several class periods during our last week reviewing the main concepts from the year, which we all hope no one EVER forgets! That review will take the form of a friendly multi-day contest, which makes it more fun. Also, remember that the yellow math folders coming home will contain every unit test from the year, and these provide a nice overview of the skills we covered, which would be good practice for warmups before starting 5th grade. I will also send home each student's set of two math journals, which give more examples for practice.
When you see your student's Language Binder come home next week with all their writing projects collected, take a look at the front pages. During the first week of school, they each filled out a couple of "time capsule" lists of their current preferences and opinions. They will get a chance to fill these out again in their last week, and have fun comparing where they have changed - or not! They haven't seen the September questionnaires since they filled them out. It will be interesting. Both sets of pages will be put into the front of their Binders.
We picked the chilliest day of this past week to go touring outside at Little Norway and the Cave of the Mounds, but we didn't get rained on, and we kept moving, so that helped. It was a great day. Little Norway is so beautifully landscaped, with buildings and artifacts so carefully preserved, and the guides explained the history of this settlement so clearly. The presentations of the guides at the Cave were also very thorough, and our students proudly proved themselves as they knew how to answer most every question about rocks and minerals. The hike through the amazing cave was the highlight of the day. This would surely be worth a family trip this summer. The guides were so full of information and there was just so much to take in, as I'm sure you heard, we ended up coming back a few minutes late to school, and EVERYONE had to wait for us! Yikes! (We tried a story about how a giant stalactite broke loose in front of the cave entrance, trapping us all inside, but that didn't fly, for some reason...) :) I want to send a very big THANK YOU to the parents who took the whole day to join us and help keep track of everyone: John Pertzborn-Jensen, Laura Lynch, Josephine, Renee Dahlk, Beth Graf, Tiffany Jones, and Tammy Bursac.
I hope I may have a chance to see some of you before we begin our summer vacations, and we can always email. I check email throughout the summer, so if anyone - parents and kids - want to write any notes, I will find them promptly and answer back. This will probably be my last weekly update, but if any other information needs to be shared, I will be in touch again. It's hard to say goodbye, but I expect to get many visitors from 5th grade next year - hint, hint! Best wishes for a wonderful summertime for all! Melanie
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