September 19, 2014 Weekly Update

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

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

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

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

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

September 12, 2014 Weekly Update

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

September 5, 2014 Weekly Update

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

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

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

Some business notes: 

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

August 27, 2014 Weekly Update

WELCOME TO FOURTH GRADE!!!

Hello to all of our new "4H" families (Grade 4/Hannam)!  I am very much looking forward to meeting all of our new 4th graders and you, their families!  If we can't meet on the evening of August 27th, please do stop in after school one day very soon.  Remember, students can bring in their school supplies that they've collected so far, and choose a seat in our classroom during Back To School Open House Night anytime from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. 

This blog site will be one very good way to stay connected!  Each day I will be updating the homework list on the Homework Page, there is a page to view our Daily Schedule, and there is also a Google Calendar I will update with upcoming events.  The Home Page will provide you with my weekly newsletter, where you will be kept up to date on all our hard work - and fun together! 

On the Home Page of our classroom blog, you will find a space to type in your email address, and then hit "Submit".  Then whenever I post my newsletter, you will receive that notice in your inbox!  I will also send out emails for quick news notes or announcements, so I will want to collect any and all email addresses to which you would like such notices sent.  You in turn may always feel free to contact me by email or phone at any time.  You will receive a bright colored card with all of my contact info on August 27th (or Sept. 2nd).  The blog address will always be listed under my name when I send you emails, too.  (mrshannamsclass.blogspot.com)

There is so much to tell you!  We will take it one step at a time!  In the meantime, I will have a questionnaire to give you so I may learn more about your child, and other useful pages for you to keep at home for reference.  I hope we can all meet on the evening August 27th, or as soon as possible thereafter! 

Fourth Grade will be a year of much growth for your child, as well as a year filled with precious memories!  Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

May 30, 2014 Weekly Update

Hello, dear 4H Families! We started our week on Tuesday with our big trip to the Cave of the Mounds, and it was a beautiful day! We want to thank our parent chaperones for their fun company and their help in making everything go so smoothly: Mary Ozers, Tom Albert, Melissa Corrigan, Lisa Bote, Lorrie Carr, and Cindy Malcheski. We also owe a big thank you to our PTO for their generosity with all of our expenses that day. We have one more trip planned -- next week on Thursday, June 5th, our three 4th grade classes will be at Pope Farm Park from 11:45 to 2:15 to join local naturalists and geologists for six different activities around the Park. We would love to have as many parents meet us there as are able to make it, and join in on the fun and beauty of this gorgeous Park. Let me know if you can come! We can meet you with our bus at the upper level parking lot by 11:45. Our kids will be able to eat lunch as usual in the WM lunchroom before we go, so no special arrangements needed. Our students should, however, come prepared with a water bottle, sunscreen, and maybe a cap or sun visor. I hope you can join us!

Everyone in class has been very involved in creating their own Google Presentation about a special feature in the Western Region of our United States these last days of school. This week we all decided on a personal 'due date' - it will be one of the days next week, when each student will have the opportunity to present their topic to the class. Would you ask your student about their progress and give them the support they might need to meet their deadline? Since they are working in Google Documents, they can access their work at home as well. Thanks a lot! Be sure to take a look at what your child is creating! I am so impressed with their rapidly growing ability to find information and feature it all with such creative 'pages'.

This coming week, our 4th grade math students will be taking their final unit math test!! We are completing the last assignment pages this week, and we have already begun to congratulate ourselves on getting through the entire curriculum! Woohoo! A Unit Review will be started today, and I am projecting the Unit 12 test for Tuesday next week. By the end the school year, please look for both Journal 1 and 2, the Studylink booklet, and the yellow folder with all of their Unit Tests and Reviews to come home. I made a speech this week, in fact, about how all of these items should be saved, and NOT tossed into recycling baskets!!! These materials are excellent sources for refresher mini-lessons over the summer to keep from getting rusty before they start up again in 5th grade. This goes for our 5th grade math students who will begin 6th grade math next year as well! They have all learned SO much and come SO far this year - it is a great feeling of accomplishment!

We are still meeting daily with our Book Clubs and reading as many books as we can still get in before the last days of school. We may not be able to check out books from the school library any longer, but we have lots of amazing books right in our own classroom library to keep us happy and reading. Thank you for helping your student to find and return any last books that belong back at school, for either the LMC or our classroom library. I really appreciate your support in so many ways for all of your child's reading minutes throughout this year. I hope they can make visits to the public library a regular part of their summer routine, and keep those good habits going! It has been SO much fun sharing awesome books and stories with each other this year!

Stay tuned next week for details about the final week of school. I will let you know about special events and activities as the final details get organized. One thing I would like to ask you all about -- would anyone have a connection or know of a way we could get a strong, young tree (such as a maple, perhaps) donated or at a reduced cost? One thing we would like to do is to plant a tree as a lasting gift to West Middleton from our departing 2014 Fourth Grade Classes. We want to have a small dedication ceremony on the afternoon of June 11 as part of the planned special afternoon for our last class of 4th graders to attend our school. We have the approval and the location for this tree already chosen, and the lead I had been pursuing did not work out. Thank you for any tips or help!

I will be back in touch soon! Sincerely, Melanie Hannam

May 16, 2014 Weekly Update

Greetings to our 4H Families!  The list of reminders and events just keeps growing as we approach the last few weeks of school!  Here's an update:

Please look through your 4th grader's Take Home Folder together.  You will find pages that should be weeded out, as well as new sheets that require your attention. 

One new item is the May 27th Cave of the Mounds Field Trip permission slip.  Thank you for signing the bottom half and sending it back as soon as you can.  All the info you need about that day should be on the attached letter and top portion of the slip, which you can keep.  Students will have to let me know on Monday if they want to order a school sack lunch or not.  Let me know if you have any more questions.  We have a great crew of parent volunteers.  Now all we need is perfect weather!  :)

You will also find a sheet requesting that your student bring in a baby (or toddler, perhaps up to 3 years old) photo - by EARLY in this next week.  This is a fun tradition reserved for classes who are leaving the 'era' of West Middleton Elementary behind and are movin' on!  Some parents are creating a bulletin board in the front entryway with these past photos and current pictures - and it is SO fun to look this display over.  You'll have to see this before the end of the school year comes.  You will get all photos back - remember to put names on the back!

Our school librarian has sent out info about due dates for books.  She is also giving students notices of overdue books - please check with your child about this!  Also, the last day for book checkout in the school library is our field trip day, May 27th.  All library books are due back by June 4th.  My classroom library will be open for book checkout through the last day of school.  In fact, if we have anyone who is still reading any of our Room 117 books at the end, these books can be dropped off in the school office through the end of June.  Just put my name on it and Sue can put it in my mailbox.  Again, please check if you have any classroom books still hiding somewhere in your house.  Thank you!   Mrs. Dagitz, our simply amazing school librarian is transferring to Elm Lawn next year, and I am so disappointed to lose her.  She has been such a supportive and helpful colleague, and just an excellent teacher for our kids.

We have each begun to create google presentations on a special feature, location, or person connected with the Western Region of our United States in Social Studies class.  Thank you for your support at home if your 4th grader would like to work on this project outside of school hours.  I am requiring that at least one source of information for their reports comes from a "non- computer" source - like a reference book!!  All slides in their presentations must be written in their own words.  Our students have really taken off with their enthusiasm for creating these google presentations, on all variety of amazing and delicious subjects!  This is excellent preparation for their research efforts in future years of school.

Future events:  We are scheduled for a two hour exploration of Pope Farm Park on the afternoon of June 5th, with the naturalists again, though with an entirely new focus than we experienced on our fall trip there.  We will be there from 12:30 to 2:30 that day, and more info will come with a permission slip soon.  If you would like to join us for a pleasant hike, reserve this time period on your calendar!  Also coming later will be info about special days the last week of school including the West Middleton Hot Dog Picnic on June 10th, to which families are invited, and also a 'field' afternoon for our 4th graders on June 11th, being arranged by a group of 4th grade parents. 

When I get more news and details about any activity coming up, I will keep you posted.  My calendar for the coming week includes a Public Library presentation for our students this Monday in school, the Spring Orchestra Concert on Tuesday at 7pm at the PAC, and on Wednesday afternoon we have a parent special guest coming to present his experiences working at Yellowstone National Park - Mr. Corrigan!  We can't wait for that!   Another highly anticipated day is likely to occur on Friday of this week - we have earned our 4th Reward Day in our classroom for compliments and good behavior.  You will hear more about that day once we have our class meeting to work out the details.  Till next note - !  Melanie Hannam 

May 9, 2014 Weekly Update

Happy Mother's Day greetings to you all! 

We have a busy week ahead of us in 4th grade.  Here are some reminders:  On Monday, our final Scholastic Book Order is due - you may take all day Monday yet to enter any orders online, and then I will submit our order on Tuesday.  Because of your enthusiasm and dedication in buying good books for your children, our classroom library has grown by leaps and bounds this school year, due to the bonus points your orders have earned.  This is a win-win endeavor for us all!  Thank you so much.  It has been one of my most fun challenges this year to stay ahead of our many voracious readers in Room 117.  Our students have helped each other get fired up about all the great stories there are to read, and almost every day in our classroom, I have felt like I am a member of the best Book Club ever.

One more thing about BOOKS -!  Would you please do a search with your 4th grader throughout your own bookshelves and other good book places around your home, and see if you find any of our classroom books?  I do not have our room number or my name on many of them, but your 4th grader will remember if it is a book from school.  I appreciate your efforts - thank you! 

Wednesday, May 14th, we will be spending our day on the track and field at Middleton High School.  Feel free to stop by and try to catch your athlete during his/her events.  Remember to send along a completely disposable lunch.  Right now the weather forecast for that day looks dry but not all that warm - I saw a report of around 60 degrees - so students should come prepared by dressing in layers.  It will be very helpful if you could make sure names on marked on sweatshirts and jackets, etc. in case items get peeled and left on bleacher seats.

Thursday, May 15th, I will be out for the day.  Our youngest daughter, Abbie, is graduating with her Masters degree in school counseling from the U of M in the Twin Cities!  Her ceremony is on Thursday.  I am very happy to report that a favorite teacher from a few years ago (remember those Science Enrichment classes?) is coming to sub for me - Mrs. Montgomery! 

Friday, May 16th, is the last day our PTO will be collecting BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION, as well as food donations in the front entryway of our school.  Thank you for your generosity.  I am pretty sure we will be putting ourselves over the goal of 12,000 items, which means Mr. Macklem will be sporting pink hair one day in the near future!!

Looking farther ahead, keep Tuesday, May 27th, in mind - it is our Cave of the Mounds field trip.  Permissions slips for that day will be coming home this next week.  Also, Tuesday, June 10, is the annual School Hot Dog Picnic Lunch outside, to which family members are invited.  An info sheet came home this past week in Take Home Folders.  To purchase a lunch, the cost is $3.75.  Some plans are also cooking up among some 4th grade parent volunteers to hold a special day of activities during the last week of school for our entire 4th grade, and you will hear more news of that coming soon.

I had a very fun week last week during Staff Appreciation Days, and I thank everyone who showered me, and our classroom, with needed supplies, along with flowers and treats and lovely notes and cards.  Wow!  It warmed my heart - thank you so very much.  Being with your children this past year has been a very richly satisfying gift for me.  Most sincerely, Melanie Hannam