Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Saturday, November 19, 2011
November 18, 2011 Weekly Update
Hello, everyone. In many ways, the past week was a very satisfying one. It seemed like the kids felt the same way I did - that it just felt good to get back into our routine after our testing from the week before. We settled right in and got busy on completing the Unit 3 material in math, we dug in with our science and reviewed the final concepts of our electricity unit, we wrote two stories (turkey, anyone?), and finally found time to begin exploring our brand new social studies textbook. We also decided to tighten up our general classroom behavior - we are back to a quick and quiet response for attention, and our lines are looking good! Oh, and twice this week we won the "Golden Shoe" award! Ha - ask your student about that one! Speaking of awards, we are all still hot on the trail in our search for BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION! After taking second place the first week with 300, we fell down in the rankings the second week with only 60, but this week we rallied to collect 292 box tops! We don't know where that puts us now, but other classes are right up there with us, so don't be surprised to find your child rummaging in your pantry at odd hours of the night! :) We hope family gatherings at Thanksgiving will yield more help from the relatives! Thanks for helping us out until December 2nd.
We took the Unit 3 math test on Friday. On Monday we will review those tests with our groups, and you can look for the tests to come home for your signature. I keep these tests for reference, so please return them right away - thank you! On Tuesday, we will all take the pretest for Unit 4, and by the next week, new groups will be formed with possibly a switch in teachers as well.
I must say how pleased I am at the initiative and motivation of a number of our students. When we explored our new social studies textbook about Wisconsin, we discovered some pictures and brief information from 1904 when our Capitol building burned down. I challenged the students to dig deeper if they chose to do so, and, on their own, find out more details and information to educate the rest of us. Within the week, several students brought in posters and pictures and typed up information on this topic. We have mounted these on the wall along with our extra information on ginseng, turtle eggs, dairy cows, sea life, geometric shapes, Norwegian culture... it is endless how much extra information we can fit into our curriculum when our students are fired up about a topic and take it down a new path that interests them. I plan to grow this aspect of our 4th grade education as the year moves along.
In preparation for the West Middleton Spelling Bee on December 9 at 8:40 in the multipurpose room, we began some classroom rounds this week to determine the four representatives from our room. We have conducted 6 rounds so far, and will have time for a few more before our deadline on November 30. The words are so random, with easy ones mixed in with tougher ones, so doing many rounds makes it as fair as possible to give everyone several chances to rise to the top. The kids all seem quite excited to do this, and plead for time for more rounds, so this endeavor has become quite motivating. I want to ride this 'spelling wave' and begin giving our class some weekly spelling tests. I have a growing collection of words I have found as we edit our writing projects that will be perfect for their weekly lists. These are words not chosen by a textbook publisher, but are words used by our fourth graders - words they want and like and need to use, but stumble on the spelling! Creative ways to practice these words will in turn be excellent opportunities to give our students more writing experiences as well! I can't wait! :)
I sent in the November Scholastic Book Order last Monday. I plan to give out the new December offerings this coming Monday, in order to give ourselves enough time to receive our new books before the Christmas Break. Therefore, I would like to make a deadline of November 29 for you to hand in all December orders. This time, you will see three sets of choices -- Arrow, Tab, and also a special Christmas edition with even more books! Good luck deciding!
It was such a pleasure to meet everyone's families at conference time! I thoroughly enjoyed our visits. Our first trimester ends on November 30, and you can expect to see your student's report card within the following week. Do check the classroom website for other updated calendar events coming up, and make use of the homework page, which I add to every day after school. Remember that the coming week is brief - we have full days of school on Monday and Tuesday, and then Wednesday's CRT day means buses will be taking kids home at 11:00 am that day. May your family enjoy a wonderful holiday weekend. Sincerely, Melanie
We took the Unit 3 math test on Friday. On Monday we will review those tests with our groups, and you can look for the tests to come home for your signature. I keep these tests for reference, so please return them right away - thank you! On Tuesday, we will all take the pretest for Unit 4, and by the next week, new groups will be formed with possibly a switch in teachers as well.
I must say how pleased I am at the initiative and motivation of a number of our students. When we explored our new social studies textbook about Wisconsin, we discovered some pictures and brief information from 1904 when our Capitol building burned down. I challenged the students to dig deeper if they chose to do so, and, on their own, find out more details and information to educate the rest of us. Within the week, several students brought in posters and pictures and typed up information on this topic. We have mounted these on the wall along with our extra information on ginseng, turtle eggs, dairy cows, sea life, geometric shapes, Norwegian culture... it is endless how much extra information we can fit into our curriculum when our students are fired up about a topic and take it down a new path that interests them. I plan to grow this aspect of our 4th grade education as the year moves along.
In preparation for the West Middleton Spelling Bee on December 9 at 8:40 in the multipurpose room, we began some classroom rounds this week to determine the four representatives from our room. We have conducted 6 rounds so far, and will have time for a few more before our deadline on November 30. The words are so random, with easy ones mixed in with tougher ones, so doing many rounds makes it as fair as possible to give everyone several chances to rise to the top. The kids all seem quite excited to do this, and plead for time for more rounds, so this endeavor has become quite motivating. I want to ride this 'spelling wave' and begin giving our class some weekly spelling tests. I have a growing collection of words I have found as we edit our writing projects that will be perfect for their weekly lists. These are words not chosen by a textbook publisher, but are words used by our fourth graders - words they want and like and need to use, but stumble on the spelling! Creative ways to practice these words will in turn be excellent opportunities to give our students more writing experiences as well! I can't wait! :)
I sent in the November Scholastic Book Order last Monday. I plan to give out the new December offerings this coming Monday, in order to give ourselves enough time to receive our new books before the Christmas Break. Therefore, I would like to make a deadline of November 29 for you to hand in all December orders. This time, you will see three sets of choices -- Arrow, Tab, and also a special Christmas edition with even more books! Good luck deciding!
It was such a pleasure to meet everyone's families at conference time! I thoroughly enjoyed our visits. Our first trimester ends on November 30, and you can expect to see your student's report card within the following week. Do check the classroom website for other updated calendar events coming up, and make use of the homework page, which I add to every day after school. Remember that the coming week is brief - we have full days of school on Monday and Tuesday, and then Wednesday's CRT day means buses will be taking kids home at 11:00 am that day. May your family enjoy a wonderful holiday weekend. Sincerely, Melanie
Saturday, November 5, 2011
November 4, 2011 Weekly Update
Happy November to all~~
Our week began with the last day of October and a wonderful classroom party at the end of that day. I felt we were not only celebrating the holiday, but also our special classroom 'family' that we have established over the last two months. Many grateful thanks to Sharon Pertzborn-Jensen for planning and preparing our games and activities and many of the goodies. We got new pencils, played Trivia, and did a Trick or Treat Word Find. Sharon wrote our class a personalized 'haunted' story where every one of us in class were the characters! We sat in a big circle and passed around the small pumpkins she gave us to the 'left' or to the 'right' every time we heard those words in the story - which was MANY times! Our confusion got quite hilarious! Michele Joslyn was also there to help lead our games and make sure we all got enough treats on our plates! Jane MacLean brought in some extra snacks, and we were well supplied with festive tableware thanks to Tammy Bursac. Thank you to all for contributing to a really nice time together. By the way, copies of "our" haunted story will be added to our Writing Binders as a keepsake.
NEWS FLASH: Another social event will occur on Wednesday, December 7th -- the annual West Middleton Circle of Love Winter Tea. It will be held in our school's multi-purpose room, and the time slot that our class is attending needed to be changed this past week. Put it on your calendars: All families are invited to join us to share punch, cookies, and conversation that day from 12:35 to 1:00 PM. The lunchroom gets transformed into a Winter Wonderland with beautiful decorations by our PTO, live music from Middleton High School Orchestra students, and a seemingly endless supply of cookies and bars to sample.
Another event that our students are quite excited about is the 4 week-long contest to see which class can collect the most BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION. We are proud to announce we collected 300 BOX TOPS by Friday, November 4th! Our students are searching and hunting down all they can find from every friend and relative near and far - so any help from you is much appreciated! Could it be that their enthusiasm is spurred on by the fact that the winning class gets to throw a cream pie at the faces of their friendly principal and 'beloved' teacher???!
Meanwhile, back at the classroom... This week our class was also treated to an enlightening presentation by one our own students, Cecilie. She brought in and explained many items that were meaningful to her Norwegian heritage, and educated us all about this country and beautiful culture. To top it all off, we were generously treated to creamy ice cream and luscious fresh raspberries - thank you so much to Cecilie and her parents! Another eye-opening contribution this week came from Seth's mother, Laurie Luetscher, which caused quite a stir with the whole class! See for yourselves by going to www.worldometers.info/ . On Monday, October 31, it was estimated that our planet's population reached the 7 billion mark! The website shows the live ongoing count, along with the ongoing counts of many other statistics, and it is all quite mind-boggling. We took a look more than once during the week in class, and the kids were mesmerized. Thank you, Laurie, for clueing us in!
Our science experiments this week gave the students plenty of chances to discover what components make a successful and complete electrical circuit and what does not! Listening to all the inquiring, surprised, puzzled, and triumphant comments coming from every investigative team was such a treat for me as a teacher. After we came together to share and compare what was learned, and time came to summarize new information and vocabulary, it was evident the new concepts had found their way into our 4th grade 'scientists' brains. Very cool! I did catch more of this on video, and will share it with you.
The coming week, as you know from my email this past week, will be a different week with a revised classroom schedule for WKCE testing. We went over some practice items this past week, and I believe the students are ready to just try their best on each item, be thorough in their thinking, and know they do not have to be nervous about these assessments. I have told them this gives our state a chance to compare all the 4th graders in Wisconsin and see what they have learned so far. A good night's sleep and good breakfast will help concentration, and we will give ourselves some relaxing breaks between sessions. We've already got a big bag of string cheese in my little refrigerator, as well as cracker boxes and bags of bubble gum ready. Thank you! I also look forward to talking with you at conferences this next week as well (do let me know if you need confirmation of your conference time). Your child will have a chance to share with you some samples of their work so far this year, and we can all talk over together good goals for the coming months. See you next week! Melanie
Our week began with the last day of October and a wonderful classroom party at the end of that day. I felt we were not only celebrating the holiday, but also our special classroom 'family' that we have established over the last two months. Many grateful thanks to Sharon Pertzborn-Jensen for planning and preparing our games and activities and many of the goodies. We got new pencils, played Trivia, and did a Trick or Treat Word Find. Sharon wrote our class a personalized 'haunted' story where every one of us in class were the characters! We sat in a big circle and passed around the small pumpkins she gave us to the 'left' or to the 'right' every time we heard those words in the story - which was MANY times! Our confusion got quite hilarious! Michele Joslyn was also there to help lead our games and make sure we all got enough treats on our plates! Jane MacLean brought in some extra snacks, and we were well supplied with festive tableware thanks to Tammy Bursac. Thank you to all for contributing to a really nice time together. By the way, copies of "our" haunted story will be added to our Writing Binders as a keepsake.
NEWS FLASH: Another social event will occur on Wednesday, December 7th -- the annual West Middleton Circle of Love Winter Tea. It will be held in our school's multi-purpose room, and the time slot that our class is attending needed to be changed this past week. Put it on your calendars: All families are invited to join us to share punch, cookies, and conversation that day from 12:35 to 1:00 PM. The lunchroom gets transformed into a Winter Wonderland with beautiful decorations by our PTO, live music from Middleton High School Orchestra students, and a seemingly endless supply of cookies and bars to sample.
Another event that our students are quite excited about is the 4 week-long contest to see which class can collect the most BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION. We are proud to announce we collected 300 BOX TOPS by Friday, November 4th! Our students are searching and hunting down all they can find from every friend and relative near and far - so any help from you is much appreciated! Could it be that their enthusiasm is spurred on by the fact that the winning class gets to throw a cream pie at the faces of their friendly principal and 'beloved' teacher???!
Meanwhile, back at the classroom... This week our class was also treated to an enlightening presentation by one our own students, Cecilie. She brought in and explained many items that were meaningful to her Norwegian heritage, and educated us all about this country and beautiful culture. To top it all off, we were generously treated to creamy ice cream and luscious fresh raspberries - thank you so much to Cecilie and her parents! Another eye-opening contribution this week came from Seth's mother, Laurie Luetscher, which caused quite a stir with the whole class! See for yourselves by going to www.worldometers.info/ . On Monday, October 31, it was estimated that our planet's population reached the 7 billion mark! The website shows the live ongoing count, along with the ongoing counts of many other statistics, and it is all quite mind-boggling. We took a look more than once during the week in class, and the kids were mesmerized. Thank you, Laurie, for clueing us in!
Our science experiments this week gave the students plenty of chances to discover what components make a successful and complete electrical circuit and what does not! Listening to all the inquiring, surprised, puzzled, and triumphant comments coming from every investigative team was such a treat for me as a teacher. After we came together to share and compare what was learned, and time came to summarize new information and vocabulary, it was evident the new concepts had found their way into our 4th grade 'scientists' brains. Very cool! I did catch more of this on video, and will share it with you.
The coming week, as you know from my email this past week, will be a different week with a revised classroom schedule for WKCE testing. We went over some practice items this past week, and I believe the students are ready to just try their best on each item, be thorough in their thinking, and know they do not have to be nervous about these assessments. I have told them this gives our state a chance to compare all the 4th graders in Wisconsin and see what they have learned so far. A good night's sleep and good breakfast will help concentration, and we will give ourselves some relaxing breaks between sessions. We've already got a big bag of string cheese in my little refrigerator, as well as cracker boxes and bags of bubble gum ready. Thank you! I also look forward to talking with you at conferences this next week as well (do let me know if you need confirmation of your conference time). Your child will have a chance to share with you some samples of their work so far this year, and we can all talk over together good goals for the coming months. See you next week! Melanie
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Magnetism Science Experiment
See what fun our students had in their discoveries of the properties of magnetism.
Saturday, October 22, 2011
October 21, 2011 Weekly Update
Hello, 4th grade families,
Our week began with digging in to a new unit in math and news about the annual Spelling Bee, continued with new experiments on magnetism in science and writing a ghost story with the lights off, tie dyed new WM shirts in Art class, and ended with viewing the DVD version of the book we just completed, Tuck Everlasting. The days fly by like a Halloween witch on a new high-speed broom!
Unit 3 in Everyday Math is centered on multiplication! This is the optimum time for our 4th graders to brush up on their basic facts! We are learning new vocabulary and concepts dealing with factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers, new strategies for solving number stories, open sentences with variables - all these skills require automatic recall of basic multiplication facts. This unit also lays the foundation for future lessons in 4th grade math - I've told the students that they will be SO glad they know their basic facts when we get to double digit multiplication and long division. Establishing a daily routine of 15 minutes at home practicing facts will go a long way toward your student's ease in grasping the work ahead of us.
We will be transitioning from magnetism in science to some experiments with electrical circuits in the next two weeks. Students also got the opportunity to write out their impressions of the characters and scenes from our class read-aloud after we finally got to the last word in the epilogue for the book Tuck Everlasting this week. The differences between the book version and the Disney movie production brought some surprised reactions on Friday. Pencils needed sharpening more than once (with a little ghostly help) as we continued in our writing mode to create an imaginative story about a friendly ghost. Each student has also received a "Spooky Spelling List" to practice over the next week (with no reminders from the head witch about studying! :) ) Speaking of spelling, our GT teacher, Ms. Weber, spoke to all the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes this week about the upcoming WM Spelling Bee, which will be held on the morning of December 9th. Each student was given a list of all the possible words that may be presented to our spellers. It is up to each student if they want to make it a goal to practice these words. The first round involves classroom rounds of trying these words over the next month to narrow it down to 4 representatives from each room to take part in the school bee on December 9th.
The Odyssey of the Mind competition for 4th graders was also introduced this week by Ms. Weber, which is an optional activity for anyone interested in submitting a project proposal as their 'audition' piece to qualify for the competition. Ms. Weber studies these projects to decide which 20 fourth graders will represent our school at the competition on November 28, to be held all day at the new Union South on the UW campus. An information sheet went home this past week with your student, and they have until next Wednesday, October 26, to submit them. Odyssey of the Mind involves group problem solving skills.
Other news includes the dates set for the three 4th grade classes to take the WKCE state assessments. Our three rooms will use most of the four days from November 7th through November 10 to take these exams. These are the days, therefore, where we will want particularly good attendance, and well rested students with a good breakfast in them each morning! The test sessions are timed, with breaks and extra good snacks in between! Several good No. 2 pencils with good erasers for each student is the only other material they will need. This is the same week I will be meeting with parents and their student for conferences, either after school on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday morning (no school on November 11). Thank you for checking that your conference time still works for you, and there are a very few families that still need to sign up for a time slot. The schedule went home this week, so please check that and let me know if one of those openings work for you, or if you need an alternative time.
We are planning on having an Autumn/Harvest/Holiday class party at 2:00 pm on Monday, October 31st. We have received a generous donation of festive plates, napkins, cups, plasticware from Tammy Bursac, and Sharon Pertzborn-Jensen is coordinating some treats and activities. Please let her or me know if you can come help, or do some planning with her. We'd love to have you stop in! Our classroom has become more decorated this month with a 'mystery' addition each day to add to the atmosphere (you can ask your student about that!).
Remember that next week is SHORT! We have full days of a regular schedule on Monday and Tuesday. A special note about Tuesday -- we are ALL wearing our new West Middleton tie dye T-shirt to school on Tuesday, October 25th! On Wednesday, it is our 2nd Early Release Day, when students will board buses for home at 11:00 am. There is no school on Thursday and Friday.
See you all soon! Melanie Hannam
Our week began with digging in to a new unit in math and news about the annual Spelling Bee, continued with new experiments on magnetism in science and writing a ghost story with the lights off, tie dyed new WM shirts in Art class, and ended with viewing the DVD version of the book we just completed, Tuck Everlasting. The days fly by like a Halloween witch on a new high-speed broom!
Unit 3 in Everyday Math is centered on multiplication! This is the optimum time for our 4th graders to brush up on their basic facts! We are learning new vocabulary and concepts dealing with factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers, new strategies for solving number stories, open sentences with variables - all these skills require automatic recall of basic multiplication facts. This unit also lays the foundation for future lessons in 4th grade math - I've told the students that they will be SO glad they know their basic facts when we get to double digit multiplication and long division. Establishing a daily routine of 15 minutes at home practicing facts will go a long way toward your student's ease in grasping the work ahead of us.
We will be transitioning from magnetism in science to some experiments with electrical circuits in the next two weeks. Students also got the opportunity to write out their impressions of the characters and scenes from our class read-aloud after we finally got to the last word in the epilogue for the book Tuck Everlasting this week. The differences between the book version and the Disney movie production brought some surprised reactions on Friday. Pencils needed sharpening more than once (with a little ghostly help) as we continued in our writing mode to create an imaginative story about a friendly ghost. Each student has also received a "Spooky Spelling List" to practice over the next week (with no reminders from the head witch about studying! :) ) Speaking of spelling, our GT teacher, Ms. Weber, spoke to all the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes this week about the upcoming WM Spelling Bee, which will be held on the morning of December 9th. Each student was given a list of all the possible words that may be presented to our spellers. It is up to each student if they want to make it a goal to practice these words. The first round involves classroom rounds of trying these words over the next month to narrow it down to 4 representatives from each room to take part in the school bee on December 9th.
The Odyssey of the Mind competition for 4th graders was also introduced this week by Ms. Weber, which is an optional activity for anyone interested in submitting a project proposal as their 'audition' piece to qualify for the competition. Ms. Weber studies these projects to decide which 20 fourth graders will represent our school at the competition on November 28, to be held all day at the new Union South on the UW campus. An information sheet went home this past week with your student, and they have until next Wednesday, October 26, to submit them. Odyssey of the Mind involves group problem solving skills.
Other news includes the dates set for the three 4th grade classes to take the WKCE state assessments. Our three rooms will use most of the four days from November 7th through November 10 to take these exams. These are the days, therefore, where we will want particularly good attendance, and well rested students with a good breakfast in them each morning! The test sessions are timed, with breaks and extra good snacks in between! Several good No. 2 pencils with good erasers for each student is the only other material they will need. This is the same week I will be meeting with parents and their student for conferences, either after school on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday morning (no school on November 11). Thank you for checking that your conference time still works for you, and there are a very few families that still need to sign up for a time slot. The schedule went home this week, so please check that and let me know if one of those openings work for you, or if you need an alternative time.
We are planning on having an Autumn/Harvest/Holiday class party at 2:00 pm on Monday, October 31st. We have received a generous donation of festive plates, napkins, cups, plasticware from Tammy Bursac, and Sharon Pertzborn-Jensen is coordinating some treats and activities. Please let her or me know if you can come help, or do some planning with her. We'd love to have you stop in! Our classroom has become more decorated this month with a 'mystery' addition each day to add to the atmosphere (you can ask your student about that!).
Remember that next week is SHORT! We have full days of a regular schedule on Monday and Tuesday. A special note about Tuesday -- we are ALL wearing our new West Middleton tie dye T-shirt to school on Tuesday, October 25th! On Wednesday, it is our 2nd Early Release Day, when students will board buses for home at 11:00 am. There is no school on Thursday and Friday.
See you all soon! Melanie Hannam
Saturday, October 15, 2011
October 14, 2011 Weekly Update
Hello, 4H Families,
How did we get to the middle of October already?! Right outside our classroom door this past week, the school's library was a hub of activity with the annual Scholastic Book Fair. It warmed the hearts of all of us teachers and Mr. Powers, our librarian, to see so many kids so excited about NEW BOOKS. It spilled through the doorway of our classroom - our 4H students couldn't wait to dive into their finds, including the new books that found their way into our growing classroom library. I send many, grateful thank you's to all who donated a new book to our collection. Wow, I felt like the kids - all I want to do is dig into a new story! This week has inspired several in our classroom to help out organizing our bookshelves as we find room to include every book, and as they work, they are collaborating on best ways to organize, as well as discovering books they hadn't seen yet, sharing with each other about them - it is very cool to listen to these conversations. I see a few more reluctant readers are getting swept into the enthusiasm, too. I am so proud of all our readers in Room 117! Also, we have hit the highpoint of action in our class read-aloud book, "Tuck Everlasting" and we are all now in a state of suspense until next week to see how it all turns out and comes to an end. I have promised the students the chance to view the movie version made a few years ago, so we may compare that with the book (they are in for some surprises).
All 4th grade math groups took the Unit 2 post-test this past week. During the coming week, parents will see these tests coming home for a signature, as well as a summary sheet attached that lists each skill/concept and how your student responded to each one. I would like to receive these signed assessments back after you have seen them, so that we may collect a record of your child's progress in his/her folder. We can discuss them at conference time. Keep in mind that these assessments have two parts: Part A contains skills that should be 'secure' (mastered) in 4th grade. This is the only part that receives a grade. Part B contains skills that are taught and practiced so that students get their first exposure to them, but these are not required for mastery until later in the year or in 5th grade. Many of our 4th graders do demonstrate mastery now, but even if they don't, they will have the groundwork laid for when those skills are presented again in the future (the 'spiral' philosophy of Everyday Math). On the summary sheet, each skill will have the designations: S (for secure), D (for developing), or B (for beginning). Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thanks for sending the assessments back to school promptly. I like using them as guides for more instruction. We are all noticing many students who do not feel confident yet with borrowing across 4 digits (numbers into the thousands), and basic facts with adding and subtraction need more practice for better accuracy. Thank you to all families who help their child make it a priority most evenings by providing time to brush up on the basic facts for all operations. This will make all their other math work go so much more smoothly. On Monday, our students will be divided into new groups for Unit 3 (according to scores achieved on Friday's pre-test), and they may have new rooms and teachers for this unit.
We eased our way out of our Wisconsin Agriculture unit in social studies by 'researching' such products as ginseng, edamame, craisins, and cranberry juice. We sampled the last three of these, and students either added to their list of foods they like - or not! :) We have jumped into three different days of science experiments with magnetism! We have budding scientists in our room, as excited students made their own discoveries about the properties of magnetism. We are easily accessing new vocabulary and understanding about this property, and our work sets the stage for our discoveries about electricity. I took some video of our magnetism discovery days and will share this on our blog soon.
This month our Guidance classes, led by our school counselor Mrs. Hellenbrand (2nd and 4th Thursdays for 35 minutes each), are discussing "Character". This next week is "Character Counts" Week, and in recognition of the traits of good character, each day is designated as the following: Wear purple on Monday for Citizenship, wear green on Tuesday for Responsibility, wear yellow on Wednesday for Respect, wear blue on Thursday for Honesty, and wear red on Friday for Caring. Wearing these colors is, of course, optional.
On Friday we welcomed a new student to our room. We are happy to introduce Markees Johnson to our "4H" family. He comes to us from Illinois. I am so proud of our kids, who easily and naturally included him in their activities and helped him out with all there is to know about our busy room. We now have 21 students in Room 117.
Upcoming events later this month: The window for WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam) is October 24 through November 25. Our 4th grade classes will be holding testing sessions during the first two weeks of November. More specific details will follow soon, but I just wanted to give you all a heads up on the time frame, so that all can plan for particularly good attendance, good nights' sleep, and good breakfasts during those weeks. On a much lighter note, Halloween occurs on a Monday this year. Our school does not encourage wearing costumes that day, but our class does have their first opportunity for an Autumn/Harvest/Holiday party that afternoon from 2:00 to 2:40! :) If you are a parent who would like to be part of a small group who would like to plan a couple of activities/games/art projects and/or provide some treats for that time period, would you please let me know? I will put any who let me know of their interest in contact with each other, and you can coordinate your plans. All of us in Room 117 will be so grateful, and this wonderful class is due for a little party time.
Enough news for this time! Soon it will also be time to confirm times for our parent/student/teacher conferences (after school times on November 8, 9. 10, and Friday morning, November 11 - no school that day). Many of you signed up for time slots on September 1st, and I will confirm those with you, as well as contact everyone else about best times you and your student can come. Thank you to all for an inspiring week of learning in 4th grade - it was a week of diligent work but full of fun learning as well! Melanie Hannam
How did we get to the middle of October already?! Right outside our classroom door this past week, the school's library was a hub of activity with the annual Scholastic Book Fair. It warmed the hearts of all of us teachers and Mr. Powers, our librarian, to see so many kids so excited about NEW BOOKS. It spilled through the doorway of our classroom - our 4H students couldn't wait to dive into their finds, including the new books that found their way into our growing classroom library. I send many, grateful thank you's to all who donated a new book to our collection. Wow, I felt like the kids - all I want to do is dig into a new story! This week has inspired several in our classroom to help out organizing our bookshelves as we find room to include every book, and as they work, they are collaborating on best ways to organize, as well as discovering books they hadn't seen yet, sharing with each other about them - it is very cool to listen to these conversations. I see a few more reluctant readers are getting swept into the enthusiasm, too. I am so proud of all our readers in Room 117! Also, we have hit the highpoint of action in our class read-aloud book, "Tuck Everlasting" and we are all now in a state of suspense until next week to see how it all turns out and comes to an end. I have promised the students the chance to view the movie version made a few years ago, so we may compare that with the book (they are in for some surprises).
All 4th grade math groups took the Unit 2 post-test this past week. During the coming week, parents will see these tests coming home for a signature, as well as a summary sheet attached that lists each skill/concept and how your student responded to each one. I would like to receive these signed assessments back after you have seen them, so that we may collect a record of your child's progress in his/her folder. We can discuss them at conference time. Keep in mind that these assessments have two parts: Part A contains skills that should be 'secure' (mastered) in 4th grade. This is the only part that receives a grade. Part B contains skills that are taught and practiced so that students get their first exposure to them, but these are not required for mastery until later in the year or in 5th grade. Many of our 4th graders do demonstrate mastery now, but even if they don't, they will have the groundwork laid for when those skills are presented again in the future (the 'spiral' philosophy of Everyday Math). On the summary sheet, each skill will have the designations: S (for secure), D (for developing), or B (for beginning). Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Thanks for sending the assessments back to school promptly. I like using them as guides for more instruction. We are all noticing many students who do not feel confident yet with borrowing across 4 digits (numbers into the thousands), and basic facts with adding and subtraction need more practice for better accuracy. Thank you to all families who help their child make it a priority most evenings by providing time to brush up on the basic facts for all operations. This will make all their other math work go so much more smoothly. On Monday, our students will be divided into new groups for Unit 3 (according to scores achieved on Friday's pre-test), and they may have new rooms and teachers for this unit.
We eased our way out of our Wisconsin Agriculture unit in social studies by 'researching' such products as ginseng, edamame, craisins, and cranberry juice. We sampled the last three of these, and students either added to their list of foods they like - or not! :) We have jumped into three different days of science experiments with magnetism! We have budding scientists in our room, as excited students made their own discoveries about the properties of magnetism. We are easily accessing new vocabulary and understanding about this property, and our work sets the stage for our discoveries about electricity. I took some video of our magnetism discovery days and will share this on our blog soon.
This month our Guidance classes, led by our school counselor Mrs. Hellenbrand (2nd and 4th Thursdays for 35 minutes each), are discussing "Character". This next week is "Character Counts" Week, and in recognition of the traits of good character, each day is designated as the following: Wear purple on Monday for Citizenship, wear green on Tuesday for Responsibility, wear yellow on Wednesday for Respect, wear blue on Thursday for Honesty, and wear red on Friday for Caring. Wearing these colors is, of course, optional.
On Friday we welcomed a new student to our room. We are happy to introduce Markees Johnson to our "4H" family. He comes to us from Illinois. I am so proud of our kids, who easily and naturally included him in their activities and helped him out with all there is to know about our busy room. We now have 21 students in Room 117.
Upcoming events later this month: The window for WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Exam) is October 24 through November 25. Our 4th grade classes will be holding testing sessions during the first two weeks of November. More specific details will follow soon, but I just wanted to give you all a heads up on the time frame, so that all can plan for particularly good attendance, good nights' sleep, and good breakfasts during those weeks. On a much lighter note, Halloween occurs on a Monday this year. Our school does not encourage wearing costumes that day, but our class does have their first opportunity for an Autumn/Harvest/Holiday party that afternoon from 2:00 to 2:40! :) If you are a parent who would like to be part of a small group who would like to plan a couple of activities/games/art projects and/or provide some treats for that time period, would you please let me know? I will put any who let me know of their interest in contact with each other, and you can coordinate your plans. All of us in Room 117 will be so grateful, and this wonderful class is due for a little party time.
Enough news for this time! Soon it will also be time to confirm times for our parent/student/teacher conferences (after school times on November 8, 9. 10, and Friday morning, November 11 - no school that day). Many of you signed up for time slots on September 1st, and I will confirm those with you, as well as contact everyone else about best times you and your student can come. Thank you to all for an inspiring week of learning in 4th grade - it was a week of diligent work but full of fun learning as well! Melanie Hannam
Saturday, October 8, 2011
October 7, 2011 Weekly Update
Hello to our '4H' families!
Our busy week was highlighted by our field trip on Tuesday afternoon to the World Dairy Expo. We were treated to warm sunshine, a friendly and knowledgeable guide named Mitch, and the chance to get up close to the cleanest, most pampered collection of cows we are ever going to see! We watched part of the championship judging in the Coliseum, saw how the milking machines were used - and how they felt on our fingers! - how the milk ran through the lines into massive steel tanks, all monitored by computers, met Alice in Dairyland, who taught us about the many nutrients in milk (and how much sugar is in a soda!), and ended with a welcome cold carton of milk to drink ourselves. Our students were very well behaved, interested in everything, asked excellent questions, and were lots of fun to tour around with! It was great fun to have our chaperones with us as well, and many thanks again to Tad Renfert, Jay Weatherford, Beth Graf, Laura Lynch, Angie Williams, Renee Dahlk, and Doug Rykal, for coming along and helping to keep track of us all! Our fourth graders have come a long way in their knowledge of Wisconsin's dairy industry. Next on the agenda: Wisconsin geography and mapping, along with our first science unit which is all about magnetism and electricity.
This past week also had us digging deeper into Unit 2 of Everyday Math, where we are plotting data and determining the maximum, minimum, range, mode, median, and mean. We are also securing skills with carrying in addition and borrowing in subtraction. This week our class began keeping track of their individual progress with the basic facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Each student established a baseline score of how many correct facts they could answer within 3 minutes for each operation. Every week they will try to improve their past score - with the ultimate goal of answering 100 basic facts correctly in 3 minutes for each operation. Every morning they try a different operation - this weekly practice will help them become more automatic with their responses. Of course, any extra practice they can put in at home with flashcards, etc. will help them improve more quickly! Multiplication and division, in particular, needs some extra attention.
We are over halfway through reading Tuck Everlasting, and the 'plot thickens', as do the discussion topics that this book always leads us into! Our students are also keeping track of their own reading by recording the titles and authors of all the books they finish on a Reading Log. We proudly reached our goal this week with successfully sustaining a focused, silent reading session of 20 minutes. This goal has actually been a pleasure and not a very difficult challenge at all for this class of avid readers. Many students plead for a time like this everyday, and we talk about how cool it is that we are able to get so deeply into our reading that we forget where we are, and how we can get lost in the stories we are reading. This practice of developing reading 'stamina' is already serving us well as we strive for the same focus during our writing times. Journal entries are becoming more descriptive with each attempt, and we are beginning to share with each other some of our more creative written ideas. We admire each other's attempts, and we are motivating each other to try more. Today we just had to take advantage of our beautiful fall weather, and the fact that we have an exceptional prairie right in our 'backyard'. Everyone carried out their journals and pencils, found their own little spot to sit along the winding path that cuts right through the middle of five foot tall wild grasses and flowers, and wrote for 15 minutes in silence. We tried to record all we could hear, see, feel, and smell among the waving stalks that scratched against each other in the wind, baking in the sun. We will be sharing our observations next week, and already most agree that we should try this during each season and compare the experiences.
The annual West Middleton Scholastic Book Fair will take place next week in the LMC, with Family Night on Tuesday after school. I hope to see you there! Melanie Hannam
Our busy week was highlighted by our field trip on Tuesday afternoon to the World Dairy Expo. We were treated to warm sunshine, a friendly and knowledgeable guide named Mitch, and the chance to get up close to the cleanest, most pampered collection of cows we are ever going to see! We watched part of the championship judging in the Coliseum, saw how the milking machines were used - and how they felt on our fingers! - how the milk ran through the lines into massive steel tanks, all monitored by computers, met Alice in Dairyland, who taught us about the many nutrients in milk (and how much sugar is in a soda!), and ended with a welcome cold carton of milk to drink ourselves. Our students were very well behaved, interested in everything, asked excellent questions, and were lots of fun to tour around with! It was great fun to have our chaperones with us as well, and many thanks again to Tad Renfert, Jay Weatherford, Beth Graf, Laura Lynch, Angie Williams, Renee Dahlk, and Doug Rykal, for coming along and helping to keep track of us all! Our fourth graders have come a long way in their knowledge of Wisconsin's dairy industry. Next on the agenda: Wisconsin geography and mapping, along with our first science unit which is all about magnetism and electricity.
This past week also had us digging deeper into Unit 2 of Everyday Math, where we are plotting data and determining the maximum, minimum, range, mode, median, and mean. We are also securing skills with carrying in addition and borrowing in subtraction. This week our class began keeping track of their individual progress with the basic facts of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Each student established a baseline score of how many correct facts they could answer within 3 minutes for each operation. Every week they will try to improve their past score - with the ultimate goal of answering 100 basic facts correctly in 3 minutes for each operation. Every morning they try a different operation - this weekly practice will help them become more automatic with their responses. Of course, any extra practice they can put in at home with flashcards, etc. will help them improve more quickly! Multiplication and division, in particular, needs some extra attention.
We are over halfway through reading Tuck Everlasting, and the 'plot thickens', as do the discussion topics that this book always leads us into! Our students are also keeping track of their own reading by recording the titles and authors of all the books they finish on a Reading Log. We proudly reached our goal this week with successfully sustaining a focused, silent reading session of 20 minutes. This goal has actually been a pleasure and not a very difficult challenge at all for this class of avid readers. Many students plead for a time like this everyday, and we talk about how cool it is that we are able to get so deeply into our reading that we forget where we are, and how we can get lost in the stories we are reading. This practice of developing reading 'stamina' is already serving us well as we strive for the same focus during our writing times. Journal entries are becoming more descriptive with each attempt, and we are beginning to share with each other some of our more creative written ideas. We admire each other's attempts, and we are motivating each other to try more. Today we just had to take advantage of our beautiful fall weather, and the fact that we have an exceptional prairie right in our 'backyard'. Everyone carried out their journals and pencils, found their own little spot to sit along the winding path that cuts right through the middle of five foot tall wild grasses and flowers, and wrote for 15 minutes in silence. We tried to record all we could hear, see, feel, and smell among the waving stalks that scratched against each other in the wind, baking in the sun. We will be sharing our observations next week, and already most agree that we should try this during each season and compare the experiences.
The annual West Middleton Scholastic Book Fair will take place next week in the LMC, with Family Night on Tuesday after school. I hope to see you there! Melanie Hannam
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