Hello again to all! I so enjoyed the opportunities to visit with all of our families during conferences over the past two weeks. Thank you for coming! It was wonderful to be able to sit around the table with you and your fourth grader and talk together. We can do that anytime - we don't have to wait till March to meet again! Emails and phone calls are also welcome at any time.
With four full weeks until our Winter Break, we have dug in to some very productive work this past week. We've been reading and writing with renewed effort. We finished our class read-aloud, The One And Only Ivan, and we miss him! We were able to watch an online interview with the author, Katherine Applegate, after we read the last page of the book. Everyone listened closely as she discussed how she gets her ideas for writing, and how 'writing is hard work' but so rewarding, and that she is always revising and editing her words. In our Writer's Workshop, we moved from writing thesis statements and supporting evidence as a whole class, to writing our first individual essays. These papers are a very good first attempt, and we will spend the next week expanding and explaining our reasoning with more detail. I am proud of our students for their good work on something entirely new to them. By the way, our December Scholastic Book Orders are due to be turned in by Monday, December 3rd. This will allow me to get the order sent out in time to get our new books back before we leave for Break.
We took another spelling test this past week, and on the same day, everyone received their new list of words. You will notice that we are stepping up our efforts here as well - with 20 words to practice now. We have until next week Friday, December 7th, to prepare for that spelling test. Speaking of spelling, the West Middleton Spelling Bee is taking place at 8:30 am on Monday, December 10th, and parents are welcome to attend. After five qualifying rounds in our classroom, we will be represented by Rose Giefer, Sydney Yosick, Zach Yosick, and Anezka Helmers.
We are almost halfway into Unit 4 in math class, and have been learning to read, write, and order decimal numbers so far. Our 4th graders are demonstrating an excellent understanding of the concept of what a decimal number represents - keep up the good work! Oh, and speaking of work --! After 'whomping' the kids with multiple pages of basic division facts during Thanksgiving week, we were all anxious to see if all that extra practice paid off on this week's timed test. Did it ever!! Wow. Out of the 17 students present to take the 3 minute timed test of 100 division problems yesterday, 14 students raised their scores - and by an average of 20 points!! Typical improvements in past weeks have averaged 5 point jumps. Two students reached their goal of 100%. This is quite impressive compared to past weeks - and of course, Mrs. Hannam didn't waste the opportunity to point out the value of hard work and diligent practice to make a difference - :)
Please take note of some special upcoming events: The annual West Middleton Winter Tea is Wednesday, December 5th. Our class is scheduled to attend at 12:05 to 12:30 that day. If you are able to join us there at that time, we will be happy to see you. We will be having lunch in our classroom at 11:10, and it sounds like we will be treated to the best pizza in town that day, in celebration of Luigi's birthday. Confirmation will come to you by email early in the week. Also, on Friday, December 7th, our classroom will host a special guest at 2:00. Mike Welch, owner and instructor of Infinity Martial Arts, has offered to come to our room to run a class for all of us! Along with karate moves, he teaches respect and self respect, self defense, and how to deal with bullies.
Looking ahead to the last week of school before break, I am in need of some help on a couple of different days. On Monday, Dec. 17, I have a special art project planned for our kids (sorry, I can't give away too many details to parents), and could use 2 or 3 other adults to help me from 2:00 to 2:45. If you think you'd like to assist with this project, let me know. Also, the last hour of our last day of school this month, on the 21st, we would like to continue our tradition of a holiday class party, and we will need some parents to help plan for a few treats and activities. Please email me if you would like to be on a team to organize for this - and thank you so much!!
I will keep you informed of any and all important reminders and special events as we speed through the busy month of December. Melanie Hannam
Friday, November 30, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
November 9, 2012 Weekly Update
Hello, families. It felt good this past week to get back into some regularly scheduled reading and writing classes. We continue to find all the moments we can to read both independently and aloud together, and analyze our characters. In Writer's Workshop, we have begun a new focus on essay writing. We are learning to "live wide-awake lives" as writers, noticing details around us that others often pass by. It has proven to be a new way of thinking for many of our kids, and we feel like writer/detectives, finding stories and ideas in small things that we haven't taken notice of before. We will soon turn these ideas into opinions, and practice backing up those opinions with evidence. Being able to defend a viewpoint on paper will most certainly be a necessary skill in future years in school.
This coming week we will be reviewing the content of Unit 3 in Math, and the final test will probably come next Thursday. Watch for review practice sheets to come home for homework next week. Our next Spelling Test is also scheduled for next Thursday.
Extra events continue to crowd our calendar and keep us motivated. This coming Monday on November 12th, it is "I Spy" Day at West Middleton. Our lunchroom will be turned into an art gallery, with projects and music created by all of our classes on display all day. That evening from 6:30 to 7:30, parents and families are invited to stop and in and take a good look at all the creations by our talented students.
Also next week, our WM Community Service Club is hosting a coin drive to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy. On Monday, students are encouraged to bring in all the pennies and nickels they can find, on Tuesday they bring in dimes, on Wednesday they bring in quarters, and on Thursday, they may bring in any coins, paper bills, or checks made out to the Red Cross. Thank you!
There will be no school on Friday, November 16th, since teachers will be holding parent teacher conferences on the evenings of November 15th and 20th. If you still need to double-check your conference time with me, just send me an email. Otherwise, I am assuming the time slot I sent you is going to work, and I will see you - AND your student - at that time. I am very much looking forward to visiting with you!
Each classroom will hold their own rounds to qualify for the WM Spelling Bee during the short week of school right before Thanksgiving break, narrowing ourselves down to the final four students to represent our class. The words to practice should be located in your student's Take Home Folder - we have several students who love this event and have been practicing. Remember, we will have full days of classes on the 19th and 20th, but on the 21st, the day before Thanksgiving, it is a CRT Day, and buses will be picking up students at 11:00 am.
This past week, as you know, was also our last week with Linley Carlson, our wonderful student teacher. We have all become such a team together in Room 117. We will all be missing her greatly, but we are also excited for her to get a new experience with first graders at Sunset Ridge. We held a little going away party for Miss Carlson on Thursday, her last day. She surprised us with specially made cupcakes ("Owl miss you" cupcakes) and personalized cards and notes for each of us. We surprised her with our tub of school and classroom supplies - and we did take her completely by surprise!! It was great! Thank you again to all of our families who joined us in this gift for Linley. We will all see her one more time because she is joining us for both conference days. She has written to our families with this note:
Dear 4th graders and parents,
I want to thank you for the lovely gifts that I received on my last day in Mrs. Hannam's class. I will cherish the past two months that I was able to spend with all of the talented boys and girls in Mrs. Hannam's class. I could not have asked for a more incredible experience and have been very fortunate to teach such amazing students! Thank you again! It was very hard leaving such an incredible class on Thursday. I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences.
Sincerely,
Linley Carlson
And with that -- see you all soon at Parent Conference time! Melanie
This coming week we will be reviewing the content of Unit 3 in Math, and the final test will probably come next Thursday. Watch for review practice sheets to come home for homework next week. Our next Spelling Test is also scheduled for next Thursday.
Extra events continue to crowd our calendar and keep us motivated. This coming Monday on November 12th, it is "I Spy" Day at West Middleton. Our lunchroom will be turned into an art gallery, with projects and music created by all of our classes on display all day. That evening from 6:30 to 7:30, parents and families are invited to stop and in and take a good look at all the creations by our talented students.
Also next week, our WM Community Service Club is hosting a coin drive to benefit the victims of Hurricane Sandy. On Monday, students are encouraged to bring in all the pennies and nickels they can find, on Tuesday they bring in dimes, on Wednesday they bring in quarters, and on Thursday, they may bring in any coins, paper bills, or checks made out to the Red Cross. Thank you!
There will be no school on Friday, November 16th, since teachers will be holding parent teacher conferences on the evenings of November 15th and 20th. If you still need to double-check your conference time with me, just send me an email. Otherwise, I am assuming the time slot I sent you is going to work, and I will see you - AND your student - at that time. I am very much looking forward to visiting with you!
Each classroom will hold their own rounds to qualify for the WM Spelling Bee during the short week of school right before Thanksgiving break, narrowing ourselves down to the final four students to represent our class. The words to practice should be located in your student's Take Home Folder - we have several students who love this event and have been practicing. Remember, we will have full days of classes on the 19th and 20th, but on the 21st, the day before Thanksgiving, it is a CRT Day, and buses will be picking up students at 11:00 am.
This past week, as you know, was also our last week with Linley Carlson, our wonderful student teacher. We have all become such a team together in Room 117. We will all be missing her greatly, but we are also excited for her to get a new experience with first graders at Sunset Ridge. We held a little going away party for Miss Carlson on Thursday, her last day. She surprised us with specially made cupcakes ("Owl miss you" cupcakes) and personalized cards and notes for each of us. We surprised her with our tub of school and classroom supplies - and we did take her completely by surprise!! It was great! Thank you again to all of our families who joined us in this gift for Linley. We will all see her one more time because she is joining us for both conference days. She has written to our families with this note:
Dear 4th graders and parents,
I want to thank you for the lovely gifts that I received on my last day in Mrs. Hannam's class. I will cherish the past two months that I was able to spend with all of the talented boys and girls in Mrs. Hannam's class. I could not have asked for a more incredible experience and have been very fortunate to teach such amazing students! Thank you again! It was very hard leaving such an incredible class on Thursday. I look forward to seeing everyone at conferences.
Sincerely,
Linley Carlson
And with that -- see you all soon at Parent Conference time! Melanie
Saturday, November 3, 2012
November 2, 2012 Weekly Update
Warm November greetings to our 4H families! We ended our October by finishing all of our exam sessions for the WKCE assessments, and began our November by celebrating all the progress we've made with our academics and classroom behavior over the first two full months of the school year. With the first full week of November we are looking forward to resuming our regular class schedule.
On Wednesday, upon completion of our testing, we were treated to one of the nicest "Harvest Party" hours we could have had. Thanks to the leadership of Mary Ozers and her creative team of Jean Yosick, Heather Bogner, Beth Hamilton, and Judy, McKenzie grandmother, we enjoyed some Halloween puzzles and games, a skeleton art project (you will see our wall of 'dancing skeletons' when you come in for conferences - so creepy cool!), and the most delicious treats, including the chance to decorate our own brownie square! The generosity and creativity of our moms has been just awesome, and THANK YOU! for all your efforts. It was so much fun having you with us, too!
We weren't done celebrating that day. Our class had been planning how to recognize the progress of our 4H class community, and on November 1st we put our plans into action. We came to class in comfy clothes, brought a blanket or pillow, found our specially prepared and loaded book boxes, and settled in to READ to our hearts' content - that is, whenever we didn't have a math or specials class to attend! The day flew by, the reading sessions went way too fast, and ahhh... it was so peaceful in our room! Lunch that day was an amazing treat. Luigi's dad, Vincenzo Pugliese, personally brought in a dozen of his luscious cheese pizzas from Cafe Porta Alba. Wow! Everyone just loved them! Thanks SO much for your generosity, Vincenzo and Stephanie! It was a memorable day. We ended our time together by discussing what we need to accomplish with our classroom behaviors and performance before we can have another celebration day.
In Reader's Workshop, we have been practicing how to analyze the connections the characters in our books make with each other, and how to put our interpretations of those connections into our own words in our Thoughtful Log journals. This is encouraging some deeper thinking, and is still a work in progress. Ivan and Stella are helping us, too (from our Class Read-Aloud book, "The One And Only Ivan"). We also wrote friendly ghost stories for Halloween, and are sharing them by flashlight. In science we have progressed from exploring magnetism to creating complete electrical circuits (we can now officially say that the light bulbs are coming on in Room 117!). In math class, we are more than halfway through Unit 3 - a big focus here is on gaining some substantial progress with multiplication facts. I want to encourage every family to create a routine for consistent, nightly practice for ready and quick, accurate recall of multiplication and division facts. This skill is essential to best success with our Everyday Math curriculum.
In other news, be aware that on Thursday, November 8th, West Middleton is hosting the Hot Lunch Program's harvest meal, where families can call in 'reservations' to eat with their child. Our 4th grade time is 11:00 on Thursday, and we will be eating in the gym that day. You may meet your student in the entryway of the school (we will be in Music class right up to 11:00).
On Friday, I gave every one of our students three different book order forms for the month of November - Arrow, Tab, and a 'Holiday' order form. If you choose to order any books for your child, the deadline for turning in orders and checks (made out to Scholastic Book Club) will be Friday, November 9th. If any family wants to secretly order any books for Christmas gifts (I will also give out the December order forms by Dec. 1st and should get them back before Winter Break), you can seal your order in an envelope and write me a note about it.
This coming week I will be sending out copies of the sign-up sheet many of you filled out on Orientation Day about a parent/teacher/student conference time. The two days (from 3:00 to 7:00pm) that our entire building will be holding conferences are November 15 and 20. If you still need to sign up for a time or want to change the time you'd written, just let me know once you see the list or make a trade with another family and just let me know. There are actually not quite enough time slots for our whole class during these two sessions, so if you'd like to arrange another day after school, I will be most happy to accommodate that! Remember, I want our 4th graders to be present for our conferences - you have important work to show your parents!
I want to remind everyone that also happening this coming Thursday on November 8th, we will be saying goodbye to our lovely and talented student teacher, Linley Carlson. Our class will take time at the end of the day to express our appreciation to her for all her dedication, hard work, and friendship, and send her off with our best wishes! Everyone will get one more chance to see Linley after that, since she is coming to our conferences on November 15 and 20! We will miss her SO much!
Whew - there is always so much going on! Thank you for all your communication about your 4th grader by phone or email or visits - it has really helped me get better in tune with your child, and what they most need from me for success in their academic and social goals. Melanie Hannam
On Wednesday, upon completion of our testing, we were treated to one of the nicest "Harvest Party" hours we could have had. Thanks to the leadership of Mary Ozers and her creative team of Jean Yosick, Heather Bogner, Beth Hamilton, and Judy, McKenzie grandmother, we enjoyed some Halloween puzzles and games, a skeleton art project (you will see our wall of 'dancing skeletons' when you come in for conferences - so creepy cool!), and the most delicious treats, including the chance to decorate our own brownie square! The generosity and creativity of our moms has been just awesome, and THANK YOU! for all your efforts. It was so much fun having you with us, too!
We weren't done celebrating that day. Our class had been planning how to recognize the progress of our 4H class community, and on November 1st we put our plans into action. We came to class in comfy clothes, brought a blanket or pillow, found our specially prepared and loaded book boxes, and settled in to READ to our hearts' content - that is, whenever we didn't have a math or specials class to attend! The day flew by, the reading sessions went way too fast, and ahhh... it was so peaceful in our room! Lunch that day was an amazing treat. Luigi's dad, Vincenzo Pugliese, personally brought in a dozen of his luscious cheese pizzas from Cafe Porta Alba. Wow! Everyone just loved them! Thanks SO much for your generosity, Vincenzo and Stephanie! It was a memorable day. We ended our time together by discussing what we need to accomplish with our classroom behaviors and performance before we can have another celebration day.
In Reader's Workshop, we have been practicing how to analyze the connections the characters in our books make with each other, and how to put our interpretations of those connections into our own words in our Thoughtful Log journals. This is encouraging some deeper thinking, and is still a work in progress. Ivan and Stella are helping us, too (from our Class Read-Aloud book, "The One And Only Ivan"). We also wrote friendly ghost stories for Halloween, and are sharing them by flashlight. In science we have progressed from exploring magnetism to creating complete electrical circuits (we can now officially say that the light bulbs are coming on in Room 117!). In math class, we are more than halfway through Unit 3 - a big focus here is on gaining some substantial progress with multiplication facts. I want to encourage every family to create a routine for consistent, nightly practice for ready and quick, accurate recall of multiplication and division facts. This skill is essential to best success with our Everyday Math curriculum.
In other news, be aware that on Thursday, November 8th, West Middleton is hosting the Hot Lunch Program's harvest meal, where families can call in 'reservations' to eat with their child. Our 4th grade time is 11:00 on Thursday, and we will be eating in the gym that day. You may meet your student in the entryway of the school (we will be in Music class right up to 11:00).
On Friday, I gave every one of our students three different book order forms for the month of November - Arrow, Tab, and a 'Holiday' order form. If you choose to order any books for your child, the deadline for turning in orders and checks (made out to Scholastic Book Club) will be Friday, November 9th. If any family wants to secretly order any books for Christmas gifts (I will also give out the December order forms by Dec. 1st and should get them back before Winter Break), you can seal your order in an envelope and write me a note about it.
This coming week I will be sending out copies of the sign-up sheet many of you filled out on Orientation Day about a parent/teacher/student conference time. The two days (from 3:00 to 7:00pm) that our entire building will be holding conferences are November 15 and 20. If you still need to sign up for a time or want to change the time you'd written, just let me know once you see the list or make a trade with another family and just let me know. There are actually not quite enough time slots for our whole class during these two sessions, so if you'd like to arrange another day after school, I will be most happy to accommodate that! Remember, I want our 4th graders to be present for our conferences - you have important work to show your parents!
I want to remind everyone that also happening this coming Thursday on November 8th, we will be saying goodbye to our lovely and talented student teacher, Linley Carlson. Our class will take time at the end of the day to express our appreciation to her for all her dedication, hard work, and friendship, and send her off with our best wishes! Everyone will get one more chance to see Linley after that, since she is coming to our conferences on November 15 and 20! We will miss her SO much!
Whew - there is always so much going on! Thank you for all your communication about your 4th grader by phone or email or visits - it has really helped me get better in tune with your child, and what they most need from me for success in their academic and social goals. Melanie Hannam
Saturday, October 20, 2012
October 19, 2012 Weekly Update
Hello, again, 4th grade families!
We have all kinds of news to share with you. The next two weeks in particular bring all kinds of changes to our routines. As you know, we have full days on Monday and Tuesday, and then on Wednesday it is a CRT (collaborative release time) and all elementary students will be dismissed at 11:00 am. Those who reserved the school (sack) lunch will be picking them up before leaving and taking them along home that day. On Thursday and Friday there is no school.
Also next week, we are beginning the first testing sessions of the WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination). For your own information, our class will not be holding regular math class on any of the three days of school next week. We will be taking the three 4th grade Math sessions during each of the regularly scheduled math times, first hour of the morning. Also on Monday and Tuesday, we will be taking a Reading session at 12:05 each day. That leaves, for the following week, one more Reading session, two Language Arts sessions, and one Science and one Social Studies session. These exams will be spread out across the first 3 days of the following week, October 29, 30, 31. You should have found a complete schedule on a white sheet in your student's Take Home Folder this past week. If you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to email me. I have encouraged our kids to make sure they get a good night's sleep each night, and eat a 'good' breakfast each morning.
This coming week is also a national recognition of Character Education. To emphasize that good "Character Counts!" West Middleton students can "Turn Your Back On Disrespect" on Monday by wearing a shirt backwards. On Tuesday, we can wear comfy PJ type clothing for "Follow Your Dreams Through Good Character" day, and on Wednesday, we are wearing a shirt with numbers or a numbered jersey for "Count On Character" day.
The week of October 29 through November 2 also has some special events in our own classroom. We will be having a "Harvest Party" in our room on October 31st beginning at 2:00 pm. Thanks to some creative moms who have volunteered, we will enjoy some spooky snacks, and have a game and activity to celebrate this festive time of year. Take note - West Middleton Elementary does not encourage the wearing of any kind of Halloween costume that day. In addition, our class is ready to celebrate ourselves, for our noticeable progress in following our behavior rules and to celebrate the hard work and progress we are making with our classwork. (Yes, Mrs. Hannam's head has 'exploded' with the collection of good reports and observations about our kids - you can ask your student about this!) As a result, we have all agreed that November 1st will be a good day to devote to some of our favorite things: We will have math class, music class, art class, lots of 'stamina' silent read time, "Ivan" readaloud time, and hopefully a pizza lunch in our room that special day.
This coming week marks the beginning of a new "BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION" contest at West Middleton. Our classroom envelope has already collected a nice pile of Box Tops, but we are greedy, and want LOTS more than 'nice'!! So parents, thank you in advance for your patience as our students scrounge in cupboards and pantries, and for keeping a lookout in the grocery aisles for Box Top products. Each Box Top is worth 10 cents! All proceeds from our classrooms will go to the PTO for equipment and items for our building and playground.
With so much going on, yes, we are still holding substantive academic sessions each and every day! :) The Unit 2 math tests showed excellent results for our group, and we dove right into Unit 3 this past week. Please look over with your student the Progress Report in their Take Home Folder which gives you a picture of their progress with automaticity in recalling their math facts. (5th grade math students practice these with their 5th grade teacher.) You will be able to see which operations your student needs more practice on. This coming unit dives deep into their understanding of multiplication factors.
In Literacy we are continuing our study of character traits and how that helps us comprehend more deeply, and our class reading and discussion of "The One And Only Ivan" is really enhancing those lessons! We also made time during one of our very last beautiful weather days to visit our school prairie last week, and with clipboards in every hand, we all wrote down what we experienced with our senses out there! Wow - the beautiful, almost poetic descriptions that came out of that exercise was so impressive. In fact, we all agreed we should take some of our sentences and highlight them in large print around our room - so we will! And in science class we have been experimenting with magnetism as a lead in to more experiments with electricity - very fun!
Whew, lots going on and lots to tell you. Thanks for reading! As always, check the classroom blog and the homework page for daily listings of homework assignments and other reminders and deadlines. After next week, I will be confirming with each of you about our parent/student/teacher conference times which happen in mid November. The first trimester ends November 30th, with report cards ready for viewing the next week. I'll keep you posted on everything!!
Melanie Hannam
We have all kinds of news to share with you. The next two weeks in particular bring all kinds of changes to our routines. As you know, we have full days on Monday and Tuesday, and then on Wednesday it is a CRT (collaborative release time) and all elementary students will be dismissed at 11:00 am. Those who reserved the school (sack) lunch will be picking them up before leaving and taking them along home that day. On Thursday and Friday there is no school.
Also next week, we are beginning the first testing sessions of the WKCE (Wisconsin Knowledge and Concepts Examination). For your own information, our class will not be holding regular math class on any of the three days of school next week. We will be taking the three 4th grade Math sessions during each of the regularly scheduled math times, first hour of the morning. Also on Monday and Tuesday, we will be taking a Reading session at 12:05 each day. That leaves, for the following week, one more Reading session, two Language Arts sessions, and one Science and one Social Studies session. These exams will be spread out across the first 3 days of the following week, October 29, 30, 31. You should have found a complete schedule on a white sheet in your student's Take Home Folder this past week. If you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to email me. I have encouraged our kids to make sure they get a good night's sleep each night, and eat a 'good' breakfast each morning.
This coming week is also a national recognition of Character Education. To emphasize that good "Character Counts!" West Middleton students can "Turn Your Back On Disrespect" on Monday by wearing a shirt backwards. On Tuesday, we can wear comfy PJ type clothing for "Follow Your Dreams Through Good Character" day, and on Wednesday, we are wearing a shirt with numbers or a numbered jersey for "Count On Character" day.
The week of October 29 through November 2 also has some special events in our own classroom. We will be having a "Harvest Party" in our room on October 31st beginning at 2:00 pm. Thanks to some creative moms who have volunteered, we will enjoy some spooky snacks, and have a game and activity to celebrate this festive time of year. Take note - West Middleton Elementary does not encourage the wearing of any kind of Halloween costume that day. In addition, our class is ready to celebrate ourselves, for our noticeable progress in following our behavior rules and to celebrate the hard work and progress we are making with our classwork. (Yes, Mrs. Hannam's head has 'exploded' with the collection of good reports and observations about our kids - you can ask your student about this!) As a result, we have all agreed that November 1st will be a good day to devote to some of our favorite things: We will have math class, music class, art class, lots of 'stamina' silent read time, "Ivan" readaloud time, and hopefully a pizza lunch in our room that special day.
This coming week marks the beginning of a new "BOX TOPS FOR EDUCATION" contest at West Middleton. Our classroom envelope has already collected a nice pile of Box Tops, but we are greedy, and want LOTS more than 'nice'!! So parents, thank you in advance for your patience as our students scrounge in cupboards and pantries, and for keeping a lookout in the grocery aisles for Box Top products. Each Box Top is worth 10 cents! All proceeds from our classrooms will go to the PTO for equipment and items for our building and playground.
With so much going on, yes, we are still holding substantive academic sessions each and every day! :) The Unit 2 math tests showed excellent results for our group, and we dove right into Unit 3 this past week. Please look over with your student the Progress Report in their Take Home Folder which gives you a picture of their progress with automaticity in recalling their math facts. (5th grade math students practice these with their 5th grade teacher.) You will be able to see which operations your student needs more practice on. This coming unit dives deep into their understanding of multiplication factors.
In Literacy we are continuing our study of character traits and how that helps us comprehend more deeply, and our class reading and discussion of "The One And Only Ivan" is really enhancing those lessons! We also made time during one of our very last beautiful weather days to visit our school prairie last week, and with clipboards in every hand, we all wrote down what we experienced with our senses out there! Wow - the beautiful, almost poetic descriptions that came out of that exercise was so impressive. In fact, we all agreed we should take some of our sentences and highlight them in large print around our room - so we will! And in science class we have been experimenting with magnetism as a lead in to more experiments with electricity - very fun!
Whew, lots going on and lots to tell you. Thanks for reading! As always, check the classroom blog and the homework page for daily listings of homework assignments and other reminders and deadlines. After next week, I will be confirming with each of you about our parent/student/teacher conference times which happen in mid November. The first trimester ends November 30th, with report cards ready for viewing the next week. I'll keep you posted on everything!!
Melanie Hannam
Saturday, October 6, 2012
October 5, 2012 Weekly Update
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
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, 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
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