Monday, August 29, 2016

	Students did a fantastic job with their first full week of 4th grade!
Subject	Learning Targets and Activities for week of:  8/29-9/2
Reading	Check out the link below to play a game about making connections. We did a few in class. :) http://www.pspb.org/blueribbon/games/connections/Connection.html As we discuss what readers are thinking when they read, we will continue to focus on visualizing and asking questions. We will also have an introduction to summarizing this week.   I am sharing a read aloud with the students and your child is reflecting in their reader’s notebook.  Your child’s nightly reading homework is to read at least 20 minutes each night.
Writing	Students learned about the components of a paragraph. We learned it is important to include a topic sentence, details, supporting details and a closing sentence. Students colored coded a paragraph I modeled and then colored their own writing. They recognized when a topic sentence, detail, and supporting details should belong. This week students will discover where authors get their ideas from and start to create their own ideas for writing.
Word Study	Our feature for unit 1 of word study is focusing on open and closed syllables.  An open syllable means no letters come after the vowel. (ex. he, ba by, pa per) In closed syllables, the vowel is followed by a consonant. (ex. cap, hap pen, sit) Knowing the syllable types will help the student be a much better speller. When spelling multisyllable words, students should spell the word syllable by syllable. Teach them to say the first syllable, then write it down; then say the next syllable, and write it down. Using just this approach, students can spell many words accurately. Of course this does not work for all words. We will be doing lots of sorts with open and closed syllables in the classroom. You will see some of these sorts come home. Students are not tested on a set amount of feature words, but are tested if they can sort open and closed syllables. This are not set words or homework for feature words. Students did bring home Fry words this past Friday. They need to study the first 10 words and complete 2 activities from the blue sheet of paper by Wednesday, September 7th. The test will Thursday, September 8th. We will be practicing their feature words-open and closed syllables in class. No homework was sent home for the feature words.
Flynn Math	Students have been working hard on addition/subtraction strategies. Ask your child about the most efficient and accurate strategies. Also, we discussed what it means to be a flexible thinker. There will be a short assessment coming up next week for addition and subtraction as a check to see if students are grasping the concepts. We will be working hard to prepare in class. Study guides are not given for short assessments. However, for larger assessments or summatives, study guides will be provided. Please note that your child’s log in information for the sites xtramath.org and sumdog.com will be coming home this week as well. Please have your child log onto these sites throughout the week to use. Please find them stapled to the inside cover of the planner. HW for Flynn Math is due: Thursday, Sept. 1st.
Content Areas	S.S. – Map Skills and where Ohio is located in relation to the United States continues to be our focus. We will be specifically looking at relative and exact locations and map scale this week as well. Ask your child about the Quizzizz lesson we did! They seemed to have a lot of fun with it! A vocabulary map skills quiz will be coming up at the end of next week. I will be sending home a study guide soon. Also, if you see a paper called “Ohio Dailies” in your child’s weekly folder (coming home tomorrow) and it says $25 bonus bucks at the top then your child earned those bonus bucks by doing extra challenges. These are provided to students every week. They can turn them in whenever they finish to earn bonus bucks.

Reminders & Important Information

Getting to Know You Days Schedule: *In order to best prepare our lessons and to meet all students’ individual needs, we will once again follow a staggered schedule for assessment days. These “Getting to Know You Days” will give us the opportunity to complete several content area assessments quickly and individually.  In an effort to provide students with some time to become re-acclimated to the school setting and to get comfortable in their classrooms, we are conducting our assessment days a little later this year. Our hope is that the children will have reclaimed their learning stamina and had some time to build relationships with new classroom teachers, yielding more accurate results and a better picture of what they know and can do. September 2 and September 6 will be our “Getting to Know you Days”.   On these days students will either come Friday, September 2nd or Tuesday, September 6th. The students will only attend one of these days.  This will enable our teaching staff the opportunity to complete these individualized assessments. **Students in grades 1-5, with last names beginning with A-L, will attend on Friday, September 2nd and will be off on Tuesday, September 6. **Students in grades 1-5, with last names beginning with M-Z, will attend on Tuesday, September 6th and be off on Friday, September 2nd. **All students will be off on Monday, September 5th in observance of Labor Day.

*In order to minimize illness throughout the school year, please send your child in with a small bottle of hand sanitizer to place in their lockers. Students will be either asked to wash or use the sanitizer before and after lunch and snacks. If your child is sensitive to hand sanitizer, then we will stick with hand washing.

*Please note that there is still time for students to turn in their summer and math homework. Each is worth 5 points of their grade. If you need a new copy, please let us know and we will send home. Also, if your child is new to our district then they are not required to complete the summer activities.

*Although few or no grades have been entered into your child’s gradebook, please see the PIV letter that came home today. It includes the password to access your child’s gradebook. Please keep it in a safe place. Also, we encourage you to allow your child to access their gradebook and take responsibility as well.

*Students who attended Leighton last year will be bringing home their test results from last year.

*We encourage students to bring their own device to school with their name labeled on it. We often use devices during math and reading. We will only use the device for educational purposes. We do have enough technology here in case your child does not or is not permitted to bring a device. Also, please make sure your child charges them at home. Thank you for your support!

*Finally, if you have extra craft materials at home that you are no longer using, I would love to have them here in the classroom for our Maker Space. If you are willing to donate items could include: googly eyes, ribbon, fancy paper, stickers, glitter glue, etc. We are still in need of empty 2 Liter pop bottles for science. Feel free to send in as many as you can as we will use them for years to come.

Important Dates:

Monday, September 5 - Labor Day - No School

Friday, September 2: Getting to Know You Days: Last names starting with A –L

Tuesday, September 6: Getting to Know You Days: Last names starting with M-Z