September 8, 2016

                                           

	Thank you so much for all of your support at home. Checking your child’s planner nightly is important for the most up to date information on homework and important notes. Fourth grade is a big transition year. We want students to be more responsible for their work at home and school. Also, the content we cover in 4th grade is much deeper and may be new for your child than ever in the past. You may not always see A’s coming home on papers or in the grade book. We are challenging your child and growing their brain.
Subject	Learning Targets and Activities for week of:  9/5-9/16
Reading	We are wrapping up our overview of reading is thinking strategies. We learned about monitoring and clarifying while we are reading. We discussed what are some fix-up strategies to do when they come to a word they do not know or are not understanding the text. We also discussed summarizing and asking questions. Students are reading stories and stopping to ask questions as they read. We have set up a reader’s notebook to write about what we are reading. Next week, we will move into learning about character traits. Students will be assessed on this skill in the upcoming weeks. Your child’s nightly reading homework is to read at least 20 minutes each night.
Writing	We are diving deeper into the writing process. Students are learning how to use small moments in their lives to create stories. We also discuss using sensory details in their writing as well as focus on the editing/revising skills on their personal narratives.
Word Study	Today we took our first word study test. Students were tested on the first 10 Fry words. They also had to sort words into open or closed syllable categories, and wrote two dictation sentences. Their test will come home tomorrow. Any words that students misspell will be placed in their personal dictionaries. I will also pass out Unit 2 words tomorrow. Students are to complete 2 activities using their Fry words (see list that comes home). This assignment is due Wednesday, September 21st. Finally, we focus on the feature words in class. Unit 2 feature is open and closed syllables with inflected endings (-ed and -ing). We have new workbooks that will help students with their feature words. Students will be tested on their Fry and feature words on Thursday, September 22nd.
Flynn Math	We are continuing to work on place value concepts and addition and subtraction strategies. Also, students started a weekly check called “Weekly Math”. The front or “focus” side (skills we worked on in class) is counted as a grade for 8 points. The first 2 we worked through together to understand the procedure. Every other week, students will get a new one. On Wednesdays, I encourage them to turn them in for a check. I will place a colored dot next to any number that needs to be fixed, missing a label, etc. Students then have the opportunity to correct their mistakes before turning them in for a grade on Friday. If your child receives below a 70%, they can correct and return for a better grade. The corrections will be done in class. The back side is a review side of past concepts that are not graded. Next week’s Weekly Math will be the first one to be counted as a grade.   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: Tomorrow, 9/9. There will be a new math hw passed out tomorrow due the following week on 9/16.
Content Areas	S.S. – Map Skills continue to be our focus. Students will be learning where Ohio’s land regions are located next week that will wrap up this unit. The test is pushed off for now until we get through this information. I will keep you informed asap and a study guide will come home. Also, we began reviewing Ohio Studies Weekly (OSW). This is a newspaper in which students will read and answer questions about. A letter will be coming home soon explaining the procedure. Sometimes, OSW will be given for hw and sometimes will be done in class. 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

*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!

*Thank you for all of the donations for the Maker Space and pop bottles!

Important Dates:

Tuesday, 9/13 - PTO Meeting @ LES Media Center

Thursday, 9/15- Picture Day! Ice Cream Social @ 6:00 - LES