Paper Newsletter this Week

I thought I would send home a paper newsletter to make sure that all of you are up to date on the great things we have been accomplishing in our class this year. It has come to my attention that when you open the classroom blog, it may not open to the most recent update. I am updating it at least once a week, so please make sure you are in October and that you have had a chance to read all of our updates.

We have had a great first week back to normal after Rocks and Minerals. Our Reading and Writing Workshops have been very productive as we work on our study of Non-Fiction. We have taken a close look at 9 text features of a Non-Fiction piece of writing and will do 11 more next week. It is important for all great readers to understand why authors use the different features when writing in Non-Fiction.

Our first pieces of writing are all drafted and typed as a draft. I am taking the time to read and edit all of the pieces. We will be working hard to finish these on Wednesday of next week.

In the meantime we will be starting our next writing unit of How To. Your writer will be asking for your help in coming up with an idea for something they can teach us how to do in class. More info to come on Wednesday!

Our math unit for this week and next is multiplication and division. PLEASE make sure your mathematician is practicing their facts. It is very important that they learn them now. It will make math easier going forward.

In Social Studies, we have begun our study of Native Americans. We will b e making comparisons between the Iroquois and the Algonquin tribes. We will be reading picture books and selections from SS text books to fill in comparison charts.

HELP!
It has come to my attention that there are some inappropriate games being played at recess and during snack. There are very clear rules in school that we keep our hands to ourselves. We will begin having snacks at our desks to help us remember how to remain clam.

I would also like to ask that all trading cards, toys, etc. remain at home. I some students are feeling excluded when they do not have cards, etc to trade.

Thank You
Thank you to all families that are sending in goodies and paper products for our Harvest Party.

I also appreciate all of the books that were bought for our classroom from the PTA Book Fair!!

I can’t wait for a fantastic November with your students!!!

Back to a Normal Schedule

With the conclusion of a fantastic work of science, we are getting back to our regular schedule. A special thanks to Mr. Cohen who did some fantastic scientific study with our classes (and their buddies) on Friday afternoon!

In Reading Workshop we will be starting our unit on Non-Fiction. We will begin by looking at where we find it and what we use it for. We will also take a look at some of the characteristics included in NF such as Title, Bold Words, Italics, Labels, Graphs, Captions, Table of Contents, Headings, and Subheadings.

For Writing Workshop we are a little behind and will finish publishing and conferencing about our first published work. It is going well but takes a bit longer for me to meet with everyone that I had anticipated!

We will begin our study of multiplication in math. PRACTICE FACTS PLEASE! They need to be mastered in order for the rest of our year to go smoothly! Each night they will have different fact families to be working on! Please help your mathematician by investing some time!

On Monday we are going to have a quiz on our Rocks and Minerals Unit and then we will begin our second Social Studies unit of the year - Native American's. We will take a close look and make comparisons between the Iroquois and Algonquin Tribes in NYS.

The book fair is next week. Wednesday is our preview day and Thursday is our buying day.

We will have a small celebration of Halloween on Friday as well. Thank you to the parents who signed up to send in snacks!

George Steele will also meet with our class on Thursday so we need to be dressed appropriately for spending the afternoon outside!

Have a great weekend! I am so proud of your learners!

Stop Light

Please take a minute tonight to discuss our new behavior plan with your student. We are starting a stoplight to help monitor our class rule of respect. There is a sheet that is going home today with explanations.

In addition, coming home today is a Midterm Update. This will have all averages for your student thus far in fourth grade. Please sign and return it to me Friday.

We are loving ROCKS and MINERALS and I will post another update tomorrow!!

Rocks and Minerals!!!

Next week is Rocks and Minerals Week! All science all the time!!! We will be partnering with Mrs. Kourt's class for a week of science discovery.

We will be taking a break from Math, Social Studies, Reading Workshop, and Writing Workshop Lessons. Don't worry, we will still be reading and writing!


I love science Academy and can't wait to see your scientists at work!

CHANGE: Our SS test has been postponed until TUESDAY! Your student will have their study guide sent home on Friday for ample time for review.

Short Week

This week may only be a short one but we have LOTS to get done! Next week is our 1st Science Week - Rocks and Minerals - all week long! In order to get ready for that we must finish up all of our other units.

We will conclude Literary Life with a look at a few more good reading strategies: Wonderings, Authors Purpose, and Lessons Learned.

In Math we will be concluding our review of addition and subtraction strategies by subtracting across 0's, making change, word problems, and a test.

For Social Studies will wrap up with geography. Our NYS maps are almost done and we will be doing some reading on the topography of the state. We will have a SS test on Friday as well.

Writing Workshop will consist of revision and editing of our first piece. This will not be finished but we will continue to conference and publish over Rocks and Minerals week.

I hope everyone rested up this weekend!

Cyberbullying Presentation

I attended last nights panel discussion on Cyberbullying. I was disappointed by the parent turnout to discuss this as I think it can be a big problem in our students lives. It easily goes undetected and from what the Student Body President said, many students may not even know they are bullying with the things that they text, write online, or post to sites.

I am going to do everything I can to teach internet safety to Team Jones but I am going to need to partner with you to continue to reinforce the ideas at home and for years to come!

I took away a fantastic idea that I want to share with you...recently a parent at a sleepover party took away all of the cell phones when the guests entered the house. This immediately got rid of the cameras and potential for children to do things (send texts, make phone calls, etc) due to peer pressure. I thought it was a fantastic idea!

Thank you for working with me on all of the important skills that I am teaching in 4th grade!!!

Word Problems

Please note that today your mathematician will have ONE word problem for homework. There is also a yellow paper coming home for parent instructions on how to help your student with word problems without giving them the answer or leading their thinking. Please review it and keep it handy for more assignments that will come home!!