Thursday

I am hosting a Women's Study group today after school so it will be short! :)

HW:
Math - your child has one equation to show you
Literacy - literacy letter due


Have a good night!

Wednesday

FYI:
Wednesday Folders are coming home today! Please look through them and return the EMPTY folder with your child tomorrow!

Thank you for helping your child remember to ask you to sign the planner!

Math: I can compare numbers to the thousands (and beyond) place.
HW: one sheet with 2 questions
Parents - if your child shows you the work, tell them this "gambit" - Hip, Hip, Hooray!! (while smacking each hip!) We have been doing this as a part of Kagan! :)

Literacy: I can determine the main idea of a text.  I can build my stamina as a writer. 
HW: read The Lorax poem aloud to YOU as a part of Fluency practice.
HW: read 20 minutes (more or less) to get your 100 minutes in a week
We did a COOL activity with a book titled Hey! Get Off Our Train!  Ask your child to tell you about the book and which animal they were. Then ask your child how it related to our science lesson!

Science: I can explore the habitat and food chain of my animal.  I can determine harmful changes to its environment.
Ask your child what happens when an animal's main food source is no longer available.

Have a WONDERFUL night!! :)

Tuesday

Just showing HW on Tuesdays! :)

HW:
Math-  page 9 in blue workbook

Reading - 20 minutes (or make up from another night) reading

**Boy Scout sheet coming home tonight - parent meeting on Wednesday at GSE
**Eco Club (Energy Club) sheet due TOMORROW if your child wants to participate

Have a great night!

Monday!

5 Day week!! :)

FYI:
Your child received their Literacy Letter today! This is due EVERY Friday! It is similar to a book log.  I have included an organizer sheet they are able to use this week.

Math:
Students took a placement test today. They will know results by Monday.
No HW

Literacy Block:
Literacy Letters (KEEP) - read 20 minutes
I can determine key details in an informational text. 
I can read with good punctuation.
I can read words with re-, un-, dis- prefixes.
I can build my stamina as a writer.
HW: read 2o minutes

Science:
I can classify and describe 3 types of consumers in a food chain.
*Ask your child to tell you what: herbivore, carnivore, omnivore means. If they get it right please place a STAR next to your initials in the planner.
No HW

Have a good night! :)

NEEDS: small spiral notebooks for each child - 23...anyone have any pulls with Wal-Mart or Staples?!?!?! :)  Would love to purchase these for CHEAP!!!

Wednesday

Hi! Sorry again for the delayed blog. Our Internet connection in the portable wasnt working its best so I am typing from phone again. Please excuse errors.

HW: finish math page and finish reading page

Thanks!

Tuesday

Quick post from my phone.... Tuesdays are staff meetings

HW: page 1 of spiral math workbook

Please ask your child about what we did!!

Thanks!

Monday!

*A few things:
I do not blog on Fridays! :)
Please help your child remember to ask you to sign planner (it is their responsibility, not yours!)
HW will begin tomorrow...Literacy Letters will begin next week after I have had a chance to meet with each student about choosing "Good Fit" books.
Snacks are allowed as long as they are healthy
Please send your child with an umbrella!! You never know!! :) :) :)

Math: I can read multi digit numbers in standard and word form.
Today we worked on the flow of math groups.  Students may move from groups from time to time, but they will usually work in these groups.  There is a teacher led group, activity group, and practice time.

Literacy:
I can explain the difference between inferred and explicit details. 
We worked a lot on this with finding evidence in our texts to support what our inference stated.
I can read with proper phrasing.
Students worked on reading and comprehending a poem about the pollution of trees.
I can describe my body language during writer's workshop.  I can make connections to myself from other texts.
Students listened to a story and made connections to important events and people in their lives. This will help us with writing a personal narrative later on.
**Sight Words and Prefixes:
Students were given 5 sight words this week. They wrote them in their ABC journals.  Students were also given the prefixes, pre- and post-.  We briefly discussed these words and wrote them in the planners.  Students will be practicing on these weekly in class.  Students will read and spell the words by Friday (sight words) and use the words correctly by Friday (prefixes).  Thursday for this week.

Science:  I can explain why the food chain begins with the sun.
We worked on Round Robin groups to create land and water food chains.  Please ask your child the Learning Target.  If they answer correctly, please place a star in the planner.

THANKS! :)

Thursday

Good Afternoon!

We had another great day! I won't go into all the details (I'd be typing for forever!) but please ask your child about them!

*played Fan N Pick and Rally Robin (more kagan strategies)

Math: I can relate numbers to myself.
Played a math numbers game where we saw that math is used every day!

Reading: I can brainstorm what good readers do.
We read from Hoot and practiced pre-reading and during reading strategies.  We also read a very neat article on Mars rover, Curiosity.  We picked out text features, related unknown words, and developed the essential need for all living things (to tie into science).

Writing: I can write a fiction passage based on a non-fiction article.
We created our own quick stories as if we were on the Mars rover.  Students wrote their answers on a astronaut helmet.  Come take a look - they are hanging outside our class door.

Science: I can explain a hypothesis.  Please ask your child about this and the experiment we did! It was fun!

**Because our lunch is SO late, I have told the kids they can bring in a snack for themselves.  Students know this must be a healthy snack and one that they can eat while completing their work.  If they are unable to complete their work at the same time, their snack time will be taken away.
**Please no peanut/tree nut foods.

Students worked again to get along with their team groups and work together!

DAY ONE

WHOOP WHOOP!

We made it! And as promised, the kids had a happy day! :)




We had a fabulous day, but as always, we did not get to half of what I had planned!

One thing we did practice was Dismissal.  We wanted to make sure your child knew exactly what to do and where to go!

Our Learning Outcomes for today:
I can describe the expectations of 4th grade.
I can determine important facts in my classmates.
I can learn great ways to teambuild and have fun!

We did a lot of our activities through the Kagan Models that GSE has adopted.  I've hyperlinked it HERE if you'd like to read more about it. (click on the word here)

**Please work with your child this week and next to help get them used to asking you to sign their planners.  Soon it will be their responsibility!


What we did:
organized supplies with sticky notes
played Quiz-Quiz-Trade
read from Hoot
created an All About Me pennant
worked hard to get to know the other people at our tables

*****If anyone is able to make some cheer gambits that would be great!**** (involves cutting, pasting, laminating)

Transportation on Day

Ok, I think I know how to answer your questions on this now...

There will be a bus lane similar to the one before and the car circle in the same as of now.  There will be MANY adults ready and outside willing to help! Kids will walk to the portables unless they need to eat breakfast in the cafeteria.  

*Students will be coming to the ROOM now at 7:15 until 7:45. There will be no more Gym holding area (because we don't have a gym, HAHA). 

YOU are more than welcome to walk your child to our room in the portable the first few days! Anything that will make you feel better is fine by me!! :)

I DO encourage you to try and stop by at some point on TUESDAY for the Open House Day.  I'd really appreciate you filling out your transportation forms so I can have that ready to go earlier rather than later! :)

THANKS!

Welcome x2

Hi! Is it just me or do you feel like the school year has already begun?!

Thanks SO much for those families who were able to make it to the Park night! Feedback seemed to be positive! I also enjoyed getting to some of your homes who didn't make it as well!

I'm up to my eyeballs in boxes galore out in the portable  multiplex.  I do have to say, it is much nicer than I anticipated! Our rooms are nice and clean, we have really big bathrooms, and 2 windows! Oh, the little things! :)  I will be working in my room every day until school starts getting it ready for your kiddos!

Several people asked me how exactly to get to the multiplex on the first day... I am still unsure of that answer! But I do know they are building a new bus circle and I am assuming there will be a car circle as well.  There is also a nice sidewalk being built from the school down to the multiplex.  No worries, I am sure Mr. Brehm will have all of this worked out and communicated for you all before next Wednesday!!!

I'm looking forward to seeing some of you drop by on Open House Day on Tuesday.

Thanks,

Mrs. Burton