Thursday!

First, my apologies! I've been a TERRIBLE blogger this week! I don't think I've ever missed so many days in a row!! I am so sorry.  Things have truly felt like a whirlwind this week with lots of meetings, etc.  Hopefully, you have been able to keep up with things through your child's planner and conversations with your child!

*A little re-cap of this week:
This week we have been working on our diagnostic tests of our reading comprehension groups.  So we have not had tier 2 RtI groups this week.  Students have still been getting their small group time with me, we just haven't called it the RtI time. :)  This week I was also out in the morning yesterday to work with Mr. Brehm, Mrs. Maldonado, and our elementary director, Julie Hawkins to continue to help our school as a whole bring the best education to your children! Lots of wonderful things are happening this year and LOTS of great things are going to happen next year.  I am so excited about GSE! :)
http://www.kentucky.com/2013/01/30/2496813/kentucky-schools-to-submit-improvement.html

Students also participated in the NAEP test today - The Nation's Report Card.  Lucky us, we were randomly selected.  Students from the grade level were randomly selected through the NAEP administrators.  These students worked so hard this morning from 8:30-10:00 on testing.  What this means (and you received a letter about it earlier in the year) is that the findings from this test will help give us the Nation's Report Card for 4th grade.  Unfortunately we will not see the results ourselves, but will be looking at it as a whole. 
For the kids that were not randomly selected, they worked on grammar skills, technology skills, math skills, etc. during the morning.  In the afternoon, it was suggested by Mr. Brehm to give the kids a movie reward.  So, we watched a G rated movie where the students kept a record of the setting, characters, emotions of characters, and problem/solution to go along with our reading standards.

FYI:
School IS in session for Feb. 8th - make up day for the snow day
Thank you to my sweet cutting volunteers! I will have more soon!! :)
If anyone is out and finds a pack of the long but skinny sticky note pads with multi colors, please let me know! I can't seem to find them!!
Valentine's Day Party is Feb. 14th.  More to come soon!
Showcase Night/Book Fair is Feb. 13th 5-7
My classroom is looking for good chapter books on different genres other than fiction - sports, informational, historical fiction, plays, poetry, science texts, etc.  If you can help we'd love it!

Our Learning Targets for the Week:
We have been staying with our previous units and will be testing over these items next week.  So, our targets/outcomes have been similar to the ones I will provide you below with.

Science LO: I can explain weathering and erosion and how they are slow changes to the Earth's surface.
Activity: This week we have been learning about weathering and how it is similar and different from erosion.  Students have taken to their writing to be able to explain how each is important.

SS LO: I can explain the regions of KY.
Activity: Students have been working on learning the 6 regions of KY and how they are each unique to our state.  Students created a mystery poem that they will share with you on our Showcase night about a certain region of KY.

Reading LO: I can - determine the setting, character's changes, plot, and events in a text of a story.
Activity: We have been working on complex stories where the character changes his emotions throughout the story and with several different settings making it clear that main ideas and settings can change a little. 

Writing LO: I can use prepositions in my writing.  I can create a draft of my narrative.
Activity: We've been learning about prepositions this week and the correct usage.  We've also been drafting our narratives.

Math LO: I can - add/sub unlike denominators, multiply whole numbers and fractions
Activity: Students have been learning some tough stuff in fractions this week! It was awesome to seem them work through the whole number/fraction multiplication problems yesterday.  They were SO PROUD when they figured out it was just repeated addition!  We are hoping to test next Thursday or Friday...I'll let you know early in the week if I keep that!

Tomorrow we will be finishing up our Friday Technology/Black History Month projects to show you on Showcase Night! The kids were split into multiple intelligence groups to develop a well thought out activity involving reading standards, writing standards, art/technology standards, and speaking/listening standards.  The snow day got us behind a bit!! :)

AND....if you made it through this super long blog - THANK YOU for reading and being interested and invested in your child's school day!! I truly appreciate it!