Hi Everyone! 

We will go to Old Salem next Friday, December 7th. Please fill out and return the permission slip your child brought home today. If you plan to chaperone, make sure you have let me know and you have completed the OCS background check this school year.  All students will need a bag lunch and parents must meet us at Old Salem. We plan to arrive there around 9:45.

For recess during the winter months we plan to go outside as long as it isn't raining or the windchill isn't below freezing. Please make sure you child has a sweatshirt, jacket, or other appropriate clothing for the weather each day. 

Students should be keeping their computer chargers at home, please help your child remember to charge their computer each night. Many students are saying they plug their computers in at home, but they are dead the next day at school. Please help them find a good place to charge and make sure they are correctly plugging everything in. 

In math:
We are finishing up our unit on multi digit multiplication and division. Each Friday I send home that weeks math classwork. Today students are bringing home work from this week and the short week last week. Many students are still struggling with these concepts solely because they have not yet memorized multiplication facts (through 10's). Please check with your child to see which fact families they need to work on, if any. For those that do, we have been working to identify which families they have not yet memorized and practice those. Some ideas for practice:

games on either: 
www.sheppardsoftware.com or 
https://www.topmarks.co.uk/maths-games/hit-the-button

flash cards
songs
quick practice in the car to/from school

In reading and writing we will wrap up our study of nonfiction with a mini unit focused on winter holidays around the world. Be on the look out for a letter coming home Monday with more about that unit and celebration at the end :)

In science students are completing writing and Google slide presentations about an animal they have researched, focusing on the adaptations that help that animal survive. By the end of next week we will begin sharing student presentations.

Important Dates:

Dec 7       Field trip to Old Salem (see info above)
Dec  14    Last day for students, report cards go home
Jan   7      First day of the 3rd 9 weeks 

Hello Everyone & Happy Fall! 

Here is a peek into our classroom. Right now is one of my favorite times of the year because we're doing lots of integration between academic areas!

In reading we are continuing our study of nonfiction, specifically looking at how readers handle new vocabulary and organize new information. Our science and writing units follow perfectly along with the nonfiction work we've already done this quarter- we will be studying animals and adaptations that help them survive and researching to write and create a slide show about one specific animal.

In math we will begin a unit that has many new objectives. We will start with 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication and end this quarter with division. The 4th grade curriculum requires that students will learn several different methods for multiplication and division. I know this can sometimes feel frustrating because this is not the way you and I were taught multiplication and division. As we look at different methods in class I will share examples of them here in case you need them to help your child complete classwork at home. Our main goal is to make sure all students learn a method that works for them, that they can understand and use consistently and independently. 

Next week HES will have our Fall Book Fair. Our class will visit the bookfair first thing Tuesday  (11/6) morning. 

Next week we will take NC Check Ins for both reading and math. These are standardized tests that are much like the EOG's. 

Important Dates:
Nov    6    Book fair
Nov   12   Veteran's Day, no school
Nov  21-23  Thanksgiving Break 

Dec  7  Old Salem Field trip
 info letter going home Friday 11/2
Dec  14   Last day of the 2nd 9 weeks