Welcome back to HES 

&

 to the 2015-16 school year!

We are off to a great start here in room 108! Thank you so much for all of the supplies you donated, we will work hard to make them last as long as possible :)

A few important reminders/info:

- please return beginning of the year forms
- school now ends at 2:50
- if your child's afternoon transportation plans change after they get to school, please call the office (919-732-6137)- I don't always get to check email and phones messages until after dismissal
- students may bring snack each day, they may also keep water at their seat but may not bring candy or other drinks in the classroom

Homework Info:

To start off the year homework will be:

- 20 minutes of  reading
This can be independent, being read aloud to, or a combo- please don't hesitate to continue reading aloud to your child even through 4th and 5th grade, especially if there is a challenging book that they really want to read!

-write for 10 minutes in your Writer's notebook
This week I am giving students an assigned topic. In class we are generating ideas for an "idea box" that will be in their notebooks. Starting next week they will choose their own topics to write about each night. While my expectation is NOT that this writing be like a final edited copy or "perfect", I do expect students to proofread their work for capital letters, punctuation, spelling of high frequency words, and that sentences make sense. 

*Math homework will be completed in class during our "study hall" time at the end of the day. If students use this time wisely and have a little extra time they can start on their 10 minutes of writing at school. If a student isn't working hard or is wasting time I will send home the math homework to be completed over the weekend.

Important dates:
July 23    Parent Info Night  
  AIG/EC-4:00-5:00,  2 reg classroom sessions- 5:00 or 6:00

Aug 19       Early Release @ 11:35*
(*please note the time change from last year)

Sept 11      End of the first 9 weeks

The final countdown….

...believe it or not there are just 2 short weeks of 4th grade left!

They will be 2 very busy weeks so here are some reminders and important info.

~no school Monday 5/25 for Memorial Day~

EOG’s will begin WEDNESDAY 5/27 with the reading test. Please make sure your child is on time, well rested, and has a good breakfast each day. We will eat lunch much later than normal and will not have a snack time. We will take the math test on THURSDAY 5/28.

We will celebrate the end of the EOG’s and our economics unit with a grade level ‘market day’ on Friday 5/29. Students have come up with an idea for a business to provide a good or service to their classmates in exchange for money they’ve earned for classroom jobs and good behavior. We will work on their products to sell after testing, there will be NO HOMEWORK next week so they may also work on their businesses then.

On Tuesday 6/2 we will have field day. Please make sure your child brings a water bottle and towel, and wears clothes and shoes appropriate for being outside most of the day. Also, I suggest applying sunscreen before coming to school.

We are working as a class to earn paper clips for good behavior. If our chain of paper clips makes it to the floor in time, we will have extra recess and possibly reading and lunch time outside on Wednesday. June 3rd.

Our second semester awards assembly will be held on Thursday, June 4th at 10:00 in the gym.

Our last day will be Friday, June 5th and we will dismiss at 11:20 that day. Report cards will go home the last day and should contain the EOG score report.

**If you have plastic grocery bags just taking up space at your house, our kids offering locker and desk clean out services as their business would love to have them.

Please email me if you have any questions :)

The home stretch

Believe it or not the 4th quarter is in full swing!

Here are some important dates and info to remember.

Tomorrow, April 9th is the Spring Concert in the gym. The students have been working so hard on their songs, I hope you enjoy their performance. They will be on the stage so please bring blankets or folding chairs to sit on.

Report cards for the 3rd quarter will be sent home this Friday, April 10. 

*April 29 was originally an early release day but is now a full day, also remember that we will be dismissing at 2:55 for the remainder of the year except our last day, June 5th, will be an early release day. 

EOG's will be given during the week of May 18. Our practice and prep for them will focus on how to read/interpret the test, just like we have studied other genres of reading throughout the year. I try very hard to minimize anxiety about these tests, while still emphasizing that students should do their best and use them as an opportunity to show all they've learned. If your child seems to be very stressed about the EOG's or you have questions please let me know. 

*May 25- Memorial Day, no school

For the next few weeks in reading we will be reading aloud the book Wonder by RJ Palacio. The novel is about a boy with many rare birth defects and his first time going to school as a 5th grader. We will be discussing social issues and looking for those in our independent books as well. The book is one of my most favorite to read with students as it is an amazing opportunity for them learn about/show empathy and hear/see things from a point of view that they themselves will thankfully never experience. Please ask your child their thoughts about this book and the main character Auggie, they're going to love it and will probably surprise you in a great way with their feelings toward him :)

In writing we will be crafting examples of traditional literature. First, we will read many examples of a fairy tales set all around the world and look for commonalities and differences. So far we have compared the typical, Disney-ish Cinderella to the book Smoky Mountain Rose: An Appalachian Cinderella by Alan Schroeder and Cendrillon- A Caribbean Cinderella by Robert D. San Souci. 

Right now in science we are studying food and nutrition. As part of this unit we are keeping food diaries and will be setting small goals for next week. Our main focus will be on identifying and increasing healthy habits and behaviors.

In math we are finishing up our measurement unit by studying the metric system. While this always seems to be more difficult than the customary system, I am focusing on how the math aspect is easier because you always using a factor of 10. 

Lastly, we will likely not have air conditioning for some time (we were told  something about it not being turned on until there were 3 consecutive days with the outside temperature above a certain point). As you could guess, even on a day with temps in the 60's,  25 warm bodies in a room makes for a pretty stuffy environment. As always, students are allowed to have a water bottle that they can refill and keep on their desks. 

BEWARE: Long post :)

January 2015

Welcome to the 3rd Quarter!

My how times flies! First of all, thank you for all of the wonderful, generous Christmas gifts, I truly appreciated them all!

We are off to a busy an exciting start this quarter. Below is a quick summary for each subject.

In Reading and Writing: 
We are focusing on the genre of Historical Fiction. We started by identifying the elements of this genre (based on and accurate to a time period) and how if differs from Nonfiction (not 100% facts). We are reading picture books set during the Civil Rights Era and I am reading aloud The Watson's Go to Birmingham-1963  by Christopher Paul Curtis. After each picture book we identified adjectives that describe the characters and how those attributes helped them. We are going to use these findings to begin a literary essay next week about the Civil Era. See some of our work below....

In Math:
 We are well into our fraction unit. We have reviewed the concept of a fraction as part of a whole, more than 0 but less than 1. We have also looked at a fraction as part of a group or collection. This week we studied improper fractions and mixed numbers. We will also move on to adding and subtractions with like denominators. 

In Science:

 We are studying electricity, possibly the most fun unit of 4th grade (for me and the kids!). We have built working circuits to light light bulbs, tested materials to determine if they are conductors or insulators and even lit light bulbs with the static from our hair!

Important Reminders/Info:

Feb 4       Early release day, 11:20
Feb 5       Science Fun For Everyone
               ($24/ per student, please send in by  Feb 2)

Mar 16    Make up day, end of the 3rd 9 weeks

We have used up all of the notebook paper and pencils sent in at the beginning of the year. I would appreciate any donations of pencils (mechanical or regular) and wide ruled paper. Thanks! 

Fun highlights from 

the last few weeks...

Team building exercise with Ms. Dovenbarger, students had to stack and unstack the cups using ONLY the rubber band tool provided :)

Our earthquake simulation lab...

Students attempted to build a structure using toothpicks and marshmallows that could withstand an earthquake. Our "ground" was 2 inch thick Jello.

                              

Future GIS experts! To review our geometry vocabulary students were tasked with creating their own "Geocity". Their town had to include certain buildings and streets meeting specific criteria, some streets parallel, some perpendicular, and a pool in the shape of a scalene triangle. 

                                                               

 Next week during our reading time we will do a short nonfiction mini unit. We will be learning about Christmas traditions in countries around the world and comparing/contrasting them to our traditions. To celebrate the end of the 9 weeks and our break :) we will spend next Friday (Dec. 12) charting what we've learned as we read different books/websites about other countries. I would like to have different foods from each country that we read about for the students to sample. Please let me know if you would like to send in an item listed below or if you have another idea of something that we could sample.

Ginger bread or ginger bread cookies (Germany, Sweden)

marzipan candy (Germany)

colored marshmallows , fruit salad w/ marshmallows (Mexico)

rice pudding (Sweden)
fruit cake or fruitcake cookies (England)

pizzelles (Italy)

Yule log cake (France…. maybe Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls?)

Sugar cookies (Norway)

Or please feel free to make or bring another snack- if your family has a special treat/tradition we’d love to taste it and hear about it!  We will also need water bottles or juice boxes, plates, napkins, and spoons or forks.

Thanks so much!

This week in 4th grade...


One of the highlights of our week was beginning our persuasive writing unit. We tackled the controversy of school uniforms :). We started with researching the benefits and down sides of the idea. Then we created a pro/con list. Using the list we created a thesis statement for each side of the argument. Lastly, students wrote and defended a thesis statement for each side of the argument, this was tough! Of course they wanted to write about the side they agreed with, but convincing them that they could still use facts to support an argument for the other side was rough!


Next week they will tackle a new controversial topic. They will go through the same process, a little more independently this time around. Once they have created a pro/con list they will choose a side and create a persuasive essay to defend their opinion. Here are a few pictures from our share time: