A few important updates/reminders:


Our spring book fair is next week. Our class will attend Wednesday morning if you would like to send money with your child. If you prefer that they only purchase books (not posters, pencils, etc let me know :)

Hopefully your child is working on the reading challenge we sent home before break. The 4th grade teachers are working on a pretty awesome reward for those students who rise to the challenge! If you have questions or need info about the reading challenge don't hesitate to ask!

Homework reminders:
- read for 20 minutes each night Mon-Thur and record it on the reading log (these are collected and returned each Friday)
-write for 10 minutes on a topic of your choice in your writer's notebook
-complete 30 minutes per week on www.tenmarks.com for now this can be ANY work (classwork, personal work, amplifiers, do-overs, etc) 

dates to remember:

May 24-25 EOG's
May 30      No School- Memorial Day
June 3        Last day of School

Science Day Fun!!!

As always, Science Fun For Everyone
made for a GREAT day! 

SO much fun learning about electricity! 

Onto "Moon in Motion"

 

learning about gravity while showing some Panther Pride!

Did you know we ALL have acid breath?!?

Holding 5 lbs of fat for 30 seconds was 

a LOT harder than they thought!

Reminders:

-next Wednesday 2/10 is an early dismissal day, we will get out at 11:35

- students should be completing their reading log each night Mon-Thurs, I take them up on Fridays and return them each Monday

-next Friday 2/12 we will visit the North Carolina Museum of Science and History in Raleigh, the cost is $7 and students need to bring a bag labeled lunch

**We could use some D size batteries for our Electricity unit starting next week.**

Have a great weekend and GO PANTHERS! :)

Important Dates & Reminders

February is the month for field trips! 

This Friday, 2/5 will be our last in-school science day. If you haven't already paid, the cost is $24.

Next Wednesday, February 10th is an early release day. We will dismiss at 11:35.

Next Friday, 2/12, is our trip to the NC Museum of History and NC Museum of Science in downtown Raleigh. The cost for this trip is $7.00 and all students will need a bagged lunch. We will leave at 8:00 and return a little before dismissal.Be on the look out for the permission slip one day this week, if you are interested in meeting us there let me know :)

On Thursday, February 18th we will be going to the NC Symphony in Raleigh. This trip is free for all students. Students will need to bring a bagged lunch- we will eat at school but may not be back in time for our regular lunch slot.

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If you have questions about the 2016-17 HES enrollment letter that went home last Friday, please call the office, 919-732-6137.

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Thank you for helping your child remember to complete their reading log each night. I'm seeing a little better continuity in "sticking with" a book until it's finished, rather than bouncing from book to book.

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It is not a requirement, but if students would like to make valentines they can. We will pass them out on on Monday, February 15th during our writing time. If your child would like to make cards, please make sure they do one for each member of the class. I'll have paper copies of a class list for them to take home. 

Happy New Year & Welcome Back!

First, I'd to thank all of you so much for all of the kind and thoughtful Christmas gifts and contributions to our Christmas Around the World party before break. I was so proud of the kids for being adventurous and trying foods that were new to them!


In Reading...
We will begin historical fiction book clubs focusing on the Civil Rights Era. Students will be mixed up with other 4th graders and may be with another teacher during this time. Our class will stay together for our read aloud, The Watson's Go to Birmingham-1963 This is one of my favorite books to read aloud because it helps make history interesting for them and the author is very good at using age appropriate humor to keep them engaged. I encourage you to ask them each day what happened and what they think of the book. The book was recently made into a movie for the Hallmark Channel, if you happen to have it please save it until after we finish reading the book :)

In Math...
At the end of last quarter we began looking at very basic properties of division. We used manipulatives to model and see what it means to break 2 digit numbers in to equal groups and what happens when there are leftovers (remainders). Next we will start division with larger numbers. We will be learning 2 different methods for greater number division. Most likely neither of these methods will look like the long division method that you remember.  I know this can be frustrating and confusing for parents, but I am asking that you trust that these methods will help your child to truly understand what happens to numbers when they are divided, rather than just help them memorize steps in a process (divide-multiply-subtract-bring down). In my 7-8 years of teaching division this way I have become a HUGE fan of these methods because of the success ALL students are able to have in math, even if they aren't already strong in math.

In Writing....
We will begin looking at persuasive writing. We will start with defining the word opinion and practice finding evidence to defend an opinion and persuade others to agree. By the end of the quarter students will go through the writing process (plan, draft, revise, edit) and create a persuasive essay and a literary essay.



In Social Studies....
We will be starting our unit focused on Government. Our first topics are:

- what is government?
-why do we need? government?

Next we will look at Colonial and other early American influences on government. 



**NEWS ABOUT HOMEWORK**
This 9 weeks I'm implementing 2 new components to our homework routine- don't panic yet, it's not that bad :)

Reading for 20 minutes and writing for 10 minutes each night will remain the same.

Beginning this week your child will being home a reading log. Each night,  please help them fill out the chart with the info about what they read, how long, etc. I will take these up each Friday and return them on Monday. They will be on bright card stock and will hopefully survive back and forth in backpacks.

Beginning next week (Jan 11)  I am asking that they spend 30 minutes PER WEEK on TenMarks. Most of what they will do at home should be 'jam sessions'. These are fluency practice and review of things we've already learned. They may also complete 'do-overs' and amplifiers at home, but assignments and assessments will be completed in class. It is completely up to you to decide how it works best with your schedule to complete the 30 minutes, but I suggest at least 2 separate times rather than one 30 minute chunk. If you need another copy of the directions to access Tenmarks from home, please let me know. 

Classroom needs:
-pencils
-baby wipes
-colored post it notes


important dates:

January 4-25   mid year reading level assessments
January 6,7     Orange County benchmark assessments, reading and math
January 18     No School, MLK, Jr day
January 21     PTA meeting

February 10  Early Release, 11:35 

March   9    Early Release, 11:35 
March  11   End of 3rd 9 weeks

As always, please feel free to email me anytime you have questions or concerns! 

End of the quarter updates:

Can you believe we are almost halfway through the year?!?

**Tomorrow (Wednesday), 12/2 is an early release day, students will be dismissed at 11:35**

Something fun for next week:

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.

*2nd quarter report cards will be sent home next Friday 12/11*

Important dates:

12/11--- end of 2nd 9 weeks

1/4 --- beginning of the 3rd quarter

1/18 --- no school, MLK Jr holiday

2/10 --- early release

Important Reminders…..

Our first field trip will be Friday November 6th, today your child should be bringing home a permission slip and green info note. See a copy of the note below. Please let me know if you have any questions.

The theme for our class basket to be auctioned at the HES Fall Festival (Saturday, Nov 7th) is baking and cooking. Some ideas of items to donate; cookie cutters, sprinkles, baking mixes, or anything you can think of!

What’s going on in our classroom…

It’s getting pretty wild in here, actually! For the next several weeks we are focusing our reading, writing, and science time on animal adaptations. Students have chosen an animal and begun their research, specifically into what about that animal helps it survive. We have talked about how reading as a researcher is different than reading for pleasure, and how to annotate a text or take notes to later turn into paragraphs. Eventually they will compose a feature article, complete with nonfiction text features (like phots, graphs, charts, etc).  We have also identified things that seem really strange about certain animals, but that are actually really helpful for their survival.

In math we have reviewed rounding and multi digit addition and subtraction. Our next topic is area and perimeter. We will still continue to review multiplication facts, please continue to work on these at home as well. Knowing multiplication facts up to the 10’s with automaticity (having them memorized) is crucial to success with multi digit multiplication and division. Many students are practicing these on www.tenmarks.com or other sites that we’ve used in class. If you would like info about how to help your child master these facts, please let me know.

important dates:

October 30 field trip money and permission slips due

November 2-6 HES bookfair (we will visit as a class on the 5th)

                 6 field trip to Reed’s Gold Mine State Historic Site

 7 HES Fall Festival 10-2

11 No school, Veteran’s Day

    25-27     Thanksgiving Break

December 2 Early Release

11 end of the 2nd quarter

**Field trip info**

FIELD TRIP REMINDERS

4th grade is going  to Reed’s Gold Mine Historic Site in Midland NC on Friday, November 6th. The cost for this trip is $24.00 per person for both students and chaperones. Please send in the completed permission slip and money for students and parents riding the bus by Friday October 30th.  If you are driving your own car and meeting us there you will pay Reed’s Mine (for panning) when you arrive. PLEASE EMAIL YOUR CHILD’S TEACHER ASAP IF YOU WOULD LIKE A CHAPERONE SPOT ON THE BUS. Students and chaperones will need to bring a bagged lunch and drink. Food and drinks are allowed on the buses, but drinks must be in bottles (no cans or juice boxes) and they ask that students not have gum or candy. This is an extended day trip. Please see the itinerary below.

itinerary for Reed’s Gold Mine field trip

7:00- arrive at HES, board the bus

7:15- depart HES

9:30- arrive at Reed’s Gold Mine State Historic Site

9:45-11:35 students will be in 4 groups, rotate between stations: film, exhibits, underground tour, stamp mill

11:35-12:15 lunch

12:15-1:45 finish rotations

2:00 board the buses, depart Reed’s Gold Mine

~4:15 arrive back at HES

**Our return time is an estimate, if you are not joining us for the trip please make arrangements for your child to go to afterschool or be picked up at school at 4:00 pm. We will call you if we are running ahead or behind schedule. **

Welcome Back! 

Even though fall break is AWESOME,  I was so happy to see all of your kiddos Monday morning! I sure did miss them!

Here's some important info about our 2nd 9 weeks:

PTA FALL FESTIVAL

Each year, the PTA hosts a fall festival (or in the past a winter carnival). For the festival each year, classes put together a themed basket to raffle off.  This year, our class basket theme is "Baking and Cooking"!  If you are able to provide an item  (Or Gift cards to Barnes and Noble, or Purple Crow, etc) to add to our basket, please send in donations by November 2nd.  I'll keep them until the PTA comes to collect the baskets.  We also need a basket to put the books in.  If anyone has a basket at home they are willing to give up, it would be greatly appreciated!

READING
This quarter we are focusing our reading time on nonfiction. So far  we have identified similarities and differences between fiction and nonfiction, and started identifying and discussing nonfiction text features such as charts, graphs, maps,etc. I am asking that for the next week or so students have a nonfiction book as there "just right" book for independent reading time in class and at home. 

Some questions to ask your child to find out a little more about what we are learning:

- What does it mean to "activate your prior knowledge"?
-Why is it important to activate your prior knowledge before reading nonfiction?
-Besides the text, what do authors include in nonfiction to help you learn an understand?


WRITING
Writing will be very similar to reading this 9 weeks, as we are also focusing on nonfiction. Right now we are identifying and practicing research skills to acquire information to write a nonfiction piece. We are starting VERY small, but by the end of the quarter your child will compose a feature article about an an animals and its adaptations for survival. 

SCIENCE
We are currently working on how the surface of the changes, specifically erosion, weathering, and deposition. Later in the quarter our science objectives will be integrated into the animal adaptation writing project mentioned above. 


MATH
In math we are working on place value. We are reviewing writing and understanding numbers in different forms, for example:

standard form: 2,345

word form: two thousand three hundred forty-five

expanded form: 2,000+300+40+5

Next we move on to adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers.

I'm excited to share that we now have access to a great online math program. Your child may have used Tenmarks some last year. This year the county has purchased the "premium" version for all Orange County students. Yesterday I sent home sheets with the access code you need to use this program at home. Right now I am not requiring any work on Tenmarks be completed at home, but I may in the future. Right now I encourage you to have your child work on some of the "jam sessions" (fluency practice) and any games that they have earned enough points to purchase.


Many of you have asked if there is anything we need in our classroom, I just can't thank you enough for your kindness and generosity for our students! Right now we could use some pencils- please no mechanical ones as they have proved to be a huge distractions for some of our classmates.

As always please feel free to contact me at any time if you have questions or concerns about your child.

Important Dates:

October       13     Case21 benchmark assessment for all 4th graders (reading)
                    14     EARLY RELEASE and Case21 benchmark assessment for all 4th graders (math)
                    15     Safe Touch program

November     7     PTA Fall Festival
                     11    No School- Veteran's Day
                     25-27  Thanksgiving Break

December     2     early release
                     11    last day of the 2nd 9 weeks