Happy New Year...almost!

Hi girls!

I hope your break has been amazing! I have enjoyed my break even though I was a bit under the weather for the first week. Thank you so much for the two gift cards from all of you. Mr. Hiscock and I went to Azzurro on Friday and had a delicious dinner!

We have a very short week coming up when we return to school on Thursday! Pastor Collins from Shepherd's Way Relief Center is coming to talk to us and the fourth grade boys from St. Chris on Thursday morning at 9. The boys are walking over to join us. He will talk about his mission and prepare us for our visit there on January 9. On Friday, we will have a field trip to the movies! We leave after lunch and it will be tons of fun! You do need to wear your field trip attire on Friday since we will be off campus.

Here are some reminders for the short week ahead.

• Abby is our carpool helper next week
• Our class will be visiting Shepherd's Way Relief Center on Wednesday, January 9, for a fourth grade outreach project. This letter provides the details and a sign up for food. Thank you for your support!
• Field Trip to Bow-Tie theater on 1/4. Please remember field trip attire. 
• Scavenger Hunt

Weekly Update

We had a fun short week after the beautiful snow that winter storm Diego brought to Richmond! We spent much of our week finishing up an abstract noun project. The girls chose 4-6 abstract nouns that represent the holidays to them and they then wrote a short script using each word. They recorded themselves sharing their scripts, gathered relevant photos, and assembled everything into an Animoto movie. They did a great job and here they are!

Emily	Virginia
Tilden	Katie
Amelia	Abby
Tayloe	Claiborne
Karrington	Selah
Eleanor	Alice
Addisyn	Vivienne
Sloane	Natalie
Juliet	Riley

Next week is all about the Gifts Service. We spent time today looking over the schedule and discussing costumes. Please click here to see costume information.

Here are some reminders for the short week ahead.

• Abby is our carpool helper next week
• Presents are due Monday for our class gift exchange. Please have the presents wrapped!
• Our class will be visiting Shepherd's Way Relief Center on Wednesday, January 9, for a fourth grade outreach project. This letter provides the details and a sign up for food. Thank you for your support!
• Scavenger Hunt

Snow Day!

Girls!

I hope you have a great day off from school tomorrow. Sam, George, and I are excited about all of the snow we have in our yard. Please keep reading in All of a Kind Family...you need to be finished through chapter 9 by Friday. This is your only homework this week!

The other reminder is that your Secret Santa gift is due by Monday, December 17, for our class gift exchange.

Add to this padlet and make sure you read the directions! (Hint: Include your name!)

Weekly Update

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas on our hall. The girls made some beautiful Christmas posters illustrating a favorite holiday memory or Christmas scene. I love seeing them display their creativity. Under each illustration, there are tabs where passersby may take some of what they illustrated. See what I mean in these pictures:

 

We have been busy this week finishing up a variety of projects. For the most part, the girls have finished the interview project with the girls from Mrs. Coughlan's class. They did a great job asking deeper questions of their partner and then writing a detailed paragraph about what they learned. They then made magazine covers about their partner. Here is one example:

In math, we continued to work on fractions, specifically finding equivalent fractions using multiplication and division. We will continue with this fraction unit next week and after the break. The girls are continuing to earn math-a-ments for their personal Christmas trees.

Next week, the only homework the girls will have will be to finish reading through chapter 9 in All of a Kind Family. We will read some in class and they may read at home as well. The goal is to read through chapter 9 by next Friday.

In the event of a snowstorm and no school, I will communicate with the girls through our class blog. 🤞

Reminders and Announcements

• Natalie is our carpool helper next week
• Gifts Service is December 19 - Information here
• Scavenger hunt

Fourthie Christmas Tree!

Weekly Update

We had a great week back after a relaxing and refreshing Thanksgiving break. As we approach the Christmas season, we are getting in the spirit with fun holiday activities. Here are some curriculum updates.

Math: We began the week with a fun problem solving project using the movie Sing. The girls chose three EdPuzzles to solve with video clips from the movie. Here is one that most of them solved.

 
The next part of the project involves the girls writing a song with a partner. The challenge is that they are asked to use some Wordly Wise words in their song. They are really into this project and will perform early next week.
We also jumped into fractions and reviewed the concept of a fraction, numerators and denominators, using pictorial representations. We will continue to work with fractions up to the Christmas break.
On this week's Pick 8, the girls had to solve multi-digit addition, subtraction, multiplication and division problems. There were many careless mistakes so I encouraged the girls to look back over their work this week. I will be giving them a pop quiz on this computation next week. It will look very similar to this week's Pick 8.
Another fun math project that we started this week was solving problems to earn "Math-a-ments." Each girl has a Christmas tree on the outside of their cubby. In order to decorate it, they must correctly solve a variety of math problems to earn math-a-ments. Coloring and math make a great combination for 9-10 year old girls! Here is one:

Language Arts: The girls did a nice job reflecting on the blessings in their lives with their gratitude journals. These came home today in their Friday folders so I hope you will take a look. We finished our realistic book projects and they made some awesome book trailers using Animoto. Check them out! We are continuing with our class novel, All of a Kind Family, and I hope we will conclude the book by the break. This week, we started a new writing lab that will last for the next few weeks. It started with a partner interview with girls from Mrs. Coughlan's class. We talked about how to phrase a question to encourage a detailed response. The girls had fun interviewing each other and taking notes. Next week the girls will practice their summarizing skills and write about their partner. There's an additional piece to this activity that will place the girls on the cover of a magazine. Stay tuned.

Reminders and Announcements

• Gifts Service is December 19 - more details to follow
• No carpool helpers from our class next week
• Scavenger hunt

• Please consider participating in the Lower School Christmas Service project. Our class has been asked to bring in gifts for a girl age 15 and up.

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

Reminders

• Carpool helpers for next week are Amelia and Juliet
• Our class will visit the book fair in the library on Wednesday, November 28 from 12:10 - 12:30. Please come meet us there or feel free to send in money with your daughter.
• Scavenger Hunt!!

Weekly Update

On Thursday, we celebrated the girls earning 50 class compliments by bringing in a stuffed animal or a lovey, and visiting the school cafe for an afternoon treat. There was lots of silliness, sugar, and fun on our visit!

The girls have worked so hard this week taking lots of ERB tests! We have two tests left on Monday and then we are finished. They are learning how to take a standardized test and how to take one on a computer. I am proud of them and their hard work and focus during this testing week.

In the midst of testing, we continued reading All of a Kind Family and writing a hashtag to summarize each chapter. We also completed a writing lab where they wrote a procedural paragraph explaining to do something of their choice. We had an open book Wordly Wise quiz yesterday and a short math assessment today on unit 2. Whew! That is a lot of learning and activities in addition to the ERB testing.

To get some fresh air, the girls took pictures around the campus and wrote about something for which they are thankful. The overall theme of gratitude in this class is that the girls are thankful for their friendships. This is a kind group of girls and relatively drama free, which makes me a happy teacher!

Reminders

• Carpool helpers for the next two weeks (because they're both short weeks) are Amelia and Juliet
• Monday is the last day of ERB testing so they may bring slippers to wear for the occasion
• Monday is the last day to bring in canned goods for our LS Outreach project
• On Tuesday, we will visit St. Christopher's for our annual Math Expo and the girls will need to wear their field trip attire
• No homework next week due to ERB's and Thanksgiving break!
• Scavenger Hunt!!

Weekly Update

This week was another great one and it is hard to believe that we have entered the month of November!

Math: The girls did well working with long division this week. We will continue to practice this skill and I will give them an assessment next week. Because we will be taking the ERB tests, I will allow them to use notes and it will be more of a guided assessment. The girls listened to an online tutorial about how to make a bar graph using Google Sheets. They used this to make a bar graph about the candy they collected on Halloween. I was so impressed by their independence with this activity! They listened, listened some more if necessary, and completed their graphs without much assistance. Bravo!

Language Arts: We began our class novel, All of A Kind Family. They seem to be enjoying this story about a Jewish family of five girls at the turn of the 20th century. We are tying this into our decade study and looking at similarities and differences between our lives today and their lives then. I showed the girls how we have the novel recorded and linked on our fourth grade website so that they can listen and read if they choose. We will continue with this novel over the next few weeks. Next week we will have a Wordly Wise quiz and spelling quiz on list 6. Again because of the ERB tests, I will allow them to use more tools to work through the assessments, including their Wordly Wise workbook.

Reminders

• Next week's carpool helpers are Selah, Addisyn, and Claiborne
• ERB Testing will begin next week. Please read this letter with more information. This is our testing schedule and you can see that there is a change from the one I emailed out this week. We will use Monday to work through some practice tests and then start the actual tests on Tuesday. 
• On Tuesday, November 20, we will visit St. Christopher's for our annual Math Expo 
• No homework next week due to ERB's
• Scavenger Hunt

Weekly Update

We had another fun week with lots of extra fun and excitement! On Monday morning, we started the week by having a "Read-in" with our eighth grade big sisters. The girls read a book with their big sister and then we went out to the playground for some outdoor fun.

Halloween was great fun and I was so impressed with the girls' WW costumes. They were original, creative, and fun! Check out everyone's costumes.
In math, we continued to practice multi-digit multiplication and the girls seem to be getting the hang of it. Next week, we will dive into long division and spend lots of time practicing this skill. In this week's papers, I am sending home a report from the website That Quiz. This is the site I use to assess the girls on their facts knowledge. The report is helpful because it shows the particular facts that they frequently miss. I went over this with them and encouraged them to look at the facts they frequently miss so they know which ones to further review. For the most part, the class is doing well on the weekly facts check and their knowledge is transferring to their multi-digit computation. The focus of next week's fact contract will be a mixed review of multiplying by 2 through 9.

For this week's, 3WT (3 Word Thursday), we tried something different. We completed it in class on a collaborative Google Slide document. The girls did well with this and followed my direction of staying on their slide. They presented their writing to the class today, which helped them catch small mistakes they have made in their writing. Here it is!
We also started a gratitude journal for the month of November. Each school day, they will write something for which they are thankful. It is important to slow down and focus on our blessings so this is a way to help with this.

Reminders and On the Horizon

• Next week's carpool helpers are Vivienne and Emily
• Student Holiday on Monday, November 5
• Candy tally chart due on Tuesday
• ERB Testing will be the week of November 12 - 16
• Scavenger Hunt

Weekly Update

I finished the parent-teacher conferences this week and want to thank everyone for coming to meet me. The partnership between me and you is so important and please know I am here anytime, and love working with your sweet daughters!

Next week will be a fun one with Halloween on Wednesday! We look forward to seeing the girls dressed up as a Wordly Wise word. On Wednesday afternoon, we will have our Halloween party. There will be NO homework on Halloween night so the girls can have a fun night of trick or treating.


Math: The girls did very well multiplying two, three, and even four digit numbers by a one digit number. When we moved on to multiplying a two digit number by a two digit number, there was more confusion. We will continue to practice this next week with computation practice in the workbook, as well as EdPuzzles and Musical Moments. I have showed your daughter how to multiply by a two digit number with the traditional algorithm so feel free to support her at home with this method.

Language Arts: We discussed the difference between simple and compound sentences and learned about conjunctions that can be used to connect two simpler sentences. Ask your daughter about FANBOYS. We are close to finishing our class read aloud, Fish in a Tree. It really is a fabulous book! Next, we will read a novel called All of a Kind Family. Each girl will have her own copy of the book to read. We will read some in class, independently, in pairs, and at home. We have a recording of each chapter for the girls to listen along as they read, if they would find that helpful. I will explain more to the girls next week. Their realistic fiction book and notes are due by Friday. In class, we will make a book trailer using a site called Animoto. This week, the girls brought home their dresses they designed after we read The Hundred Dresses. This was a fun project and I am proud of their designs and the encouraging quotes the included. Here are their creations!



Our Innovation Day on Thursday was an amazing experience and I hope your daughter shared a bit about what she learned from Sportable. It was a memorable day!

Reminders:

• Next week's carpool helper is Sloane
• Wordly Wise Dress Up Day is Wednesday! Details here!
• Scavenger Hunt

Weekly Update

I have enjoyed meeting with so many of you for parent-teacher conferences and look forward to meeting with more of you next week. Here are some curriculum updates.

Math: We have jumped into unit 2 and spent some time this week reviewing addition and subtraction of multi-digit numbers. We also reviewed how to estimate a problem and why estimating is beneficial. In most of my math conferences, I have mentioned a site called Matholia that we subscribe to for the girls. This is a great resource at home for extra reinforcement of skills. Your girls have their login information in their binders and should know how to access the site.
This week, we tried a new activity this week called Which One Doesn't Belong? It was really interesting to see how the girls thought about this type of problem. I am talking a lot with them about thinking outside of the box and that sometimes there is more than one answer. As long as they can justify their answer, it works. Here is the WODB that they wrote about. We will continue to solve more of these open ended and creative problems.

Language Arts: The girls did a great job writing a story about a witch casting a spell on them. They are in display in the hall and their stories are full of details and great descriptions. Next week, we will review run-on sentences and discuss ways to avoid using them in our writing. As we continue to work through Wordly Wise, the lists get more difficult so the girls and I will discuss how when the work gets harder, we have to work harder!

Reminders and Announcements

• Next week's carpool helper is Riley
• The girls will need their recorders in music beginning Tuesday, October 23
• Thursday, October 25 is a late start day for Lower School and also Innovation Day in the Lower School
• We will make up our last swim class that we missed today on Friday, October 26!
• On Halloween, the girls may dress up....but as a Wordly Wise word. Details here!
• Scavenger Hunt

Weekly Update

This was quite a short week! After returning to school on Tuesday for a 4 day week, an early dismissal Thursday, and a delayed start Friday, the girls stayed focused despite the schedule interruptions. Here are some curriculum updates and reminders.

Math: The girls did well on their first math assessment. We took the test on Tuesday and today, I passed it back for them to make independent corrections. I emphasized the importance of learning from our mistakes and also identifying where we went wrong in our math calculations. I will be sending home the tests in the folders on Monday and you will see two scores. The first score is in purple and this was before they made their corrections. The second score in pink is after corrections. I am proud of them for their perseverance and finding their errors. We also did an edible math activity this week involving candy corn and factors. Anything edible is always fun! Next week, we will jump into unit 2, which focuses on the four operations of whole numbers. In the folder on Monday, I will include a challenge packet from the Greg Tang math site that is due by October 31. It is an optional enrichment activity that I hope many girls will complete!

 

Language Arts: We reviewed parts of speech by using some cute animal images. Check them out here.

We also started our next writing lab. The girls took a before and after picture of themselves using Photobooth. They started writing a story about a witch casting a spell on them in honor of Halloween. We will finish this writing lab next week and hang them out on the bulletin board outside of the classroom. They love to take pictures of themselves so this was a fun activity!

Social Studies: We continued talking about key events from the first decade of the 21st Century by briefly discussing the events of 9/11. We will discuss this more next week and read an article aimed at children that describes what happened. On a lighter note they watched a commercial about the very first iPod that came out in 2001. They then compared and contrasted it to today's version. Fun!

Reminders and Announcements

• Next week’s carpool helper is Alice
• I will send home the Friday folders on Monday...sorry for the delay but I wanted time to check through all the math tests
• Next Thursday, October 18, is a student holiday for the official conference day
• The girls will need their recorders in music beginning Tuesday, October 23
• Thursday, October 25 is a late start day for Lower School
• We will make up our last swim class that we missed today on Friday, October 26!
• On Halloween, the girls may dress up....but as a Wordly Wise word. Details here!
• Scavenger Hunt

Weekly Update

This was a great week full of lots of learning and excitement! The girls are enjoying their swimming unit in PE, which will continue next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday. During our regularly scheduled PE classes, Mrs. Sterling has been coming in to have lessons with the girls. She has been discussing decision making and provided the girls with scenarios in which they had to make a decision together. She will work with them next week as well.
The girls are enjoying leading the Lend a Helping Paw outreach project and will continue to collect items from classrooms through next Friday.

Curriculum Updates

Math: We have concluded unit 1 and we worked through a review sheet yesterday and today. This has come home with the girls in their Friday folders and we discussed ways in which to review for the test. The test will be on Tuesday! I emphasized that if they can complete the items on the review sheet, they will be able to complete the test. We did an activity involving math and memes this week that was a huge success. The girls were asked to design a meme to reinforce a math concept and they had to choose between factors, multiples, and order of operations. Here is an example of one:

Language Arts: The girls summarized the story elements from the book project book by using a taco! They described each story element on a different part of the taco. They look great and this was a fun way to share their books! Here is an example:

Social Studies: We began our decade study by looking at key events from the first decade of the 21st century. On our History 4 Fourthies site, we have key events listed under each decade. We will start by looking at recent events and then we will move back to the turn of the 20th century. The job the girls completed this week involved the launch of Facebook in 2004 and whether it is an appropriate tool for children. We will continue with more from our history site this week.

Reminders and Announcements

• No school on Monday
• Swimming on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday 
• So the girls have a private way to communicate with me about concerns or questions, I have provided a "Let's Chat" mailbox. So far I have a received a few notes in this box, which helps me know ways in which to help the girls in a private way. Ask your daughter more about this!
• Science Atom Project due: Friday, Oct. 12th 
• Click here for our "how to" technology videos
• Scavenger Hunt!

Weekly Update

This has been a week full of lots of fun and learning. We began the week celebrating the girls earning 25 compliments. On Monday, I brought the girls a chocolate chip cookie sandwich and on Tuesday, we went outside for extra recess. The girls enjoyed being the only class on the new playground!

On Thursday, we had our first meeting of the year with our big sisters from Mr. Berry's 8th grade advisory. We played an ice breaker game in the classroom and then went out so the "big" girls could explore the new playground. It was a blast! Here are some pictures from the event.

Today, the girls did a fantastic job leading chapel. We introduced a service project called Lend a Helping Paw. There is a flyer in the Friday folder with information about it. Our class will help by going to other classrooms to collect any donations. They girls are very excited! Here is a link to watch the chapel in case you were unable to attend.

Curriculum Updates

Math: We are at the end of unit 1. This unit is full of complex math skills and we encountered one this week. We learned order of operations using an acronym called GEMS.

This is a helpful way for the girls to remember which step comes first in a multi-step expression. This was overwhelming for many girls so we will continue to practice this skill next week. It will also be the computation focus on next week's Pick 8. From my observation, one source of errors was in recalling basic facts. It is essential that the girls become adept at addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division basic facts. Several students have their basic facts memorized, but many students still need daily practice for automaticity. This is why their only math homework during the week is the facts contract. We will be wrapping up unit 1 next week and reviewing for the test. Once I finalize the date for the test, I will the girls know.

Language Arts: We are all loving our class read aloud, Fish in a Tree, including me! The girls have all finished their Buncee presentations and they are under Clever Classwork on the blog. On Monday, the girls need to bring in their notes on their book project book. We will create a Buncee in class on the story elements from their novel. We mixed emojis and writing this week and it was a hit. Using this site, the girls wrote sentences using their Wordly Wise words. This was a very popular activity and one we will complete again! We began our second writing lab which focuses on turning a simple sentence into a descriptive paragraph. We will finish this up next week.

Reminders and Announcements

• Blessing of the Animals- Monday@ 8:15 on The Green (a note went home in today's folder)
• Swimming starts Tuesday! Our class will have our swimming unit in PE from October 2 - 12 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of each of those weeks. Information here.
• Science Atom Project due: Friday, Oct. 12th 
• * We have decided to cancel our Parent Technology Night since attendance was going to be sparse. We want to keep everyone in the loop regarding our instructional technology practices in fourth grade. Click here for our "how to" videos.   
• Information about volunteering in the community garden
• Scavenger Hunt!

 

Weekly Update

This has been a week to remember with Monday's storm. The girls handled the situation so well and stayed calm throughout the sheltering and I am proud of them. They earned quite a few class compliments from me as well as individual stickers. In fact, we have reached our first class goal of 25 class compliments. On Monday, we will celebrate with extra play time on the playground with just our class and we will have a treat! Bravo to the girls!!!

Math: We continued to practice rounding this week and discussed factors and multiples. We used rainbows to help us factor various numbers. The girls really like Musical Moments so we completed another one on the song Happy by Pharrell. We also watched two short video clips on showing kindness to others and then solved quick problems to jump start our lessons. Here is one of the single EdPuzzles. Next week, we will work towards the end of unit one and focus on order of operations, computation practice of all four operations, and word problems.


Language Arts: We started our next class read aloud and we are reading Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. So far, we all love learning about the intriguing character of Ally. She does not like school and struggles with her learning and we look forward to seeing what is next in her story. The girls have just about finished their Buncee presentations on Because of Winn-Dixie. The finished presentations are here and will also be posted under Clever Classwork. Yesterday, the girls took their first Wordly Wise vocabulary quiz independently and I sent it home in today's folder. They took one part on Quia and the other was a handwritten fill in the blank activity. They did a nice job. We completed our first writing lab and they are on display on the bulletin board outside the classroom. They look great!

Reminders:

• Scholastic book order is due by Monday, September 24
• Our class will be leading chapel on Friday, September 28 
• Science Atom Project due: Friday, Oct. 12th (projects guidelines were distributed in science class on Friday)
• Our class will have our swimming unit in PE from October 2 - 12 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of each of those weeks. More information to come.
• * We have decided to cancel our Parent Technology Night since attendance was going to be sparse. We want to keep everyone in the loop regarding our instructional technology practices in fourth grade. So be on the look out for weekly "How To" videos. 
• Blessing of the Animals- 10/1 @ 8:15 on The Green
• Information about volunteering in the community garden
• Scavenger Hunt!

Weekly Update

Our first full week of school went well! The girls are working hard, learning routines, and getting comfortable with each other as well as me.

Here are some curriculum updates and other important information.

Math: We worked hard in unit 1 this week focusing on place value, rounding, number and shape patterns, and comparing and ordering numbers. We also began reviewing geometry concepts. We completed our first musical moment and the girls loved the combination of music and math. See below for the computation we completed to the song Fight Song. The girls did a nice job on their second facts contract. I did notice a lot of computation errors on their Pick 8 this week with the multi digit addition and subtraction problems so we will continue working on this.


Language Arts: This week, we started our first writing lab in which the girls write a descriptive paragraph about themselves. We are reviewing how to write a proper paragraph and focusing on varying the beginning of sentences. We will continue revising our writing and finish this first writing lab early next week. We finished reading The Hundred Dresses and each girl will design her own life sized dress to include an encouraging saying. The fourth grade will display the dresses around the Lower School.

Social Studies: We spent some time reading about Miss Jennie, the founder of St. Catherine's. The girls worked in pairs to read through essential items for our school chapels, using the History4Fourthies website.

Reminders:

• Next week’s carpool helper is Tilden
• Picture Day for our class is on Monday at 10:30 am 
• Our class will be leading chapel on Friday, September 28
• Our class will have our swimming unit in PE from October 2 - 12 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of each of those weeks. More information to come.
• This afternoon, the girls heard from the teachers who run the Outreach and Inclusion clubs. Here is the form to complete if interested.
• In today's papers, I sent home a Scholastic book order, which is due by September 24.
• Information about volunteering in the community garden
• Scavenger Hunt!

Weekly Update

Thank you to everyone who attended Parents' Night last night. I am excited for the year ahead and our partnership to make this the best year yet for your daughter! If you were unable to make it last night or would like to look at my presentation again, here it is.

The girls made my birthday a very special day and I love the beautiful flower bouquet and kind poster from the class. Many thanks!

Here are some curriculum updates and reminders.

Math: We have jumped into our first unit which reviews reading and writing large numbers, estimating, and working with factors and multiples. Additionally, we will review key geometry terms and introduce several new concepts. The girls did well completing their first facts contract and Pick 8. This will be the math homework each week so we are establishing the routine now. Next week, the facts contract focus will be on subtraction facts. Today, we used a site called That Quiz and took a quick addition facts quiz. This will be a normal Friday activity.

Language Arts: We reviewed the literary elements found in any fiction book as we discussed their summer reading book, Because of Winn Dixie. They have started creating a digital presentation on the story elements using a site called Buncee. We will continue this next week and hopefully get them finished. When we do any sort of digital work, I will post the final products on the blog page called  'Clever Classwork.' We took our first Wordly Wise test on Thursday and our first spelling test today. I will always note the test dates on the homework sheet attached to the blog. Lastly, the girls and I are enjoying our class read aloud of The Hundred Dresses.

Reminders and Important Information

• Next week’s carpool helper is Abby
• Picture Day for our class is Monday, September 17 at 10:30 am
• Our class will have our swimming unit in PE from October 2 - 12 on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday of each of those weeks. More information to come. 
• Special Week sign up
• Each week, I will be post the homework for the upcoming week on the blog so that your daughter may work ahead as necessary. There is a link to homework on the right side of the blog. 
• Scavenger Hunt!

Weekly Update

We had a fantastic first week of fourth grade! This is a great group of girls and I am very excited for the year ahead. Much of this week was used to establish routines and to get to know one another. We jumped into some curriculum as well. Each week, I will update this class blog with pertinent information. I encourage you and your daughter to read through it together over the weekend. I will include a simple "scavenger hunt" question for the girls to answer that will show me they have read the blog.

Here are some curriculum updates:

Math: This week, we did some fun activities to get back into the swing of things with our mathematical thinking. We completed an EdPuzzle about squirrels and a started a daily routine of Mindful Maths. Both of these activities bring relevance and fun to math! Ask your daughter to explain in more detail what we did. Next week, we will begin a weekly routine of a facts contract. This will be the math homework each week and it helps each girl stay accountable for knowing her basic math facts. Here is the EdPuzzle we worked through.

Language Arts: Our primary focus in fourth grade is on vocabulary and we use Wordly Wise as the basis for this. Not only will we complete activities in the WW workbook, we will complete creative writing activities using the words. Our spelling lists pulls words from the WW list as well as frequently misspelled words for this age group. I will discuss more of this at Parents' Night next week. The girls did some reflecting on last year and made some goals for this year after watching a precious video where a squirrel had to try, try, and try again to make it over the wall. I was impressed by their reflections. Lastly, we used a web site called Mentimeter so that the girls could express their thoughts about fourth grade. Here is the word cloud that they made!

Reminders:

• Next week’s carpool helper is Natalie
• I look forward to seeing you next Thursday evening, September 6, for Parents’ Night from 6:00 - 8:00 pm.
• Band letter
• Each week, I will be post the homework for the upcoming week on the blog so that your daughter may work ahead as necessary. There is a link to homework on the right side of the blog.
• Scavenger Hunt!

Enjoy your long weekend!

Personalized Learning

First Day Countdown Clock!