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!