Welcome to our Fourth Grade Blog!
Welcome to 4th Grade! What a great bunch of kiddos we have this year! Please label lunch boxes, book bags, and water bottles if you haven’t done so already.:)
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Subject
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Learning Targets and Activities for week of: 8/22-8/26
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Reading
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Throughout our first week of reading, I will introduce the 30 Book Challenge to your child. Students are encouraged to take the challenge of reading 30 books from a variety of genres this year! A letter will be coming home with your child this week explaining more about the challenge. Students will learn about each genre throughout the week They will also have a reference paper at school and at home to assist them. One of my goals for your child is to explore new genres in their reading. I will also discuss with the students about making good book choices. Finally, in fourth grade there is a strong emphasis on comprehension. We will discuss how “Reading is Thinking.” This week we will discuss how reader’s predict, visualize, and questions as they read. Your child’s nightly reading homework is to read at least 20 minutes each night. Check out the link below. I shared this with the students today to get them excited about reading books!
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Writing
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In writing we will introduce the routines and expectations of writing workshop. Students will brainstorm and discuss why we write and who is their audience. We will read the story, Grandpa’s Scrapbook and discuss how an author uses a notebook to store their thoughts and ideas. Students will start their first writing piece about an exciting summer event! Later in the week, we will discuss where writers gather their ideas from and choosing meaningful stories to write. Students will meet with me for writing conferences and work with writing partners throughout the year.
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Word Study
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We will be exploring a new word study program this year. We will focus on fry (sight words) and pattern words. This week we will take two pre-assessments. Students will learn and review different sorts, such as open, closed, and blind sorts. Our first unit and homework will go home this Friday.
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Math
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To begin the year, students will engage in fact fluency activities such as xtramath.org and taking timed tests at their level every Tuesday and Thursday. Xtramath.org allows students to work at their own level as well, but we will focus first on addition and subtraction. Tuesday and Thursday practice will focus on multiplication/division. I will be sending home the multiplication timed tests this week so your child can practice at home as well. Please feel free to copy or laminate for at home use. I do not need these returned back to school. However, if they do bring them back, I will award with bonus bucks. Math fact practice should occur nightly for at least 10 minutes. Our core math time will focus around addition/subtraction strategies and place value concepts. We will then move into multiplication strategies by building arrays.
Please note that your child’s log in information for the sites xtramath.org and sumdog.com will be coming home this week as well. Please have your child log onto these sites throughout the week to use. Please find them stapled to the inside cover of the planner.
Students learned what a growth mindset looks like during math this past week. I encourage you to question them about how our brain grows when we struggle and think through complex math problems. Please view the attached video link narrated by Stanford Professor Jo Boaler on mindset. I will be attending an online class with Professor Boaler this school year and excited to bring back many creative and thought provoking lessons for the students. If you are interested in learning more, feel free to create a log in at her website called: www.youcubed.org
Mindset:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4xqzgBy-lM
In order to help create deeper and critical thinkers, I’m currently setting up a makerspace in the classroom which will be a center that students can access. It will have a variety of materials in it including craft type things, coding and problem solving games. Many thanks to the PTO for funding part of this project!
NO HW this week! Homework will go home this Friday and will be due back the following Friday.
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Content Areas
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S.S. – Map Skills and where Ohio is located in relation to the United States will be our focus. We will have fun using Simon Says to tell directions. We will also discuss how Ohio has benefited the United States in terms of manufacturing, population, and more. Students will engage in a group project to learn about Ohio’s land regions by each group becoming an expert in one region and sharing out to the rest of the class.
Students will have a newspaper called Ohio Studies Weekly they will start to bring home to support our curriculum at school.
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Reminders & Important Information
*In order to minimize illness throughout the school year, please send your child in with a small bottle of hand sanitizer to place in their lockers. Students will be either asked to wash or use the sanitizer before and after lunch and snacks. If your child is sensitive to hand sanitizer, then we will stick with hand washing.
*Please note that there is still time for students to turn in their summer and math homework. Each is worth 5 points of their grade. If you need a new copy, please let us know and we will send home. Also, if your child is new to our district then they are not required to complete the summer activities.
*On Friday, the parent packet went home that describes classroom procedures, grading scale, expectations, etc. Please sign and return the last page of the packet. The packet is yours to keep and refer to throughout the school year.
*Although no grades have been entered yet for the quarter, we encourage you to log into your child’s gradebook page and familiarize yourself. We also find it valuable for students to be familiar as well. It helps to promote responsibility of earning and maintaining grades. We have found when children take ownership of their grades, they are motivated to put forth more effort in their studies.
*We encourage students to bring their own device to school with their name labeled on it. We often use devices during math and reading. We will only use the device for educational purposes. We do have enough technology here in case your child does not or is not permitted to bring a device. Also, please make sure your child charges them at home. Thank you for your support!
*Finally, thank you for your attendance at Meet-n-Greet. It was fun to meet your children and for them to get to see their new classrooms!
Important Dates:
Monday, August 22: Board of Education Meeting at 7:00PM in High School Media Center
Thursday, August 25: Fourth grade orchestra meeting at AHS, 6:00 PM
Friday, September 2: Getting to Know You Days: Last names starting with A –L
Tuesday, September 6: Getting to Know You Days: Last names starting with M-Z
Getting to Know You Days – Sept. 2nd – Last names starting with A-L come to school. Sept. 6th – Last names starting M-Z come to school. During these days we will be testing in mainly reading and math to give us a baseline on where your child is and helps us to plan lessons in order to meet their needs. These assessments are not recorded in the gradebook.
