Poll Answer

1/2 is the biggest fraction in a set with 1/3. 1/4 and 1/5. Excellent job, everyone who voted!

Monday Notes

As we practice, more and more kids are getting better at making the origami cranes. One student brought in a bag of cranes he made for the tsunami survivors!
If you would like to learn how to make the cranes, please stay after Tuesday and Thursday's dismissal. In the yard, there will be parents demonstrating how. We need as many adults as possible to help our students and our kindergarten buddies with this task.

Here are some events coming this week:

• We will be headed to the armory tomorrow. Please make sure your child wears sneakers.
• First Friday will be a bit different this time. Some of the fourth graders will work in Ms. Hanson's room (K-101) with their buddies, while some kindergartners will come up to our classroom to work with their buddies.  Some parents will stay downstairs with their child to assist. There will be a note going home on Tuesday with a tear off for parents who are interested in coming to help. Please return this as soon as you can so that I can let you know which room you will be needed in. 
• We have begun our Test Prep Unit in Reading and Writing Workshop in class. While the Saturday program focuses solely on test taking skills and test sophistication, we will work more on reading and writing efficiently as well as review strategies used in previous genres of study.

Have a sunny week!

Week 27

Last week, details about the upcoming ELA test (in four weeks!) were posted. This week, we turn our focus on the State Math test. It will be taken during May 11 and 12 (Wednesday and Thursday). The first day will have 45 multiple choice questions to be completed over 70 minutes. The second session will involve 8 short response and 4 extended responses. Short responses and extended responses require a child to solve a problem and write an explanation of his/ her processes.

We have begun to review past topics in math so that it is fresh in the students minds as they approach the assessments. Families can help at by:

• Reviewing multiplication and division facts for speed and accuracy. 
• Encouraging careful reading of directions and math story problems during homework.
• Talking about how a math problem is solved. Try to layout the steps taken by starting with "First, I read the problem and decided that it wanted me to do...."

Again, these are suggestions you might want to tuck in when the opportunity presents itself. 

Here are some upcoming events for next week:

• We will visit the Armory on Tuesday! Please make sure your child wears sneakers.
• First Friday will be a school wide event. As mentioned in a previous post, we will make origami cranes to help raise money for the survivors of the tsunami in Japan. We need as many parents as we can get who are able to make cranes. This is a challenging task for most kids, plus we have also been tasked with helping our kindergarten buddies make cranes. Please refer to the video tutorial that was posted earlier this week if you are coming to help. 

Thank you for your attention to these matters. Have a warm and sunny weekend!

Origami: Crane [tutorial]

Check out this video to get a head start on our First Friday project for April! We are participating in a school wide effort to raise money for the tsunami survivors of Japan. For each crane we make, $ 2 will be donated on our behalf  by the Bezos Family Foundation and Students Rebuild. We're also teaching our kindergarten buddies this fun craft. What a great way to help!

Monday Notes

Hard to believe but we are beginning our final marking period! Here's where we have to buckle down and make sure we are prepared to do well not just on the upcoming State Tests but also for the final grades in our report cards.
Here are some friendly reminders:

• Please return your child's report card if you have not already done so. 
• The class will have Physical Education on Wednesday with their buddy class.
• If anyone is interested in sharing a talent for First Friday on April 1st, please let me know via note.
• If anyone is still interested in joining the class  directory, please send your name and email address to Mrs. McGill, our class parent, or to me and I'll have her son pass it on. 

Have a great week!

Week 26

Thank you to everyone for their well wishes during my recent bout of food poisoning. It was tough to leave the kids but the receiving teachers report that they were "adorable"! They were incredibly sweet and understanding throughout the morning and I was so touched by their concern.
I'll be out on Friday ( due to a workshop at Teacher's College) so Green behavior reports went out for the girls today.

Thanks for coming to Parent Teacher Conferences and sharing your thoughts with me. There were some common threads in the conversations regarding the upcoming tests so here is some information we may all find helpful:

• The ELA Test willl take place in early May with the Math test following the next week. Please check the blog's calendar for the exact dates.
• The ELA test will be three days long. The first day will be 70 minutes with seven to eight different reading passages and 43 multiple choice questions. Day 2 will be start with a listening passage. After I have read a story out loud (twice), students will have 30 minutes to answer 5 multiple choice questions, 3 short response questions about the story, along with 3-5 questions about grammar. The last day will include two passages on a similar topic, with 4 short response questions and an essay response. This portion will last 60 minutes.
• While we have been getting ready for this all year, there are some things that can be done at home to help your child. The first is to keep reading. This test is long and stamina will play a huge part in your child's success. Help your child read for a sustained amount of time and remind them that they can take brief thinking breaks where they can review about and think the information in their heads. Our current non fiction work lends itself to this as students should read sections of a book (usually a couple of pages) and stop to jot about their reading. If possible, you might consider having your child read for longer than the 45 minute minimum of the reading log.
• It's also important for your child to read fiction books in this time so the skills in those units are being practiced. While we work on non fiction in class, please encourage your child to read fiction books during the weekend or when they are done with their nonfiction texts during the weekday. The class is aware that they should read both types of texts and each child has picked nonfiction and fiction books for their weekly reading.

These are merely suggestions and please do not feel any pressure to make changes to your regular routine if they are not feasible.  If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Next weeks' post will contain more information about the math test.

For this upcoming week, please note:

• The School Survey went home last Friday. It was in a green envelope. Please fill it out and return it to the school.
• If you have not already done so, please send in the admission and permission slip for the Wyckoff Farmhouse. For those of you who have already done so, your child will receive change, if needed, on Monday. Thank you for your patience as I locate the necessary quarters.
• In reponse to our poll question: If a pie had eight pieces and five were eaten, the fraction of the pie left is three eighth. Everyone who voted was correct... hurray!

Have a great sunny weekend!

Week 25

Boys received their progress reports on Thursday. Please review and sign.
Here's what's up for next week:

* Report Cards will be given out on Monday.

*We will stop by at the Used Book Fair this Monday morning,  where every book is $1!!!

* Parent-Teacher Conferences will take place on Tuesday. By now every child has received an appointment slip. Most parents have requested an evening conference and I will do my best to keep to the schedule. Please be on time and bring your child's report card with you. I look forward to seeing you!

*Due to Parent Teacher Conferences, Tuesday will be a half day. Children will be dismissed at 12 noon.

* Please send in the trip form and admission for the Wyckoff Farmhouse if you have not already done so.

* Check out the Mixed Numbers link in the Math games section for some fun practice in our current math unit.

Have a lovely weekend!

Monday Notes

*Your child received a trip slip for Wyckoff Farmhouse today. Please take the time to fill it out and return with the admission fee. The flat rate for the class is $180, which is why another fourth grade class with a larger roster will be paying less per child. Please send in the trip by the end of this week as we need to send in a deposit. Thank you!

* Scholastic Book orders are due this Thursday.

* If a family of four had dinner for $106.80, the price for each person would be $26.70. Congratulations to everyone who voted on the poll since they got it correct!

Thank you and have a great week!

First Friday Thanks

There was so much excitement as parents came to help us plant seeds for the school garden! We planted corn, beans and squash, otherwise known as the Three Sisters in Native American terms.We would like to thank Mrs. McGill, Mr. Naimoli, Ms. Catacutan, Mrs. Dekel and Mrs. Longo for helping and the Garden Committee for providing the materials.

Week 24

Saturday school starts this week. Students who are participating will report to the Multi Media Room at 9 am and be dismissed from there at 12 noon. Ms. Kelly and Ms. Pattison will be teaching the sessions.

The girls received their green progress reports. Please look over and sign it for your daughters.

Here's what to expect this upcoming week:
* We've been working on researching by collection information in our nonfiction books. Students have collected dozens of facts on post its to sort and group so that they can form conclusions and theories based on the information they are learning about their many colonial topics. You'll notice that this week's reading log contains a response that requires the students to pick one of the topics they are becoming an expert on and write a mini report on it. Students were given the opportunity to do some of that work in class this week.
Ultimately, the class will take these strategies to create feature articles on a colonial topic. This work will continue throughout the weeks to come. We will also go over nonfiction reading strategies.

* Thank you to the participants in the Read-athon! Your participation and fundraising efforts are greatly appreciated.

*There were three Scholastic Book orders that went home over this week. If you are interested in ordering, please note that the due date is Thursday, March 10.

Have a great weekend.