Week 1/2

Thank you, 4-303 families!
The new year has just started and we are in the process of getting acquainted with each other and our new routines.  I appreciate the smiles, patience, and cooperation from our children and those who love them.

 We decided on some rules that will help us get along and have a fun time this year. These rules are general and we've discussed how it can be applied to a given situation. Naturally, this is a living document and will probably change throughout the year.

Here are some details about our class and the upcoming week:

• Our first read aloud this year is No Talking by Andrew Clements. This realistic fiction story follows a group of fifth graders as they undertake a unique social experiment. Themes of gender bias, social change and cooperation are explored through this story. This read aloud will also be the mentor text for our first reading unit, Creating a Reading Life. During the read aloud, students will practice turn & talk strategies, creating ideas through gathering details, and using a Readers Notebook to facilitate in depth thinking.
• Starting Monday, we will begin our reading log routine. Please keep an eye out for the sheet in your child's homework folder. Help your child get into a routine of reading with stamina. Fourth graders are expected to read at least 45 minutes at home. It is best to read for 45 minutes straight through but if you do not have that stretch of time, it would be prudent to separate the 45 minutes into chunks.
• We will begin working in our Writer's Notebook. Our first unit, Improving the Quality of our Writing: Personal Narratives, will have students reviewing strategies for creating short stories that have a beginning, middle and end. We will look at ways writers elaborate through details and dialogue. A challenge for our writers will be to write a narrative with a theme or  significance for the audience. To start this unit, please help your child gather pictures and decorations for the cover of the Writers Notebook.
• Our Math unit will be a quick study of Geometric Figures. We will define lines, rays and plane shapes by attributes such as sides and angles. There was a letter that went home this Friday with instructions for dealing with answer pages in the Study Links workbook. We are looking into getting a second copy of the Student Reference Book for each child to keep at home. In the meantime, please use the links to the Every Day Math site on the left side of this blog.
• Fourth grade social studies will center around New York. We will start with the geography of our state by studying maps of New York State.

Finally, our cluster schedule looks like this:

• Monday: Physical Education, period 7 with Ms. Ussery
• Tuesday: Computers, period 3 with Mrs. Pattison
• Wednesday: Science, period 2 with Mrs. David (formerly Ms. Hanson)
• Thursday: Art, period 1 with Ms. Kelly
• Friday: Science,  period with Mrs. David

Whew! Thanks for checking in!
Have a fabulous weekend!