Dear 4A Families,
I hope you all had a wonderful labor day weekend. What an excellent first week of school with my wonderful new 4th grade students. It is clear to see that this will be an amazing year—with such a bright, kind, creative and fun group of children. I so enjoyed talking with you on Parent’s Night last week. Remember, if you have questions, suggestions, concerns, please contact me! We are partners in your child’s learning.
I plan to complete our class group email list this week. I will be sending hard copies of the newsletter both this week and the 15th. This Wednesday the 9th I will send my first test email after school–let’s plan about 4:00. Please let me know if you do not receive the email, or if I have not included any emails. I will also send out the regular Sunday afternoon “Newsletter is Posted” on the 13th. At this point hopefully everything will be correct. If you do not receive either–or need to add additional emails, please let me know. Thank you!
If you have not yet filled out the technology agreement form, please use this link to complete it: https://holyrosaryws.fsenrollment.com/users/sign_in We would like to start getting the students logged into the online applications. Thank you for your help!
Uniform Reminder: All students should enter the school building with their shoes tied and shirts fully tucked in. Shirts should be long enough to remain tucked in throughout the day. Thank you for your support in reminding your children of this before they arrive at school. If the forecast calls for rain, please make sure your child brings a jacket with a hood.
Spelling: Each week, we will introduce a new set of spelling words. Students will generally receive the new list of words on Fridays. Students received this list last Thursday. Our first spelling words are number words. This list will support our upcoming math lessons on place value. On Fridays, all students will take a written spelling test. The first is this Friday the 11th.
Reading: Last week Ms. Finney began administering oral reading assessments to the 4th graders. She will wrap up the assessments this week. We are beginning our year in a very special way with a unit of study on E.B. White’s masterpiece, Charlotte’s Web. Even if your child has read this book before, we will delve into themes and vocabulary that will both inspire and challenge the students. Charlotte’s Web is a beautiful expression of true friendship. The story is also masterfully written to reinforce and build advanced vocabulary and comprehension skills. The book lends itself perfectly to our reading standards and target skills—and never ceases to enchant! (You can probably tell the 4th grade teachers love this book!) We do ask that you do not let your children watch any of the Charlotte’s Web movies until we have completed the novel. Thank you!
I am expecting all students to keep a chapter book in their desk to have ready for silent reading times. Unfortunately 4A will miss their library class this week (Monday is library day), but I do have an extensive classroom library they can choose from or students can bring a book from home.
Language Arts: The students will be completing a beginning of the year writing sample and we will also begin reviewing cursive forms, editing and grammar skills.
Math: Last week, students took a baseline math assessment. This information will assist us in planning our math lessons based on the needs of the students. We will be focusing on addition and subtraction fact review along with jumping into our new curriculum, Envision. We will begin with Chapter One: Place Value. Get ready to read, write, and say numbers into the millions and beyond. Expect to see math homework on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday that mirrors our class lessons. Remember, the HW pages have QR code video links to help support the skills.
Science: The science lesson this week will focus on our ever-changing planet. We will investigate how weather patterns, earth features and climate can affect our lives and the lives of all living creatures. We will practice, for the first time in 4th grade, our ‘reading to learn’ strategies by diving into scientific texts and focusing on the relevant information needed to draw conclusions and form opinions about a topic.
Social Studies: We will begin our year with a review of the continents and oceans. All students will be expected to memorize a “Continent Poem” and be able to name and label the seven continents and five oceans. The students will be given study sheets for the poem and map test during their first SS class this week. The test will take place on Friday, September 25th. Continent poems need to be recited no later than September 25th as well. Along with the continents and oceans, the students will be learning about latitude and longitude and how to locate places on maps with coordinates.
Religion: Our religion lessons this week will focus on our Steps to Respect lessons and social skills. We begin our lessons this week with the concepts of empathy and listening with attention. When our class norms clearly support SAFE, RESPECTFUL & RESPONSIBLE behavior, unkind/bullying behaviors are less likely to happen. These lessons will help reinforce norms by connecting words and actions to class rules and expectations for social and learning behavior. The students will also share their All About My Name papers this week. This will give us the opportunity to reinforce being respectful of names, speaking to each other in kind, respectful ways.
Thank you all for your support and encouragement. We are off to an excellent start.
Have a great week!
