Dear 4A Families,
Happy Monday. I hope you all enjoyed your weekend.
The students got off to a good start last week with their testing. Testing will continue all this week. As mentioned last week, homework will be light. Be sure your child gets plenty of rest, eats a healthy– protein rich breakfast and brings a healthy snack and water bottle. Please check your child’s filer for a permission slip for our November 17th field trip to Pike Place Market. Just a reminder, if you would like to drive/chaperone on this great day you will need to have all of your Safe Environment training and paperwork up to date. Thank you for returning your permission slip by next Tuesday the 26th.
The Magazine Assembly last Friday was quite spirited. We met our school-wide goal and the 4th graders came in 2nd place overall! Special congratulations to our classroom top seller Emmy LaFazia. Thank you all for your amazing support of this important fund raiser! You all really WENT BIG!
Midtrimester Reports will come home this Friday. I encourage you to go over the reports with your children. This report will not have letter/percentage grades. The 4-3-2-1 standards-based scoring system will be used. At this point in the trimester do not expect to see 4’s except perhaps for spelling tests and certain social and work skills. We are early in the year. A “4” means the student is going above and beyond–exceeding expectations. This early in the year it is not appropriate to give a “4” in most subject areas as we have not had the opportunity to delve deep enough into the content to warrant this exceptional score. 4-3-2-1 scores do not equate to A-B-C-D grades. Please refer to the explanation of each numerical score when looking at your child’s report. The students are off to a great start this year and should be very proud of their progress. Thank you, and please let me know if you have any questions.
Saints! The reading parts for the All Saint’s Day Mass will be selected on Monday. Those students with parts will have a copy in their filer to practice at home. Ms. Mudge has been working with the students on the litany during music class. All students should continue to review the Prayer of St. Francis. Several students have already recited the prayer from memory. The students will be finishing up their saint reports this week. I am so proud of the effort and attention they are putting into this project.
Reading: Ms. Corrigan and I will be completing running records for each of the students this week. Running records allow us to monitor the students oral reading comprehension, accuracy and fluency (WPM). Look for corrected vocabulary and comprehension tests on the first four chapters of Charlotte’s Web in your child’s filer. We will move forward with the story this week focusing on character traits, vocabulary and sequencing of events.
Religion/LA: Our focus this week will be finishing up our Saint Reports, the Saint Mass and an introduction to the Beatitudes, which tie in perfectly with our study of the Saints. There will not be a spelling test this week.
Math: Some of our math work will focus on skill review and some strategies to use when taking the ITBS math sections. Accurate computation of addition and subtraction of large numbers, and problem solving will round out our week.
Science: This is a very exciting week in science! On Tuesday we will be building our solar ovens and on Wednesday we will be testing them. As of right now The Weather Channel is predicting sunshine for Wednesday. Please keep praying that it doesn’t change.
Social Studies: Look for corrected NE State map tests in your child’s filer. The students did well. We will be heading south this week with the SE States. A new study sheet will be in your child’s filer on Tuesday. The students will be tested on this new set of states in a combination NE/SE test on Wednesday, November 4th. Look for corrected Latitude and Longitude tests in your child’s filer this Wednesday.
Be sure to check your child’s filer regularly for corrected tests. On Monday you will find two reading tests for Charlotte’s Web chapters 1-4, the NE state test and spelling test.
- Get a good night’s sleep each night
- No spelling test
- Review for NE/SE State test (on November 4th)
- Read nightly in a book of choice. Include some oral reading
- Review multiplication and/or division facts for speed recall
- Recorder practice
- Prayer of St. Francis