News & Notes:
- Room 107 Video Conference Day - Flyers went home last week explaining our US regions video conference project. We are looking to "interview" family or friends in other states about what it is like in their state. This is activity is a big hit with the kids and gives us a chance to learn more about our country. Please consider talking with your out of state family and friends! Here's the flyer. (Also I noticed it said we would be using Google Hangout - that was from pre-covid life. We'll be using zoom!)
- PTA Membership - It is once again time for our PTA membership contest. The classroom with the most memberships will win $75 in scholastic dollars. These scholastic can be used by the classroom teacher to purchase new books for their classroom library. Also, the students of the winning class will receive a popcorn snack. Here is a link to the membership hub. As of Nov. 1, we're tied for sixth place.
- Brain Friendly Reading - On Nov 2 our teaching staff were all trained on the Brain Friendly Reading program. I am excited to launch this program in our class and am anxious to see the impact it will have on reading and spelling in our 4th grade. This will change what we are doing in word study/spelling. So, for the next two weeks, your children and I will be working together to develop our new procedures for this program. They will not have weekly spelling words. I look forward to sharing more about this when we meet for conferences after Thanksgiving. Until then, please be patient with us as we develop our understanding and work together to grow as readers and spellers. I am very excited about the potential to improve student success in reading and spelling!
Upcoming Dates:
- Tues, Nov 9 - Bennie Culver's Night (I'll be there from 7-8)
- Fri, Nov 12 - Video conference forms due
- Tues, Nov 23 - End of first trimester
What We're Learning:
- Writing - We will be working on informational writing and using transition words in our sentences.
- Reading - Our reading focus this week will be using inference to determine character motivation. We are reading "Esperanza Rising" as a whole class. Ask your child how Esperanza is feeling about her move to California.
- Social Studies - We wrapped up our Regions Research project this week. They will go home next week for you to look at and then return to class. We'll be creating a class book from the individual projects. **As a note, due to our research project this week, we did not utilize our Daily Five self-checklist.**
- Science - We are beginning a new unit in science focusing on Earth science and how Earth changes over time.
- Math - We have been working on 1 digit by three/four digit multiplication. We will continue to build on this. With the progress reports last week, if your child is struggling with any of our math concepts a packet of optional math activities went home as a way to help build/practice the skills we've been working on.
- Social Emotional Learning - As part of Bennie's PBIS program, each class has a "calm down" kit and a spot for children to take a break in class if they need it. The goal is always to self-regulate and return to learning as soon as possible. We reviewed our calming kit again this week. Ask your child to describe how they might use the glitter jar to help calm or focus their minds.
Ask Me:
- Our reading strategy focus this week was on cause and effort. All of our "books of the day" had a theme connected to helping people. Ask your child to tell you in what ways the characters in the books helped people. (Hint - "The Cat Man of Aleppo" helped cats and children in Aleppo. In "Seeds of Change", Wangari Maathai planted trees and helped the people of Kenya.)
Highlight of the Week:
We end each week writing in a journal and sharing the best thing that happened to us this week. Several kids said our leaf fun this afternoon was their highlight. Pure joy to end our week!
