Weekly Update

  Hi Everyone!

This is sure to be a fun week! The kids and I are looking forward to all of the exciting things that are to come! 

Winter Party:

Thank you to Mrs. Higgin’s, Mrs. Casimir and Mrs. Krishna for helping to plan and throw our Winter Party! They have planned so many wonderful activities for the class. Thank you to everyone who donated to make sure the party is a success! The kids are really excited! 

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will read and write about some holidays around the world. The students will also have a chance to write about one of their favorite family traditions. 

• Math:  We will continue division and review our multiplication skills.  Please make sure your child is memorizing their  multiplication facts!!

• Virginia Studies:  Continue on with Chapter 4- A Growing Virginia  The test will be when we return!

 

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to a great week!

Weekly Update

 Hi Everyone!

Next week we plan to spend some time reflecting on all that we have to be thankful for. With that said, I won’t have too much news to report, so this blog post will cover the upcoming units and plans for after Thanksgiving. 

Winter Party:

The fourth grade will be celebrating winter by having a winter party on Friday, December 16th. I am in need of 2-3 parents to work together to play and help run it. I wanted to get the planning started early since I have to send home a permission slip for any food and drink that we plan to have. Our class does not have a room parent, so just reach out to me if you want to help plan it.

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will put our nonfiction skills to work, while we research an extreme weather event and create a report on it. 

• Math:  We will continue working on multiplication. We will focus on 2x2 multiplication problems.  Please make sure your child is memorizing their  multiplication facts!!

• Virginia Studies:  Continuing with Chapter 3- Jamestown. The test will be Tuesday, November 29th. 

 

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to a great week! 

Weekly Update

  Hi Everyone!

Friday we finally watched Tiger Rising! The students couldn’t have been more excited to enjoy this movie after all the hard work they did reading the book. We couldn’t have asked for a better day to watch it either. It was such a special treat getting to cozy up with a stuffy or blanket on this rainy day! 

VA Studies Chapter 3 Test:

We will test on Chapter 3 Tuesday, November 29th. The study guide went home several weeks ago. Please make sure your child is reviewing it each week.. They can also listen to the chapter again on LCPSGo if they need to. It’s a lot of information so we moved rather slowly since so many students were out sick the past few weeks. Everyone should be caught up and on track though. 

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will incorporate our weather units into reading as we begin reading and studying  nonfiction.

• Math:  We will begin working on multiplication and long division. Please make sure your child is memorizing their  multiplication facts!!

• Virginia Studies:  Continuing with Chapter 3- Jamestown. The test will be Tuesday, November 29th. 

 

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to a great week!

Short Week Update

  Hi Everyone!

I wanted to send out a quick update. I don’t have much new information since last week and this week are short weeks. 

No School:

There is no school tomorrow, Tuesday, November 8th due to the election.

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will incorporate our weather units into reading as we begin reading and studying  nonfiction.

• Math:  We will begin working on multiplication and long division. Please make sure your child is memorizing their  multiplication facts!!

• Virginia Studies:  We will begin Chapter 3- Jamestown

 

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to a great week!

Weekly Update

  Hi Everyone!

I hope your weekend was amazing! Once again, I spent mine at sports games and trying to catch up with my life in between games. Please read below for some updates for the week to come!

No School:

There is no school Monday, October 31st and Tuesday, November 1st due to teacher workdays. I will look forward to seeing the students back at school on Wednesday.

Addition and Subtraction Assessment:

We wrapped up our addition and subtraction unit this week. I plan to assess the unit next Thursday. Since we have a long weekend, we will review on Wednesday when we return and test the following day Thursday, November 3rd.

Friday:

I will be out next Friday November 4th. I know the students will do a great job in my absence. I received a glowing report from Mrs. Combs the last time I was out. I am so proud of how well the students behaved and stuck to our routine. I am so blessed to have such a dependable class and amazing co teachers! 

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Writing:  We are learning the structure of Writer’s Workshop and talking about what makes a good writer. 

• Math:  We will begin our Multiplication unit.  

• VA Studies:  We have begun chapter 3, Jamestown. The study guide went home Wednesday. Please make sure they review it each night, as it covers quite a bit of information. 

 

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to a great week!

Weekly Update

  Hi Everyone!

I hope your weekend was amazing! Once again, I spent mine at sports games and trying to catch up with my life in between games. Please read below for some updates for the week to come!

Tiger Rising Permission Slip:

If you haven’t already filled out the permission slip for your child to watch Tiger Rising, please do so by the end of the week. I plan on watching it the last week in October. If I do not have permission for your child to watch it, they will not be allowed since it is rated PG. I will make other arrangements for them to visit the library or another classroom during the movie time. Here is the permission slip again if you need it.

Thursday and Friday

I will be out Thursday and Friday of this week. I am headed to a wedding in Cancun for the weekend! I have secured Mrs. Combs as my sub so I know the students will be in great hands! Mrs. Combs has subbed for me many times in the past, so she knows my classroom rules and routines. Mr. Lightweis and Mrs. Hani will be there still, so I have no doubt that the week will end smoothly. I will be telling the students tomorrow, because I never want them to be surprised when I am out.

No School:

There is no school Monday, October 24th due to a holiday. 

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Writing:  We are learning the structure of Writer’s Workshop and talking about what makes a good writer. 

• Math:  We will work on Subtraction. The students will be able to find the differences of numbers 999,999 or less. 

• Science:  We will wrap up our first Science unit,  Virginia’s Natural Resources.

 

As always, please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. I am looking forward to a great week!

Weekly Update

  Hi Everyone!

I hope your week went well and that you have some fun plans for this long weekend. Once again, I will fill mine with baseball! My son Darius (12 years old) is pitching in a tournament tomorrow at my old High School! How cool is it that 20 something years later, my son is going to be pitching on the same field I hung out on so many years ago?! Thank you for letting me share my excitement with you! Below is a quick look at our week ahead…

Tiger Rising Permission Slip:

We have wrapped up our story Tiger Rising. The movie just came out this past January. We would like to watch it in class as a celebration for all their hard work throughout the book. It is rated PG, so please fill out the permission slip to give them permission to watch it. If you would rather them not read it, I can make other arrangements for them to visit the library or another classroom during the movie time. 

No School:

There is no school Monday, October 10th due to a holiday. 

Fall Conferences:

As we head toward the conclusion of the 1st quarter, I would like to meet with each family for a conference to go over student progress, and see how distance learning is going for everyone. These meetings will take place either in person or virtually through Google Meet. Fall conferences will take place the last  two weeks of October. I will have several options available, and sign ups will be scheduled through a Google Sheet I made. Please click HERE to sign up for a 15 minute conference. If none of these days or times work for you, please reach out and let me know. We will work together to find a time that will work with both of our schedules. 

Science:

We will begin our first science unit Virginia's Natural Resources and The Chesapeake Bay Watershed. This chapter will tie into our next VA Studies chapter nicely as it will hopefully help them understand how and why the English Settlers settled where they did (it was due to the vast resources they had access to!). The students have been taking SO many tests lately, so I am not going to be giving them an end of unit assessment on this topic. This unit will not have a study guide or final assessment. Grades will be based on their in class summatives and classwork. 

 

Recess Equipment:

We are running low on recess equipment. If you find yourself cleaning out your garage, please consider donating any extra balls, jump ropes, or outdoor toys/ games to our class. All we have at the moment is a basketball.

 

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Writing:  We will set up Writer’s Workshop, our writer’s notebook and talk about what makes a good writer.

 

• Math:  We will work on estimating sums and solve problems to see if our estimates are reasonable. 

 

• Science:  We will talk about watersheds and Virginia’s natural resources (Raw materials).

Weekly Update

 Hi Everyone!

Thank you for your patience with my updates in reading to the end.  I know you're busy, and I appreciate the time you take to stay informed about what's happening in our classroom!

No School:

There is no school next Wednesday, October 5th due to a holiday. 

Fall Conferences:

As we head toward the conclusion of the 1st quarter, I would like to meet with each family for a conference to go over student progress, and see how distance learning is going for everyone. These meetings will take place either in person or virtually through Google Meet. Fall conferences will take place the last  two weeks of October. I will have several options available, and sign ups will be scheduled through a Google Sheet I made. Please click HERE to sign up for a 15 minute conference. If none of these days or times work for you, please reach out and let me know. We will work together to find a time that will work with both of our schedules. 

Virginia Studies Chapter 2 Study Guide:

We have begun the second chapter of Virginia Studies, Virginia’s First Peoples. The study guide for this chapter went home two weeks ago.  It is double sided and contains quite a lot of content. Please make sure your child keeps it in a safe place and uses it to review often. They also made flashcards yesterday to practice with this weekend.  The test is scheduled for Thursday, October 6th.

 

Recess Equipment:

We are running low on recess equipment. If you find yourself cleaning out your garage, please consider donating any extra balls, jump ropes, or outdoor toys/ games to our class. All we have at the moment is a basketball.

Picture Day:

Picture day forms will go home on Tuesday, September 27th. Our class is scheduled to have our picture taken on Thursday,October 6th. You can purchase your pictures online or using the form that will be sent home.

 

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will continue Reader's Workshop and read the book The Tiger Rising. 

 

• Math:  We will continue Addition and Subtraction. The study guide went home on Thursday. There are also practice questions on it. Please note that we have not learned all that information yet. Since the unit contains a lot of information, I wanted to send the study guide home at the beginning of the unit. 

 

• Virginia Studies:  We will read and discuss Chapter 2 of Virginia Studies. In this chapter we will learn about the different tribes who settled in Virginia, the languages they spoke and how the way they lived related to where they settled in the state. 

Enjoy the weekend. The rain has canceled all of our games this weekend so it was nice to have a slower paced day! Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Weekly Update

 Hello Parents!

Here is your weekly update and look ahead! We had a wonderful week. Hard to believe that this was our first full 5 day week of school since last year! The kids did well and are really settling into the 4th grade! Stations, Reader's Workshop and Guided Math are in full swing! It's nice to be back to a normal routine. Please see below for some important information and a look ahead to next week.

No School:

There is no school tomorrow, September 26th due to Staff Development. 

Addition and Subtraction Study Guide:

A study guide for our Addition and Subtraction unit will be going home on Tuesday. Please be on the lookout for it. It will be in their Homework Folder under the Study Guide pocket. 

 

VA Studies Study Guide:

Early last week I sent home the study guide for our VA Studies Chapter 2 Assessment. The test is scheduled for Thursday, October 6th. I will let you know if the date changes. 

Treasure Box:

I am sure you have heard that we have a class treasure box! The students can earn a trip here by taking their time on their work, going above and beyond, or are caught showing the 3R’s by a teacher. However, our class treasure box is running low on goodies! If you have any small party favors or treasure box type goodies laying around, please consider donating them to our class treasure box. Most of the stuff in there I often get from The Dollar Store, Target Dollar Spot and Amazon, so it doesn’t have to be anything too elaborate. The kids are so grateful to just get to pick something! 

 

Recess Equipment:

We are running low on recess equipment. If you find yourself cleaning out your garage, please consider donating any extra balls, jump ropes, or outdoor toys/ games to our class. All we have at the moment is a basketball.

 

1st Quarter Interim Progress Reports:

1st Quarter Interim Progress Reports ("interims") will be issued Friday, October 1st.  If your child receives an interim, it will be emailed to you onMonday, October 3rd using the email address on file in your ParentVue account.  You can update and/or verify your email address by logging into your ParentVue account.  If you are unable to access your ParentVue account, please contact our school office.  (I'm sorry; I'm not able to help you with this - you must contact the office.)

 

Picture Day:

Picture day forms will go home on Tuesday, September 27th. Our class is scheduled to have our picture taken on Thursday,October 6th. You can purchase your pictures online or using the form that will be sent home.

 

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will continue Reader's Workshop and read the book The Tiger Rising. 

 

• Math:  We will begin our second math unit. We will begin Addition and Subtraction. The study guide will go home Tuesday. 

 

• Virginia Studies:  We will read and discuss Chapter 2 of Virginia Studies. In this chapter we will learn about the different tribes who settled in Virginia, the languages they spoke and how the way they lived related to where they settled in the state. 

I hope you enjoy your long weekend! I look forward to seeing the students on Tuesday! Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Weekly Update

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Hello Parents!

Here is your weekly update and look ahead! We had a wonderful week. Hard to believe that this was our first full 5 day week of school since last year! The kids did well and are really settling into the 4th grade! Stations, Reader's Workshop and Guided Math are in full swing! It's nice to be back to a normal routine. Please see below for some important information and a look ahead to next week.

Place Value Study Guide:

A study guide on Place Value went home today in your child’s Take Home Folder. Please help them review and prepare for our test which will be on Friday, September 23rd.

 

Virginia Growth Assessment:

Next week we will take the Virginia Growth Assessment. This is the state Fall SOL. You do not need to study for this, nor is it a grade of any kind. Please just have your child come prepared by having their Chromebook fully charged. The Math VGA will be on Monday and the reading will be on Wednesday. 

VA Studies Study Guide:

On Monday we will review for the VA Studies test. We will complete a test review that I will count for a grade. This is an open note assignment. With that said, the students are allowed to use their flipbook they made, their study guide and any notes they have taken. Please have them bring their flip book and study guide to school to use. I am unable to make another class set of all these documents. Using their own notes and study guides will also teach them to be responsible for their own notes and materials. These documents should be housed in their Homework Folder under the ‘Study Guide’ tab.

Treasure Box:

I am sure you have heard that we have a class treasure box! The students can earn a trip here by taking their time on their work, going above and beyond, or are caught showing the 3R’s by a teacher. However, our class treasure box is running low on goodies! If you have any small party favors or treasure box type goodies laying around, please consider donating them to our class treasure box. Most of the stuff in there I often get from The Dollar Store, Target Dollar Spot and Amazon, so it doesn’t have to be anything too elaborate. The kids are so grateful to just get to pick something! 

 

Recess Equipment:

We are running low on recess equipment. If you find yourself cleaning out your garage, please consider donating any extra balls, jump ropes, or outdoor toys/ games to our class. All we have at the moment is a basketball.

Lunch with your Child:

I am happy to report that you are allowed to come and join your child for lunch this year! If you want to come for lunch, the office asks that you just notify the teacher ahead of time, so we can make the office aware. We eat ‘brunch’ at 10:40am. Please let me know if/ when you decide to join us! We had our first set of parents join today and the students could not have been more excited!

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will continue Reader's Workshop and read the book The Tiger Rising. The quiz on the first 10 chapters will be on Tuesday. 

 

• Math:  We will review Place Value and  rounding numbers through the millions place. A test on Place Value will be given Friday, September 23rd.

 

• Virginia Studies:  We will take the test on Chapter 1- VA Geography on Tuesday, September 20th. We will begin Chapter 2 of Virginia Studies. In this chapter we will learn about the different tribes who settled in Virginia, the languages they spoke and how the way they lived related to where they settled in the state. 

I hope you have a nice weekend planned. I will be spending my days on the ball field. Please reach out if you have any questions or concerns. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Weekly Post

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Hello Parents!

Hope you found some time to relax and unwind this weekend. The week ahead is sure to be busy since it will be our first full week of school since the year started! I have just a couple updates and reminders below for the coming week. 

Charging Chrome Books:

Please make sure your child is coming to school each day with their Chrome Book charged. Unfortunately due to space issues we cannot let everyone charge them at school. If they come to school with it not charged they are being asked to drop their computer off in the Innovation Lab and leave it to charge. This makes it difficult to use it on and off as needed.  We have begun our math and literacy stations and a few of the stations use the computers. I have reminded the students each day to charge their computers at home, but many are still coming in with their computers dead. If you could assist me with this, I would appreciate it.

Homework:

Each afternoon we take a few minutes to write our homework in our agendas. Many students came home without their homework completed a couple of times last week. I informed the students that their homework is not only there to teach them the math or reading skill, but so much more. The lesson extends to responsibility, accountability and taking ownership of their work. If you could please help them remember to complete and return their homework each day I would appreciate it. Hopefully it will become a habit for them quickly. Homework completion is a category on the report card under ‘Characteristics that Affect Learning’. 

Focus Areas for the Coming Week:

• Reading:  We will begin our first Reader's Workshop Unit on Characters. We will read the book Tiger Rising. If you want to check a copy out at a library or purchase it on Amazon for your child to follow along with, that would be great! This is not a requirement, however it helps keep the students engaged when they follow along. 

• Math:  We will continue to work on place value and knowing the values of numbers through the millions. The study guide for the Math unit will come home this week. 

• Virginia Studies:  We will work on our first chapter in VA Studies-  The 5 regions of Virginia. The study guide went home last week. I will send out the test date soon. 

 

Thank you for reading the updates. Reach out anytime with questions, comments and concerns. Have a great week!