Pumpkins!

Below are some snapshots from our Fall Celebration!  Thank you to all families who donated craft supplies to our room to help make this possible!

Fall Celebration Tomorrow!

Dear Parents & Guardians,

To celebrate the fall season, tomorrow room 201 will paint mini-ish pumpkins. We will paint them first thing in the morning.  Hopefully the pumpkins will be dry and ready to bring home by the end of the school day.  I have already purchased a pumpkin for each child.  Tonight, I will be purchasing some paint and paint brushes.  However, if you have any extra paint supplies at home that you wouldn’t mind donating, the students and I would really appreciate it.

Students will also be invited into the room during lunch to watch It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (G). 

Just a friendly reminder that students cannot bring in candy for the class; however, if you’d like to pack them a piece or two for lunch or snack, you are more than welcome.

As always, please email me at honeill@battle-creek.k12.mi.us with questions or concerns.

Homework:

• Math homework
• Read 20 minutes

Reminders:

• Parent/Teacher Conference: A notice regarding parent/teacher conferences went home last Friday.  Please sign up for a conference slot and return to school at your earliest convenience.  

Supplies:

• Paint supplies :) 

Thank you,

Mrs. O'Neill

Parent/Teacher Conferences

In Readers' Workshop, students are learning to think about theme through the lens of characters.  So, how can we use what we know about characters and what they learn to identify possible themes?  One way we are doing this is by analyzing characters' big mistakes.  When characters (and people) make big mistakes, they learn from them.  Usually we can generate a theme if we infer what the character learned from their mistake. 

In Writers' Workshop, we are revising our personal narratives.  Students are learning to add at T.A.D.D. (Thinking, Actions, Dialogue, Description) more to the heart of their narratives to stretch out those important parts.

In Math Workshop, we are reviewing and practicing for our test on Friday.  A review will come home today.  Students need to complete the even numbers for homework (due Friday).  Remember, if your child is visibly frustrated, write me a note at the top of their homework and I will work with them in the morning (your child will still receive full credit on homework). To help with homework tonight, show your child this anchor chart (below).  We use this in Math Workshop to solve real world problems (AKA word problems). 



Homework:

• Math review: Due Friday
• Read 20 minutes

Reminders:

• Math Test: Friday, October 20
• Parent/Teacher Conference: A notice regarding parent/teacher conferences went home last Friday.  Please sign up for a conference slot and return to school at your earliest convenience.  
• Planners:  I check planners for signatures every Friday.  Please make sure you have signed days Monday-Thursday by Friday morning. By signing your child's planner, you are communicating to me that your child read their 20 minutes each school night. 
• Snacks: If possible, send your child to school with a healthy snack.  We have a late lunch.
• Water bottles: Students are allowed to keep a water bottle at their desk if they'd like.

Supplies:

Thank you,

Mrs. O'Neill

Spirit Week Schedule

I apologize for not posting this yesterday! Below is BCPS's Spirit Week Schedule.  Students are encouraged and invited to participate.

• Wednesday: Flashback to the Past Day (Pick a decade)
• Thursday: Flash Forward to the Future Day (Career Day)
• Friday: Blue and Gold Day

In Readers' Workshop, this week we're working on paying attention to the things characters say, think and do (their actions) to infer and grow ideas about them.  While your child is reading tonight, ask them to identify something their main character says.  Based on what they said, have them grow an idea about a trait or feeling.

While reading, students are encouraged to use sticky notes to make predictions, ask questions, make conections, retell.  This helps readers monitor their comprehension and fosters critical thinking.  Books should look like this (see below)!

In Writers' Workshop, we're analyzing mentor texts like Saturdays and Teacakes and learning how to hook our readers.  Instead of beginning our narratives with "One beautiful day...", writers  can hook their readers by...

• ... using our 5 senses to describe the setting
• ... writing back and forth dialogue
• ... using an onomatopoeia (sound word/s)
• ... including internal thinking 

In Math Workshop, we're working on adding by "making new groups" (what we know as carrying a number). Later on this week we'll also subtract by "un-grouping" (what we know as borrowing).


Homework:

• Math homework
• Read 20 minutes

Reminders:

• Snacks: If possible, send your child to school with a healthy snack.  We have a late lunch.
• Water bottles: Students are allowed to keep a water bottle at their desk if they'd like.

Supplies:

• Sticky notes:  We use sticky notes in every subject area and therefore are chronically low.  I've ordered a bunch more, but if you see any on sale and would like to donate to our room, our students would greatly appreciate.

Thank you,

Mrs. O'Neill

Water Bottles

Please feel free to send your child in with a water bottle to keep on their desk.  Our classroom can get quite toasty with the sun beaming in.

In Readers' Workshop, students are learning to make connections as they read.  This is another strategy to build up our reading stamina. There are three big connections that readers make: text-to-self, text-to-text, and text-to-world.  Making these connections helps readers:

• understand how characters feel and read with empathy.
• understand motivations behind characters' actions.
• have a clearer picture in their head as they read thus making the reader more engaged.

In Writers' Workshop, we read Lester Laminack's personal narrative/memoir Saturdays and Teacakes. We read this text like writers, looking for and identifying elements of writer's craft that made his piece strong.

In Math Workshop, students continue to build on their understanding of place value.  This week we've broken up numbers into their place value parts using expanded notation (612 = 600 + 10 + 2), used word form to write numbers, and revisited how to draw and use base ten blocks.  In Math Expressions (our new math program), we refer to base ten drawings as the following: 

• 1000s = thousands bar
• 100s = hundreds box
• 10s = quick tens
• 1s = circles

Homework:

• Read 20 minutes

Reminders:

• Snacks: If possible, send your child to school with a healthy snack.  We have a late lunch.
• Water bottles: Students are allowed to keep a water bottle at their desk if they'd like.

• Picture Day is Monday, September 25.  Forms/envelopes were sent home Friday

Supplies:

Thank you,

Mrs. O'Neill

Snacks

If you haven't heard yet... fourth grade has a late lunch (12:50).  Because of this, please feel free to send your child to school with a healthy snack, if possible.  I have left over breakfast snacks for students who don't bring in something separate.  Thank you!

In Readers' Workshop we started Because of Winn Dixie.  We practiced holding tight to meaning to help us visualize the story (we call this making a mental movie in our minds).  When your child reads at home, encourage them to stop and sketch a quick picture of their mental movie.

In Writers' Workshop students are learning strategies to help them generate ideas for personal narratives.  So far students have learned to draw shoe, buried life and heart maps to help them brainstorm ideas.

In Math Workshop we are working at stations and learning mathematical games to play.  Ask you child how to play "Rock, Paper, Scissors, Math!".

Homework:

• Read 20 minutes

Reminders:

• Just a friendly reminder that I will be checking planners for signatures tomorrow.  Please make sure you've signed days Monday-Thursday.
• Please sign and return address/phone number confirmation sheet.  This came home with students on Friday.
• Picture Day is Monday, September 25.  Forms/envelopes will come home this Friday.

Supplies:

• If you have not sent in supplies yet, click here for our list. 
• The most important supplies are:
• 4 composition notebooks
• 5 pads of sticky notes
• 4 folders
• dry erase markers

Thank you,

Mrs. O'Neill

Homework & Planners

Nightly Reading Homework
The amount of free reading done outside of school has consistently been found to relate to growth in vocabulary, reading comprehension, verbal fluency, and general information (Anderson, Wilson, and Fielding 1988; Greaney 1980; Guthrie and Greaney 1991; Taylor, Frye, and Maruyama 1990). Students who read independently become better readers, score higher on achievement tests in all subject areas, and have greater content knowledge than those who do not (Krashen 1993; Cunningham and Stanovich 1991; Stanovich and Cunningham 1993). Please set aside at least 20 minutes each school night for your child to read independently or even better, aloud to you.

Math Homework

Verona utilizes the Math Expressions program for math instruction.  Specifically, fourth grade’s math curriculum involves group work, hands-on activities, problem solving, logical thinking, and decision-making lessons. You can expect your child to have math homework every week.  Math homework is intended to reinforce concepts learned in class.  I will always explain how to do these assignments before students are sent home.  Your child should not be spending more than 30 minutes on math homework.  Additionally, your child (and/or you) should not experience high or excessive frustration when completing homework.  If either of these situations occur, please jot me a note at the top your child's homework, and I will work with your child one-on-one in the morning to complete the work for full credit.  It is important to also note that students can, and are encouraged to, bring home their math notebook to help them in completing their homework.

Unfinished & Absent Work

Any work not completed during the day will be sent home to be finished and returned the next day.  If your child is absent, s/he will need to complete the work that was missed.  Students will have a fair and appropriate amount of time to finish any assignment they may have missed. 

Planners
Aside from this blog, planners are another way that we communicate with each other on a daily basis. At the end of each day, we will fill out planners together with brief information in each subject area so as to communicate what was learned that day.  

Here are the highlights you need to know about planners:

• Homework: Homework is indicated in planners with a star.
• Clip Chart Status:   Our class will use a clip chart to encourage positive behavior.  This is a fluid chart; students have opportunities to move up (and down) throughout the day. Students will jot down the abbreviation indicating where they ended the day.  
• Role Model: RM 
• Super Star: SS
• Way to Go: WTG
• Ready to Learn: RTL (this is where students begin each day) 
• Make Better Choices: MBC
• Stop and Think: SAT
• Parent Contact: PC (I will communicate with you via planner, email or phone call)
• Signatures: By signing your child's planner, you are communicating to me that s/he has read their 20 minutes of reading.  
• Friday Planner Checks: While in an ideal world planners are reviewed and signed everyday, I recognize that schedules tend to be full and, at times, hectic.  For these reasons, I only check planners for signatures on Fridays. Students who have 4 signatures on Fridays will be invited to participate in "Fun-day Friday".
• Notes:  On occasion, I may write you a note in your child's planner.  Likewise, feel free to jot down a note in your child's planner for me to read, as well.  Students know to show me their planners in the morning if they have parent notes. 

Homework:

• Read 20 minutes

Reminders:

• Please sign and return address/phone number confirmation sheet.  This came home with students on Friday.
• Picture Day is Monday, September 25.  Forms/envelopes will come home this Friday.

Supplies:

• If you have not sent in supplies yet, click here for our list. 
• The most important supplies are:
• 4 composition notebooks
• 5 pads of sticky notes
• 4 folders
• dry erase markers

Thank you,

Mrs. O'Neill