The Week Ahead 9/12 - 9/16

First Week Goals
I had three goals that I wanted to focus on during the first week. They were to get to know each other, learn the classroom expectations, and begin to collect to beginning of the year academic data on students. I feel that we had a successful first week and accomplished those three goals.


Reading
Last week I started the process of reading with each of the students and having a conversation with them about their reading. Studies have shown that by far the best way to improve as a reader is to read. In order for the time spent reading to have the best impact, students need to be reading just right books. When I have finished reading with each child next week, I'll have a good idea of the just right books for each student. Because time in text is the best way to improve as a reader, students will be expected to read at home two hours each week. They have a reading log to document the time spent reading.

Word Work
Students will have a set of vocabulary words each week. They will be given their new words on Tuesdays and then take a quiz on those words the following Tuesday. We will do activities with the words in class each day throughout the week, but students are encouraged to study their words at home as needed. The first set of words will be introduced on Tuesday, 9/13. We are starting with a small set of words, only six. We will be studying figurative language.


Writing
We will begin the year working on growing as narrative writers. Last week I had the students write me the best true personal narrative they could. This lets me know where we need to start our lessons. Some of the big things we work on in narrative writing in 4th grade are using figurative language to enhance our storytelling, using dialogue to make the reader feel like they are there, establishing the setting, and of course revising and editing our work.

Back to School Night
Back to School Night will be on Thursday, September 15th starting at 6 pm. If you have any questions about classroom expectations, the 4th grade curriculum, volunteer opportunities, or anything else, this is a great chance to get those answered.

Math  
We will begin our first module next week. Our first math module focuses on place value, using estimation to check reasonableness of answers, and solving multi-step word problems. 

Binders
Staying organized is a big part of having success in 4th grade. We spent a lot of time the first week of school organizing our binders. Students are expected to take their binder home each night and bring it back to school each day. 

Upcoming Dates
Tuesday, September 13th - First Vocab Words Assigned
Thursday, September 15th - Back to School Night - 6:00-7:30 
Tuesday, September 20th - Vocab Quiz/Next Set of Words Assigned

Popular posts from this blog

The Week Ahead 9/3-9/7

First Week We had a great first week of school! My goals for us were to get to know each other, come to an understanding of classroom agreements and norms, and begin to collect some baseline data on where we are academically. We accomplished these goals and I think we're in for a fun year! Headphones Please have your student bring headphones to school. If you are unable to get headphones for your child, let me know and I'll make sure they are provided. Stay Connected Instagram Follow our class Instagram account at blanc.wstv. Here I'll be posting pictures of what we're up to. Seesaw Another way you can stay connected with our class is Seesaw. You can think of Seesaw as a digital portfolio. This is where your student will share their learning. How to sign up Click on this link:   https://app.seesaw.me/s/819-043-150 Choose your child from the list Create your account Once I approve you, you can see content from your child After you sign up, downloa
Read more

The Week Ahead 3/2-3/6

How We Organize Ourselves Thank you to all of the chaperones who joined us for our field trip to the State Capitol! Hopefully you have had a chance to check out some of the pictures from the trip on our class Instagram account, blanc.wstv. On Friday, our classroom committees presented their classroom bills. There was fierce debate but in the end, only one of the five bills got a majority vote in both the House of Representatives and Senate and is now a classroom law. Have your student tell you what they think of the new classroom law. Last Monday, I sent you an email letting you know that we will begin teaching our state mandated Erin's Law lessons next Monday, 3/2. In the email I sent a link that included information on the learning outcomes as well as a link to a website with more information. If you review these materials and decide you want your student to opt out of the lessons, please contact the office and they will get you the opt out form. Students that opt out will do
Read more

The Week Ahead 3/9-3/13

Inquiry Next week we'll begin our Where We Are in Place and Time inquiry unit. The central idea of this unit is migration impacts individuals and communities. The lines of inquiry are reasons for migration, ways migration impacts quality of life, and impact on current groups. In the beginning of the unit we'll learn about migration by studying westward expansion, starting with the Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark led Corps of Discovery. Math Students will continue their study of fractions next week. Up to this point our main focus has been working with equivalence and comparing fractions. Two of the big ideas students should grasp are for fractions to be equivalent, the ratio must be kept constant and the greater the denominator, the smaller the pieces. Next week the students will work on adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. Conferences Spring Parent/Teacher Conferences will take place the first week of April. Please go to
Read more