LL 38 News....

                              
      I hope everyone enjoyed this first weekend of fall!  We had a busy week last week with a book "pass," learning about our 4th grade Super Powers, and celebrating our first full Paw Print chart!

Book "Pass"
     We were able to get so many books for our classroom from Scholastic Book Clubs!  It was a lot of fun to share the new books with the kids.  They did a book "pass" where they had small stacks of books to look at for a few minutes, were able jot down any titles that they liked, and then passed them on to the next group.  There was a lot of excitement!  We got so many books all of the kids were able to choose a book that they wanted to read!

Paw Print Reward....Newspaper Dance Party!

Fourth Grade "Super Powers!"


     The class was introduced to some SUPER POWERS that fourth graders use!  They were able to wear their own super hero mask as we practiced our SUPER POWERS.  We learned two SUPER POWERS last week.  Ask your child what their new SUPER POWERS are!!!


Coming Up This Week....

Math Workshop
     We continued to practice place value concepts in math workshop.  We have talked about the 3 different ways to write numbers as well as comparing numbers.
     This week math homework will be a little bit different.  I am going to try a project based math homework for the next two weeks.  Instead of getting a math sheet each night for homework, your child will have a mini-project that is based on real world math concepts.  I will be assigning the math page tomorrow.  One part of the project will be due on this Friday, and the second part will be due by the following Friday, October 7th.  My hope is that this type of math homework will be more motivating to students as they see real world applications for the math we are learning, and that you and your child will be able to plan out working on the project little by little or when you have time during the week (or weekend).

Here is the link for the project:

Math Menu Homework-Place Value

     Your child will also be coming home with Multiplication/Division Triangle Cards.  These cards are being sent home little by little so that your child can practice a few tables of multiplication facts at a time.  Your child will come home with a note explaining this along with a baggie of the 2's and 3's tables.  We will keep the rest of the cards in class for now.

Triangle Fact Family Letter

Social Studies
     We started learning about the regions of the United States last week in Social Studies.  We will study all of the regions this year, however, we will start with the Northeast Region.  We are learning about the land, weather, resources, and other points of interest in this region.  We will be "traveling" to Ellis Island over the next few weeks to learn about immigration!

Well, that was a lot of information to share with you this week!  If you have any questions, please let me know.  I hope everyone has a great week!

~Jen

Coming Up This Week...

     I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend!  We were very busy last week continuing to practice our classroom routines and expectations.
     Thank you so much to all of the families that donated items to our class last week. The yoga mats were a big hit.  The tissues and hand sanitizer will certainly come in handy over the next few days and weeks!
   
Reading Workshop
     We started talking about how readers stop and jot while reading.  We read a mysterious story called The Stranger by Chris VanAllsburg.  We worked on stopping and jotting down our thinking and we also gathered clues from the text to try and figure out who the stranger actually is.

                                                               
     We also practiced asking questions that would get us talking.  Asking questions while we are reading helps us to read actively.  Thinking about questions we have and looking for answers is important, however, in fourth grade we try to start thinking more deeply about what we are wondering.  These questions that get us thinking more deeply are called "talk-worthy" questions and are sometimes referred to as thick questions.  These types of questions usually have more than one answer that can be backed up by evidence from the text.  We read the story Mr. Peabody's Apples and practiced asking talk-worthy questions.

                                                                  
Here is a sample of some question starters that you can use at home when you are discussing books with your child.  After your child shares his/her answer, you could ask your child "What makes you think that?"  This gets your child into the habit of going back into the book to find evidence (or words from the text).

                                                      

Math Workshop
     We started Math Workshop last week.  Each of the kids is now on a Math Team.  We started our first Module on Place Value.  We are working on the place value chart and thinking about what happens when numbers get ten times bigger or smaller.
     This week we will continue practicing this.  We will also start to work on comparing numbers and showing numbers in different forms.

Picture Day
This Friday, September 23rd is Picture Day.  Your child was given his/her picture form on Friday.  You can send the form back at any point during the week and I can hold onto it for your child.

I hope everyone has a great week!

~Jen

Coming Up This Week in LL38.....

     It was great to meet so many families at Open House last Thursday!  If you weren't able to make it to the Open House, I did post a video presentation that goes through the Powerpoint that I shared with families that night.
   
Writing Workshop
     We started to gather ideas as writers last week.  We told "Stories Around the Campfire" to inspire us as we gathered ideas for stories that are important to us.  The kids had so much fun using the flashlights as they told their stories.  The rest of the class worked on being good listeners.  In the end we found that when one student shared a story idea, it often sparked another memory for another student! 

     Last week your child also learned about the importance of decorating his/her writer's notebook.  This is due by this Tuesday!  Please see the earlier post with specific directions.

Math Workshop
     We are starting our first module in math this week.  The first module works with place value.  I will be sending home a Homework Helper packet so that you and your child can refer to it if you have questions on the nightly homework.

Reading Workshop
     We started to choose just right books for ourselves last week in reading workshop.  We also celebrated picture books in our classroom.  It was fun to read our favorite picture books.  The kids got to share their book and read it with a partner.
     During reading we also talked about what it looks like to be a good listener.  It is something that the kids certainly needed to practice.  We will continue to practice good listening strategies in the upcoming days and weeks.  We have talked about how good listeners can then agree or disagree with someone's thinking or that they might be able to learn something new from a partner. 

Scholastic Book Club
     Book orders went out last week.  If you would like to order books for your child, please send the order back to school by this Wednesday.  You can also go online to order.  My teacher code is GXC4P.  All of the money that is spent helps me to earn Bonus Points.  I am able to use these Bonus Points to buy more books for the classroom!

Getting to Know Your Child Survey
     Thank you to the parents who have filled out the online survey to help me get to know your child.  If you haven't filled it out yet, it would be very helpful if you could do so by this Friday, September 16th.

Here is the link for the survey:  

 https://drive.google.com/open?id=1DjDTozKVRv5JelRRMaNUIwGSuJMi8U131H1kjcqGhb4    

 If you would rather fill out a paper copy, please let me know via email.

I hope everyone has a great week!

~Jen

   

  I am posting my Open House presentation from last night.  I have used the same slide show that I presented. I know it can be hard to make it to Open House, so I want all families to hear about what we will be doing in 4th grade this year as well as some of the expectations.  There are two links below.  I had a certain amount of time to record, so it had to go into two different parts.  Please let me know if you have any questions!  Enjoy the weekend!

Open House Presentation Part 1



Open House Presentation Part 2

Decorating Your Writer's Notebook

Hi Families!

As you know we were having difficulty with the internet and phone connections at Farley for the past few days. Because of this, I wasn't able to get this handout out to kids about decorating their writer's notebook.  We did talk about it in depth in the classroom, and I showed them several examples of my writer's notebooks.  I am including the directions so that it might clear up any confusion that your child has or answer any questions. I hope this helps!  I can't wait to see all the "stories" on the notebooks!

Here is the link to the directions:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LXpoBomJ1vUSO0r_AmT-5gXMkrcoj_Bqz2bTEyq9vEo/edit?usp=sharing

Just a reminder...Open House is tomorrow, Thursday from 6:30-8:00!  Hope to see you there!

~Jen

This Week in LL38.....

     I hope everyone had a great weekend!  The first few days of school followed by a four day weekend (and a four day week) is always a nice way to ease into the school year!
     We had a great first 2 days of fourth grade.  We started to learn the routines of the classroom and started to talk about the expectations of our class.
   
You CAN learn anything....
     On the first day of school I showed the class this video. In a part of the video they talk about a baby learning to walk for the first time.  The kids really understood this part of the video. It is really a great way to think about how we learn even as fourth graders!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC82Il2cjqA

Learning about our brains.....
     We also spent a lot of time thinking about what we know about our brains.  We watched a video that talks about how our brain can get stronger.  We learned that in order to get "stronger" at something we might fail many times before we finally "get" something.  One of the big vocab words that we learned was neurons.  Ask your child what they learned about their neurons.

This Week...
     We will continue to work on the routines and expectations in our classroom.  In reading we will start to think about the books that interest us and create a list of books that we want to read over the next few weeks and months.
    In writing workshop we will start off with a personal narrative unit.  The kids will be writing about stories that are important to them.  We will start off by thinking about people, places, and things that hold memories and stories for us.  It would be helpful to talk with your child at home about important places and people in their lives and the stories that are brought to mind.  This will help as they begin to draft in school.
   
Open House
     We have Open House this Thursday, September 8th.  I am looking forward to meeting everyone and sharing our classroom and fourth grade curriculum with all of you!

I hope everyone has a great week!

~Jen