Middle Ages Tournament

Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye all vassals of the kingdom of Xavier Charter School!  The knights of the fiefdoms of Robbins and Barrutia will be taking part in a tournament and feast on:

Thursday, December 19^th

6:00 p.m.

Xavier Charter School

Role of Students:  come in knightly costume (old t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and side seams cut then belted make a great tunic), gather in their classroom with their trusty steed as they prepare to participate in the knightly tournament and feast.

Role of Parents:  come to serve the noble knights.  As serfs you shall be entitled to leavings after the feast (cookies and punch).  Your assistance with preparations and activities are crucial to the success of this event.  Siblings will not be allowed to participate in the events or activities, use your best judgment as to whether they attend.

Link for necessary supplies and volunteer jobs:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13eFoOjz-rx8n5SOn0RpNIWWNs3gDA4-pwrJ9cESuaP0/edit?usp=sharing

December 1, 2013

I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving Break!  I had a nice time with family and relaxing after our hectic week!  The last week we were in school we were being monitored by the accreditation committee, and that was indeed a stressful time for us all!  For those of you who don’t know, accreditation is crucial to high schools.  It means the difference between our students graduating with a high school diploma and graduating to take the high school equivalency exam.  Xavier decided to go through the process for K-12 and not just the high school, so our building was full of visitors making sure we are providing a quality education.  The initial reports are good and we are all relieved to just be teaching without so much additional pressure.

4^th grade is moving right along and I have some valuable information for you! 

Save the date!!!!!

December 19^th – Middle Ages Tournament

More information will follow very soon, but I wanted you to get this on your calendar now!

Math – we will be studying division and multiplication of single digits and 4 digit numbers and then moving into double digit multiplication before the break.

History – we are well on our way through the middle ages!  The students are enjoying this unit as they always do. 

Literature – We have finished Pollyanna and will begin Robin Hood this week

Grammar – we are continuing our work on verbs and verb phrases.  Next week we will be talking about verb tenses and irregular verbs.  By the end of December we will be studying nouns and pronouns.

Excellence in Writing – Our first ever research paper is progressing slowly!  This is the first time we have tried this with 4^th graders and it has been a learning experience for all of us.  Your students are rising to the challenge and doing remarkably well, which is no surprise to me.

We have a very busy three weeks ahead of us!  I can’t believe we are almost halfway through 4^th grade!  Don’t forget to take a few moments to just enjoy special times during your busy holiday season. 

Update on our Wonderful 4th Graders!

We are moving very quickly now that we have had a quarter to get accustomed to the new classroom and new routine.  Here is an update on what is happening in our 4^th grade classroom.

History – we finished our geography study of Mountains of the World and today we began the Middle Ages Unit.  Be watching for your opportunity to assist us as we plan our Middle Ages Tournament in December.

Math – our kids were order of operations rock stars!  We have now begun our unit on negative numbers.

Writing – your students completed their at home research on insects and will begin writing their essays on insects this week.

Poetry – We have written several poems and I have been very impressed with the poets of 4^th grade!

Literature – we are continuing Pollyanna and I anticipate finishing this novel by Fall Break.

Volatile Volcanoes! and More

We will be having our ring of fire volcanic eruptions on October 31st at 10:30 a.m.  Your students should have brought home the specifications for their volcano project that is due on October 31st. The volcanoes are a take home project and students can work in a group of up to three students or on their own to create the volcanoes.  The bases of the volcanoes can be 1 2/3 foot by 1/1/2 foot and they can be up to 2 1/2 feet high.  Your volcanoes can erupt or just look nice.  Parents are welcome to attend our eruptions on the 31st.

Parent Teacher Conferences are upon us!  Your students should have brought home a scheduled time for our conference.  If that did not make it home please contact me and I can let you know when your time is.

October Update

I think we have finally gotten into our stride as 4th graders!  We have been doing almost everything on our agenda each day and the class is starting to proceed on 4th grade pace!  I am very happy with how well the students are settling into being 4th graders although I am still getting a number of late assignments from students and we have talked about this in class.  All assignments are due the day after they are assigned unless I give the students extra time.  If that is the case the due date is written on the "What is Due" board.  Beginning this week we will be responsible for turning in our assignments by the due date.  If they are not turned in they will be graded according to the 4th grade late assignment scale:  1 day late 80%, 2 days late 70% and 3 days late 60 anything after that is a 0.  

We have a busy week ahead of us:

Math - continue learning factors, rules of divisibility, common factors and prime factorization

Excellence in Writing - begin a new explanatory essay

Grammar - finish our unit on prepositions and start working on capitalization rules.  Students will need to continue to study their prepositions as we will keep testing, I want all kids to pass off these prepositions as it makes the rest of their grammar much easier 

Literature - Continue Pollyanna

Science - Continue our unit on Geology and we will be studying volcanoes, mountains, rocks and erosion

Math Practice

As I am concluding the initial screening of the class, I have found that some of the students are not fluent in their multiplication.  This is crucial for them to be able to master the majority of 4th grade math.  Please make sure you are working on your math facts every night.  Following are links to math games and pages you can print out:

• http://www.softschools.com/math/games/
• http://math.about.com/od/multiplication/ig/Times-Tables-Worksheets/

In class students are given 3 minutes to complete 60 problems.  Please work at home with them until this is happening.  We will be doing multiples and factors of numbers in approximately 2 weeks and they MUST know their facts by then.  

It was great meeting each of you at the Open House, I hope you have a better understanding about what you can expect in 4th Grade.

First Day!

We had a great first day of school.  It was very busy and we didn't even get close to finishing everything I had planned for the day!  We spent the morning learning about what they can expect each morning in 4th grade.  The students were then asked to write a letter to themselves expressing what they are worried about in 4th grade and what they are excited about.  Once that was complete I handed out letters for them from last year's 4th graders.  These letters addressed some of the things that students were worried about and eased some of the new class jitters.  Last year's kids also gave them a hint of things they could look forward to in 4th grade.

We had an all school assembly this afternoon to introduce our Fellowships and the monthly Cantus.  This will replace the Monday Opening that we have had in the past.  We will use this time to issue a new challenge to students based on the 9 Pillars.  September’s Pillar is Responsibility.  Students were given the definition of responsibility and will be competing with the other groups to win the Pillar for their group.  We will also use this time to promote school spirit and a sense of family at Xavier.  We have three fellowships that are named after our philosophy of seeking the good, true and beautiful.   Fourth grade is in the Good Fellowship along with 1^st grade, 7^th grade and 10^th grade.  We will spend time periodically throughout the year getting to know one another, competing in challenges against the other fellowships and working on curriculum related activities.  I am very excited for this program and have hopes of seeing great things come from it.  

Tomorrow promises to be just as busy!  I look forward to seeing everyone tomorrow!

Welcome to 4th Grade!

        It was fantastic to meet everyone this week!  I am really looking forward to this year.  It is always so much fun to get a new group of students and spend time getting to know one another as a group. 

        You can expect next week to be full of learning what 4^th grade is all about!  We will learn procedures for our classroom and our school.  We will also get all of our composition books set up to be used as resources to be kept at their desks.  The week will also be backed with Great Expectations.  We will work on learning about the first of our 9 pillars, Responsibility as well as covering the Eight Expectation of Living.  In addition we will do some pre-testing in math and grammar. 

        If you have not brought your student’s supplies they can bring them on Monday.  The entire class will meet in the gym and I will be there greeting students.  Please join us in the gym and not the classroom.  I will walk the students to class once we have gathered. 

        Enjoy the rest of your weekend; I will see your students on Tuesday!

I get my kinder babies back!!!!

Well, they aren't babies anymore, but they are mine!  I am so excited to start the year off with my very first class and get to know all of the new students I will have this year.  We have all grown so much since kindergarten and I can't wait to show these amazing students the wonders of 4th grade!

 4th grade is going to be a fabulous experience, that is why this is my 4th year in 4th grade, I just can't leave!
Stay tuned for more information as I update the start of the year blog!

Fun! Fun! Fun! Fractions are so Fun!

Fun! Fun! Fun!  Fractions are so Fun!

Tomorrow is half-way day!!!!  We will spend our day doing fractions and finding out just how much fun they can be!  Thank you all for your wonderfully kind donations to make this event possible!  The students are going to have a ball learning about fractions and they don’t even know they will be learning.

Poetry Out- Loud Junior

We will hold our class competition on Tuesday morning at approximately 8:30 a.m.  Mrs. Barrutia will judge our class and I will judge her class.  The top three contestants will then compete in the Grammar School completion on Thursday at 10:00 a.m., in the multi-purpose room.  On Thursday we had everyone recite their poem for their grade and the competition promises to be stiff!  What amazing poets our 4^th graders are.  Parents are welcome to attend the poetry events.

Brrr....It is cold out there!

I hope everyone survived the snow day!  My family spent it in front of a fire with no school work by any of us!  (That does not happen often here.)  We are in for a busy week, but as you have figured out they are all busy for us!  Here is what you can expect:

Monday – I would like to do the tests we missed on Friday, but I will gauge the kids and determine if that is a good idea.  If they seem to need an extra day we will review on Monday and test on Tuesday.  We will have an AimsWeb Winter Benchmark test on Monday, all grades 4-8 will be doing one on Monday and Tuesday

Tuesday – Thursday -  We will begin fractions in math and continue with meteorology and Robin Hood

Friday – We will have our regular tests and one on meteorology.  We will also be creating a poetry book.  I need your help with this one! Please see below.

Poetry Book: we are going to be creating a really cool poetry book for each child and we need your help!   Each child will be creating a 10 page book to highlight the poetry they create this year.  Each page will be decorated and then the student’s poetry will be placed on the page.  If you could send any of the following by Friday:

·         Scrapbooking paper (just your scraps will work out) If you are inclined to purchase something – JoAnn’s has a 50% off coupon and scrapbook books of paper can be purchased for $10 with that coupon.  Here is the link to that coupon:  http://www.joann.com/coupon/?cm_mmc=Bing-_-Brand+-+Coupons-_-Coupons+%28E%29-_-joann%27s+coupons_Exact&utm_source=Bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=joann's+coupons&utm_campaign=Brand+-+Coupons&002=2366114&004=875614939&005=9079001056&006=1036925590&009=e&011=joann's%20coupons

·         Ribbon – any scrap ribbon,  raffia or lace would be fun to use

·         Buttons – Do you have old shirts you are getting rid of?  Cut the buttons off, or those extra buttons that come with your clothing that you never use would be great too!

·         Cardstock straps

·         Cute cutouts or old cards we can cut up

·         Use your imagination we can use it!

As always THANK YOU for helping us make 4^th grade Fabulous!

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a fantastic break!   I want to thank everyone for the warm holiday wishes and thoughtful gifts!  My family and I had a very relaxing break and enjoyed a lot of time together.  Although I enjoyed my time off, I was happy to be back at school to welcome each of your children back to 4^th grade.

January is a busy time for us and we are already as busy as bees.  Following is an outline of what you can expect to see in the coming weeks:

·         Math:  double digit multiplication

·         Science: Meteorology

o   Students will need to do a daily weather journal.  They are expected to watch the weather forecast each evening, find it online, or read it in the newspaper.  These will be checked each day and should be in your child’s homework section

·         Literature

o   Robin Hood

o   Poetry – Xavier has decided to have a Jr. Poetry Out Loud Contest

§  Each student will be given three poems to choose from and they will be required to memorize and recite the poem in class

§  The Logic and Rhetoric schools participate in this event annually and it is tied to a regional and state competition.  We decided we should extend this incredible event to include our Grammar school at the school level. Be on the look-out for more information.

·         Grammar – types of sentences and irregular verbs

·         Excellence in Writing – addition of quality adjectives to the required dress-ups for essays.