It is Time to Get Rolling!

I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful weekend!   I like to send emails on Sunday evening to update you on what is happening for the upcoming week.  I don't always do it on Sunday, but I do most weeks.  I will also update the blog on Sunday if I have something to communicate that I want to stay available easily.  Following is what you can expect this week:

1. Homework - I will be sending home our first homework packet there are 4 math pages and an at home reading assignment.  Please help your students budget their time so they don't get overwhelmed with homework.  It is due on Friday.
2. Dictation and Write with Me Journal - your student will have a journal in their binder each week that has two homework assignments in  it.  The first is an at home writing assignment that is due on Friday.  Please read these with your students, they offer a lot of insight into your growing students thoughts.  Last year my parents thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity to have great conversations.  The second part is their dictation words (spelling).  Students need to write the worlds 5 times and the sentences 1 time.  I will check these on Friday.
3. Division - I am going to send a division packet home with every student.  This is a basic division review that should be easy for kids, unless they have not had division.  Have your student keep this in their traveling binder, as I get some help from parkas (about 3 weeks from now) I can have them help kids.  In the meantime please work with your students to make sure they can do these problems and learn these strategies.  This will be due the end of October.

What we will learn first:

• Math - we will be reviewing place value and moving to the millions and hundred millions
• Grammar - prepositions and prepositional phrases
• Literature - elements of a story
• Excellence in Writing - setting up our lap book and key word outlining
• Science - circulatory system
• Greek & Latin - our first 3 roots
• Handwriting - reviewing and fine tuning our cursive
• Sayings and Phrases - As the crow flies

Fridays are test days in 4th grade.  You can expect that your student will have a math, dictation, Greek & Latin (in about 3-4 weeks) and grammar test every Friday.  We do try to schedule other tests that day as well.  This is a good way for us gauge how they are doing and plan for the upcoming week accordingly.

As you can see, 4th grade is jam packed with fun!  I can't wait to get started! 

Welcome 2014-2015 4th Graders!

I am very excited to get this year started!  It was wonderful meeting all of you that were able to come to registration this week.  I look forward to meeting those that were unable to attend and I really hope you were off doing something fantastic during the last week of summer!

4th Grade is a the very best grade at Xavier!  We have so many wonderful things to learn about and I always anxiously anticipate sharing this curriculum with my new 4th Graders.  Our first Core Knowledge unit will be a science unit on  the respiratory and circulatory systems.  We will begin the year with the novel Robinson Crusoe  and spend a lot of time reviewing key word outlining before we get started writing essays.

In math we will be using Singapore Math and I cannot stress enough how important it is that your student be fluent in  multiplication and division*.  Please work with your students on these concepts!  If they have never seen division, please let me know!    To assist with fluency we will do a math fluency test for multiplication or division daily.  This is a timed test with 60 problems. Students will stay on the same multiplication set until they pass it with a 60 in 3 minutes.  Once multiplication is fluent they will move on to simple division fluency.  Students that do not practice at home have difficulty passing these tests in the 3 minute time frame.

*Division- at Xavier this was taught in 3rd grade!   In 4th grade we start dividing right away and the kids must know this concept to be up to speed with their peers.  If your child does not know how to divide they will struggle until they learn how to divide.  Please let me know if your new to Xavier student did not learn division at their previous school.  I will try to get them some assistance with parent helpers and paras during the day, but it will take a home/school partnership to get them up to speed without the student experiencing frustration.  I recommend starting division practice now and not waiting for us to get to that unit.

I will follow-up next week with more information about what you can expect from 4th grade.  Make sure you check your student's traveling notebook on Tuesday.   There will be information about homework for you to refer to for the whole year.

Enjoy your weekend!  I look forward for Tuesday!

Wow! Where has the time gone?

This happens every year!  We get back from Christmas Break and the next thing I know we are at the end of April!  Your kids have been working so hard and we have covered a lot of material in the past few months.  We just finished our musical "Jungle Book" and are preparing for our Spring Showcase, the date is on the school calendar.  Your students will be graduating from the Grammar School at this event, so make sure you make plans to attend this monumental step in a classical education. 

We are very busy from now until the end of the school year!  Here is a rundown of what we have coming up:

• Math - we will  continue with our study of decimals.  We will be rounding decimals this week and then begin our study of the four operations of decimals for the next several weeks.
• Literature - we have begun Treasure Island!  This is a fun book for the students to read.  I have given a map project that will be due on Friday, I hope your students have shared the requirements with you.  (I don't have an electronic copy of the assignment, so make sure to ask your child for it.)
• History - MY FAVORITE UNIT!  We are learning about the American Revolution and will move right into the Constitution and Early American Presidents to finish the year.
• Science - We will do an Electricity Day at the end of the school year as a full day for this finial science unit.

We will have an auction in 2 weeks.  I  will send out an email with more details very soon.

January Update

Hi Fabulous Fourth Grade Parents!

I want to thank you all for your support in all the crazy projects we have been doing.  Without your help, we would not be able to do these memorable activities.  Half-Way Day was very successful!  If the level of exhaustion from the 3rd and 4th grade teachers is a measure of success, I think the kids had a great time and learned a lot about fractions.  :)   It was a very fun day for all of us!

Poetry Outloud Junior is coming up the end of January.  Your child has selected a poem from one that we have learned this year  They need to have that memorized by the end of this week.  We will be having classroom recitations and then we will have large competition toward the end of the month.  I will get back to you with the date.

The end of the semester is this week and your children's PowerSchool is up to date as of today.  I want to remind you of our late work policy:  assignments will be accepted for 80% 1 day beyond the due date, 70% 2 days beyond and 60% 3 days beyond.  No late work is accepted beyond 3 days late.  This is a school wide policy and not just my policy.  I am very proud of your students!  In my 5 years of teaching, this is the year with the fewest missing assignments.  That shows me that these kids take responsibility for their education and I am sure they are going to be very successful!

Have a great week!  Remember early release on Thursday and no school on Friday!

Welcome Back!

I am excited to get back into the routine of the classroom!  We had a lot of fun with the Middle Ages and the students were very excited for the tournament.  Now that the excitement of the tournament and Christmas holidays have passed we will be on hyper drive!  We have so much to on our agenda in the next few weeks.  Following is what you can expect:

• Math:  FRACTIONS! - They are finally here and are my favorite math concept to teach!  As a student I never understood fractions and I refuse for that to happen to my students.  We have a lot of fun with fractions and the students typically do very well.  We will be finding equivalent factions, adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators and finding fractions of a set.
• Half-Way Day! - This will be coming up mid-January and I will send more information home soon!
• Literature - We continue Robin Hood and will finish by the end of January
• Excellence in Writing - Our first narrative summary will begin this week.  Students will re-write the "Ant and the Grasshopper".  They will use the story sequence and create their own characters based on this story.   This story line is what A Bug's Life was based upon.
• Grammar - this week we will be working on subject/verb agreement
• Science - Meteorology - study of weather, clouds, air pressure, storms and the layers of the atmosphere.
• WEATHER JOURNAL AT HOME!  - Students will be logging the weather at home in a journal as we learn about meteorology.  Please expect this to come home on Monday.  It will be due at the completion of the unit.
• Greek and Latin - we are on our third set of words
• Cursive - we will writing in cursive from this point forward  The only exception will be for notes, as the students need to write more quickly during note taking.  

I hope you all had a fabulous break and are ready for more 4th Grade!