Weekly Update 10-22-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,
It has been wonderful to meet with you for parent-teacher conferences. Please keep me in the loop on things that are going on with your child. I am here to advocate for whatever your child needs and I am happy to meet any time during the school year. I know that our brief 15 minutes together at conferences do not always seem like enough!

To recap some of the things that came up during conferences with many families:

• Math homework can be a challenge, especially since we teach things differently than the way many parents learned. PLEASE utilize Mr. Saunders Math Homework Tutorials any time you need them! He has created a video example of how to do each homework sheet. You could even use this as a way for your child to check independently. 
• We will begin an in-class spelling program soon! This will be suited to your child's independent spelling needs. You will not receive a list to study at home. There will be no tests on Friday. 
• You are all doing an amazing job supporting your student. This is a special class and we have had so much fun learning together in the first few months of school. Keep doing all of the wonderful things you're doing!

We have some exciting things coming up in the next week! Our class will swim on Thursday afternoon from 12:15-1:15. Thank you to the parents who've volunteered to chaperone the locker room! We will meet you at the locker rooms at 12:10.

Remember- there will be no school for students on Friday!

Keep sending in those wreath orders! We will collect until this Friday!

Next week we will celebrate Halloween with a class party (1:15-2:15) and a whole school parade (2:30). We'd love to have you join us for the fun!  Please, no scary costumes, accessories, or masks! We will change into costumes around 1 pm before the party starts.

Our class will participate in a Kids Have Rights lesson on Friday November 8th at 11:25 am. Please look for more information regarding this in your child's folder today.

This week in fourth grade:

In math we completed our two digit multiplication unit. We will begin working on division next week. It is so IMPORTANT that you are making sure your child completes homework. This is a very challenging unit. Reviewing classwork at home will help your child to be successful.

In reading we launched our nonfiction reading unit. We have enjoyed digging in to new informational books. We are learning to have our note taking match the structure of the text we're reading.

In science we are learning about erosion and weathering at the surface of the earth. We will be doing many fun, hands-on experiments in this unit! We completed a fun filled lab this week where we tried to create different types of erosion.

Weekly Update 10-15-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,
I am looking forward to meeting with you over the next week during parent-teacher conferences. I have so much to share. I feel thankful to have your children in my class this year. Thank you for all that you do at home to support your child and prepare them to learn at school! Congratulations to our Variety Show performers! Our class was very well represented on stage. Everyone did a fantastic job!

Thanks to all who've submitted orders for the fourth grade wreath sale. These orders are due October 25th. You can place an online order HERE.

Next week we will swim on Thursday 10/24. Our time will be from 12:20-1:20. It looks like we currently have one mom and one dad. If you'd like to join, you're still welcome! Volunteers, please arrive at 12:10 and meet us at the locker rooms. Please send your child to school with a bathing suit, towel, and labeled bag. Goggles are optional.
The Homecoming/Hearts of Gold Parade will be TOMORROW at 4 pm!
There will be no school on Friday, October 25th. Enjoy the long weekend!

Our class will celebrate Halloween with a party from 1:15-2:15 pm. Sign up here if you'd like to help! You can also contact Ketti Collins if you would like to contribute. Siblings and other family members welcome to join us for the party! The Wealthy parade will begin at 2:30. Fingers crossed for beautiful weather!

This week in fourth grade:

We looked at how we've grown as readers in these first nine weeks of school. We set goals to work towards for the next few weeks. We'll be looking at these together during your child's conference time. If you're not already connected to Seesaw, please let me know so I can help you sign up!

We are working hard on two digit multiplication. We will take the Chapter 3 assessment on October 23rd. Please take some time this week to check in on homework with your student. Continued practice of the work we're doing in class is very beneficial. If your child is having difficulty with homework, please jot a note on the sheet so I can help!

We took the Life Science unit assessment yesterday. We will begin our exciting Earth Science unit later this week!

We loved meeting Grace Lin yesterday! She is a dynamic author who shared her talents with us. We learned that she uses many stories from her real life and she took us through a step by step process to draw a lucky dragon!

How to login to Clever from home...

Weekly Update 10-9-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,
Thanks to all who've signed up for parent-teacher conferences. I look forward to sharing all of the wonderful things your child has been learning in fourth grade. If you haven't claimed your spot, please let me know which remaining time you'd like!

Hearts of Gold is here! This year EGRPS is raising money for the Epilepsy Foundation of Michigan. Last week you received a letter explaining our goal and a bag to collect any funds raised. Many students have done creative things in the past to earn this money. I'd love to see pictures of what our students are doing to help contribute to this worthy cause. Please send in any amount collected ($10 is the goal) by October 16th. 

If you are interested in purchasing a HOG t-shirt, they will be available at school on October 7,9,11 and October 14,15,16,17. Shirts cost $15. 

You may have heard that the Homecoming parade has been rescheduled for October 16th at 4:30. I hope to see you there!

The October book order is being submitted on Friday! HB4N7 is our class code. Scholastic has recently unveiled a new digital flyer. This features more books and occasionally, better prices. It is linked HERE.

Don't you just love a book recommendation from a friend? I think it's so cool that this sticky note trend has started with our realistic fiction books!

Upcoming Events!

Variety Show- October 10^th 6:30

Grace Lin Author Visit- October 14^th

Hearts of Gold money collection and PARADE!- October 16^th (parade starts at 4:30)

Parent-teacher conferences- October 17 and 22^nd

Swimming(12:20-1:20)- October 24th

No School!- October 25^th

Halloween Party- October 31^st at 1:15

Halloween Parade- October 31^st at 2:30

This week in fourth grade:

We concluded The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo. It is such a rich novel with a plethora of things for us to discuss. To celebrate the completion of this unit, we had a soap carving party! Our main character Rob used whittling as a way to cope with stressful things in his life. We made our own creations out of soap! See below for pictures. We will take the end of unit assessment on Friday and will begin unit 2 next week! We are looking forward to our visit with author Grace Lin next Monday!

In math we are beginning to learn strategies to multiply 2 digit by 2 digit numbers. Many of the strategies are similar to ones we learned in the last chapter. Please take the time to work on math homework with your fourth grader, this is challenging work!

In science we will be wrapping up our life science unit this week. We will take the assessment on Monday 10/14. A study guide will come home on Friday! Take a look this weekend.

Weekly Update 10-1-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,

I hope you're all enjoying these last summer-like days before we settle in for the long haul of Michigan fall/winter. We have been working hard in fourth grade. Next week we will watch our classmates perform in the Variety Show. Join us for the evening show on October 10th at 6:30.

I look forward to meeting with each of you for parent-teacher conferences on October 17th and 22nd. I have so many wonderful things to share! Sign up information will come via email/Skyward soon. There will be no school for students on October 25th.

Our class will celebrate Halloween with a class party on October 31st at 1:15 pm. Please join us! A Sign Up Genius will be coming soon from Mary Tjoelker if you'd like to help. The Wealthy school parade will begin at 2:30.

I will submit the October Scholastic book order on  October 11th. You can place your order online using our class code HB4N7. Scholastic has recently unveiled a new digital flyer. This features more books and occasionally, better prices. It is linked HERE.

This week in fourth grade:

A study guide for the Chapter 2 math assessment is coming home today. Please look through each lesson and pick a few problems to work on with your child. The chapter review will come home tomorrow. This is the best resource to prepare for the assessment. Take some time to go over this together tomorrow. There are many multiplication strategies that we teach fourth graders.  Help your child find the strategy that works best for his/her math brain. We do not need to master all of the strategies!

We are wrapping up our first reading unit. We have loved reading many realistic fiction books. We have been working this week to make an interpretation about the book we're reading. We learned to use the characters, setting, mood, feelings, recurring objects, and important events to come to an understanding of a book. We will be finishing our class read aloud The Tiger Rising this week. Ask your child to tell you about his/her favorite parts of this book. I am so impressed by the way your children intensely read and think.

We became Citizen Scientists this week and have scoured the playground to find organisms to add to our classroom habitat. Each of the science classes has slightly different creatures in their habitat so it is fun to observe them all! We have been using Project Noah to log our findings. Feel free to check it out together with your student.