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.

Math Chapter 2 Study Guide

This study guide with your student's attached class work will be coming home on Wednesday. I am posting this cover sheet (with examples of strategies) today so you can practice these with your student if you have extra time this week. This is a challenging test and I want everyone to do well and feel confident with multiplication! We will take the test on Friday October 4th. 

Another great way to make sure your child is prepared for the assessment is to use the Mr. Saunders math tutorials.
 https://mr-saunders.com/math-4/

Pictures from this week!

We learned how to debate with our reading partners about the books we're reading.

 We used evidence from our books...

The middle school robotics team visited this week to show us their awesome robot and to tell the fourth graders about the team. We have many students who are interested in joining! 

Weekly Update 9-23-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,

You may have heard that last week we got to meet our teacher assistant. Her name is Amanda Dykehouse and she is a junior at Calvin. I can already tell that she is going to be a great fit for our students! Look for a letter of introduction from Ms. Dykehouse in folders this week! Here is a sneak peek:

My name is Amanda Dykehouse, and I am currently a junior at Calvin University studying elementary education. I grew up in Grand Rapids and graduated from Forest Hills Central. I want to become a teacher because of my love of children and my hope of having a positive impact on the lives of my students. I have thoroughly enjoyed my previous opportunities to be a part of a classroom, as well as a camp counselor. When I graduate, I am hoping to teach abroad for several years.

Spirit Week

It’s Homecoming Spirit Week!  Here are the dress-up theme days:

Monday – Pajama Day

Tuesday – Career Day

Wednesday – Wizard Day

Thursday – Inside Out Day

Friday – East Spirit Day

Variety Show

All forms are due by September 27, 2019 to the main office or Mrs. Sawade.  Rehearsals will be October 7th and 8th from 3:30 - 6:00 PM.      

When:  Wednesday, October 9 at 12:45 PM for Wealthy Elementary students

Thursday, October 10 at 6:30 PM for family and guests

Where: Pioneer Auditorium at Wealthy Elementary School

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Sawade at lsawade@egrps.org.

Act:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1nqQmk7VKlEwLYdQjtCxuR-uXsB59sn5QNaYauS8M2mM/edit
Crew:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YLapH3hVTValDthxGf_ITBm40f38TBBIPcWxoVXC8co/edit

Weekly Update 9-17-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,

I hope you're having a great week! We completed our fall MAP testing today and will conclude our reading benchmark testing by the end of the week. It is nice to have these things taken care of so we can dig in to our learning. See below for a subject area update.

We were thrilled to receive over 50 new classroom library books! WOO HOO! These titles are engaging, motivating, and at a variety of levels. The kids are begging for more time to read to get their hands on these books! Thank you for helping create a culture of reading and a frenzy over great books. Your support is incredible!

 You get a book! And you get a book! 

This week in fourth grade:

We are enjoying our class read aloud The Tiger Rising and are growing grounded and significant ideas about the characters. Ask your child what is happening in this story and to tell you about some of the characters.

We are so excited to get to visit the learning commons this year! Please return library books by next Tuesday morning so your child can check out new books! Since we are reading longer books, your child is welcome to renew if they are not finished after one week. 

Some students volunteered to step up as lunchroom helpers  last week while the fifth graders went to camp! This is a great preview for an important job that students will participate in at the end of this year and next year as 5th graders!

We are working hard on multiplication. Please remind your child to take some time to brush up on their multiplication facts! Having these memorized will help greatly with the work that we will be doing!

In science we (most of us) had so much fun participating in the cow eye dissection with Dr. Gohel. It was very cool to see and touch the parts of the eye that we're learning about.  We will continue to build on our learning about eyes by learning about animal eye shine. Check out our Seesaw for pictures of the fun!

You can start to check out some of your student's class work by using our Seesaw page. The directions were emailed to you earlier this week but are also linked here. Enjoy! Seesaw Sign Up Link:
https://app.seesaw.me/s/211-472-315

Mr. Saunders Curricular Math Support

Weekly Update- 9-9-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,
I hope you enjoyed the weekend with your family! We are ready for our first five day week of school! The early start has allowed us to learn our routines and get into the swing of fourth grade. 

The 2019 Variety Show will be October 9 and 10th. The school show is on the 9th. Students who are interested in participating (either in an act or as a crew member) should see Mrs. Sawade for a sign up form. All forms are due by September 27th.

A sincere thanks goes to all who placed a September book order. WOW! I think our total order was close to $500 and we have about 50 brand new books en route for classroom use. We are going to have quite the unboxing party when they arrive this week! Thank you for supporting our classroom. HAPPY READING!

New this year: Clever Portal. This is a one stop login for students to use to access IXL and Go Math. To use: select Wealthy Elementary, login with google, and you're in! Fewer passwords to remember and more time to spend learning!

We LOVED meeting our Kindergarten Reading Buddies last week! They are so cute and fun to read with! We plan to meet weekly to read, play games, and get to know each other.

Mr. Saunders Curricular Math Support
Scholastic Digital Flyers - our class code is HB4N7

Weekly Update 9-5-19

Hello Fourth Grade Families,
Thank you for joining us last night for Parent Information Night. I will attach the links from our classroom presentation. See the end of this email for the information that was discussed if you missed the presentation.

Tomorrow is Picture Day! We hope to have our pictures done before lunch.

I will submit the September Scholastic Book Order tomorrow! Thank you to all who have ordered! We will earn many new books for our classroom. For those last minute orders, the code is HB4N7.

Here is the link for the curriculum math support offered by Mr. Saunders. Use this awesome resource! 
We will take our Chapter 1 math test next Wednesday. 
https://mr-saunders.com/math-4/

Next week Tuesday will be our first MAP test of the year. We will also attend library on Tuesday afternoon.

A see below for a message from the Art Room:

Dear Parents,

We are excited to announce that the third and fourth grade students have a very unique opportunity to collaborate with the city of East Grand Rapids. We will be painting the blades of three city snow plows that will be featured in the Homecoming Parade on September 27th. This is a special opportunity to share the arts with our community and we feel so honored to be part of this! On the day specified below, we will spend art class outside and students will take turns helping paint a mural on the blade of the snowplow. 

We have a special request to go along with this activity. On the day your child will be painting, please be mindful of what they wear to school. The snowplows require an oil based paint that is permanent. While we have paint shirts that we will ensure are worn, they do not cover pants or shoes. We can try our best to be cautious of our surroundings, but accidents happen! We will also be wearing gloves so that we minimize any clean up needed.

These are the dates and times we will be painting(weather permitting):

Fourth Grade: Tuesday, September 10

• Goodman: 8:20-9:15 am
• Saunders: 9:15 - 10:10 am
• Tinholt: 10:25 - 11:24 am

We are looking for 1-2 volunteers for each class to assist with managing students outside in the parking lot during their art hour. You may email your homeroom teacher or Mrs. den Dulk (Pdendulk@egrps.org) directly if you are willing to assist!

Thank you in advance for your cooperation. We are looking forward to sharing this project with your children and the finished product with the community!

Sincerely,

Peri den Dulk and Hillary Klopcic

Elementary Art Teachers

Link to:Parent Information Night Presentation