January 13th - 17th, 2014

• Monday, January 20th , No school. Martin Luther King Day.

• Friday, January 24th FLEX Day.  An individual assessment appointment has been scheduled for your child. The purpose of this assessment if to help us obtain information on your child's reading progress. Notes will be sent home Monday in your son/daughter's planner indicating assessment times.

• Spelling Bee:  February 1st.
• Class pictures:  Tuesday, February 11th.
• Valentine Party, Thursday, February 13th.
• No School:  Friday, February 14th
• No School:  Monday, February 17th.

1.  Math Homework:   Students need to log onto IXL.Com, sign in and complete fourth grade long division.

                                    also, almost daily homework practice sheets are assigned to students and due the                                         next day. This additional practice directly supports our work in class.

2.  Reading:                  Students will need to continue to complete their weekly at home reading and record                                       and turn in their reading minutes each friday.  150 minutes of reading is required to                                         meet fourth grade standards.

3.   Science:                 Watch the science videos below.  Think about the question we tried to prove in                                            science class this week:  Whose day is longer, Earth or Jupiter?  Write an explanation                                    of how you know the answer to the question.

http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch?v=hmeSpI48Nw4

http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch?videoId=FJVNUFBgRmM

December 16th - 20th, 2013

No take home note or reaction sheet next week!  The only homework over winter break required from student's is the reading log.  Enjoy your holiday break!

• Students continue to impress me with their writing and taking the time to brainstorm, plan, edit and revise both their in class writing and their weekly president's reports.  Thank you for the continued support.
• IXL has been purchased for our fourth grade continued use.  Student's now must log in with their student id and still :  (first and last name and 929)  billsmith929       nisely04.       Minutes and scores will now be saved to a class roster for more accurate record keeping.
• Wednesday, December 11th, Barnes and Noble night.
• Thursday, December 19th, Geo Bee, Van Arsdale library, 2:00.
• Tuesday, December 17th, 4th grade musical, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Winter Break:  December 23rd-January 3rd.
• Students return:  Wednesday, January 8th.

Student's need to bring in an orange to school before Thursday.

1. Science:  Please watch the following YouTube videos about the rotations of the planets in the solar system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT49AiYFV98&noredirect=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_RAEESmsrs

2.  President's report:  Student's are required to take notes in class on Mondays on the class president.  From now on students will write their rough draft at home on Monday and Tuesday and bring their writing piece back to school for revising on Wednesday.  Spending time in class to revise will help prompt that beautiful language and rich vocabulary students are required to use in their writing.

3.  Math:  In addition to random days of math homework work practice, students are required to log into IXL and work through the division problems given.  As they log in, I can monitor their work and their time spent on this task.  Log in is as follows:

IXL.  Student's now must log in with their student id and still :  (first and last name and 929)  billsmith929       nisely04.  

December 9th - 13th, 2013

• Students continue to impress me with their writing and taking the time to brainstorm, plan, edit and revise both their in class writing and their weekly president's reports.  Thank you for the continued support.
• IXL has been purchased for our fourth grade continued use.  Student's now must log in with their student id and still :  mathrocks 2013       Nisely04.       Minutes and scores will now be saved to a class roster for more accurate record keeping.
• Wednesday, December 11th, Barnes and Noble night.
• Thursday, December 19th, Geo Bee, Van Arsdale library, 2:00.
• Tuesday, December 17th, 4th grade musical, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Winter Break:  December 23rd-January 3rd.
• Students return:  Wednesday, January 8th.

No spelling word lists were given this week due to spelling Bee quiz that will be given Tuesday, December 10th, 2013.

Grandparent's Day class video:   video  (click on the highlighted word)    password:  iteach1

1.  Check out the above video we made for grandparents day.  Click the link and type in the password.

2.  President's report:  Due Friday, 13th.  Our new president this week is Izzy.

3.  In addition to completing the regular worksheet math homework that is sent home several times during the week, student will need to visit IXL.com.  Log in using their student id and work on division.  See above weekly information on logging in.

4.  Reading log, as always, will be due Friday, December 13th.

November 18th - 22nd, 2013

No blog, reaction sheet or homework over our Thanksgiving holiday break! ONLY READING MINUTES WILL BE REQUIRED!   Enjoy.

Report cards will be sent home on Friday, November 15^th. Please sign and return the outside envelope.

• Grandparents Day:  Friday, November 22^th. Students will be working on a special computer presentation  in our classroom and plan to share these with their guests on Grandparent’s day. Students are encouraged to dress up on this day in order to represent our school and show respect to our guests.

• Thanksgiving Holiday:  No school November 25th - 29th.

1.  Math:  Students need to log onto think central and work through a math lesson that I reloaded for them.   Here are the steps:

a.  google search think central

b.  click on think central math

c.  fill out the log in sheet with Colorado, Jefferson Dist R-1 Golden, 80401, Van Arsdale,

d.  Log in:  first intial last name:  bsmith

e. passwork:  va first name:  vabill

     

2.  President Writing:  On Monday our new class president will present information about their life, family members, passions, hobbies, and two stories they want to share.  Student will take two column notes on the new president.  Then by Friday, November 15th each student in our class will:

a. turn their notes into a rough draft.

b.  Revise their notes (add, change, take out to improve writing)

c. edit their drafts.  (correct spelling and punctuation)

d.  write a final polished copy to be turned in on Friday.

All of these steps are to be done at home, each week, except the note taking.

We've have modeled and worked through two president pieces and one is graded and in this weeks Friday Folder with a rubric.

3. 

• 2. Turkey writing:

  This Turkey Needs Dressing!  On Monday students will receive a turkey copied on card stock.  Cut out the Turkey, use scraps of cloth, paper, foil, glitter, and your imagination for a spiffy he or she.  Be sure to name him or her and then write a story about your terrific turkey. Your dressed turkey, and turkey story are due Wednesday, November 20th. Remember to use a circle and flee map to focus your thinking before you write.  These maps will be due with your turkey.

November 11 - 15th, 2013

• Thank you for all the donations of highlighters and gel pens!  We have put every single item to go use during our Writer's Workshop.  We are now collecting sticky notes for marking text  during reading. I have asked the office for extra supplies of sticky notes and they were able to give me a few, however, if you don't mind donating these items, we would all appreciate it!

No blog or homework over our Thanksgiving holiday break!  Enjoy.

Report cards will be sent home on Friday, November 15^th. Please sign and return the outside envelope.

• Grandparents Day:  Friday, November 22^th. Students will be working on a special computer presentation  in our classroom and plan to share these with their guests on Grandparent’s day. Students are encouraged to dress up on this day in order to represent our school and show respect to our guests.

• Thanksgiving Holiday:  No school November 25th - 29th.

• Writing:  Thank you for having conversations with your son/daughter regarding the writing they have completed in the classroom and at home.  I have included these graded writing pieces in their Friday folders. I was pleased to see so many students are using strong descriptive words, had a clear beginning, middle, and end to their writing, and took the time to edit and revise.  These are all strategies we are working on in class.

1.  President Writing:  On Monday our new class president will present information about their life, family members, passions, hobbies, and two stories they want to share.  Student will take two column notes on the new president.  Then by Friday, November 15th each student in our class will:

a. turn their notes into a rough draft.

b.  Revise their notes (add, change, take out to improve writing)

c. edit their drafts.  (correct spelling and punctuation)

d.  write a final polished copy to be turned in on Friday.

All of these steps are to be done at home, each week, except the note taking.

We've have modeled and worked through two president pieces and one is graded and in this weeks Friday Folder with a rubric.

2. 

• 2. Turkey writing:

  This Turkey Needs Dressing!  On Monday students will receive a turkey copied on card stock.  Cut out the Turkey, use scraps of cloth, paper, foil, glitter, and your imagination for a spiffy he or she.  Be sure to name him or her and then write a story about your terrific turkey. Your dressed turkey, and turkey story are due Wednesday, November 20th. Remember to use a circle and flee map to focus your thinking before you write.  These maps will be due with your turkey.