Reaching for the Stars in Fourth Grade!

Welcome!  I am SO excited for our year together!  Our first week is all about meeting new friends, getting to know each other better, learning procedures, building our class community and setting personal and class goals for this year!  We can do anything we put our minds to!! :)

Watch for "Monday Folders" containing weekly homework contracts.  Homework packets are due by the following Monday.  These folders will also contain calendars and notes from school.

If you have any questions please email me anytime!

Mrs. Clum
clummishellel@gmail.com


September Dates to Remember:

3    First day of school 8:30 a.m.

17   Early Release

25  School pictures 8:30 a.m.

26  Assembly 10:30 a.m.

27  Open House and Pie & Cake    
       Auction 6:30 p.m.




Here's what's happening this week...

Reading

This week we will review the Daily 5 strategies implemented in 3rd grade. These strategies work on building literacy in the classroom. The Daily 5 strategies are Listen to Reading, Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing and Word Work. These components of literacy are done throughout the small group reading times. In order to start small groups they need to understand the expectations of what they should be doing! We'll work on building this knowledge.


Reading Log
Please have your student read 20 minutes a night and return the reading log. The more they practice the better reader and writer they will become! Thank you for encouraging them! Please return the log each week in the Monday Folder.


Spelling 
Spelling will start next week!

Math
This week students will be learning about the structure of math groups. They will practice working each day and learn how the stations will work during small groups. In addition, students will learn about Place Value.



Here are some review games to help them with Place Value:

Expanded Form Matching
Half Court Rounding (Basketball)
Place Value Puzzler

Please continue to help your kiddo on their basic math facts a couple times a week!
This is the foundation of all the math they will do. By computing more quickly and correctly, students will find math concepts easier to obtain with that foundation. Please help your students practice the addition, subtraction, and multiplication basic facts. This can be done with flash cards, playing online games at www.multiplication.com http://mrnussbaum.com/trimathlon-2/ or www.xtramath.org (the site they use in class).


Writing
This week we are working on "I am" Poems. These poems have the students explore who they are, what they like to do, and express it in a poem format.  Students are also working on sentence structure and adverbs.



Earthworks/Science
This week we're focusing on learning about carnivores, herbivores, omnivores, producers, and consumers. These vocabulary words are crucial for understanding the habitats and food chains we'll be discussing in class. Ask your kid each night about these and give examples! They love coming up with food chains that involve a variety of animals!