Hello Parents,

A huge thank you goes out to all 4th and 5th grade parents.  Our Coloma trip was such fun and really wonderful.  We appreciate your contribution and generosity in chaperoning, driving, bunking up with, hiking, acting on stages with, and in general everything thing else you do!! Thank you, thank you for making this such an exceptional and memorable experience for everyone involved.  We are so blessed to have such a loving and present community.

ELA: We are reading/analyzing our literature book: By the Great Horn Spoon. In addition, we continue to honor our VIP each week and listen to presentations by students and practice writing friendly letters.  

SC Symphony: daily musical compositions are introduced and enjoyed every morning.

Harmony: best practices school-wide curriculum for building a strong social-emotional community within our classrooms.

AR Reading: Accelerated Reader continues to be an important part of our reading program.  Students are reading appropriate AR books found through the AR book find link and then quizzing on them within 24 hours of finishing their book.  It is critical to support your child in book selection (most books are in our school and classroom libraries) and to remind them to read, read, read whenever the opportunity arises--in the car, while waiting for an appt., to and from school, before bed time, on a Sunday in your jammies, etc.  These books should travel to and from the classroom in a daily fashion for classroom DEAR (drop everything and read) sessions as well as nightly reading homework and beyond.  Students have a goal of 14 points for this first trimester.  Each book has a certain amount of points it is worth.  This information is listed with reading level and appropriateness (grade school, middle school, high school, for example).  Points per book range from 3 to 5, generally, with longer books being worth more points.  On an average this is going to mean your child is reading anywhere from 3-5 books by November 1.  That said, help your child select books that are on their reading level, and have high interest for them.  This will allow them to accomplish reading books from start to finish successfully.
    
Math: homework on order of operations and and distributive property will continue each night this week as we prepare for our test on this unit this Friday. Please check your child's planner for specific page numbers. We will continue to review these concepts. We have started a new POM (problem of the month).  Our first one, Sum Some Sums went very well.  Students presented their posters last week to the class and did very well with the t

In addition, students are expected to have their times tables memorized by the end of October (2's through 12's).  If your child isn't saying times tables in the car on the way to and from school and every night for a 5 minute run through (and driving you a bit crazy), something is amiss.  These are goals that were set in early September.  In order for your child to be successful with the math in this grade level, it is important to have these skills down.  Please have some fun with these and have your child rehearse daily so that they can test on these math facts by the end of the month.  

Science: Experiments with magnets and electricity.

Social Studies: We have started our study of the Native American tribes.  This historical study will be research for the first personal narrative essay we write. Students will write from the perspective of a Native America youth.

Writing and Grammar: We are working on sentence variety, figurative language (similes, personification, hyperbole, alliteration, onomatopoeia) and prepositions in grammar and will use the strategies we learn in our poetry writing this week. Sentence variety makes writing interesting to read. This skill will help students develop their writing as we begin writing projects like personal narratives, opinion, and expository pieces.

Upcoming Announcements/Events: 
Oct. 27 and 28--3rd grade play at 7 p.m. and 11 a.m.
Oct. 28--Astronomy Night 7 p.m.
Oct. 31--Halloween Parade 8:45 a.m.
and 4th Grade Halloween Celebration at 12:25
Nov. 1--staff development day, no school
Nov. 7--report cards
Nov. 7 - 10--parent Teacher conferences
Nov. 9--board meeting
Nov. 11--Veteran's Day, no school 
Nov. 18, 19, 20--Goodwill donation drive
Nov. 23-25--Thanksgiving break

Thank you in advance for supporting me and the growth of your child in every way.

Warmly,

Mrs. Young