Hello Everyone,

I would like to extend my sincere appreciation to the Parents Club for the wonderful monetary donation to our classroom as well as the classroom supplies that came in last week! 

Thank you to our wonderful parent volunteers! We truly appreciate you. 

With our first short week of school off to a great start, we are looking forward to a successful second week and beyond. This is a bright and curious community of learners, and I feel so happy to be their teacher! 

We will be assembling our blue binders and planners today (Monday) as a class--our organizational tools. Please be sure your child has his/her binders (blue, red and black) and supplies so that we can get started with the process this week. Shauna and I will be providing and handing out the planners and supporting each student with the task of assembling their binders. The blue binder will travel back and forth with your student on a daily basis. They will need a parent signature for the planner and an initial for the reading log EVERYDAY, so please be sure to ask your child about it.

The red and black binders: stay at school and do not travel. They are organizational systems for English Language Arts (red) and FOSS science (black).

Math: place value.  The planner in the blue binder will reflect all homework assignments with page numbers should you need to reference them. In particular, the daily math lesson and homework assignment will be in the pocket so that your child and anyone who might support them with homework will have a reference to the teaching point of the day/week. 
Math will start tomorrow (Tuesday). 
Math homework is always due the next day. Please be sure your child brings the homework and lesson back and forth between home and school as lessons can build and extend all week.  
There is a math practice test every Thursday (Test B)
There is a math test every Friday (Test A)

Grammar: worksheet on 4 types of sentences will come home this week. Please look to the planner to see when assignments are due for grammar. It will typically be the next day.

Read, read, read, read: Nightly reading is 40 minutes a night for 4th and 5th graders this year. A reading log, reading assignment, and their Accelerated Reader book will come home in the "My Reading Life" red folder each day. The reading log keeps track of the time your child is reading (M-F). The reading homework assignment reflects the day's reading lesson/teaching point and should be carefully read through, completed according to the directions, and returned the next day. There will be reading homework on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays (not Wednesdays).  A parent signature is required on the planner and a parent initial is required on the reading log. Your child will often be asked to jot ideas, questions, connections, etc. on post-its or write long off a jot in their reading notebooks and "do the work the book requires" to expand their thinking which will be taught, modeled and scaffolded through our work together in class. As a partner in this work of building a reading life with your child, you want to be sure your child is reading a lot of high interest, good-fit books cover to cover and reading intensely. If they are not bringing their book back and forth to school everyday, that is a red flag.

Accelerated Reader: or AR is a big component of our classroom reading. We will launch this program this week together as a community of readers. I will be teaching students how to use this tool to find on-reading-level texts, achieve reading goals, and accomplish comprehension quizzes in class. Our 5th graders are pros, so they will serve as mentors to our new students and show them the ropes. The AR book find site is a free site to help your child find appropriate books. Before your child selects a book to read, they will check to be sure it is in AR on this site. Upon completing the book, your child will quiz within 24 hours in class. This will be explained in greater depth at Back to School Night. Please feel free to check out the site, however. http://www.arbookfind.com/

Play: "The American Revolution." Our play dove-tails with our history curriculum, and we will be learning about these historical events the first trimester. Roles will be assigned this week as our opening night is Thursday Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. (performers arrive at 6:30), and our school performance is Friday Sept. 29 at 11:00. Please feel free to invite additional special family members to this event. In this week of school, the play is assigned as nightly reading. That said, in regard to reading homework, your child will use the play as their reading material to complete reading assignment homework. This will give all students an opportunity to read through the play and to also think about what role they might be interested in playing. 

Play scripts: went home last week. Your child has a school and a home script. Home scripts should be used for nightly reading and home play practice with parts. Their school script lives at school and is used for in-class practice.

If any one is interested in being our room parent this year, please let us know.  

Thank you for supporting our classroom, me and your child. 

Warmly,

Mrs. Young

Dear Families,

I hope you have enjoyed your summer! I would like to welcome all of you back as we embark on a new school year. My name is Heather Young, and I will be your child's teacher this year for their fourth/fifth grade experience in the Intermediate School.

A little about myself.... I live in Scotts Valley with my husband Scott and our two children, Casey and Whitney. Casey just celebrated his 18th birthday and starts 12th grade at Scotts Valley High School. He seems very excited to be heading back to school to see his friends.  20 year old Whitney continues to attend Cabrillo College and works at the Pet Emporium in Capitola. Stop by if you are in the market for pets.

Professionally, I have a background and education in the humanities, teaching, and the arts. I originally started my teaching experience at the community college level and found that I enjoy teaching at the elementary level most of all, as I love children.  I am quite tickled to be a part of the Mountain team of dedicated teachers, staff and parents again this year.

In closing, please find the supply list on the Home page of our blog under the Beginning of Year Business tab. I will also send home a hard copy of the list with your child on the first day of school (Wednesday August 23rd, 8:30-12:35) and you can gather things together this week or over the weekend. You may also fill out the parent interview on the same tab on the blog if you wish. Otherwise, I will send home copies of that and any other important paperwork with your child in his/her folder tomorrow.

Please stop in to say hello and see our beautiful classroom. I am eager to meet all of you and your wonderful children.

Kind Regards,

Mrs. Young