Hello Everyone,

Important announcements:


"The American Revolution" Opening Night: Thursday Sept. 28 at 7 p.m.  Actors arrive at the school at 6:30.  School performance Friday Sept. 29 at 11 a.m.
Cast Party: Friday Sept. 29 from 12:20 - 1:15. Thank you to those who have volunteered in any way for the play and the cast party. To volunteer to help with our play, click here

Thank you Beth and Sarah for helping with costumes, lines and the cast party!!!

**We're off script! All lines and songs have to be memorized. Please see email for costume needs.

**Back to School Night: Wednesday September 27. From 6-6:30 Ms. M. will meet all new 2017-18 parents in the PAC room for a Mountain School orientation meeting. From 6:30-7:00 parent mentors arrive for Parent Mentor program. Teachers will give classroom presentations for everyone at 7:00 and again at 7:30. This is a parent curriculum night, so please arrange child care. 

Student Council speeches are due this Thursday: students deliver their speeches on October 5 in the PAC room.

See you for Back to School Night and the play!

Best,

Heather

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend.

Reminders:

4th grade students need to practice math facts music to mastery by the end of October. 5 minutes each night as homework is assigned. 5th graders should have these memorized, but should brush up on them if they need the review. Click here

"The American Revolution" Opening Night: Thursday Sept. 28 at 7 p.m.  Actors arrive at the school at 6:30.  School performance Friday Sept. 29 at 11 a.m.
Cast Party: Friday Sept. 29 from 12:20 - 1:15. Thank you to those who have volunteered in any way for the play and the cast party. To volunteer to help with our play, click here

**Please make sure your child is rehearsing lines and songs over the coming weeks. We will rehearse at school, but the additional practice is so important to student success.

**Back to School Night: Wednesday September 27. At 6:15 Ms. M. will meet all families in the PAC room with current Mt. topics, presentation and discussion--all parents are encouraged to attend. Then, teachers will give classroom presentations for everyone at 7:00 and again at 7:30. 

Field Trip: The Tech Museum

Fri. September 22 from 8:15-12:00. Drivers needed. Please be sure that you have filled out the necessary DMV paperwork with the office. Permission slips went home last week. I select drivers on a first-come-first-serve basis. Once we have selected drivers, we will assign students to cars. If you still need to return the permission slip, please do so asap. There is a $6.50 fee per student this year.

Simplicity of Electricity Lab

We leave school at 8:15 sharp so that we arrive at the museum in San Jose at 9:00. We will gather on Park Avenue and then go into the museum as a group. A brief orientation will follow where we will receive our wristbands and tech tags. Our Simplicity of Electricity Lab begins at 9:30 and runs 90 minutes. We will visit the exhibits and have lunch in the park across the street. We head back to school at 12:00.

For tech parking and info

All students need a parent signature on their planner each night and a parent initial on the reading homework when it comes home. Please be sure to check with your child.

All students are expected to bring their blue binders, red "My Reading Life" folder, and AR book home and back to school daily.

Student Council Election packet coming home Monday: 4th and 5th grade can run for secretary. There is an application and speech guidelines in the Monday folder. Speeches are on the calendar for October 5 in the PAC room.

ELA: We are continuing our reader's workshop and the study of the American Revolution, vocabulary, spelling and grammar.

Math: 4th and 5th place value, rounding and estimating, factors and multiples and prime factorization. Please check your child's planner for specific page numbers for homework assignments.  In an effort to keep everyone organized, binders will be cleaned out upon the completion of a unit of study and old lessons and papers will be paper clipped together and sent home. You may choose to keep papers in a drop folder or file at home if you like.

4th Science: We will continue our study of magnets this week. We experimented with permanent and temporary magnets and we will learn about north and south poles, and how magnets attract and repel. If your child is in Mr. Halbig's class as a 5th grader this year, please check his blog for further information.

Social Studies: We will continue our study of the American Revolution.

Writing: Narrative essays are beginning this week.

Vocab./Grammar: we will rehearse exclamatory, declarative, imperative, interrogative in conjunction with simple, compound, and complex sentences in the coming weeks. Daily spelling homework will be assigned each Monday and wrap up with a quiz on Friday. Prepositions, conjunctions, and interjections have been introduced.

Enjoy your week!

With Gratitude,

Mrs. Young

Dear families,

I am really enjoying your talented and inquisitive children!

With our third week of school accomplished, we are all settling in to our routines and working on practicing our play. Our music has been shared with all families. Please let me know if you are having trouble accessing the shared folder on google drive. Micha will be here helping with choreography starting Monday Sept. 11 from 9-12 M and W and in the afternoons on T and F. It is important for all students to know their lines and the words to all the songs. We practice daily at school, but your child should read the play as nightly reading in order to memorize and get comfortable with the dialogue.

**Play dates: Thursday Sept. 28 at 7 p.m. in the Pac room for families and friends and Friday Sept. 29 at 11 a.m. in the Pac room for all students. To volunteer to help with our play, click here

Art, Music, and P.E.: your child is enjoying a full, well-rounded curriculum that includes the arts and physical education.  We are so very lucky to have these very talented teachers supporting our students. Thank you Mary Beth Duncan, Ket Tom-Conway and Kim Fleming!

Reading Buddies: our buddies are Ms. Martin's first graders this year! Both the first and fourth graders are doing very well with this and enjoy reading to their buddies on Friday afternoons before going home for the weekend. Happiness is a reading buddy!

The Blue Binder: includes the planner, a homework pocket for homework assignments. This binder has four sections: notes; homework/classwork; tests; lessons. This is the only binder that will travel back and forth every day between the classroom and home (comes home on Fridays, too). Your child's planner is the best place to see what is assigned and when it is due. We fill in our planners every morning and Shauna, our wonderful aide, will be checking to see that homework, planners, and signatures/initials are complete every morning. This is a system to help your child manage and organize class work, homework and a schedule. We support each child with this, but it is very important that your child brings his/her binder each day with a parent signature.  Academic success can be impacted if this is a regularly forgotten item. It is helpful to complete and pack the binder in the back pack and place it by the door the night before so that in the rush of the morning it is not left behind. We appreciate the support you give your child with this at home.

The red My Reading Life Folder: this folder should travel between home and school M-F. Although there is not reading homework on Wednesday, your child should be reading every night and logging their time. A parent initial is required on the homework sheet and the log for nightly reading.

Math: we have been reviewing whole numbers and place value up to the millions. We will continue to review math facts and begin to go forward this week with estimation, approximation and rounding. We will, as a general rule, have a test every Friday to assess the week's concepts. In addition, we are working on a POM (problem of the month) and continue to do math story problems each period to reinforce concepts.

Social Sciences: American history with an emphasis, currently, on The American Revolution.

Science: we will move into our Foss curriculum on electricity and magnets this week. Our Tech museum field trip (details below) supports this.

Read Aloud Novels: Wringer, The Tiger Rising 

Accelerated Reader: Information on how to use and support your child with Accelerated Reader will come home this week, and I will be modeling this with students so that they become comfortable with it. 

Novel: Patty Reed's Doll.  This will be our first novel and deep dive into literature. We will read this aloud together on the doc camera so that all students are supported regardless of varying reading levels. This was read to your child last year as a read aloud, and now we are using a second-read (common core strategy) to study this more in depth and develop a deeper understanding of the text  (comprehension, literary devices, academic vocabulary and discussion).

Growth Mindset video: I support best practices and a growth mindset in the classroom. Please click here to view an excellent video on this concept. Your child has viewed this video already.

**Our First Field Trip: Tech Museum Fri. September 22 from 8:15-12:00. Drivers needed. Please be sure that you have filled out the necessary paper work with the office. You will find our field trip drivers sign up page on our blog if you are interested in driving and joining us. I select drivers on a first-come-first-serve basis. Look for the field trip permission slip in the Monday folders today. Please return asap. There is a $6.50 fee per student this year.

**Back to School Night: Wednesday September 27. At 6:15 Ms. M. will meet all families in the PAC room with current Mt. topics, presentation and discussion--all parents are encouraged to attend. Then, teachers will give classroom presentations for everyone at 7:00 and again at 7:30. 

Classroom volunteers: please find the volunteer expectations for our classroom here.  If you are interested in volunteering in our classroom, know that we appreciate it very much! It's what makes Mountain so special.  You can find the volunteer list on the Beginning of Year Business page of our blog. Thank you.

Student Council Election packet coming home today: 4th grade can run for secretary. There is an application and speech guidelines in the Monday folder. Speeches are on the calendar for October 5 in the PAC room.

Mountain nightly homework duration policy: 10 minutes per grade level plus reading--40 min. + 30 min. for reading = 70 min. 

Warmly,

Mrs. Young and Shauna