Hello Parents,

I use signup genius for conferences. I will be releasing the link this coming weekend so that you can sign up for a conference slot.

ELA: we are reading/analyzing our literature books: The Tiger Rising and Wringer. In addition, we continue to honor our VIP each week and listen to presentations by students and practice active listening skills. 

DRA2: we have completed the DRA2 testing--reading and writing comprehension assessments.  This is a new version of the DRA that has been used in past years. It is aligned to the common core, thus making the assessment rubric very rigorous. Please remember that our students have not changed rather the measure that is being used has taken a steep climb upwards.  That said, you may find that your student is reading at a lower grade level than before. This assessment weights reading fluency/rate heavily.  It also puts an emphasis on comprehension--and the writing portion of the assessment. Example: if your student is a slower reader, we drop them down to a "good fit" book where they can read smoothly with 97% or higher accuracy.  If your student is a smooth reader but struggles with written expression, that will also effect their score.  We are doing a lot of reading and writing this year so students are getting instruction to boost them in proficiency, practice and skill.  This is one measure of a student and works in part with all the other assessments we do to determine where they are.  My advice, relax, we will look at the data together and discuss things to support your little doodle at conferences if that is necessary.  All students in this class are intelligent, competent and working hard toward real attainable goals.

SC Symphony: daily musical compositions are introduced and enjoyed every morning along with active listening skills.

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 14.5 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: we have been practicing mental math strategies on classwork and homework. This week we begin word problems and the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.  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).  

In addition, students are expected to have their times tables memorized by Nov. 4.  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. The blue binder has a checklist sheet to help you test your child on each 1 of the times tables (2's-12's) this week. As your child tests on each one, please check off and return this sheet by Nov. 4th. Thank you.

Science: experiments with electricity, circuits.

Social Studies: Colonies, slavery.

Writing and Grammar: we will work on summary writing this week and next.

Upcoming Announcements/Events: 
Oct. 31--Halloween Parade 8:45 a.m.
and 4th Grade Halloween Celebration at 12:45
Nov. 1--staff development day, no school
Nov. 8--board meeting
Nov. 10--Veteran's Day, no school
Nov. 13--report cards 
Nov. 13-17--parent Teacher conferences
Nov. 22-24--Thanksgiving break

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

Warmly,

Mrs. Young