Hello Everyone,

I hope you enjoyed your weekend. 

Thank you again for attending the 4th Grade Back to School Night. I received many compliments on the evening and that kind of positive feedback is what builds strong relationships and success, especially in such unprecedented times. I also appreciate the questions that people emailed me directly, as asked. I know that those of you who are in direct communication are going to reap the benefits of what it means to be in contact with the educator in your child's life. 

Please be aware, as I stated at Back to School Night, the primary and intermediate grade spans may do things differently with individual time frames and with respect to best practices for the children we serve. Rest assured that assessments, meetings, conferences and the like are planned and aligned by those teams. As assessments are procured, vetted and prepared, parents will be informed of how and when these services will be delivered. The intermediate curriculum is dense. That said, there is a level of expectation that is placed on all learners, parents and educators. Many standards and skills are folded into the material and greater grit and stamina as well as a higher level of student posture is required. If you have questions about what skills are covered, please ask. You can also refer to the 4th Grade Standards.

Assessments: 

Your child will receive the DRA assessment in reading in October. Your child was assessed in 3rd grade in the fall and winter of last year. The schedule for this assessment along with information about how it will be conducted in a distance learning platform will be given out in the beginning of October. This is an aligned approach that is planned by the educators and administration. 

Your child will receive formative and summative assessments in math. At this time, your child should be: watching the daily video lesson, completing the lesson with the teacher and completing any assigned packet and workbook pages as independent practice. Let me be clear, homework and workbook pages are not assessments. They are practice. That said, it is important that you correct these pages with your child so that your child gets to see what is going well and where areas of need arise. Please have your child circle missed problems and when they join their small group the next day, those problems can be looked at with the adult and group. This is a crucial step in our partnership and provides opportunities for reteaching and support in small group. 

Singapore digital bench mark assessments are to be taken independently. It is perfectly fine if you would like to sit and work with your child on the learn, guided practice and assisted practice. However, the benchmark is their formative assessment on the teaching point and should be completed independently. This data is reviewed for small group work and reteaching purposes.

Times table packets went home the second week of school. Your child is responsible for having their math facts memorized 2's-12's. It's called automaticity. Your child should spend 5-10 minutes nightly on math facts until they are fluid. Here is the multiplication music that your child should listen to while pointing to and reciting their math facts on each page: "4 times 1 is 4, 4 times 2 is 8" and so on. This link will be on your child's daily schedule in the math section so that they have access to it as well. Here is the math facts checklist (for parents) that you should use to check off memorized and orally recited math facts.  Students should strive to have these under their belts by October 30th. At that time, please sign, scan and email these to me so that I can see how your child is progressing. I will assess students privately in the beginning of November. 

**Fourth grade math requires fluid math facts. Your partnership with this skill is vital and will help your child succeed in math now and in the future.

Writing Project: we will be completing a book report on The Tiger Rising this week. This assignment has 4 parts: an introduction, a summary, a character paragraph, and a conclusion. This will be explained, modeled and supported on zoom in our writers workshop this week. Your child will need their novel and writing notebook at zoom. Students will be typing their book report on google classroom. (They may use voice to text to help with this assignment). We will use Step Up to Writing as the color coded organizational support. This has been used at Mountain for many years throughout the grades. Your child should be familiar with this format.

History Social Sciences: Chapter 2 "California Regions." Your child has been assigned 2 pages of reading per night in this packet Monday-Friday--refer to packet for those. When time allows, we will discuss in greater detail. This is modeled on zoom.

Science: please welcome special guest and educator Mollie Behn from the Coastal Water Shed on Monday at 9:00. She will join us with her colleague in educating us about the San Lorenzo River and the power of erosion. There are additional activities to finish in the afternoon that will be explained and scaffolded on zoom.

Thank you,

Heather