Thank you:I would like to thank everyone for attending the open house. I enjoyed meeting you. I still have a few openings for classroom helpers. I will be putting these volunteer sheets out again during curriculum night on Tuesday, September 7. Parents of my homeroom students will also have an opportunity to sign up for conferences during curriculum night. I would also like to thank all the families who have donated (or will be donating) items to the classroom. Your support is greatly appreciated.
Intramurals:
All 4th and 5th grade students have the opportunity to sign up for Intramural Games. This is a "free" after school program that allows your child to stay active. Permission slips will be sent out next week. Please return these to Mrs. Cushing by Friday, September 3rd.
Weekly Reminders:
*"Words often Misspelled" spelling pretest on Monday.
*"Check your Progress" math quiz on Friday.
*"Words often Misspelled" spelling test on Friday.
Plan Ahead:
*No school on Monday, September 6 - Labor Day.
*Fourth Grade Curriculum Night on Tuesday, September 7, 6:30-7:30.
*Beginning Band Parent Meeting on Monday, September 13, 7:00.
Homeroom Happenings:
Science - Our focus this week will be on Science safety and tools.
Social Studies - We will begin the year by studying government. The children will be completing a Patriotic Quest. We will also explore the three branches of government.
English - The children took their first English pretest on Thursday. I have graded the pretests and returned them to each student with an enrichment contract. Your child's contract is located in their English pocket. You may take a look at it, but please put it back in your child's English pocket to return to school. If your child has passed out of any of the lessons, they will be doing enrichment work. Students will need to choose what enrichment project they would like to complete during this unit. This project will be done in school. I have explained this procedure to the children. On Monday, I will meet with each child to discuss their enrichment contract choice. We will begin our study of nouns on Tuesday. Our lessons will include: What is a noun?, common and proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, and nouns ending in y.
Spelling - The children will take thier first spelling pretest on Monday. If they receive 90% or higher, they will become a "challenge speller". As a "challenge speller", they will choose 10 challenge words to practice throughout the week. Any words they missed on the pretest will be included in those 10 words. During the week, they will be doing activities using their new challenge words. They will not be tested on these challenge spelling words, but this gives the children the opportunity to learn and use 8-10 new words. On Friday, they have the choice of keeping their pretest score or retaking the spelling test for a higher grade.
Reading - This week in reading the students will review and practice their reading strategies as they read the story The Pumpkin Runner by Marsha Diane Arnold. The reading strategies that we will focus on are: preview/infer, phonics/decoding, question, monitor/clarify, summarize, and evaluate.
Accelerated Math Menu:
Monday - Place Value to the Billions. HW: Workbook pg. 1. Practice X1, X2, X3, X4, & X5 by Wed.
Tuesday - Expanded Form. HW: Workbook pg. 2. Practice X1, X2, X3, X4& X5 by Wed.
Wednesday - Thousandths. HW: Workbook pg. 3. Practice X6, X7, X8, & X9 by 9/7.
Thursday - Decimals Greater than One. HW: Workbook pg. 4. Practice X6, X7, X8, & X9 by 9/7.
Friday - "Check your Progress" Quiz (open book). HW: Practice X6, X7, X8, & X9 by 9/7.
