Week of September 8th

 We made it through all of our Beginning of the Year assessments! Woohoo!! This week we will really be pushing to follow our daily routine and get everything we have scheduled done  each day. Your student is going to really have to push themselves to work quickly and efficiently, but I know they can do it! 

Math:

This week in math we are starting Topic 2. This is all about being able to add and subtract multi-digit numbers. We will be completing  a couple pages in our Interactive Math Notebooks along with our regular assignments. 

Please keep working with your students on mastering their multiplication facts. When they have mastered them, I will send home a certificate and it will no longer be homework for them! 

English Language Arts:

This week in ELA we will be learning about parts of speech. We will be doing a pretty intense page in our Interactive Reading Notebooks. The notebooks help us learn the information, but then become a resource my students can use to find the information on their own. 

We also completed our first page in our Morpheme Lexicon last week! These are so powerful and I love watching my students grow when they are able to use these!

House App and House Wednesdays:

Your student should have brought home a letter that has a specific code for you to link to them in the RCA House App. You will get notified when your student earns a house point as well as be able to track their house progress in the competitions! I am hoping to get those out today or tomorrow. 

Your student is encouraged to wear their house color on Wednesdays! I love the sense of community and belonging that happens when students see other students in their house colors!

Fall Festival:

Our school Fall Festival is coming up! You won't want to miss out on the fun! I am including the flyer below that has all the details! I would encourage you to follow the Vision Charter School Social Media pages on Instagram and Facebook if you have them, there is a lot of information posted there. :)

A Day in the Life of a 4th Grader:

Last year I started something that ended up being amazing. Instead of doing regular conferences at the end of 1st quarter, I invited parents to sign up for a session where they come with their student and we do a mini day and you participate as a student. This allows you to see how our classroom functions and we will arrange ahead of time where students will volunteer to "get in trouble" so that you can see what that looks like in class as well. I will run 3 sessions that will last about 45 minutes to allow time at the end for questions. 

I am letting you know about this ahead of time so that hopefully everyone will be able to be there! Quarter 1 conferences are on Tuesday, October 7th from 4:00-7:00. Sessions will start on the hour. There will also be conference time the next afternoon or throughout that week and if I have specific concerns about your student being successful this year, I will reach out to you to schedule a time to meet. I would love it if you still were able to come to the "Day in the Life" session as well. :)

Week of September 2nd

 I hope you all had a lovely long weekend! I spent time camping with my family and celebrating birthdays! I am excited to get back to school this week because now we have most of the kinks worked out and things will really take off from here. 

I know Infinite Campus had some updates and all things technology can be counted on to change regularly, if your student is struggling to access something for school, please let me know and I will help you troubleshoot. Eventually the kiddos will have it all figured out and things will be really smooth. Thank you for your patience as we are all learning together in the beginning. :)

Grade Checks:

Part of our Thursday morning routines is to do a grade check and write down any missing assignments. We do this in the "Friday" part of our agenda. Your student should have crossed off "Friday" and written "Grade Check" underneath. They should include the letter grade as well as percentage for each subject. Underneath that they should write down any missing assignments if they have any. Right now they should only have grades in Math and ELA. I will include a picture of what my model agenda looked like from our grade check last Thursday below. 

Math: 

This week in math we are continuing to work on understanding place value. We will also be taking the Interim Math ISAT this week. This helps guide my instruction as well as help my students set goals for their learning this year. 

Keep helping them work on their multiplication facts at home. I have already seen so much growth with my students and it is AMAZING!! One of the things we do in class each day is sing the Multiplication Mash Up. Someone took fun catchy songs and put them to the multiples. It is an excellent way to make it fun and help them remember their math facts. You can find that by clicking on the numbers above the white board in my virtual class. You can also click HERE to find it. 

ELA:

English Language Arts is the broad term we use to cover grammar, reading, writing, morphemes, etc. There is only one ELA grade in Infinite Campus so students will only have one grade to write down for their Grade Check, but they will write missing assignments in the appropriate square. 

This week we are taking the practice ELA ISAT as well. We are also going to begin our work on morphemes. Morphemes are the smallest word chunk that have meaning. They are also the reason that the English language "doesn't make sense". :) For example plumber has a 'b' because it is made up of two morphemes plumb+er. "Plumb" is a Latin root that cannot stand on it's own and means "lead"; "-er" is a suffix we add to words to create a noun. So it literally means "a person who leads or works with leads". 

We do not do spelling lists in 4th grades because our focus is on the morphemes. Once students know the morphemes it will help improve their spelling, but also help improve their vocabulary acquisition and reading comprehension. 

House App and House Wednesdays:

Your student should be bringing home a letter that has a specific code for you to link to them in the RCA House App. You will get notified when your student earns a house point as well as be able to track their house progress in the competitions! I am hoping to get those out today or tomorrow. 

Your student is encouraged to wear their house color on Wednesdays! I love the sense of community and belonging that happens when students see other students in their house colors!

Fall Festival:

Our school Fall Festival is coming up! You won't want to miss out on the fun! I am including the flyer below that has all the details! I would encourage you to follow the Vision Charter School Social Media pages on Instagram and Facebook if you have them, there is a lot of information posted there. :)

Week of August 25th

 Wow, this month has really flown by! I can't believe we are already in the last week of August. Our first two weeks really went well and I am so excited to really dig into our normal routine and academics starting this week. 

Math: 

Today we are getting our first "regular" math assignment. We started it today in class and my goal is to finish it up with my students in class so that I can walk them through the whole process so that they know what to expect each day. 

Your student's math assignments will range from 5-10 questions. Each assignment is worth 10 points. Students will get 5 points for showing work for ALL of the problems on the assignment. That makes up half of the assignment grade. The other 5 points come from how they actually did on the assignment. Students will write that percentage at the top of their page before they turn in their paper. This is just a way to make sure they actually hit the "submit" button on the assignment. If they got a 70% on the assignment, that means they got 3.5/5 points possible for that part. I will add that to however many points they earned for showing their work and that is what I will write and circle at the top of their page as well as put into the grade book. So if the got 3.5 points for the online part and 5 points for showing their work, they will get a +8.5/10 at the top of their page and I will put 8.5 into my gradebook. 

I model how I want them to show their work every single day in class. I then leave those examples on the board while they are working on their assignment so that they remember how to show their work. 

Multiplication Fact Homework:

Your student's first week of Multiplication Fact Homework was due this morning. They should have turned it into the turn in basket and grabbed a new one. As long as the date range for each week is clearly written at the top, I use the same late work process for homework as I do for every other assignment. If there is no date range written at the top, I don't know where the credit should be given, so I won't give credit for it. 

If your student forgot to turn that in this morning, please help them remember to get it in tomorrow for 75% credit. :) I know this can seem harsh, but I have found that when I start out not holding kids accountable for this from the beginning, it makes for a MUCH harder adjustment throughout the year. It's uncomfortable at first, but they figure it out quick and the rest of the year goes really smoothly. 

Home Folder and Agenda:

Your student is filling out their Agenda throughout the day each day. They have to have it initialed by myself or Mrs. Taylor (the 4th grade educational assistant) at the end of each day to make sure they have everything written down. 

When they finish something, they are supposed to put a ✓ next to it to indicate it is complete. Anything that does not have a ✓ is something they need to complete at home as homework and return the next morning. 

Their Study Skills grade on their report grade is made up of bringing their Home Folder and Agenda each morning. Their Agenda needs to be initialed by a parent each evening at the bottom of the day underneath the teacher initials. They get 3 points each day for this. 1 point for their Home Folder, 1 point for bringing their Agenda, and 1 point for asking a parent to initial it.

Reading:

This week we will start our first novel study on the book Because of Winn Dixie. This is a really fun story and my students each year really enjoy reading it. We will work on comprehension strategies as we go. This could end up being homework if students don't finish it during the day. That means your student may be bringing home one of our books to finish the assignment. We reuse these books each year and some of them are getting pretty beat up. Please help your student take the best care of this book while they have it. We understand when things happen, but please encourage your student to show responsibility and take care of the book to the best of their ability.

Mrs. Martindale's Virtual Class:

If you haven't had a chance to explore my Virtual Class, please take some time to do that with your student. There is so much information on there that will be super useful for your student. 

Tardies and Attendance:

If your student misses something in class due to being tardy or absent, it is their responsibility to make up any work that they missed. School policy is that they have 2 school days to make up work from an absence. 

We start our day right at 8:00 in the morning and we hit the ground running. There is no time during our day when my students will have nothing to do. Being here on time every single day is imperative to their success at school. Please make every effort to make all appointments and plans outside of school hours. Part of why we chose to go to a 4 day week was so that students would miss less for doctor appointments and that sort of thing. 

Not only that, we have so much fun here and my students love being able to earn those House Points! They can't do that if they aren't here. :)

That said, we do NOT have school on Monday, September 1st for Labor Day. Next week will be a 3 day week. :)

Picture Day:

Picture day is this Wednesday the 27th. We will take pictures in the morning. It is also House Day. So if you want your student to wear something for pictures, but they want House Colors, feel free to send a shirt in their backpack to change into. It would be best if they came in their picture clothes and I will let them change after. :) Picture packets are coming home today.

Week of August 18th

Hello! I apologize for not getting this sent out yesterday. I had a meeting during my prep time and then had to leave quickly after school to make it to a doctor appointment on time. My goal is to always have these posted on the first day of  the week, but sometimes it will be on the second. :)

This post has a lot of information in it, most of the time they are not this long. :)

Mrs. Martindale's Virtual Class:

I have set up a Virtual Class that I use as a hub for all of the platforms we use in 4th grade. It is linked to the Bitmoji of me that appears in the signature of all of emails so all you or my students need to do is click on that. That way students and parents are always able to access it. I also have a page dedicated to parent resources. Not all of those links are active yet, but they will be as we get going throughout the year. I encourage students to access anything they need from there because it ensures they are accessing the sites associated with our school accounts. 

Math Homework:

This week I taught my students how to log in to their Chromebooks and begin getting logged into the different platforms we use in class. One of those is Xtramath. This is essentially a digital flashcard. Students will start their multiplication fact homework this week. The requirement is that they practice their multiplication facts 5 days a week. They will bring home a half sheet of paper on Monday that needs to be returned the following Monday. Each week they get 10 points for completing 5 days of practice. A parent just needs to initial next to the day that your student practiced their facts.

This practice can look different depending on your student. They are welcome to use flashcards, games, Xtramath, etc. I would suggest mixing it up for them to keep it a little more interesting. As soon as they have passed their facts on Xtramath 0-12 in 3 seconds or less per fact, Xtramath will let me know. I will print their certificate, they get to pick something from my treat jar, and then they do not have this as homework for the rest of the year! Practice each day should last 10-15 minutes.

If your student is practicing on Xtramath at home, please do not do it for them or allow a sibling to do it for them. I know this sounds silly but it has happened in the past. If I suspect that this has happened, I will reassign it to them and it will become homework for them again. :) It's hard to watch our kids struggle, but that's where the growth happens.

To sign into Xtramath, they can click on the backpack in my Virtual Class. They will need my email address and then their login and pin that is on their password card that is taped into their Home Folder. 

House Sorting Day!:

Tomorrow we will be sorting all of our new students into their houses! We are so excited!! Please help your student dress in their house colors tomorrow. My motto for tomorrow is GO BIG! :) I will be head to toe in GREEN tomorrow to support all my Isibindi kids! I love the sense of community and healthy competition that comes from this. We encourage students to have house pride by saying things like "My house is the best house!" versus "My house is better than your house." or "Your house is the worst." Please encourage this at home too!

Last year I had a student who was so excited he found a website and made a wheel at home and his whole family sorted into a house! We love when families get involved. :) If you look up the Ron Clark Academy where this all started, you will see how the families and parents have formed their own "houses" as parents and created an entire culture built on uplifting others and taking care of those in their community. 

Infinite Campus:

Hopefully you have already been using the Parent Portal of Infinite Campus and have that all set up to follow your student's progress in class this year. If you haven't, I encourage you to download the app so that you get notifications as I update my grade book. I have found it super helpful as a parent. 

This week I will be teaching my students how to log into the Student Portal and be able to check their grades and look for missing assignments. This is something they will do daily in class and should be able to do from home.

Assignments that I post in Infinite Campus will usually have a brief explanation of what was expected with a link if applicable. I do use Google Classroom to post assignments because it makes it easier for students to access things through their google accounts and not have to sign in to so many things. I do not track missing assignments or grades here. It is just the platform I use to make it easier for my students to access learning platforms. 

Missing Assignments:

I try extremely hard to update my grade book daily. I will mark assignments "missing" in my grade book if they aren't turned in by the end of the day. They won't be docked points unless they aren't turned in the next morning of school. This helps my students so that they can look for missing assignments and know what they have or haven't turned in. 

I will be creating a fake assignment this week to mark missing so that my students can see what it looks like if they have a missing assignment. Please do not let it worry you. :) I will delete it after my students have learned how to access it. 

That said I have been waiting to input any grades until I have taught my students what to look for. After we do this activity with the fake assignment, I will get everything updated for the year so far. 

Thirsty Thursday:

We used to call this Fun Friday, but when we went to a four day week, that didn't make sense anymore. One of my students a few years ago came up with Thirsty Thursday because "we are thirsty for an extra recess!" and it stuck! 

Students can earn this extra recess by having all of their work turned in by Thursday afternoon. We will do Thirsty Thursday each Thursday at 1:45. Students who have missing work will be able work on that during this time and then head out to enjoy whatever time is left of their extra recess if they finish ahead of that time. Our regular Snack and Track time is at 2:00 and all students will go out then for a break. 

Your student is encouraged to bring a healthy snack to eat during this time. Please no candy or junk food.

Behavior Plan:

In my class last week and this week, our main focus has been learning expectations and practicing what it means to be a Golden Eagle Learner. I do not expect my students to be perfect, I do expect them to set themselves up for success though. 

If I have a student who is off task they get a reminder from me. If I have to remind them again with in 15-20 minutes, then they will put their name on the board. If it happens again in a short amount of time, they put a check mark behind their name. If they get a check mark then they will get an Incident Report from me. This is a pink form in triplicate that I fill out explaining what happened. I always have them read through it and make sure that what I put is accurate and discuss it if they feel that it isn't. I will then write on their that they read it and agreed with it. They will bring this home to be signed by a parent and returned the next school day. They will serve community service during the next lunch recess because if they have done something to take away from the school, then they need to do something to make it better. 

A Day in the Life of a 4th Grader:

Last year I started something that ended up being amazing. Instead of doing regular conferences at the end of 1st quarter, I invited parents to sign up for a session where they come with their student and we do a mini day and you participate as a student. This allows you to see how our classroom functions and we will arrange ahead of time where students will volunteer to "get in trouble" so that you can see what that looks like in class as well. I will run 3 sessions that will last about 45 minutes to allow time at the end for questions. 

I am letting you know about this ahead of time so that hopefully everyone will be able to be there! Quarter 1 conferences are on Tuesday, October 7th from 4:00-7:00. Sessions will start on the hour. There will also be conference time the next afternoon or throughout that week and if I have specific concerns about your student being successful this year, I will reach out to you to schedule a time to meet. I would love it if you still were able to come to the "Day in the Life" session as well. :)

Welcome to 4th Grade!

 Hello! I am so excited for this year, we have so many fun and exciting new things planned. If you have had another child in my class before, please know that things will be different this year. I am going to outline some of those here.

Homework:

One of the biggest changes is how we are handling homework. Your student will still have a reading calendar each month. We will start these in August, although they only need to read 300 minutes for full credit this month. They will  typically need to read 500 minutes each month for full credit. This is part of their ELA grade.

Math homework will consist of practicing multiplication facts on Xtramath.com each evening. Once they have mastered those 1-12 in 3 seconds or less, they don't have to do that at home anymore. Homework will be any part of their math assignment that they did not finish in class that day.

We will update our student agendas the end of each school day so that students know what they need to complete at home if there was anything they did not finish in class. 

Late Work:

This year we will be sticking to the school policy for late work in 4th grade. This means that students will lose 25% of their score for each assignment per day that it is late. After 2 days, they will receive 50% of the earned score for that assignment score, however they do still need to finish it to be able to do things like enrichment or the extra recess we do on Thursday for those students who don't have any missing assignments. This is a pretty big change from how we have done it in the past so please make sure you have the Infinite Campus Parent Portal access so that you are notified if something is marked missing.

This includes assignments that are turned in with no name on them. 

4th Grade Essential 44:

This year we don't have typical classroom rules. We have the Essential 44 that we feel will help our students rise to their full potential and set the expectation for school behavior and learning. I will be sharing all of those with you sometime this week, but ask your student about them too. :)

House System:

Vision is heading into it's second year with the house system! We loved the community that it built last year and are so excited to keep the momentum going! Vision uses the four main houses from the Ron Clark Academy. These are used around the world and it's  fun to see how students feel a sense of community even with other schools because of this. Each house has a core value that aligns with our Character Traits. Isibindi is the House of Courage. Amistad is the House of Friendship. Rêveur is the House of Dreamers. And Altruismo is the House of Givers. Be on the lookout for more information about this!

AMISTAD 2025-2026  HOUSE WINNER!!

Last year Amistad had the most points for the year! We are going to celebrate them this Wednesday with a couple fun things throughout the day. We also want everyone to wear their color, RED to celebrate them! This doesn't mean you need to go out and buy anything, it can be as simple as a red ribbon in their hair or tied on their wrist as a bracelet. 

House Wednesdays and Spirit Day Thursday:

Last year, we had House Thursdays where students were encouraged to wear their house color and could earn points for that. We are going to move that to Wednesdays this year and Thursdays will be our Spirit Day where students can wear school colors if they want to. :) This is meant to be fun and not cause any stress so feel free to let your student be creative in how they participate as long as it follows dress code rules. :)