Week of May 19th

Here it is, my last weekly blog post for this year. I am so sad to see this year end, I have truly enjoyed having your student in my class. Thank you for entrusting them to me, it is a privilege to have been a part of their life for this year. These kids are amazing and have worked so hard this year, it is encouraging to know that they are the future of our world.

Work Due:

There will be no new assignments due this week. Students who have missing work are encouraged to get that done. The last day to turn in work is Friday, May 23rd at 1:00. This will allow me to finalize my grade book and ensure you get your student's report card on time. 

ISAT Testing:

Your student brought home a letter from me on Thursday (if I had both of their scores) to show off their growth. I highlighted their level score according to the same color coding the state uses so that you can clearly see the growth. I also included a 3-year trajectory growth goal. This is especially helpful if your student was below grade level in 3rd grade to be able to track their progress as it can be hard to move even one level sometimes, even with a growth of 100+ points. Their growth from 3rd to 4th is either highlighted in red or green depending on if they met the trajectory growth goal, this is different from the goal we made for the roller skating field trip.  Your student will bring home the state report on their testing today. 

For math overall my class was 78% proficient(31%) or advanced(47%). The state average for math right now is 49%. When I gave the 4th grade interim ISAT in the fall, only 6% of my class was proficient with 0% advanced. That is incredible growth!

Right now for ELA, overall my class is at 78% proficient(22%) or advanced(56%). The state average for ELA right now is 50%.When I gave the 4th grade interim ISAT in the fall, only 19%  of my class were proficient(16%) and advanced(3%). Again, this is truly phenomenal growth!

Roller Skating Celebration:

3rd and 4th grade will be headed to RollerDrome on Wednesday to celebrate all of their hard work that showed on ISATs this year! We are so proud of them and their hard work!! Please make sure your student get's their permission slip turned in by tomorrow, Tuesday, May 20th so that they can go! If your student lost their permission slip, you can print a new one by clicking HERE.

Mrs. Martindale's ISAT Party:

Your student received their invitation to my ISAT party today! It looks like the picture below! They are welcome to bring treats to share if they want to, otherwise we will be having a great time celebrating together!

Parent Survey:

Today is the last day to submit your response for "Mrs. Martindale's 4th Grade Parent Survey". If you have not had a chance to do so and would like to submit your constructive feedback, you may click HERE to do so. I really appreciate the responses I have gotten so far and am using them to help plan for next year! 

Last Day of School:

The last day of school is FRIDAY, May 23rd. We will release at 1:30 on that day. Please make sure your student brings a backpack all week as we will be going through their desks and bringing things home all throughout the week. That way they don't have a super heavy backpack to lug around. 

Week of May 12th

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend celebrating the lovely moms in your lives! We had a very busy weekend of orchestra concerts and dance recitals, I jokingly told my class this morning that I had to come back to school to rest up! :)

The blog will look a little different these last two weeks as we are wrapping up everything that we have learned this year. We won't have our typical days and this will probably mean less homework, I know you are all sad to hear that. ;)

Wagons Ho:

We will be participating in Wagons Ho this Wednesday, May 14th. This is an all day event that will be outside on the school lawn. Right now the weather is looking to be a high of 67* and partly cloudy. Please help your student prepare for the weather and dress in layers so they are warm for the morning.

Students will need:

• Dress for Success! Students are invited to wear western wear if they want, but closed toed shoes (not Crocs) are a must.
• water bottle
• a bundle of wood (I have extra if you can't send any in)
• a large 2 or 4 hole button (I have extras if needed)
• bring artifacts or family branding irons or pictures of items (optional)
• If your student is bringing a cold lunch, please make sure it isn't something that needs to be heated and it's best if all items can be thrown away after.
• Sunscreen and a hat may be a good idea as well!

We still need volunteers! If you can't be there, maybe a grandparent or aunt or uncle would like to come! As long as they have an ID that they can show at the front office and pass the check, they should be good to go! Adults need to pack a lunch and water bottle as well. Volunteers need to be here at 7:45 to check in at the front office because Mr. and Mrs. C. would like all adult volunteers to be outside at 7:50 to help set up. They also like to talk to parents about expectations and how the day is going to go before hand. 

Parent Survey:

Thank you so much to those of you who have already completed the parent survey that I sent out last week! I really appreciate the feedback. If you have not had a chance yet to fill that out, please click HERE to give your constructive feedback on how this year was for your student. :)

Roaring Readers:

If your student participated in the Roaring Reader program this year, they are bringing home their passes today. Please keep these in a safe location. Because it is a barcode that gets scanned on them, if they get lost there is a chance they will be used and your student won't be able to use it. 

Science Fair:

Our Science Fair is this Thursday, May 15th in the Aux. Gym from 5:30-7:00. Your student does not need to be here the whole time, but it is fun to get to check out all the hard work! If your student is here towards the end of the evening, they are welcome to take their project home. If not, they will bring it home next Monday.

We will be working on presenting these all throughout the week. Your student should have brought their board and rubric in today and be ready to present when it is their turn. I always love watching their presentations and learning about what they have done! 

Field Day:

Next Monday the 19th is Field Day. 4th grade students will be participating in the morning, so again, dressing a little warmer may be a good idea! Sunscreen and hats are also helpful. Please make sure they wear tennis shoes that day!

May Reading Calendar:

Reading Calendars for this month are due next Monday the 19th. Students need to read a total of 250 minutes for full credit this month. 

Multiplication Fact Homework:

If your student is still working on their multiplication facts, the last week of homework is due next Monday the 19th. 

Week of May 5th

 Hello! I hope you all enjoyed the lovely weather over the weekend. I really enjoyed spending my days outside getting my backyard organized and ready for the summer months. :)

ISATs:

This is our final week of ISAT testing. We will be taking the Math CAT on Tuesday and the Math PT on Wednesday. Please help your child get to bed early this week and eat a good breakfast filled with protein and complex carbs the mornings of the tests. 

IXL has an ISAT test prep with skills that I am encouraging my students to work on to help them remember the things we have learned this year and also to work on things that they may be struggling with. I will offer 10 points of math extra credit for students practicing those skills at home for an hour this week. 

ELA:

This week we will get back to our Native American research project. Your student should have completed their informative essay individually and submitted that a couple of weeks ago. The next part of the project will all be completed in class as they will be working with their group to put together a presentation that they will be sharing with the class to teach everyone about their assigned tribe. 

April Reading Calendars were due today. I am sending home their May Reading Calendars today as well. These will be due on Monday, May 19th. They only need to read 250 minutes for full credit this month. 

Math:

Because of Math ISATs this week, there will not be any assigned math work. We will be working in class to review everything we have learned this year. We are also looking at the practice ISAT test to help review what they will be asking. 

Please continue working with your student if they have not mastered their multiplication facts yet. This is still a homework grade each week for those that have not mastered it. They will bring home a certificate when they do so that you know as well. 

Wagons Ho!:

Wagons Ho! is next week on Wednesday, May 14th. They are asking for 12-15 parents per class to help out. I currently have 7 parents signed up to help. Please plan to be at the school around 7:45 with your ID. You will need to check in at the front office with your ID and they will give you a sticker name badge that you will need to wear on your chest for the duration of the day. Staff will stop you if you don't have it on. :) 

Parents will also need to plan on bringing a lunch. It's best if you have a lunch that doesn't require heating up as there are limited microwaves available to us. We will be eating at the students' normal lunchtime, 11:20. You will also need to bring a water bottle. 

One of our Essential 44 is "Dress for success!" We have been talking in class about how that looks different depending on what we are doing. Students (and parent volunteers) need to wear closed toed shoes like tennis shoes or boots. Please do not send your student in sandals or Crocs. They also need to wear long pants and dress in layers. I will try to remember to email parents the night before about the weather. Last year the temperature in the morning was near freezing, please pay attention to that and make sure your student has a coat, sweatshirt, and tshirt. It's easier to take off layers when they warm up, than to be freezing and have nothing to put on. Hats and sunscreen are also a great idea!

Students are asked to bring a bundle of firewood and a large button that has 2 or 4 holes. I have extra of these if your student does not have access to them. 

Library Books:

All of my library books are due this Thursday, May 8th. This allows me time to make sure I have all of them back in. Students who have lost or damaged books from my library will need to either replace them, pay to replace them, or do community service to replace that book. :)

Science Fair:

Our science projects should be wrapping up within the next week. Your student's presentation board is due next Monday, May 12th. Your student will be presenting their project to the class starting Monday. Please do NOT send their boards in before that as I have very limited space in the classroom and I don't want any of their hard work to be damaged or ruined. Please help your student "grade" themselves using the rubric that I sent home by circling in pencil what they think they scored in each category. They will turn this in and then I will use that rubric as I grade them. 

They should have added another category for "Presentation" down at the bottom. I am including a picture of what they should have written on the rubric with me in class in case they were gone, or didn't get it written down. 

Week of April 28th

 This is our first week of ISATs! We have worked so hard to prepare for this and I am excited to see how they do. Please help your student get to bed early each night over the next week so that their body is well rested for the upcoming tests. We will have our ELA Performance Task portion of the test tomorrow morning. 

We will have our Math ISAT next week with the CAT part on Tuesday and the PT portion on Wednesday. I always provide healthy snack options with little notes that encourage them, so don't feel like you need to send in anything extra. I also provide gum and water. The school provides crackers, cheese sticks, and mints so they have everything they need to be successful! Today they had breakfast cookies waiting for them with a note that said "You are one smart cookie!" :)

Mrs. Burton has offered to take all of 4th grade roller skating if EVERY student makes their ISAT goal this year! This will be so much fun and I am confident that we will get to go because these kids are AMAZING and I know they will all make their goals! We worked together to come up with their "Smart Cookie Goal" to go along with our bulletin board in the hallway. 

Both this week and next week will be low key and there will likely not be many, if any new assignments over this week or next. I try to keep things really light so that students can rest up and focus on their test.

Wagons Ho:

We are so blessed to get to have Wagons Ho come to our school this year. The Clevengers have told me that as they get closer to retirement, they are going to be taking on less schools. However, they love working with our school and have mentioned how wonderful, polite, and respectful our students are and so we are one of the lucky few who still have this opportunity! We also have an AMAZING PFSA who are paying for them to come to our school! 

We will have Wagons Ho on Wednesday, May 14th. This is an all day event here at the school. Students are welcome to dress as a pioneer, but they need to be dressed appropriately. That means that they need tennis shoes or boots and layers that they can easily take off and put on. Last year was a surprisingly cold day and many students did not bring jackets or coats and we were raiding teacher closets and the lost and found to make sure everyone stayed warm. Please make sure your student is prepared. Hats and sunscreen are also a great idea! 

I still need a few more parent volunteers if you are able to join us. If you want to volunteer please know that you will need to be here from about 7:45-3:30 to help set up and tear down. You will also be running stations as groups of students rotate around. They also ask that students bring in some firewood and a large button. I have extra if you don't have access to either of those. Please just let me know if that is the case. 

ISAT Incentives:

This year is unique in that students have the opportunity to earn two different rewards for doing their best on ISATs. My ISAT party will be on Thursday, May 22nd. This allows for scores to be released so that I can determine who has gotten that invitation. Remember, students who have many missing assignments will need to use that time to work on missing work, so they will not be attending that party so that they can work on missing work in another classroom. 

Mrs. Burton has also offered to take all of 4th grade roller skating at the Roller Drome in Nampa if EVERY student in the 4th grade meets their goal. I sat down with each student individually and we looked at their 3rd grade score and came up with their goals from that. Because these goals are based on growth, each student should be able to meet their goal! This will be on the afternoon of Wednesday, May 21st. I will be sending out more information o this as soon as we know if 4th grade will be able to go. 

Week of April 21st

 I hope you all had a wonderful Easter yesterday! I loved the weather this weekend and we all spent a lot of time outside enjoying it. :)

ELA:

My students will be finishing up their Native American research paper today in class, if they have not already. I am so proud of how they are doing in writing, these essays look amazing!

We will spend the majority of our class time this week preparing for the ISATs that we will be taking next week. IXL has put together a skill plan to help students prepare for ISATs and I have it pinned for my students. I would encourage students to spend their monthly reading time this week, working on mastering those skills so that they are as ready as they can be for next week. :)

Math:

This week we will continue plugging away on our math skills. If your student is absent, please help them remember to complete the IXL skills for that lesson to a Smart Score of at least 80 before they complete the Quick Check. Often times in class we will do that together, so your student may not have that Smart Score because we do it in a game format whole group. Absent students will need to either take a screen shot that shows those skills have an 80, or show me their screen when they come back to class. 

RAD:

I want to give a HUGE shoutout to the kids who performed in RAD on Thursday. Out of all of the years I have watched this performance, this year's really stood out as exceptional! I was able to get some pictures and will be putting them in a Google Folder that I will share with all of you. :)

Enrichment:

Our last Enrichment session begins this Thursday and will run from 12:20-1:20 each Thursday. The last day for this session will be on Thursday, May 15th. Students who have any missing work will not be allowed to attend Enrichment until it is all turned in. 

Science Fair Project:

Your student should be working on Step 3: Testing your Hypothesis right now. This step is due next Monday, April 28th. Your student is welcome to turn in that work whenever they get it done. I strongly encourage my students to hang on to each step and take lots of pictures as they go. They will need these for the final step which is creating their presentation board. 

I have included all of the steps in Infinite Campus. This is because at this point projects may progress at different rates. If your student is able to finish Step 3, they are welcome to look at Step 4 and begin putting things together. I would caution to  not make anything permanent on their board yet because they may want to make changes as we talk about them in class. 

Your student will be presenting their presentation to the class starting on Monday, May 12th. Please do NOT send in their boards before that day, I don't have enough room to safely store them for long periods of time. Bringing them in on Monday will allow them to present to the class and then take it to the Aux Gym for the Science Fair.

The Science Fair will be on Thursday, May 15th from 5:30-7:00. This is a drop in style event and your student is welcome to take their project home at the end of the evening. 

ISAT Testing:

We are coming up on state testing time. I wanted to make sure I let you know the dates of testing so that you can plan ahead and make sure your student is here for that. Also, it helps to make sure your student is getting consistent good sleep leading up to testing. There are two parts to both the ELA and Math ISATs. They are the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). We will give these on different days so that they kids aren't overwhelmed. That means we will have 4 days of testing total. 

ISAT Dates:

4/29: ELA CAT

4/30: ELA PT

4/6: Math CAT

5/7: Math PT

ISAT Party:

Each year I throw an ISAT party for my students to celebrate all of their hard work after they have taken the ISATs. This is different than other class parties because students have to earn an invitation to this party. They can earn an invitation in one of two ways. 

1. By scoring a 3 or 4 on the ISAT or moving from one level to the next. For example if they were a 1 in 3rd grade but scored a 2 in 4th grade, that is moving one level.

2. By working really hard leading up to ISAT testing to do their best. I understand that test anxiety is a real thing. Those students who work really hard and don't keep their classmates from succeeding by being a distraction, can also earn an invite to the party even if they don't get the score that they want. Students with a significant amount of missing work, may not get to attend because they aren't meeting this requirement.

Students who do not earn an invitation to the ISAT party will spend that time completing work in another classroom. I will let you and your student know if they are at risk of not earning an invitation to the party while they still have time to turn things around. :)

House Colors Thursday:

Now that I know students all have something in their house color because I have gifted it (hat and socks) or they have gotten a shirt, I am offering a house point for each student who wears their House Color on Thursdays! I am still making shirts for students as they bring them in. I also had some amazing donations from parents to buy vinyl and had one parent send in vinyl so if your student already brought in a sweatshirt and would like a t-shirt (or vice versa), they are welcome to bring in the other while the vinyl lasts. :) Again, if your student would like a house shirt but it is not within your budget right now, please let me know and I can help out with that! 

I also had a parent donate extra shirts for students who may not be able to afford one! Thank you so much! If your student would like one of those, please let me know! It will be a first come, first served basis. :) I have 1 Rêveur shirt left!

Week of April 14th

 I don't know about you, but I feel like this year is slipping away faster and faster and I am not ready! I have enjoyed this class of students so much and I am just not ready for them to move on in a few short weeks! Thank you for entrusting your children to me, they are incredible and you should all be proud!

ELA:

This week we will be working hard to finish our essays on our Native American Tribes. The current plan is that rough drafts will be due by the end of class on Wednesday. We will be editing them on Thursday and submitting the final draft at the end of class on Thursday. 

We will not have any more quizzes before ISATs. I try to lighten the testing load as much as possible before testing so that students can put all of their focus there. 

Math:

This week in math we will be moving to Topic 16, but it is still covering geometry. We have been talking in class a lot about thinking critically about the math problem. Often times when students see complex problems, they freeze up and feel they cannot solve the problem. I have been encouraging them to start by asking themselves "What do I know?" This gives them a starting point and often from there they are able to work through the problem, rather than feeling defeated. :)

Science Fair Project:

Today your student will be bringing home Step 3: Testing your Hypothesis for their science fair project. This is where the fun really happens! Students need to be sure to take pictures of the process and take notes as they go. This will insure they are ready to go for the final step, which is creating their presentation. 

I have included all of the steps in Infinite Campus. This is because at this point projects may progress at different rates. If your student is able to finish Step 3, they are welcome to look at Step 4 and begin putting things together. I would caution to  not make anything permanent on their board yet because they may want to make changes as we talk about them in class. 

The Science Fair will be on Thursday, May 15th from 5:30-7:00. This is a drop in style event and your student is welcome to take their project home at the end of the evening. 

ISAT Testing:

We are coming up on state testing time. I wanted to make sure I let you know the dates of testing so that you can plan ahead and make sure your student is here for that. Also, it helps to make sure your student is getting consistent good sleep leading up to testing. There are two parts to both the ELA and Math ISATs. They are the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). We will give these on different days so that they kids aren't overwhelmed. That means we will have 4 days of testing total. 

ISAT Party:

ISAT Dates:

4/29: ELA CAT

4/30: ELA PT

4/6: Math CAT

5/7: Math PT

Each year I throw an ISAT party for my students to celebrate all of their hard work after they have taken the ISATs. This is different than other class parties because students have to earn an invitation to this party. They can earn an invitation in one of two ways. 

1. By scoring a 3 or 4 on the ISAT or moving from one level to the next. For example if they were a 1 in 3rd grade but scored a 2 in 4th grade, that is moving one level.

2. By working really hard leading up to ISAT testing to do their best. I understand that test anxiety is a real thing. Those students who work really hard and don't keep their classmates from succeeding by being a distraction, can also earn an invite to the party even if they don't get the score that they want. Students with a significant amount of missing work, may not get to attend because they aren't meeting this requirement.

Students who do not earn an invitation to the ISAT party will spend that time completing work in another classroom. I will let you and your student know if they are at risk of not earning an invitation to the party while they still have time to turn things around. :)

House Colors Thursday:

Now that I know students all have something in their house color because I have gifted it (hat and socks) or they have gotten a shirt, I am offering a house point for each student who wears their House Color on Thursdays! I am still making shirts for students as they bring them in. I also had some amazing donations from parents to buy vinyl and had one parent send in vinyl so if your student already brought in a sweatshirt and would like a t-shirt (or vice versa), they are welcome to bring in the other while the vinyl lasts. :) Again, if your student would like a house shirt but it is not within your budget right now, please let me know and I can help out with that! 

I also had a parent donate extra shirts for students who may not be able to afford one! Thank you so much! If your student would like one of those, please let me know! It will be a first come, first served basis. :) I have 1 each of Amistad and Rêveur.

Week of April 7th

Tonight is the very last Elementary Parent Math Night for the year! I will be hosting this in my classroom at 6:30. We will be closing and locking the doors to the school at 6:40, so please make sure you are on time so that you don't get locked out. :) Tonight I will be covering math games and games that you can easily modify to make them math games. I hope to see you all there!

ELA:

This week in ELA we will continue working on our Native American research project. Each student has been assigned a tribe that is native to Idaho. Right now we are busy researching those tribes and annotating as we research to help with writing the paper that is the next step. 

Math:

This week we are jumping ahead to Topic 15 which covers geometry. There is a LOT of vocabulary for geometry so I like to jump ahead to give students a little bit of extra time to learn that vocabulary before ISATs. 

I had two more students pass all of their multiplication facts this morning! I am so pumped about that! Please keep practicing with your student so that they will master these as quickly as possible as well. 

Science Fair Project:

Today your student will be bringing home Step 2: Research and Hypothesis for their science fair project. I explained to my class today that this project is really less about the results of their project and more about practicing and understanding the scientific process. We have been talking a lot about how their research should be about the TOPIC of their question, and not the question itself. Anyone can Google the answer to the question, but this step is about learning everything we can about the topic behind the question. 

For example, we dissected a Mystery Science lesson today as they do an excellent job following the scientific process. We talked about how the question was "How can I send a secret code?" so they researched and thought about everything they knew about codes, which led them to relate codes to a language. This led them to think about the need for a translator which guided them to more research.

After your student has researched their topic, they will form a hypothesis. We talked about how just like an estimate isn't a wild guess but an educated guess, so is a hypothesis. They need to take what they already know about the topic and what they researched and form an opinion on what they think the answer to their question will be and why they think that.

ISAT Testing:

We decided to push back testing dates to give us an extra week to prepare. We will do the ELA ISAT on Tuesday, April 29th and Wednesday, April 30th. The Math ISAT will be on Tuesday, May 6th and Wednesday, May 7th. 

We are coming up on state testing time. I wanted to make sure I let you know the dates of testing so that you can plan ahead and make sure your student is here for that. Also, it helps to make sure your student is getting consistent good sleep leading up to testing. There are two parts to both the ELA and Math ISATs. They are the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). We will give these on different days so that they kids aren't overwhelmed. That means we will have 4 days of testing total. 

ISAT Party:

Each year I throw an ISAT party for my students to celebrate all of their hard work after they have taken the ISATs. This is different than other class parties because students have to earn an invitation to this party. They can earn an invitation in one of two ways. 

1. By scoring a 3 or 4 on the ISAT or moving from one level to the next. For example if they were a 1 in 3rd grade but scored a 2 in 4th grade, that is moving one level.

2. By working really hard leading up to ISAT testing to do their best. I understand that test anxiety is a real thing. Those students who work really hard and don't keep their classmates from succeeding by being a distraction, can also earn an invite to the party even if they don't get the score that they want. 

Students who do not earn an invitation to the ISAT party will spend that time completing work in another classroom. I will let you and your student know if they are at risk of not earning an invitation to the party while they still have time to turn things around. :)

House Colors Thursday:

I just wanted to remind you that students are welcome and encouraged to wear their house color on Thursdays. I am still making shirts for students as they bring them in. I also had some amazing donations from parents to buy vinyl and had one parent send in vinyl so if your student already brought in a sweatshirt and would like a t-shirt (or vice versa), they are welcome to bring in the other while the vinyl lasts. :) Again, if your student would like a house shirt but it is not within your budget right now, please let me know and I can help out with that! 

I also had a parent donate extra shirts for students who may not be able to afford one! Thank you so much! If your student would like one of those, please let me know! It will be a first come, first served basis. :) I have 1 each of Amistad, Isibindi, and Rêveur.

Week of March 31st

Welcome back from Spring Break! I apologize for not getting this out yesterday. Even though I came in a couple times over break, I was still slammed yesterday. :) 

ELA:

This week in ELA we will begin a research project about the five Native American tribes in Idaho. Students will be assigned a tribe and work together in a group to read about the tribe, write an informative essay, create a presentation, and flip books. This is a pretty big project and we will be working on it each day over the next couple of weeks. 

March Reading Calendars are due today! I will be sending home the calendars for April today as well. 

Math:

We will be continuing our work on Topic 13 which is working on customary and metric measurements. If your student has not mastered their multiplication facts, please make sure they are working extra hard to have those down. The more that they have mastered, the easier things will be from here on out. :)

My last Parent Math Night is next Monday, April 7th at 6:30. I will be going over games to play with your students to encourage math concepts as well as ways to modify games to work on specific math skills. I hope to see you there!

Science Fair Project:

Your student should have brought home their letter and work for Step 1 of their Science Fair Project. I attached all of that to the assignment in Infinite Campus so that you can reprint them if you need to. Step 1 is due next Monday, April 7th but students are welcome to turn them in before then. I will meet with each student and approve or rework questions as necessary. Questions need to be in one of the three formats given in the packet. This will help insure they are able to follow the scientific process for the whole project. Our science fair is on Thursday, May 15th. I accidentally put Wednesday in the letter, sorry about that!

Family Movie Night:

 

ISAT Testing:

We decided to push back testing dates to give us an extra week to prepare. We will do the ELA ISAT on Tuesday, April 29th and Wednesday, April 30th. The Math ISAT will be on Tuesday, May 6th and Wednesday, May 7th. 

We are coming up on state testing time. I wanted to make sure I let you know the dates of testing so that you can plan ahead and make sure your student is here for that. Also, it helps to make sure your student is getting consistent good sleep leading up to testing. There are two parts to both the ELA and Math ISATs. They are the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). We will give these on different days so that they kids aren't overwhelmed. That means we will have 4 days of testing total. 

ISAT Party:

Each year I throw an ISAT party for my students to celebrate all of their hard work after they have taken the ISATs. This is different than other class parties because students have to earn an invitation to this party. They can earn an invitation in one of two ways. 

1. By scoring a 3 or 4 on the ISAT or moving from one level to the next. For example if they were a 1 in 3rd grade but scored a 2 in 4th grade, that is moving one level.

2. By working really hard leading up to ISAT testing to do their best. I understand that test anxiety is a real thing. Those students who work really hard and don't keep their classmates from succeeding by being a distraction, can also earn an invite to the party even if they don't get the score that they want. 

Students who do not earn an invitation to the ISAT party will spend that time completing work in another classroom. I will let you and your student know if they are at risk of not earning an invitation to the party while they still have time to turn things around. :)

House Colors Thursday:

I just wanted to remind you that students are welcome and encouraged to wear their house color on Thursdays. I am still making shirts for students as they bring them in. I also had some amazing donations from parents to buy vinyl and had one parent send in vinyl so if your student already brought in a sweatshirt and would like a t-shirt (or vice versa), they are welcome to bring in the other while the vinyl lasts. :) Again, if your student would like a house shirt but it is not within your budget right now, please let me know and I can help out with that! 

I also had a parent donate extra shirts for students who may not be able to afford one! Thank you so much! If your student would like one of those, please let me know! It will be a first come, first served basis. :)

Wagons Ho:

A huge thank you to our PFSA for paying to bring in Wagons Ho for our 4th grade students this year! We will be doing this on Wednesday, May 14th. We always need parent helpers so if you would like to help out please let me know. I will write your names down on a first come first served basis. As we get closer I will confirm with you if you are still able to help and then will work my way down the list as needed. This is an all day commitment so please plan to be at the school from 7:45-3:30. I will send out more specific times as I have it. :)

Week of March 17th

 Happy St. Patrick's Day! Isibindi is loving this green holiday! Just a reminder that this is the last week of school before Spring Break. This is a full week of learning so please help make sure your student is here if at all possible. :)

ELA:

This week in ELA we will be finishing up our morphemes in our Morpheme Lexicon and for our Morpheme Deck. We will also have a couple of ReadWorks assignments to work on answering short answer questions completely using evidence from the text to support our answers. 

Math:

This week we will be finishing up Topic 12 and beginning Topic 13. We are going to be cruising through these to make sure we get all of the content covered before ISAT testing. Just a reminder that daily math assignments have changed. Each math assignment is now worth 15 points instead of 10. Students will be completing the IXL skills associated with each lesson by getting them to a Smart Score of 80+, that is worth 5 points. Students can then get an additional 10 points for the Quick Check assigned for each lesson. The Quick Check needs to be completed after they have completed the IXL skills. 

Roaring Reader:

If your student is working towards their Roaring Reader pass, their reading log needs to be turned in to me by Thursday, March 20th. That is THIS Thursday. This gives me time to collect all the reading logs and get everything turned into Roaring Springs. 

Christmas Traditions Writing:

Your student brought home their informative writing essay about Christmas Traditions last week. I always struggle to grade writing because I know how far my students have come and what they are trying to do and tend to grade them way easier than I should. :) I had my mom grade these for me this time and use the ISAT rubric for informative writing. The grade they got should be pretty similar to how they would have scored if that was the ISAT because of this. I was really encouraged by how well they did. :)

Spring Break Extra Credit:

I am offering 3 extra credit opportunities over spring break. To get extra credit, students can NOT have any missing assignments. Those need to be completed before an extra credit is given. 

 

1. Xtramath:

Even if your student is not still working on their multiplication facts, they can get extra credit for math homework by completing a session each day of Spring Break. That is up to 7 days at 2 points per day which will give them up to 14 points of extra credit. 

2. IXL Math: 

Students can earn up to 15 points of extra credit by completing up to 150 minutes of math skill practice on IXL. This will be a Daily Work extra credit grade. I would like them to focus on assigned skills that they have not completed first. If they don't have any assigned skills they can work on Recommended Skills.

3. IXL Language Arts:

Students can earn up to 15 points of extra credit by completing up to 150 minutes of language arts skill practice on IXL. This will be a Daily Work extra credit grade. I would like them to focus on assigned skills that they have not completed first. If they don't have any assigned skills they can work on Recommended Skills. 

Again, to qualify for extra credit, students can NOT have any missing assignments. Those can be completed first and then they can work towards extra credit. :) 

I hope you all have a wonderful Spring Break! I look forward to seeing all my cuties back in class on Monday,  March 31st. 

ISAT Testing:

We decided to push back testing dates to give us an extra week to prepare. We will do the ELA ISAT on Tuesday, April 29th and Wednesday, April 30th. The Math ISAT will be on Tuesday, May 6th and Wednesday, May 7th. 

We are coming up on state testing time. I wanted to make sure I let you know the dates of testing so that you can plan ahead and make sure your student is here for that. Also, it helps to make sure your student is getting consistent good sleep leading up to testing. There are two parts to both the ELA and Math ISATs. They are the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). We will give these on different days so that they kids aren't overwhelmed. That means we will have 4 days of testing total. 

ISAT Party:

Each year I throw an ISAT party for my students to celebrate all of their hard work after they have taken the ISATs. This is different than other class parties because students have to earn an invitation to this party. They can earn an invitation in one of two ways. 

1. By scoring a 3 or 4 on the ISAT or moving from one level to the next. For example if they were a 1 in 3rd grade but scored a 2 in 4th grade, that is moving one level.

2. By working really hard leading up to ISAT testing to do their best. I understand that test anxiety is a real thing. Those students who work really hard and don't keep their classmates from succeeding by being a distraction, can also earn an invite to the party even if they don't get the score that they want. 

Students who do not earn an invitation to the ISAT party will spend that time completing work in another classroom. I will let you and your student know if they are at risk of not earning an invitation to the party while they still have time to turn things around. :)

House Colors Thursday:

I just wanted to remind you that students are welcome and encouraged to wear their house color on Thursdays. I am still making shirts for students as they bring them in. I also had some amazing donations from parents to buy vinyl and had one parent send in vinyl so if your student already brought in a sweatshirt and would like a t-shirt (or vice versa), they are welcome to bring in the other while the vinyl lasts. :) Again, if your student would like a house shirt but it is not within your budget right now, please let me know and I can help out with that! 

I also had a parent donate extra shirts for students who may not be able to afford one! Thank you so much! If your student would like one of those, please let me know! It will be a first come, first served basis. :)

Week of March 10th

 Welcome to the first week of the last quarter! I cannot believe we are already in the last quarter of the year, this year has flown by too fast! We had so much fun on Thursday celebrating our success on Topic 9! We had a Rock, Paper, Scissors challenge going on all day and Lucas had all the necklaces until the very end of the day when he lost to Mr. Ristau! But, Mr. Ristau was so kind and gave everyone a necklace back by the end of the day. We also had Ruby spend the day with us and she was exhausted by the time we made it home! 

ELA:

This week in ELA we will be working on comprehension with paired texts in ReadWorks again. We will be adding two new pages to our Morpheme Lexicon. We will also be finishing up our novel, Because of Winn-Dixie. This is such a great story and we have really enjoyed it in class. 

Math:

This week in math we will begin Topic 12. This topic focuses on decimals and how they relate to fractions. I am going to begin doing something new this quarter. Each math assignment will be the Quick Check, that means that students will be getting the grade that they earn on the assignment. I am also adding in IXL skills that go with each lesson that I want students to get at least an 80 Smart Score on for each lesson. 

Roaring Reader:

If your student is working towards their Roaring Reader pass, their reading log needs to be turned in to me by Thursday, March 20th. That is next Thursday. This gives me time to collect all the reading logs and get everything turned into Roaring Springs. 

Parent/Teacher Conferences:

We have conferences this week on March 13th and 14th. Thursday, March 13th will be from 4:00-6:30. This will be a drop in conference that you can stop by with your student anytime during that time. At 6:30 we will be doing the 3rd Grade Parent Meeting like we did last year, so you won't be able to drop in during that time. I sent out emails to schedule a conference if I have specific concerns I want to address with you about your student in the next week or so. Those scheduled conferences will be on Friday, March 14th. If you would like to schedule a conference to sit down with me, please send me an email and I will get you on the schedule as well. 

ISAT Testing:

We are coming up on state testing time. I wanted to make sure I let you know the dates of testing so that you can plan ahead and make sure your student is here for that. Also, it helps to make sure your student is getting consistent good sleep leading up to testing. There are two parts to both the ELA and Math ISATs. They are the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). We will give these on different days so that they kids aren't overwhelmed. That means we will have 4 days of testing total. We will do the ELA ISAT on Monday, April 21st and Wednesday, April 23rd. The Math ISAT will be on Monday April, 28th and Wednesday, April 30th. 

House Colors Thursday:

Congrats to ALTRUISMO for winning our Quarter 3 House Point challenge! On Thursday, each student is invited to wear black to honor our winners. :)

I just wanted to remind you that students are welcome and encouraged to wear their house color on Thursdays. I am still making shirts for students as they bring them in. I also had some amazing donations from parents to buy vinyl and had one parent send in vinyl so if your student already brought in a sweatshirt and would like a t-shirt (or vice versa), they are welcome to bring in the other while the vinyl lasts. :) Again, if your student would like a house shirt but it is not within your budget right now, please let me know and I can help out with that! 

I also had a parent donate extra shirts for students who may not be able to afford one! Thank you so much! If your student would like one of those, please let me know! It will be a first come, first served basis. :)

Week of March 3rd

 Hello everyone! I am sorry I did not get this out to you yesterday, I was home sick. This week is the last week of Quarter 3. I cannot believe we will be in the last quarter next week! This year is flying by too quickly!

ELA:

This week we are going to be working really hard on answering comprehension questions on nonfiction paired texts. This means that students will be reading two different nonfiction passages and then answering questions on them individually but also answering them using information from both passages to support their answer. 

February Reading Calendars were due yesterday morning. I will be printing out March Reading Calendars and sending those home with your student today. 

Math:

This week we are doing a really quick topic about data in line plots. Next week we will begin Topic 12 that covers fractions and decimals and how they work together. That is the last topic that contains new concepts for math. After that we will be reviewing all of the things we have learned in 4th grade to make sure that all students have a good grasp of each one. 

Parent/Teacher Conferences:

We have conferences coming up again on March 13th and 14th. Thursday, March 13th will be from 4:00-6:30. This will be a drop in conference that you can stop by with your student anytime during that time. At 6:30 we will be doing the 3rd Grade Parent Meeting like we did last year, so you won't be able to drop in during that time. I sent out emails today  to schedule a conference if I have specific concerns I want to address with you about your student in the next week or so. Those scheduled conferences will be on Friday, March 14th. If you would like to schedule a conference to sit down with me, please send me an email and I will get you on the schedule as well. 

ISAT Testing:

We are coming up on state testing time. I wanted to make sure I let you know the dates of testing so that you can plan ahead and make sure your student is here for that. Also, it helps to make sure your student is getting consistent good sleep leading up to testing. There are two parts to both the ELA and Math ISATs. They are the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). We will give these on different days so that they kids aren't overwhelmed. That means we will have 4 days of testing total. We will do the ELA ISAT on Monday, April 21st and Wednesday, April 23rd. The Math ISAT will be on Monday April, 28th and Wednesday, April 30th. 

House Colors Thursday:

I just wanted to remind you that students are welcome and encouraged to wear their house color on Thursdays. I am still making shirts for students as they bring them in. I also had some amazing donations from parents to buy vinyl and had one parent send in vinyl so if your student already brought in a sweatshirt and would like a t-shirt (or vice versa), they are welcome to bring in the other while the vinyl lasts. :) Again, if your student would like a house shirt but it is not within your budget right now, please let me know and I can help out with that! 

I also had a parent donate extra shirts for students who may not be able to afford one! Thank you so much! If your student would like one of those, please let me know! It will be a first come, first served basis. :)

Week of February 24th

 Welcome to the last week of February! I feel like this month has FLOWN by! That also means we are creeping up on the end of Quarter 3. Next Thursday, March 6th is the last day of Quarter 3. That means that any missing assignments must be turned in by the end of the day Thursday to get any credit. After that, the gradebook gets locked and I am unable to make changes. 

Thank you PFSA!!
I want to give a HUGE thank you to our PFSA (Parent Faculty Student Association) for paying for our 4th grade students to participate in Wagons Ho this year! This is a significant cost that we would not be able to cover with out them. Any chance you get, please consider attending one of their fundraisers. They do so many amazing things for our school and we want to show them all the support! 

This Wednesday they are partnering with Applebee's and if you purchase food there and let them know you are with Vision Charter (or use the code doingood), they will donate a portion of your dinner cost back to the school!

ELA:

This week will be a typical week for ELA. We are going to be adding to our Morpheme Lexicon as well as working on our reading comprehension. We are going to begin working on reading paired texts and answering comprehension questions on both articles and supporting our answers with evidence from the text. 

Math:

This week we will begin working on Topic 10 which covers multiplying fractions by whole numbers. I cannot stress enough the importance of working with your student to master their multiplication facts. This is a weekly homework grade for students who have not mastered them on Xtramath yet. 

Parent/Teacher Conferences:

We have conferences coming up again on March 13th and 14th. Thursday, March 13th will be from 4:00-6:30. This will be a drop in conference that you can stop by with your student anytime during that time. At 6:30 we will be doing the 3rd Grade Parent Meeting like we did last year, so you won't be able to drop in during that time. I sent out emails today  to schedule a conference if I have specific concerns I want to address with you about your student in the next week or so. Those scheduled conferences will be on Friday, March 14th. If you would like to schedule a conference to sit down with me, please send me an email and I will get you on the schedule as well. 

ISAT Testing:

We are coming up on state testing time. I wanted to make sure I let you know the dates of testing so that you can plan ahead and make sure your student is here for that. Also, it helps to make sure your student is getting consistent good sleep leading up to testing. There are two parts to both the ELA and Math ISATs. They are the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). We will give these on different days so that they kids aren't overwhelmed. That means we will have 4 days of testing total. We will do the ELA ISAT on Monday, April 21st and Wednesday, April 23rd. The Math ISAT will be on Monday April, 28th and Wednesday, April 30th. 

House Colors Thursday:

I just wanted to remind you that students are welcome and encouraged to wear their house color on Thursdays. I am still making shirts for students as they bring them in. I also had some amazing donations from parents to buy vinyl and had one parent send in vinyl so if your student already brought in a sweatshirt and would like a t-shirt (or vice versa), they are welcome to bring in the other while the vinyl lasts. :) Again, if your student would like a house shirt but it is not within your budget right now, please let me know and I can help out with that!

Week of February 17th

 I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend and the snow! I was able to finish up some projects and just rest. Thank you for the sweet Valentine's you and your student gave me, I really appreciate your thoughtfulness. :)

ELA:

This week in Reading we will be doing  a ReadWorks assignment to learn about President's Day. We will continue learning about morphemes and their meanings. When you are working on anything that involves a written response with your student, please help them remember to write complete sentences and use CUPS. That is our acronym for helping them remember capitalization, usage/understanding, punctuation, and spelling. 

Math:

We will be finishing up Topic 9 today. We will review concepts tomorrow and then students will be taking the Topic 9 test on Thursday. Students can study at home for this by working on any Topic 9 skill on IXL that they haven't completed yet. 

Please help your student to work on their multiplication facts at home if they haven't mastered them on Xtramath yet. I have to have parent initials on the days that they work on them to count that homework. 

Parent/Teacher Conferences:

We have conferences coming up again on March 13th and 14th. Thursday, March 13th will be from 4:00-6:30. This will be a drop in conference that you can stop by with your student anytime during that time. At 6:30 we will be doing the 3rd Grade Parent Meeting like we did last year, so you won't be able to drop in during that time. I will be sending out emails to schedule a conference if I have specific concerns I want to address with you about your student in the next week or so. Those scheduled conferences will be on Friday, March 14th. If you would like to schedule a conference to sit down with me, please send me an email and I will get you on the schedule as well. 

ISAT Testing:

We are coming up on state testing time. I wanted to make sure I let you know the dates of testing so that you can plan ahead and make sure your student is here for that. Also, it helps to make sure your student is getting consistent good sleep leading up to testing. There are two parts to both the ELA and Math ISATs. They are the Performance Task (PT) and the Computer-Adaptive Test (CAT). We will give these on different days so that they kids aren't overwhelmed. That means we will have 4 days of testing total. We will do the ELA ISAT on Monday, April 21st and Wednesday, April 23rd. The Math ISAT will be on Monday April, 28th and Wednesday, April 30th. 

Week of February 10th

 Things are moving right along in 4th grade! This week is going to be a busy week and then we have a long weekend. We do NOT have school next Monday the 19th for President's Day. That means that next week is only a three day week with students coming to school Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

ELA:

This week in ELA we will not be introducing anything new. We have all of the usual activities going on. Our assigned IXL skills for language arts are practicing Greek and Latin Morphemes. I really want my students to make sure they get those to at least an 80 Smart Score. 

Math:

This week in math we are continuing our work with fractions. We are practicing adding and subtracting fractions with like denominators. Your student should be practicing their multiplication facts at home 5 days each week for math homework if they have not mastered them in Xtramath yet. 

Valentines Day:

We will celebrate Valentines Day this Thursday. Students are welcome to create a box at home to collect their Valentines in. Please do NOT send those in until Thursday, I do not have space to store 32 of them in the classroom. :) If it is easier for your student to write "To: my friend" instead of each individual student name on their Valentine, that works great! It makes it easier when we pass them out in class. We have 32 students in class. You can find a class list HERE. 

We will be watching "Wonder" in class that day while students pass out their Valentines. It is rated PG, so if you do not want your student to watch the movie, please let me know and I will provide an alternate activity for them to do elsewhere. We have been reading the book in class and should have it finished in time to watch the movie. If you would like to send in a HEALTHY snack for them to enjoy during the movie, you are welcome to do so. Please do not send in any junk food as I do allow them to eat a few of their goodies that they get from their classmates. 

Week of February 3rd

 It's February and apparently winter wants to hold on just a little bit longer! Please make sure your students come dressed appropriately for the weather as they do go outside twice a day. If you need help getting hats, coats, gloves, boots, etc. for your child, please let me know as I have resources available for those in need. 

ELA:

This week in ELA we are finishing up our informative writing on Christmas Traditions. Final drafts are due to the Google Class today by 11:59 for full credit. We will spend the rest of the week learning about and practicing similes.

We will continue with our novel, Because of Winn-Dixie and work on our reading comprehension and annotating as we read. Please encourage your student to annotate as they read at home as this is a strategy that can greatly increase their reading comprehension. 

January Reading Calendars were due today. I will be sending home February's reading calendar today as well. 

Math:

This week in math we are going to keep working with fractions but we will be adding and subtracting fractions. Students should be able to find equivalent fractions to help make this easier when we get to fractions with unlike denominators.

Students who have not mastered their multiplication facts on Xtramath should have turned in their half sheet paper where you initial the five days they practice their facts at home. Students are now required to practice 5 nights instead of 4 each week. I am really pushing them to have these facts down so that they have an easier time with fractions. Remember, when a student masters their multiplication facts they no longer have this as homework each week. We will still practice in class each day, but it is not a homework requirement. 

Bi-Monthly Math Night:

I will be leading my math night again today from 6:30-7:30 in my classroom, Rm. 118. I would love to see you there! We will be covering general elementary math concepts and then leaving time at the end to go over any specific questions you have. 

House Shirts:

Some of my students were talking to me this morning about wanting a shirt with their house name on it. I shared with my class that I have been trying to figure out how to buy them all shirts so I can make them one with my Cricut, but I just can't afford to buy that many shirts. Plus trying to figure out sizing would be a bit tough. 

However, I told them that if they have a cotton blend shirt/sweatshirt that matches their house color at home I will put their house name on it but only if I have parent permission. If I don't have a note or email from a parent, I won't do it. :) I also can only make one item per student because I don't have enough vinyl to do more unfortunately .

The shirt/sweatshirt needs to be clean and can't have any other images on it because they will most likely get ruined in my press. Cotton blends usually work best with the heat transfer vinyl. The image will be the one that I put on their hats. It will have their house name (i.e. Team Isibindi) and then Vision Charter School underneath. 

Please do NOT feel pressured to go out and buy something just for this. I made sure my students knew that if their parents said no, for whatever reason, they should respond with "Bummer, that's ok!" :) As a mom of four of my own kids, I know how annoying it can be to have someone promise your child something and then have them upset when it doesn't happen. I really don't want this to go that way, so please let me know if it does and I won't offer anything like this. I don't want to make anything more difficult for you. :)

Also, if you would really like your child to have one of these shirts but it is a financial hardship for you, please let me know and I will make sure your student gets one. :)

Valentines Day:

We will celebrate Valentines Day next Thursday. Students are welcome to create a box at home to collect their Valentines in. Please do NOT send those in until Thursday of next week, I do not have space to store 32 of them in the classroom. :) If it is easier for your student to write "To: my friend" instead of each individual student name on their Valentine, that works great! It makes it easier when we pass them out in class. 

We will be watching "Wonder" in class that day while students pass out their Valentines. It is rated PG, so if you do not want your student to watch the movie, please let me know and I will provide an alternate activity for them to do elsewhere. We have been reading the book in class and should have it finished in time to watch the movie next week. If you would like to send in a HEALTHY snack for them to enjoy during the movie, you are welcome to do so. Please do not send in any junk food as I do allow them to eat a few of their goodies that they get from their classmates. 

Week of January 27th

The last week of January is upon us! This month has been a little bit of a tricky month in 4th grade. I think my students (who have been amazing rock stars for most of this year) are testing boundaries here at school. Please reinforce expectations for school at home and remind them to be the best that they can be, that is Essential #43 in 4th grade. :)

ELA:

This week is the last week for students to get their 500 minutes of reading for January. January Reading Calendars are due next Monday, February 3rd.

This week we are going to be revising our Christmas Traditions writing to make sure we have a good thesis statement, complex sentences, and sentences that have plenty of detail! I am hoping students will be finishing up this 5 paragraph essay by Thursday of this week. :)

Math:

This week your student's multiplication fact homework looks different. They are bringing home a half sheet of paper that you will need to initial on the days that they practice their facts at home.  It is now a 5 day a week requirement for full credit. Students may use whatever they want to practice those at home, but please note they will be practicing Xtramath in class each day so you need to see them complete a session before you sign off on that since it will show a green check mark from school. 

This week we are continuing to work on equivalent fractions. This can be tricky for students, especially if they do not have their multiplication facts mastered. They will be finding common factors, greatest common factors, and least common factors as well as simplifying and generating equivalent fractions. I cannot stress the importance of them having those multiplication facts enough. :)

Bi-Monthly Math Night:

I will be leading my math night again on Monday, February 3rd from 6:30-7:30 in my classroom, Rm. 118. I would love to see you there! We will be covering general elementary math concepts and then leaving time at the end to go over any specific questions you have. 

Week of January 20th

This week is a busy week! We are working hard on lots of skills and beginning to learn new skills!

ELA: 

This week in ELA we are really working hard on our writing skills. We are going to begin diagramming sentences to help us with our writing. We are also going to be working on topic sentences which are also called thesis statements. Your student should have already written out their graphic organizer for their next informative writing. We will be going back over that and revising it to include the skills we have been learning.

We are also working on our reading comprehension skills by reading articles about Martin Luther King Jr. Students are working on answering the questions using part of the question in their answer and referencing where in the text they found their answer. So a good answer may look like "According to the text life for Martin Luther King Jr. was difficult because black people did not have the same rights as white people. An example of this was that black students were not allowed to attend the same school as white students." 

Math:

This week we are beginning Topic 8 which is all about fractions and finding equivalent fractions. We completed two sets of pages in our Interactive Math Notebook yesterday that were for fraction vocabulary and equivalent fractions. 

Because students knowing their multiplication facts is so helpful for fractions, I am going to change how Xtramath homework is turned in for students who have not mastered their multiplication facts yet. I am going to start having my students practice their facts each day in class. The Xtramath program does not distinguish between where students have completed each practice session so I am going to have a half sheet of paper for students to bring home each week. I would like parents to initial which days their student has practiced their multiplication facts at home. This will also allow for students to practice them differently. They can use flash cards, use paper pencil versions, or they can just use Xtramath as well. This will begin next week.

National Park Pass:

Families of 4th grade students have an opportunity to get into national parks for free! Click HERE to sign up for it!

Week of January 13th

 I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I feel like this month is just flying by even though this is only our second week back after break. Your kids came back and hit the ground running last week, I am so proud of them!

English Language Arts:

This week we are going to be adding to our Interactive Reading Notebooks (IRN) and Morpheme Lexicons (ML). We are going to begin really working with Greek and Latin Roots to be able to decode word meanings based on the meanings of their morphemes. 

This is a quiz week so your student will be taking a Morning Warm Up quiz on Thursday. They will also be taking a comprehension test for chapters 1-5 of Because of Winn-Dixie on Wednesday. 

Math: 

Your student should have taken home their Topic 5 Celebration of Learning last week. If they got below a 70%, I would really like them to study at home to retake the test this week. We have one more week of reviewing concepts this week so it is a great week to retake a test since no new information is being taught. 

This is a quiz week for Math 4 Today so your student will be taking a quiz on Thursday. Please remind your student to be working on their multiplication fact homework on Xtramath. I have so many students who are so close to passing them all and won't have that as homework anymore! I would love to see them do that this week! 

Science:

We are finishing up our unit on the Human Machine in science today. Students have been learning about muscles, nerves, eyes, tendons, and so much more! 

Social Studies:

We have been learning about where Idaho is in the world in Social Studies. Students will be finishing up this unit by the end of the month. After this we will begin studying about the Native American tribes in Idaho.

Enrichment Clubs:

Your student should have brought back their sign up sheet for Enrichment Club for 3rd Quarter last week. The highlighted class is the class that your student will take each Thursday for the next several weeks right after lunch. They will have another opportunity to sign up for another class in 4th Quarter.

For a student to be able to attend their Enrichment Club, they must have NO missing work in Infinite Campus. This includes monthly reading calendars and Xtramath. I will pull missing assignment reports while they are at lunch. If anything is on that, they will have to work on missing assignments during that time instead of attending enrichment. Likewise, if their last couple of week's of Xtramath homework was not completed, they will spend their time working on their multiplication facts instead of going to Enrichment. This is part of our school policy. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. :)

VCS Skate Night:

Tonight is the VCS Skate Night at the Nampa RollerDrome from 6:00-8:00 pm. The cost is $8 for admission and $3 for skate rental. This is a public skate night, so please plan to accompany your child. 

Week of January 6th

 Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful break with your families. I spent the last half in California with my husband's family going to Disneyland and Universal. We had a wonderful time, but I missed my students. I brought them all a peppermint toad to enjoy this morning from my trip. :) They were a little concerned it was a real toad covered in chocolate, but once I assured them it wasn't they thought it was fun. :)

English Language Arts:

This week we are going to finish up some progress monitoring testing that didn't get done before break. We are also going to be starting a new novel, Because of Winn-Dixie. It is one of my favorites!

December Reading Calendars were due today. If your student forgot because of the break, no worries! I will still count them as full credit if they are turned in tomorrow.

Math:

We are going to be finishing up Topic 5 Tests today and then do a review of concepts we have learned so far this year. We will be starting on fractions soon! Students who have not mastered their multiplication facts may struggle more with fractions so I encourage my students to really be working on those! 

Quarter 2/Semester 1 Report Cards:

Your student's report card will be posted on Infinite Campus tomorrow at 8:00. Please make sure you can access your Parent Portal to be able to see those. If you do not have access, please email Mrs. Bowers at amybowers@visioncsd.org to get your login information. This will also help you stay updated as I update my gradebook so you know how your student is doing all throughout the quarter.