Week of August 31st

We are easing into September and into an awesome routine here at school. I am so pleased with how my class is doing! They have been so awesome they have unlocked the flexible seating options I have available to my students in the classroom today! Students can use flexible seating options during quiet work time as long as it is helping them be more productive. 

Reading:

This week we are going to keep reading our novel, Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing. We will be using this story to practice writing complete sentences that include part of the answer in our question. We are also going to be focusing on annotating as we read to help us improve our reading comprehension. I have been talking to my class about how in kindergarten through 3rd grade the focus is on learning to read. When students get to 4th grade we shift and start reading to learn. This can be a difficult adjustment for some students, but I am confident these kids will be successful!

August Reading Calendars are due tomorrow for full credit!

Weekly Assigned IXL Skills:

I have also assigned IXL skills this week for Language Arts. Each week I will assign 4 skills for both Language Arts and Math. The goal is for students to work through one Language Arts skill and one Math skill per day. These are skills that support what we are learning in class and should be a review. Your student needs to get an 80 Smart Score on each skill to get full credit each week. If your student receives special education support in one or both of those subjects, I would still like them to practice the skills but they only need to get it to a 60 Smart Score. 

Students can access these on the Dashboard of their IXL home screen or through the links in Infinite Campus if they are in their Student Portal. You will also see the links in the Parent Portal, but they won't work for you since you do not have a student IXL account.

Writing:

We have begun the process to write our first essay! We are working on a narrative story and working to set the stage for the story this week. Your student will be learning to write three different types of writings in 4th grade, narrative, opinion, and informative. 

Math:

This week in math we are going to continue working through Topic 1 which is all about Place Value. Students should be able to access all assignments through the Google Class as long as they are on a Chromebook or signed into their school Gmail account. 

Today was also the first day your student needed to turn in their Multiplication Fact Practice Homework sheet. If they forgot, they can turn it in tomorrow but they will lose 25% of their score since it is late. I know that sounds harsh, but I have found it is easier overall on my students if I start out the year with the expectations I will have all year. :)