Today students studied what three local owls eat. They found as many skulls as they could from pellets that had already been dissecting. Your child either studied a local barred owl, barn owl, or great horned owl. After they found the skulls they sorted and classified them by size. This helped students understand what rodents are necesary in our local forests for owls to survive.
Upcoming Dates to Remember:
Friday, 12/10- Sunset Singer Winter Concert Assembly, 3:00-3:30
Monday, 12/13/10- Field trip to Olympia- come to school at 8:15
Wednesday, 12/15/10- Finish 2nd art docent lesson- bubble words focused on shadows and lighting
- Winter fun with our 1st grade buddies
Friday, 12/17/10- Class Store
- Read In!
12/18-1/2- NO SCHOOL! Enjoy your winter break!
Our field trip to Olympia is next Monday, December 13th.
• Students should dress appropriately/professionally (no sweats and sweatshirts)
• Students need to bring a disposable sack lunch
• Students may bring cameras but must leave other electronic devices at home
• Students may bring books, paper, and pencils to use on the bus ride
• Students need to arrive to school by 8:15
I want to take a quick moment to thank you in advance for thinking of me at this time of year. If you're considering getting a Christmas present for me, I just want you to know that I am very blessed and really don't need anything. If you would like to find some way to show your appreciation, I do have a couple suggestions:
Reading: Our reading groups are reading chapters nine and ten and focusing on different reading strategies. They seem to be enjoying There's an Owl in the Shower and it has been tying in very well to what we are learning in science about ecosystems.
Math: We are playing catch up in science and beginning government this week, so we will be starting Unit 5 math on Friday. Unit 5 is all about multiplying large numbers (like 622 x 84). Students will learn a few different methods to do this (partial products, lattice, traditional, etc.). After they have learned all the methods, they can decide which works best for them and focus on using that method. The Unit 5 parent letter will be going home on Friday. Please refer to that to help you understand the different methods.
Science: We have almost finished our science unit on ecosystems. The students really seem to understand it! We will be having our test tomorrow. The students brought home a jeopardy review we did in class today. Their homework is to have friends or family members quiz them until they feel comfortable with the information (the biodiversity information will not be on the test).
Government: We will be squeezing in our government unit before we head to the capitol. We will begin this unit on Friday.
Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, November 30- Report cards go home
Wednesday and Thursday- Student-Teacher-Parent Conferences
Monday, December 13- Field trip to the capitol (paper work went home today for this)
Ask your kids about:
-our mini-field trip to Sunrise Park. Ask them what living and non-living things they saw interacting.
-the relationship between Leon and Bardy in our book, There's an Owl in the Shower.
Reading: Students are reading chapters 7 and 8 of There's an Owl in the Shower this week. They also have time for their own independent reading.
Writing: We are continuing to practice writing dialogue correctly in our stories. Students are also working on drafting lots of different personal narratives.
Math: This week we will finish Unit 4- Decimals. The test will be next Monday, November 22.
Science: Students are working on their very own ecosystem powerpoint that shows the relationship between certain animals and plants. We are really focusing on the food chain/web and what happens when one species can't find enough food. On Friday, we will be doing a mini field trip to a nearby park. It will be cold, please make sure your child is dressed warmly!
Upcoming Dates to Remember:
Wednesday- We will have our first Mary Art lesson (paid for by a PTA grant- thank you!)
Friday- Mini field trip to park- dress warmly
Friday Night- Talent Show, 7pm. Many of our classmates and even I will be performing in the show. Come support us!
Monday, November 22- Unit 4 math test
Wednesday, November 24- Report cards go home
Thursday, Nov. 25 and Friday, Nov. 26- NO SCHOOL. Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, December 1st
8:20- Alexis
8:40- Duncan
9:00- Kelsey
9:40- Nicole G
10:00- Andy Q
11:20- Dillon
11:40- Jake
12:00- Nicole B
12:20- Stephen
1:20- Stacia
1:40- Michael
2:00- Lucile
2:20- Gwen
3:00- Charlie
3:40- Cole
4:00- Amir
Thursday, December 2nd
8:00- Wills
8:20- Emily
8:40- Griffin
9:00- Carson
10:00- Peri
10:20- Andi W
Report cards and conferences are right around the corner! Report cards go home on Wednesday, November 24th and conferences are on Wednesday, December 1st and Thursday, December 2nd.
Conferences this year will be different than what you are used to. I would like your child to be present during conferences. This week I will be talking with the class about this, and they will fill out self assessments based on the social/learning skills from the report card. I like to have student input about how they feel they are doing on these components. This is a great way to discuss skills your child is doing well, as well as areas that need improvement. We will take that time to set some new goals based on the conversations we have. It’s a great way we can all be on the same page about what’s been working well, what hasn’t, and where do we go from here.
We will also discuss academics, but conferences will not be a time to discuss the report card. If you have a specific question regarding a grade on the report card, please email or call me and we can discuss it separately.
Below is our conference schedule. Please double check to find your date/time of your conference. Conferences are twenty minutes long and I have them scheduled back to back so please be sure to be on time.
Conference reminders will be coming home with your child in the Friday Packet this week. Please let me know if you have any questions. I know this might be different than conferences you’ve had in the past, but I feel that this is the best way to keep students responsible and accountable for their own learning and the classroom environment.
Online Ordering Information
Web address: www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: HCP22
Order Due Date: Nov. 24th, 2010
Dear Parents,
New Scholastic catalogs are available for your review. There are two ways to order Scholastic books…
1) The Traditional Paper Way
You receive your Scholastic catalogs, mark your selections on the catalog order form and return the order form, along with your check made out to Scholastic, to the classroom by the deadline noted above. Books will come to the classroom and be sent home with your child.
Or…
2) The Online Way
You receive your Scholastic catalogs as usual then, using the information below, you access the Scholastic Book Clubs Web site and browse the titles online. Choose your books and place your order online using your credit card. Your payment will go directly to Scholastic’s secure server; your books will come to the classroom and sent home with your child. You can order anytime, day or night, up until the order due date noted above.
For online ordering, and access to additional catalogs, please go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs and log in using your user name and password.
*If it’s your first time ordering online, use the web address and the Class Activation Code shown above to get started.
Online ordering offers you several advantages:
Larger selection: Choose from thousands of titles, and more detailed product information than in the printed flyer.
Exclusive online-only offers: Enjoy discounts available only on our Web site.
Easy payment: Use your credit card! No need to worry about printed forms or sending checks to school.
Thank you,
Tammy Fung, Scholastic Volunteer, 4th grade / D Ness
What a great Veteran's Day assembly. Thank you for all of you who came and brought family members that have served in our armed forces. It is such a special time to recognize and honor those who have fought for our freedom!
Writing- Students are learning how to use dialogue correctly in their writing to add more interest and details to their personal narratives.
Math- Students are working in depth with decimals, mostly adding and subtracting them this week.
Science- We are looking at food webs in more depth this week. Students are even making an interactive food web with powerpoint.
Reminders:
11/9- Veterans Day Assembly, 2:30 (families and veterans welcome)
11/11- Veterans Day- NO SCHOOL
For our October session with our buddies, we wrote Halloween poems. It's amazing how comfortable they feel with their buddies already, compared to our September session. Here are pictures of the kids writing together.
Fourth grade is lucky enough to get an owl from the zoo to come into the classroom. This was funded by our fourth grade PTA grant! Two classes will have an hour with the owl this Friday and the other two classes will be a part of the program the following Friday. Our class gets to meet Bob the Great Horned Owl this week. I haven't told the kids yet, but will tell them tomorrow. This goes along perfectly with our ecology and predator/prey studies we are currently doing in science. Pictures to come soon!
We learned how to play chess today in class. The students won that as one of their gold coin rewards! This was the first class I've had where so many students already knew how to play. We learned the rules and had the chance to play a couple of games. If you have a chessboard at home, ask your kids to play with you. If you don't know how to play, hopefully they can at least teach you the basics now!
Math- We are working on Unit 3 which is all about multiplication, division, and an intro into algebra.
*Please, please, please help your child master their multiplication and division facts 0-10. Thanks!
Writing- Students revised and edited their personal narrative stories. They are currently working on publishing it as a picture book. When they are finished we will have a special sharing celebration in the classroom.
Social Studies- Students have researched a region of Washington, taken notes, turned those notes into 5 amazing paragraphs. Now students are including those paragraphs in a glog about their region.
*Glogs are due Friday.
Reading- I have been meeting with groups of students to help them work on a specific area of reading: fluency, comprehension, accuracy, and expanding vocabulary. This should give the students some hands on practice on how to work toward their reading goals.
We will also be starting a new class novel at the end of this week, There's an Owl in the Shower. I will be meeting with different groups and working with them in different ways to help them understand and dig through the book as best as possible.
We are trying to teach students how to become more proficient with using calculators correctly. Last week we practiced using calculators in numerous ways, including playing an adding and subtracting game on them.
I'll be taking down these art projects next week. They turned out great. Stop by before next week if you would like to see them in person.
Some students have asked about Halloween this year. Here are the answers for the kids in our class:
1) Students may wear their costumes to school on Friday, October 29th. They can either put them on first thing in the morning when they come to school or wait until our party in the afternoon- it's up to them.
2) We will be having a class party at 2:00 on Friday until the end of the day. If you would like to provide snacks, help plan activities, or come and help out, please contact our party coordinator, Jessica Labitag, jessica51301@hotmail.com.
*Please remember Issaquah School District has a health policy. Please don't send your children in with lots of candy after Halloween. It makes it hard for the kids to stay focused on their learning. Thanks!
Math- We are starting Unit 3 which is all about multiplication, division, and an intro into algebra. If your students don’t have their multiplication and division facts 0-10 memorized, this is the unit in which it needs to happen by. In unit 5, we advance into much more difficult multiplication and division of larger numbers.
Writing- Students have finished drafting their personal narrative stories. We are working on revising and editing this week.
Social Studies- We have become experts on the Regions of Washington and are displaying our expertise by the frieze/murals we are creating and our region glogs. Later this week we will be turning our notes into five elaborate paragraphs so we can add them to our glogs.
Reading- I have met and read with all of our students a couple times now to see where they are in their reading skills. Each student has a reading goal they are working toward. Their goal is one of these four: comprehension, accuracy, fluency, or expanding vocabulary. Ask your child what their main goal is and what strategy they are using to meet their goal.
Eager Reader is a PTA sponsored program that rewards and reinforces reading! It is a 25 week voluntary program designed to improve students’ reading skills and to develop a love of reading. Since we require a 20 minutes of reading each night and this program offers incentives and reinforcement for that reading.
Here is how the program works:
• The program began October 1 – your child can keep track of their minutes in their planner
• At the end of the month, you will need to submit the total amount of minutes they read for the month. You can submit the minutes as often as you want. Submit minutes here: http://www.sunsetsockeyepta.org/eagerreader/recorder/ (you will need to re-register even if you registered last year)
• Each month, students will receive a prize based on the total minutes read
• All prizes will be given to the teacher and put in the student’s mailbox to take home
• Students who earn books will be allowed to pick out their book during lunch on the assigned book award days.
• Minutes read are accumulated throughout the year so prizes can always be earned
• Make sure to turn in the tally on each due date - even if your student has not read enough to earn the listed prize, they will just add to them for next month
• If students read enough minutes, they will be invited to the Eager Reader party in the spring.
To learn how to use http://www.edu.glogster.com/ we made glogs about ourselves.
Emily's Glog
Lucile's Glog
Michael's Glog
Duncan's Glog
Patrick's Glog
Andi W's Glog
Dillon's Glog
Andy Q's Glog
Nicole B's Glog
Charlie's Glog
Nicole G's Glog
Griffin's Glog
Katie's Glog
Jake's Glog
Stephen's Glog
Stacia's Glog
Kelsey's Glog
Peri's Glog
Will's Glog
Cole's Glog
Gwen's Glog
Amir's Glog
Carson's Glog
Book Club Order Due Date : October 22
Online Ordering Information
Web address: www.scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: HCP22
Greetings Parents,
Scholastic books are now available for ordering. There is no obligation to order, but if you do, the class receives a free book per order!
Here's how it works:
• SIGN UP at www.scholastic.com/bookclubs. On the parent page, register by clicking the "Don't have a user name or password?" link. When prompted, enter the one-time Class Activation Code shown above (HCP22). This unique code ensures that your order is sent to our account.
• SELECT the books you'd like to order.
• SEND your order to our account online by the due date and your child's books will be delivered directly to the classroom, and sent home with your child.
Each month you will receive an email from me notifying you of new catalos for your review, and the due date for orders. The deadline for orders on the current set of catalogs is October 22nd.
Online Scholastic ordering is fast, easy, and secure. If you have any questions or problems ordering contact me at tdfung@gmail.com.
Thank you,
Tammy Fung
Scholastic Volunteer, Mrs. Ness 4th Grade Class 2011
