I enjoyed meeting all of my fabulous fourth graders last week, and look forward to getting to know each one better as the school year progresses. Many thanks to both parents and students for filling out the questionnaires - these really help me get a jump start on understanding each student as an individual!
4th Grade News: During the school year, I try to send out the 4th Grade News at the beginning of each week. Look for an email in your inbox every Monday (occasionally Tuesday). I'll try to keep families updated on long-term projects, upcoming events, and topics being taught in class during the upcoming week. I do my best to limit the number of emails I send home, so please look for all important information to be consolidated in one email at the beginning of the week. The same information will also be published on the class blog (http://cves4.weebly.com/ms-larson.html). I usually try to keep these much shorter, so I apologize for this week's long newsletter.
Student Handbooks: Each student now has a Student Handbook at the back of his/her binder. This contains important information/expectations for the school year. Students and I will finish discussing the handbook this coming week, and will be asking for your signature on the parent contract page. Thank you for helping with this!
Nut Free Classroom and Healthy Snacks: We are a nut free classroom this year - thank you for helping us keep everyone safe and healthy! We will also be following the district's policy on healthy treats and snacks - we continue to discuss this in class and fourth graders should be able to explain to you what this means! (Please let me know if you have any questions or uncertainties.)
Monday Folders and Reading Logs due back every Tuesday: I try to consolidate most take-home papers, signature requests, etc. in a Monday take-home folder. Look for a sign and return weekly update providing teacher and/or student updates on behavior and effort, as well as sign and return items such as tests or permission forms. Students are expected to read 20 minutes every night, and keep their reading logs up to date with the times they read and the names of their reading selections. Empty green take-home folders, signed reading logs, and signed updates are due back every Tuesday. Getting parent signatures is a STUDENT responsibility. If it seems like your 4th grader is hovering or being demanding that it be signed while they wait for it, this is intentional. The kids and I have been talking about how parents are very busy people, and it's the student's job to make sure things get signed (rather than: "Mom/Dad! I'm leaving something on the table for you to sign and I'm going out to play! Bye!").
Homework: Including their 20 minutes of nightly reading and 5 minutes of math fact practice, 4th graders should expect approximately 40 minutes of homework a night. Reading is tracked on the reading log; math fact practice is on an honor system. For ideas on how students can fulfill their math fact practice time, please see the Math Fact Practice Ideas page of the 4th grade website. Students will also regularly have math practice pages that correspond to daily lessons, as well as a "Language" packet every Monday night. Other homework items might include subject area worksheets or the completion of tasks that were not finished during class time. If your 4th grader is regularly taking more than 40 minutes/night to complete homework, please let me know! I'd love to discuss with the student and a parent how we can make better use of class time or otherwise address the issue to keep homework time to a reasonable amount.
Coming Up This Week in Class: We'll be continuing our map skills review, practicing reading strategies as we read a story about a sled dog running the Iditarod Race, learning about the use of lines in art as we complete leaf line drawings, learning about the parts of narrative writing as we write a "Summer Sandwich", starting our first Math Topic of the Year: Multiplication and Division Meanings and Facts, playing our first round of Homeworkopoly, and signing our Class Handbook Contracts.
Thank you so much for being part of our learning team this year!
Emily Larson