Article posted August 14, 2009 at 12:17 AM GMT • Reads 486

Welcome to a new year in 4th grade!  I hope everyone enjoyed their summer.  We have lots of new and exciting things that we are going to learn and experience together this year.  I am looking forward to getting to know all of my new 4th grade students as well as the parents  

         I know we can all agree that this summer has gone way too fast, but I am eager to share all of the new things I have learned with you and I can't wait to see what you can teach me as well!  I spent my summer traveling, playing golf, and catching up with friends and family. I also enjoyed spending time with my nephew, Ben and my niece, Lucy.

       Throughout the year, we will be using the classroom blog as one way to communicate with each other.  Assignments will be posted throughout the year for students to complete.  This is one way we will be incorporating writing into all of our curriculum.  Parents will also be able to view what we are doing in the classroom as well as make comments to the responses written by the students.  I will be posting pictures to the class blog throughout the year to keep you up to date and informed about what we are doing in the classroom.

  Please feel free to make a comment to this article to practice using the blog if you are unfamiliar with it. 

Article posted August 28, 2009 at 03:07 PM GMT • Reads 33

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Dear Parents

    We have made it through our first, full week of school!  I am sure you have lots of questions about the school year and I am looking forward to meeting all of you at Curriculum Night on September 1st, so that I can answer these questions.  This first week I have introduced the students to many new things that we will be doing throughout the year, such as the class blog, challenge club, and my website.  I will be explaining all of these to you as well on Curriculum Night.  I do put out a weekly letter that will be available on my class blog.  This is the first one and it too will be posted to my class blog.  The link for the class blog is available on my web page if you would like to take a look ahead of timeJ

    Despite the fact that the weather is not our typical August weather, it does get pretty stuffy in our classroom so I have been encouraging the students to bring water bottles to school.  I have also asked students to learn his or her address because we will need them when we begin our friendly letter writing unit.

I know that switching math teachers is new in 4^th grade this year, and every class has their own policy, but I can speak for the grade when I say that practicing math facts at least 5-10 minutes a night is a must.  We all participate in a program called Rocket Math.  When a student does not pass a test, part of his/her homework is to take the test home and practice so they can retake it the next day.  You will have the opportunity to meet your child’s math teacher on Curriculum Night.

    This next week, we will begin plants in science and we are working on the          6-Traits of Writing in language arts.  Every week I will send home a “Friday Assignment Sheet”.  This sheet will list any missing homework assignments and may or may not have some teacher comments on it.  There is a place for you to write comments as well if you would like.  This sheet should be signed and returned on Monday with all of the missing work completed.  The first assignment sheet has gone home this week.

   Just a few updates and reminders:

         -Parent handbook, signature sheet needs to be turned in.  This allows internet

  access for your child as well.

-Reading Logs are due every Monday with a total of 60 minutes read.

-Spelling activities are always due on Thursday and the test is Friday.

Article posted September 14, 2009 at 01:12 AM GMT • Reads 38

This is our first trip to the greenhouse.  Every student planted a bean seed and we will continue to observe the life cycle throughout the week.

Enjoy!

Article posted September 25, 2009 at 02:37 PM GMT • Reads 35

Dear Parents,


   As usual, we have managed to pack a lot in this week. We have had several trips to the


greenhouse to observe our plants and they are rapidly growing. We have also taken some observations on various other seeds that we have planted to compare and contrast different life cycles.


   I can’t believe it is already October next week! We will begin writing some scary


stories using the 6-traits of writing, but focusing on the Idea trait.


   Next week I will also be doing some testing to get a more accurate independent reading level. I will be using this level when helping the students pick books for IDR (Independent Reading).


Just a few updates and reminders:


-Monthly folders are due Oct. 1st


-Friday sheets are due Mon. with all missing work completed


-Challenge Club is every Mon. and Wed.


-Homework Club is a great opportunity to complete homework before and after school

Article posted October 2, 2009 at 06:26 PM GMT • Reads 33

Dear Parents,

We have successfully completed our very first science test. Throughout this


chapter not only have we focused on plants, but we have also focused on the different


parts of a textbook as well as various study skills. We will continue to develop these skills


throughout the year.

Next week we will begin our first social studies unit. We will be focusing on various


kinds of maps, as well as using lines of longitude and latitude. We have discussed briefly


about product maps, road maps, and physical maps, and we will continue to discuss


others as well. If you have examples of any different kinds of maps you would like to


share with the class, we would love to see them.

I am hoping we will be able to do more with our class blog soon. Due to map


testing, unfortunately we have not had access to the computer labs as much as we


usually do. I know the technology department has been working very hard to get us back


into the labs and we will utilize them soon I see a lot of flash drives coming in and


several students have already used them for projects like the monthly folder project. We


were able to share some of them already and they have been wonderful! I love the


recipes they have created. I know many students have expressed that they would like to


make them for the class, and that would be wonderful. Please contact me when your


child would like to bring them in so we can space out the food. Thank you to those of


you whom have already shared your delicious apple recipes

Just a few updates and reminders:


-Music Concert is Wed. at 6:30


- Friday sheets are due on Monday with all missing work completed.


- Reading logs should be a total of 60 mins, with summaries completed for each day


of reading. Students are allowed to skip days and break it up however they would


like.


-Challenge Club is every Mon. and Wed.

Article posted October 10, 2009 at 10:30 PM GMT • Reads 38

Check out all of the budding, young musicians in Ms. Wilson's class!

If you download the video, you can enjoy it in slide show format:)

Article posted October 23, 2009 at 03:06 PM GMT • Reads 32

Dear Parents,


   What a week! A little sun, a lot of rain, and a ton accomplished. We


have ended our map study unit in social studies and have moved on to


geographical vocabulary terms. We will use these vocabulary terms when we


study the five regions of the United States.


   In reading, we are finishing up our novel, There’ s a Boy in the Girls’


Bathroom. I have thoroughly enjoyed the conversations that we have had as


a class about this book as well as the creative predictions the students have


shared. We have also been working on various examples of expository texts


and identifying the different entities of each of these examples.


   A monster story has been our main focus in language arts. Each


student has created a story based upon a monster and has written a piece


that includes the 5 character traits. Students have edited this piece along


with myself, and the majority of the students are in the final draft stage.


Once the final draft has been completed, I have asked students to ask for


your help to take one last look before I collect all of the pieces of this


assignment. I am looking for you to give them suggestions such as using


descriptive words or stronger words than the usual “comfort zone” words.


For example, instead of using the word sad, the thesaurus can help find a


stronger word such as miserable. We have also been working on


capitalization and punctuation. Suggestions on looking for these specific


details would be much appreciated.


   The new monthly folder has been distributed and is due December


9th. There is a required assignment in which students will need to interview


a veteran. We have discussed what this means. Any students that do not


know a veteran have the option of interviewing both of my parents. They will


need to write their questions down and I will email those to them. We have


discussed not waiting to the last minute for this. Any questions need to be


in to me no later than November 30th.


   Just a few updates and reminders:


   - Monster Stories are Due in final draft form on October 28th


   - Friday sheets are due on Monday signed with all missing work


     completed


   - Challenge Club is every Mon. and Wed.

Article posted November 22, 2009 at 11:06 PM GMT • Reads 40

Enjoy these great pics of the Halloween party!

Article posted January 5, 2010 at 06:42 PM GMT • Reads 397

Check out what your little scientists discovered today!