I am pleased to announce that many of us are settled into great work habits and are starting to realize that school is important so, they should maximizes their potential. I still have a few stragglers, that need to be refocused and use their time wisely. They are not getting their classroom work done and therefore are having to do it for homework. This is their choice. I give everyone the same speech and it is now up to them to be a star.

I did mention , maybe we need to forget about our Pok’emon cards and learn what we need to in fourth grade. So, I have asked the children not to bring the cards to school, because they are a major distraction.

Spelling: We will be working on the pages from an old spelling book (pgs 18-21). I have photocopied the pages for them, for the week. They will also have 5 sentences to write on lined paper, using the spelling words. The sentences are also due on Friday. (The sentences need to be done in cursive.)

Reading: We finished our first Anthology test. Some of us need to still be reminded on all written long answer questions, that we can and should go back into the story to provide evidence for our answers.

The steps to answer a question are:
1. Restate the question
2. Answer the question
3. Support you answer with evidence from the story

This skill is of great importance in my classroom.

Written Language: We are going to continue to work on some skills this week; subject/predicate, combining sentences with a conjunction, and parts of speech. These were major parts of our Anthology tests, and some of us missed the boat. We need to review these skills so that, they are more automatic.

We are also going to write letters of thanks to the Lambert family, for their generous donation of pumpkins for the entire 4th grade. We used the pumpkins to discuss latitude and longitude on a globe.

Math: We are continuing with our mini unit on geometry. The more the children use the vocabulary, the better they will understand it. So, I have decided to create a mini geometry dictionary. They have already entered all the geometry words into their little blue math notebooks, but I think to have one at home would be extremely beneficial.

All our math concepts, will not be taught in isolation. Everything in math builds on the previous day or concept. That is why it is still imperative to stay focused and participate.

DCR UPDATE: This is an independent math packet that reviews all the concepts and skills we will be using throughout the year. The children should be pacing themselves, 3-5 pages per week. I give them a weekly check on the board and they should be on pages 28 - 41 as of Friday 10/31/08. There are 3 packets, one for each term. They need to try to finish one packet each term. They do not need to go ahead. It is not a race.

Application of facts and terminology is key to success in math.

Science: We continue to work through our unit on “Land and Water”. Each week we will be conducting hands on experiments and observing what is happening with our cliff, inside our stream table. We will also be learning new vocabulary and adding that to our discussions. I have the children draw and label what they have done for each lesson. On the other side of their drawing, I also have the children write a detailed observation as to what happened during the lesson. I have instructed them to use the newly acquired vocabulary and the old vocab , from past lessons in their writing. This makes it easier to write about what they see and I can judge whether or not the have grasped the new concepts and vocab.


Social Studies: We are finishing up our unit on government. This is a fantastic time in our country’s government, especially with the Presidential Elections coming up in November. I am so excited to begin discussing the government this week in preparation for Thursday’s big Cedar School Election. We have created poster and hung them throughout the school. Our class, and Mrs. DeCotis’ class will be holding a school-wide election on October 30th. I will be handing out a study guide on government for us to obviously study. I will not have two tests the same week. That would be absolutely impossible and difficult for the children to learn and prepare for. I will space them out over the next 2 weeks.
We have finished studying about the NE. The children have a study guide and their notes to help them prepare for a short quiz.

Projects: We will begin discussions this week on creating our first “Talking Calendar” I will demonstrate the process in class and then assign the project for later in November.

I will be contacting the room mother’s to discuss plans for a harvest breakfast or celebrating for the end of October. Last week, I sent home a notice with the following information:

Fall Festival

WOW! The first celebration of the year is here. We/I had decided on having a breakfast/brunch on Friday, October 31st. However, that idea has now changed to an afternoon celebration, due to the fact that the cafeteria is acknowledging the, “Breakfast of Champions” in the morning. So, I think we should stick with the theme and have an afternoon “lupper” (bagels, cream cheese, fruit, muffins, orange juice, milk, whatever else you can think of). In the past, my students decorated sugar cookies with frosting and ate them. We do have music in the afternoon so, that limits our time in the cafeteria for our celebration.

We could split it into 2 sessions of fun with something simple from 1:15 -1:45 and then something else from 2:30 - 3:10. I don’t know if that will work either, but we can always try. I know I am vague, but that usually works for me. I am open to any and all ideas. Please check with Mrs. Shaw, if you have any questions.

I will be bringing in apples for the children to carve in the morning. We will leave them out over the weekend and they will have shriveled up into hideous shrunken heads. It is kind of cool to see the transformation.

Thanks, Mr. L.