Parents,
It was so nice to meet with those who attended Parent Night. Thank you for coming even though talking was a challenge! I am SO thankful to have my voice back and appreciate all of the sweet wishes from many of you. As I mentioned, we have a very sweet class. It is my hope that we can always work to the fullest so your children can not only grow academically, but socially and emotionally as well. We are going to have a wonderful year together in 4th grade and I appreciate all support you are able to offer!!! I will have a lot of information in this Newsletter. Please let me know if I have left something out! Looking forward to a forward to a fantastic year!
**HCS username and password**--Please help your child memorize their username and password by this Friday. These will remain with your child until their senior year if they remain in the HCS system. They will use it every time they log in to the computer system, Google, and other sites. These are in their binders under the Imp section of the binder.
**Spelling City**--Should be underway! Let me know if you have questions.
**Reading Rewards**--Also underway. Each night Monday through Thursday students will be expected to read for at least 20 minutes log and comment on the site. I would love for them to read Friday through Sunday, however I will not expect them to report to me. I will only check the site. A math sheet will be coming home each Monday and will be turned in to me on Friday and usually it will have pages from our workbook stapled to it. Students are definitely encouraged to solve the work on their own and then have a parent or grown up check for accuracy. We rotate weeks: Language (parts of speech) and Vocabulary one week, and Spelling and DOL the next week. Never will students be tested in Vocabulary and Spelling or DOL and Language in the same week. Spelling City will be due every Friday, and flash cards and sentences will be due on vocabulary weeks. Please continue to sign the agenda EVERY night.
**Hoover Public Library Summer Reading Program**--(From Mrs. Jolee Owens, SSC Librarian) “If any of our students participated in the HPL Summer Reading program, have them bring their reading log or certificate to get a special treat from the library. They have all next week to turn in their forms and then they will receive a “coupon” for a treat from the lunchroom. I will begin giving “coupons” after Labor Day.”
**Graded Papers**-The first set of graded papers will come home this Wednesday inside the yellow SSC Wednesday Folder. Please look over and initial EACH graded paper with your child and allow them time to make corrections IN PEN. There will also be a parent signature form that you can then initial letting me know you both have had time to work together on this. I would like to have these returned by Thursday, however if you need an extra day then just jot a note in the agenda, or send me an email letting me know. If you write notes besides in the comment section, make sure it is on the first graded paper because I do not flip back through them.
**Book Orders**
A separate email went out about Scholastic.
**Box Tops/Campbell’s Food Labels**
We will be collecting Box Tops throughout the year. PLEASE send in any Box Tops you find in your child’s backpack. Box Tops = Free dollars for SSC!!! The following comes from Dr. Scholl: There are a couple of contests through Box Tops and Campbell's labels that we can be entering daily. Below are the links to each.
For box tops…5 entries per day for 5000 extra boxtops. 15 are chosen weekly. https://generalmills.promo.eprize.com/savetheboxtops/
For Campbell's labels - 1000 schools win $1000.
http://sweeps.labelsforeducation.com/?CID=GS1431
**School Closed for Labor Day**-September 1st
**Fall Picture Day** -- Next Tuesday, September 4th J
**Change for Change**-September 15-19-More information to come
**PTO/Open House-Next Tuesday, September 16th from 6:00-7:30 PM
**Upcoming Field Trip**--It is our plan to go on our first field trip to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center on Thursday, September 11th. More information will be coming in the next couple of days as the paperwork is approved, but I wanted to give you a heads up in the meantime. I will be allowed to take 5 chaperones on this field trip. Please sign up here if you are interested. If the sign up is full, send me an email by this Friday and I will draw names, or you can wait until our next field trip to the aquarium.
**Ice Bucket Challenge**--From Dr. Scholl: Ice Bucket Challenge- IMPORTANT FYI:
This was sent to me from one of the other Hoover Schools and we may have some of this here too. Be aware!
I just wanted to bring to your attention some potentially dangerous stunts the kids are currently talking about at school and on the bus. I think with all the ice bucket challenges going around, it has re-ignited some older and unsafe challenges. I caught him trying these at home and researched them; the cinnamon challenge and the ice/salt challenge. You may already be aware of these, but I thought it might be a good time to let parents know and talk to their children.
The poison control center has posted warnings about the cinnamon challenge. The ice and salt challenge can cause serious frost-bite type burns to the skin. I have included an article about the cinnamon challenge. This one is can be very dangerous, especially to people with asthma. The cinnamon causes a gag reflex and can cause accidental inhalation of the powder into the lungs. The cinnamon oil is caustic and does not break down, remaining in the lungs and causing permanent lung damage. Some teens have been put on ventilators after trying this stunt.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/consequences-of-the-cinnamon-challenge/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
**THANK YOU
In the classroom we are focusing on the following:
READING:
Establishing Reading Workshop, D.E.A.R. time (Drop Everything And Read), How to effectively select a book that is “Just Right”, and discussing ways that Reading is Thinking. We are Book Buddies with Mrs. Lessman's class and look forward to reading with them each Friday afternoon. We love our Book Buddies! I will take a daily status check of each student’s reading to help instruction and growth. Our Read Aloud books so far have included Thank you, Mr. Faulker, The Hundred Dresses, and Out of My Mind. We have shared rich conversations and discussed the need to predict, connect, infer, question, and reread while reading.
MATH:
In Math, we began the year with data collection and graphing. We have collected data in a variety of ways, compared the data, and graphed the data. We will continue to collect data throughout the year by interviewing each other to collect, compare, and graph data regarding topics we are interested in that incorporate numerical analysis. I expect students to practice their multiplication facts on a daily basis. By November students are expected to be fluent through 12X12. The sooner your child has all math facts memorized, the quicker they will be able to apply future lessons. It is very difficult and time consuming when students are spending time computing problems they should have memorized. Please work with them EVERY DAY on their math facts, by calling out different problems while in the car, while making dinner, while waiting for an appointment, or at any other time you have available. Multiplication.com is a good website students can use to practice at home as well. We will have a computation quiz each Friday .
THEME:
We have been working on Building the Classroom Community through a variety of Get to Know You games and activities. We also began our Science unit on Space and Flight. Yesterday, students brought home a Moon Chart. They are to observe the moon each night and quickly draw what they see. Over time, they will begin to see the phases of the moon appear. This week they will begin studying the planets. Today the kids were assigned a planet to research and make a pamphlet on, directions for this will come home tomorrow and be due a week from this Friday. We are also discussing meteorites, famous contributors to our Space history, and as we wrap up our unit on Space, we will have a more in depth look on the moon and its influence and relationship to our beautiful planet Earth.
WRITING:
Establishing Writing Workshop-- Students have been webbing and sketching favorite memories and making lists of future writing topics. We have discussed The Writing Process and all steps that are a part of publishing any piece of writing. There are 5 steps in the Writing Process: Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Proofreading, and Publishing. We will begin our DOL (Daily Oral Language) in two weeks. Quizzes are normally given each Friday. Students are welcome to take home their DOL folders or English books home to study, however, if they are listening in class, they should not have to!! We will be tested at the end of every other week. When we are not working on DOL we will be working on Language (nouns, verbs, sentences, etc.) Here is some great online practice for Grammar also: http://tconstantine.wikispaces.com/English
SPELLING/VOCABULARY
Spelling and Vocabulary will rotate every other week. Students will be working on developing sentences, creating flashcards, alphabetical order, etc., as well as spellingcity.com in order to help review before our Friday quiz.
TECHNOLOGY: Google Docs!!! (Typing; Font size, color, background, bold, underline, style; saving; Printing; Creating a folder); Each week we go to the computer lab. We began the year with reviewing what we already knew about correct placement of our hands on the keys when typing, continued with technology vocabulary. Once we get the Chrome Books, we will discuss technology and use technology much more. In the meantime we will utilize the computer lab as much as possible, here is a link if you want to peek at what we do in there!
I want to thank you ALL for taking the time out of your busy schedules to read/respond to this newsletter as well as future e-news I send out. I know this is a lot of information, and as the year progresses our routines will require less words. I hope I answered some things I was not able to say at Parent Night and looking forward to this year a huge success for your child. Thank you so much to those who have already sent in contributions, and to those who have already volunteered their time. If you are looking for ways to help our class, please visit our volunteer page. Have a great week!!
All my best!
P.S. Aniya's grandmother passed away recently, please send prayers and/or positive thoughts!
It was so nice to meet with those who attended Parent Night. Thank you for coming even though talking was a challenge! I am SO thankful to have my voice back and appreciate all of the sweet wishes from many of you. As I mentioned, we have a very sweet class. It is my hope that we can always work to the fullest so your children can not only grow academically, but socially and emotionally as well. We are going to have a wonderful year together in 4th grade and I appreciate all support you are able to offer!!! I will have a lot of information in this Newsletter. Please let me know if I have left something out! Looking forward to a forward to a fantastic year!
**HCS username and password**--Please help your child memorize their username and password by this Friday. These will remain with your child until their senior year if they remain in the HCS system. They will use it every time they log in to the computer system, Google, and other sites. These are in their binders under the Imp section of the binder.
**Spelling City**--Should be underway! Let me know if you have questions.
**Reading Rewards**--Also underway. Each night Monday through Thursday students will be expected to read for at least 20 minutes log and comment on the site. I would love for them to read Friday through Sunday, however I will not expect them to report to me. I will only check the site. A math sheet will be coming home each Monday and will be turned in to me on Friday and usually it will have pages from our workbook stapled to it. Students are definitely encouraged to solve the work on their own and then have a parent or grown up check for accuracy. We rotate weeks: Language (parts of speech) and Vocabulary one week, and Spelling and DOL the next week. Never will students be tested in Vocabulary and Spelling or DOL and Language in the same week. Spelling City will be due every Friday, and flash cards and sentences will be due on vocabulary weeks. Please continue to sign the agenda EVERY night.
**Hoover Public Library Summer Reading Program**--(From Mrs. Jolee Owens, SSC Librarian) “If any of our students participated in the HPL Summer Reading program, have them bring their reading log or certificate to get a special treat from the library. They have all next week to turn in their forms and then they will receive a “coupon” for a treat from the lunchroom. I will begin giving “coupons” after Labor Day.”
**Graded Papers**-The first set of graded papers will come home this Wednesday inside the yellow SSC Wednesday Folder. Please look over and initial EACH graded paper with your child and allow them time to make corrections IN PEN. There will also be a parent signature form that you can then initial letting me know you both have had time to work together on this. I would like to have these returned by Thursday, however if you need an extra day then just jot a note in the agenda, or send me an email letting me know. If you write notes besides in the comment section, make sure it is on the first graded paper because I do not flip back through them.
**Book Orders**
A separate email went out about Scholastic.
**Box Tops/Campbell’s Food Labels**
We will be collecting Box Tops throughout the year. PLEASE send in any Box Tops you find in your child’s backpack. Box Tops = Free dollars for SSC!!! The following comes from Dr. Scholl: There are a couple of contests through Box Tops and Campbell's labels that we can be entering daily. Below are the links to each.
For box tops…5 entries per day for 5000 extra boxtops. 15 are chosen weekly. https://generalmills.promo.eprize.com/savetheboxtops/
For Campbell's labels - 1000 schools win $1000.
http://sweeps.labelsforeducation.com/?CID=GS1431
**School Closed for Labor Day**-September 1st
**Fall Picture Day** -- Next Tuesday, September 4th J
**Change for Change**-September 15-19-More information to come
**PTO/Open House-Next Tuesday, September 16th from 6:00-7:30 PM
**Upcoming Field Trip**--It is our plan to go on our first field trip to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center on Thursday, September 11th. More information will be coming in the next couple of days as the paperwork is approved, but I wanted to give you a heads up in the meantime. I will be allowed to take 5 chaperones on this field trip. Please sign up here if you are interested. If the sign up is full, send me an email by this Friday and I will draw names, or you can wait until our next field trip to the aquarium.
**Ice Bucket Challenge**--From Dr. Scholl: Ice Bucket Challenge- IMPORTANT FYI:
This was sent to me from one of the other Hoover Schools and we may have some of this here too. Be aware!
I just wanted to bring to your attention some potentially dangerous stunts the kids are currently talking about at school and on the bus. I think with all the ice bucket challenges going around, it has re-ignited some older and unsafe challenges. I caught him trying these at home and researched them; the cinnamon challenge and the ice/salt challenge. You may already be aware of these, but I thought it might be a good time to let parents know and talk to their children.
The poison control center has posted warnings about the cinnamon challenge. The ice and salt challenge can cause serious frost-bite type burns to the skin. I have included an article about the cinnamon challenge. This one is can be very dangerous, especially to people with asthma. The cinnamon causes a gag reflex and can cause accidental inhalation of the powder into the lungs. The cinnamon oil is caustic and does not break down, remaining in the lungs and causing permanent lung damage. Some teens have been put on ventilators after trying this stunt.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/04/22/consequences-of-the-cinnamon-challenge/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0
**THANK YOU
In the classroom we are focusing on the following:
READING:
Establishing Reading Workshop, D.E.A.R. time (Drop Everything And Read), How to effectively select a book that is “Just Right”, and discussing ways that Reading is Thinking. We are Book Buddies with Mrs. Lessman's class and look forward to reading with them each Friday afternoon. We love our Book Buddies! I will take a daily status check of each student’s reading to help instruction and growth. Our Read Aloud books so far have included Thank you, Mr. Faulker, The Hundred Dresses, and Out of My Mind. We have shared rich conversations and discussed the need to predict, connect, infer, question, and reread while reading.
MATH:
In Math, we began the year with data collection and graphing. We have collected data in a variety of ways, compared the data, and graphed the data. We will continue to collect data throughout the year by interviewing each other to collect, compare, and graph data regarding topics we are interested in that incorporate numerical analysis. I expect students to practice their multiplication facts on a daily basis. By November students are expected to be fluent through 12X12. The sooner your child has all math facts memorized, the quicker they will be able to apply future lessons. It is very difficult and time consuming when students are spending time computing problems they should have memorized. Please work with them EVERY DAY on their math facts, by calling out different problems while in the car, while making dinner, while waiting for an appointment, or at any other time you have available. Multiplication.com is a good website students can use to practice at home as well. We will have a computation quiz each Friday .
THEME:
We have been working on Building the Classroom Community through a variety of Get to Know You games and activities. We also began our Science unit on Space and Flight. Yesterday, students brought home a Moon Chart. They are to observe the moon each night and quickly draw what they see. Over time, they will begin to see the phases of the moon appear. This week they will begin studying the planets. Today the kids were assigned a planet to research and make a pamphlet on, directions for this will come home tomorrow and be due a week from this Friday. We are also discussing meteorites, famous contributors to our Space history, and as we wrap up our unit on Space, we will have a more in depth look on the moon and its influence and relationship to our beautiful planet Earth.
WRITING:
Establishing Writing Workshop-- Students have been webbing and sketching favorite memories and making lists of future writing topics. We have discussed The Writing Process and all steps that are a part of publishing any piece of writing. There are 5 steps in the Writing Process: Prewriting, Drafting, Revising, Proofreading, and Publishing. We will begin our DOL (Daily Oral Language) in two weeks. Quizzes are normally given each Friday. Students are welcome to take home their DOL folders or English books home to study, however, if they are listening in class, they should not have to!! We will be tested at the end of every other week. When we are not working on DOL we will be working on Language (nouns, verbs, sentences, etc.) Here is some great online practice for Grammar also: http://tconstantine.wikispaces.com/English
SPELLING/VOCABULARY
Spelling and Vocabulary will rotate every other week. Students will be working on developing sentences, creating flashcards, alphabetical order, etc., as well as spellingcity.com in order to help review before our Friday quiz.
TECHNOLOGY: Google Docs!!! (Typing; Font size, color, background, bold, underline, style; saving; Printing; Creating a folder); Each week we go to the computer lab. We began the year with reviewing what we already knew about correct placement of our hands on the keys when typing, continued with technology vocabulary. Once we get the Chrome Books, we will discuss technology and use technology much more. In the meantime we will utilize the computer lab as much as possible, here is a link if you want to peek at what we do in there!
I want to thank you ALL for taking the time out of your busy schedules to read/respond to this newsletter as well as future e-news I send out. I know this is a lot of information, and as the year progresses our routines will require less words. I hope I answered some things I was not able to say at Parent Night and looking forward to this year a huge success for your child. Thank you so much to those who have already sent in contributions, and to those who have already volunteered their time. If you are looking for ways to help our class, please visit our volunteer page. Have a great week!!
All my best!
P.S. Aniya's grandmother passed away recently, please send prayers and/or positive thoughts!
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