E-News

We have started our Fraction Unit. No fraction homework will come home for homework yet. The homework will continue to be the weekly computation practice. Please refrain from teaching your child fractions "the way we were taught" at this time. I will send a parent sheet home as an attachment of what you can do to help with fractions, I need them to understand the basics of what a fraction actually is. Many of my students see fractions as only shapes or parts of shapes, not as a number. For the upcoming week we will be investigating different types of unit fractions (1/4, 1/8, 1/16, 1/2, etc). Once they get a grasp of this, we will move on. Thank you for your support. This will be a struggle for all of us, not just your child. I promise I will work diligently with your children to make this a fun, learning experience for all of us. 

So many of our grades are starting to come from online assignments and assessments. Some I will be able to email to you. This lessens the amount of graded papers that will be coming home. Should you ever have a question about your child's grades please let me know. 

We are continuing our study of Alabama History focusing on Slavery. Your children are enthralled with Social Studies and our read aloud. Many are excited about learning the history but also in disbelief about what happened. We are tying our non-fiction writing in with our Social Studies and pretending we are news reporters, writing about what happened during the times of slavery. 

The younger classes are doing an author study of Jan Brett. They discovered that she is running a contest for whichever school has the most likes of her Facebook page, wins a free visit from Jan herself during the 2015-2016 school year!  How cool!?  Several 1st grade classes are doing this but they need our help and we will all benefit from it if we win!!

I have the link for her website below.  If you are willing and able, take time to share her website with your child to generate their excitement.  This is a great time of the year to read her stories since most of them are set in the winter months. 

1st grade is getting together a flier that will be sent home with each student school wide with more information on how you can participate from home. 

We really appreciate your support!

http://www.janbrett.com/index.html

For Facebook:  search for Jan Brett.  The directions to the contest are in her recent post.  Make sure to select SSC as the school you are representing!

*Check our calendar for other important dates.

Please continue to send in box tops have a good week!

E-News

Thought for the week:

We teach our students/children how to behave by what we allow, what we stop, what we ignore, and what we reinforce.

Just a little bit about what is going on in class: Reading- We looked at the traits of non-fiction writing before the holidays, now we will dive deeper into this topic by incorporating nonfiction with reading and writing. Writing-Before the holidays we wrote persuasive essays with a partner, starting out the new year, we will compose our own, 5 paragraph, persuasive essay. Get ready to be talked into something!! Next we will be begin working on non-fiction writing.  Math-We are finishing up a unit on geometry and about to start a study of fractions. Content-We are continuing our study of Alabama History! Soon we will focus on famous people from Alabama and start planning a wax museum. More information will come home soon.  *Check our calendar for other important dates.

Reading Club Order Due Date: January 14 (Extended to this Friday the 16th!)
Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: GRZHL

Dear Families,

Good news! This month's Scholastic Reading Club flyers are ready for you to explore with your child. Children read more when they choose their own books, so I encourage you to look at the flyers together. Each flyer is filled with grade-specific, affordable titles and Storia eBooks.

Place your order online at scholastic.com/readingclub or return the order form and payment to me. Ordering online is the easiest way to ensure I get your order on time. Also, there are more books to choose from as well as teacher recommendations. 

Remember, for every book you order, our class earns FREE Books and supplies...and we have our eye on some new additions. 

Thank you for your support! 

PS: Books make wonderful gifts! Please let me know if your order includes a gift, and I will contact you when it arrives.


If This Is Your First Time Ordering Online:
- VISIT scholastic.com/readingclub
- ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code (top of this letter)
- SHOP from a carefully curated selection of the best books, value packs, and Storia eBooks
- SUBMIT your order and earn FREE Books for our classroom
- All book orders will be shipped to our classroom so we can celebrate the joy of reading together!

From the music room:

Dear Parents,

Auditions for the February 12 talent show will be held January 12-16 during regular music class.   Students should be prepared with materials brought from home if necessary.     I have talent show forms if your child needs one.

Here are the audition times for  music class.

Monday, Jan. 12  Constantine 8:00-8:30

Monday,  Jan. 12  Carver  8:30-9:00

Tuesday, Jan. 13  Tindal   8:00-8:30

Tuesday, Jan. 13  Barry  8:30-9:00

Thursday, Jan. 15  McCune  8:00-8:30

Thursday, Jan. 15  Hutchison  8:30-9:00

The talent show will be held on February 12, at 8:30 a.m. in the lunchroom.    All 4^th graders will sing songs at the beginning before the talent portion.

Box Tops:

Keep sending the box tops in!! They really make a big difference! 

Group Photos:

The 5x7 classroom group pictures and the grade level picture of the entire 4^th grade students are in! You may drop by the front office if you would like to take a look at the pictures before buying. The pictures are only$8.00 each. Online payment is preferred at www.myschoolfees.com in which you will be able to print confirmation of payment. Otherwise, you may send payment to the school by check or correct cash (we cannot make change). Please make checks payable to SSC. This is a school fundraiser and we receive 100% of sales!!  Thank you for supporting our school with this memorable fundraiser. If you have any questions, please call the school office at 439-3000.

Below is the schedule for 4^thgrade ACT Aspire.  If this changes, I will let you know. They will take the tests on their Chromebooks!

Grade	Subject	Date	Time	Amount of Time for Assessment
4	Reading	4/13/15	8:00 – 9:30	60 minutes
4	Math	4/14/15	8:00 – 9:30	55 minutes
4	English	4/15/15	8:00 – 9:00	30 minutes
4	Science	4/16/15	8:00 – 9:30	55 minutes