Fall is in the air and things are beginning to cool off a bit!
Here is what's going on in class:
Reading-We are finishing up our study of the elements of non-fiction. We are using a site called Razz Kids that has leveled books so that each child is reading books that are just right! We use this site on Mondays during "nook time" and should be reading and taking quizzes on at least 2 books a week. You can log into your child's account and sign up for a parent account if you would like to keep track of how your child is doing. Our read aloud is Flying Solo by Ralph Fletcher, the kids are enjoying debating what they would do if I was absent and the sub did not show up! On Tuesdays during read aloud, the kids can log in to Reading Rewards and use the blog feature as a sort of "back channel" to discuss the book as I am reading it. Writing-This week we are publishing our non-fiction "how to" books. We have read a few mentor texts to help us make our non-fiction books more exciting. Ask your child about the book How to Lay an Egg! Spelling This week the children have different spelling lists according to how they did on the practice test today. Please remind them to do all of their Spelling City activities for homework except the test. We will do that on Friday in class. Math-We are busy collecting and analyzing data. Let your child tell you about the data we collected on the heights of fourth and first graders. They can tell you about the range of heights for both grades, the average height of a fourth and first grader, an estimate of how much taller a fourth grader is than a first grader and how to use a line plot graph to better display our data. Now we are working in small groups to come up with a question to collect more data to compare. Continue to have your child work on multiplication fluency, division is coming soon! Content-We have started our study of electricity by learning about how to be safe with electricity. Next we learned about magnets and static electricity. By the end of this week we will be learning all about circuits and how electricity travels by trying to light a light bulb, we will also discover what conductors and insulators are and how they effect circuits!
The kids should now be using the app Assignment Nook to write their homework and they should be giving you their calendars to initial each night to show that you have seen their homework. You can always see our class homework blog here if you need to.
*Check our calendar for important dates. Have a great week!
Monday, September 30, 2013
Monday, September 16, 2013
September 16
Wow our school We raised over 55,000 pennies for a total of$608.00 today! Don't forget to send in nickels (or pennies) tomorrow!!
Open House is tomorrow night at 6:30, I hope to see you there!
Again, we had a wonderful time on our field trip! I was really proud of our children. If you did not receive text updates on your phone during the day of our trip, then make sure and sign up for our class updates here.
Just a little bit about what is going on in class: Reading-We are learning about the types and features of non-fiction. We are also learning how t quickly find information and better understand information when we are reading non-fiction. Writing-We have packed our journals with ideas for writing Now, to go along with our reading non-fiction unit, we are writing "How To" books. We began by exploring "How To" books and noticing what other authors included in their "How To" books. We decided that these types of books could get boring so we read a mentor text book called How To Lay an Egg to help us with using our voices and some authors craft to make our books more exciting. We will be publishing our books soon. In Grammar we will be focusing on nouns and pronouns this week. Math- We are still in our first unit. This week we are focusing on the multiples of 100 and their factors. You will see examples of this in our homework this week. Don't forget the Math Student Handbook I sent home, it will help you help your child with any of these homework pages. Some of the kids are still not fluent with their multiplication facts 1-12. This is imperative to be successful with harder multiplication problems and division this year! There are some links below to help your child practice their facts. Content-We are finishing up our study of Space this week. We have learned about the differences of comets, meteors, meteorites, meteoroids, and asteroids today and we will finish the week learning about moon phases and stars with a culminating test this Friday. Your child should have a study guide with answers. Technology-We have been very busy in technology! The kids are using Spelling City practice their spelling words, blogs for, well...blogging...Razz kids to keep their reading skills sharp, TenMarks for working on math and we log our reading on Reading Rewards. We are using lots of other sites too. Ask your children to show you the sites they are working on, many of them have parent codes that you will see from your child's account. Here are some video tutorials that will help you use some of these sites. Remember to keep talking about online safety and have clear rules for your child using technology at home.
Sites to check out!
*Check our calendar for important dates.
Favorite Links-for just about anything your child needs to work on or learn about in 4th grade!
Lab Lessons-This is the link we go to during our computer lab, remind your child to check here and make sure their lab assignments were completed each week.
Nouns and Pronouns practice
Multiplication Practice!!
Solar System
Open House is tomorrow night at 6:30, I hope to see you there!
Again, we had a wonderful time on our field trip! I was really proud of our children. If you did not receive text updates on your phone during the day of our trip, then make sure and sign up for our class updates here.
Just a little bit about what is going on in class: Reading-We are learning about the types and features of non-fiction. We are also learning how t quickly find information and better understand information when we are reading non-fiction. Writing-We have packed our journals with ideas for writing Now, to go along with our reading non-fiction unit, we are writing "How To" books. We began by exploring "How To" books and noticing what other authors included in their "How To" books. We decided that these types of books could get boring so we read a mentor text book called How To Lay an Egg to help us with using our voices and some authors craft to make our books more exciting. We will be publishing our books soon. In Grammar we will be focusing on nouns and pronouns this week. Math- We are still in our first unit. This week we are focusing on the multiples of 100 and their factors. You will see examples of this in our homework this week. Don't forget the Math Student Handbook I sent home, it will help you help your child with any of these homework pages. Some of the kids are still not fluent with their multiplication facts 1-12. This is imperative to be successful with harder multiplication problems and division this year! There are some links below to help your child practice their facts. Content-We are finishing up our study of Space this week. We have learned about the differences of comets, meteors, meteorites, meteoroids, and asteroids today and we will finish the week learning about moon phases and stars with a culminating test this Friday. Your child should have a study guide with answers. Technology-We have been very busy in technology! The kids are using Spelling City practice their spelling words, blogs for, well...blogging...Razz kids to keep their reading skills sharp, TenMarks for working on math and we log our reading on Reading Rewards. We are using lots of other sites too. Ask your children to show you the sites they are working on, many of them have parent codes that you will see from your child's account. Here are some video tutorials that will help you use some of these sites. Remember to keep talking about online safety and have clear rules for your child using technology at home.
Sites to check out!
*Check our calendar for important dates.
Favorite Links-for just about anything your child needs to work on or learn about in 4th grade!
Lab Lessons-This is the link we go to during our computer lab, remind your child to check here and make sure their lab assignments were completed each week.
Nouns and Pronouns practice
Multiplication Practice!!
- Self Correcting Quizzes-up through a fact or just one table
- Practice a Multiplication table on Math Magician
- Lots of Multiplication sites
Solar System
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
September 3rd
I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! This week will be a busy week! Just a few things I want to let you know. Our first field trip to the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center is coming up quickly! Forms and information are going home today. The due date is not until early next week, but please go ahead and send everything back in as soon as possible!
I am also sending home a math resource book for parents. It will have your child's number on it and is due back at the end of the school year. If you will notice on page 14 of this week's homework, there is a resource page number at the top right of the page. That page number is a resource page for you in the book I am sending home tonight. Each week the kids will have similar homework pages that will have resource pages for you in the Student Math Handbook.
This is our first week of spelling. We will all have the same list this week as we get used to the format. The next time that we have spelling, the lists will be different according to how your child does on the pre-test. More information about this is in the Parent Night notes on our web site.
Also, the kids have an Edmodo Scavenger Hunt that is due Friday. You can access the scavenger hunt from our homework blog post from today. It is very important that they know how to use Edmodo correctly as they will be using this program through high school in Hoover. Please help them especially with step 6 so they will know how you want them to download items at home. Our scavenger hunt is due Friday.
We are researching the planets in class this week and we will make and share a project (in class) about our planet! :)
Have a great, short week!
I am also sending home a math resource book for parents. It will have your child's number on it and is due back at the end of the school year. If you will notice on page 14 of this week's homework, there is a resource page number at the top right of the page. That page number is a resource page for you in the book I am sending home tonight. Each week the kids will have similar homework pages that will have resource pages for you in the Student Math Handbook.
This is our first week of spelling. We will all have the same list this week as we get used to the format. The next time that we have spelling, the lists will be different according to how your child does on the pre-test. More information about this is in the Parent Night notes on our web site.
Also, the kids have an Edmodo Scavenger Hunt that is due Friday. You can access the scavenger hunt from our homework blog post from today. It is very important that they know how to use Edmodo correctly as they will be using this program through high school in Hoover. Please help them especially with step 6 so they will know how you want them to download items at home. Our scavenger hunt is due Friday.
We are researching the planets in class this week and we will make and share a project (in class) about our planet! :)
Have a great, short week!
Saturday, August 24, 2013
August 24
What a great start to school 4th graders have had! This blog is a place where I will post our classroom happenings. The first week we spent reviewing, learning about our classroom, and getting to know each other. We will start out learning about space in science and going to the Space and Rocket Center for our first field trip! In math we will begin by making sure we have all of our multiplication facts 0-12 fluent and memorized! We will review multiplication concepts in our first Investigations unit and sharpen up our computation skills. As writers we will begin collecting ideas for stories We will also begin to write personal narratives and study how to “zoom in” on the most important parts so it will sound like a story and not just a retelling. We read and enjoyed lots of picture books the first week of school, Like First Day Jitters and Thank You Mr. Falker. Now, we are about to begin our first read aloud, The Hundred Dresses. As we discuss the book, it will encourage us to empathize with others and to treat them how we would like to be treated. We will also begin by talking about mental images and making connections to our reading in order to better understand our books.
I'm looking forward to seeing you all Thursday, August 29th for our parent meeting. Please bring your smart phone, tablet, or good old fashioned pen and paper.
I'm looking forward to seeing you all Thursday, August 29th for our parent meeting. Please bring your smart phone, tablet, or good old fashioned pen and paper.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
A Poem to You
I give you back your child, the
same child you confidently entrusted to my care last fall. I give him back
pounds heavier, inches taller, months wiser, more responsible, and more mature
than he was then.
Although he would have attained
this growth in spite of me, it has been my pleasure and privilege to watch his personality
unfold day by day and marvel at this splendid miracle of development.
I give him back reluctantly,
for having spent many months together in the narrow confines of a crowded
classroom, we have grown close, have become a part of each other, and we will
always retain a little of each other.
We have lived, loved, laughed,
played, studied, learned, and enriched our lives together this year.
But give him back I must.
Love,
It is such an honor to me that you put your most prized possession in my hands. Please keep me posted on any accomplishments, news, happy times, sad times!! I am only an email away! Have a wonderful summer and thanks for a great school year!
Children are…
AMAZING,
acknowledge them
BELIEVABLE,
trust them
CHILDLIKE,
allow them
DIVINE,
honor them
ENERGETIC,
nourish them
FALLIBLE,
embrace them
GIFTS,
treasure them
HERE
NOW,
be with them
INNOCENT,
delight with them
JOYFUL,
appreciate them
KINDHEARTED,
learn from them
LOVABLE,
cherish them
MAGICAL,
fly with them
NOBLE,
esteem them
OPEN
MINDED, respect them
PRECIOUS,
value them
QUESTIONERS,
encourage them
RESOURCEFUL,
support them
SPONTANEOUS,
enjoy them
TALENTED,
believe in them
UNIQUE,
affirm them
VULNERABLE,
protect them
WHOLE,
recognize them
XTRASPECIAL,
celebrate them
ZANY,
laugh with them
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Wednesday, May 1st
Good evening parents!
**Thank you so much to everyone who signed up to send in items for our ARMT testing week. Wow! Ya'll are wonderfully supportive in so many ways! I really can't say thank you enough to ALL of our volunteers this year and we still have a few that will be running around this next week helping us with end of the year tasks. I can't say enough "thank you's"!
**Thank you to ALL who helped with our successful field trip to the Birmingham Zoo, as well and ALL who helped volunteer at the Family Fun Fair. Both were wonderful experiences for all who participated.
**As you know, MONDAY morning (May 6) we begin formal standardized testing for the ARMT. We will complete the Reading portion of the ARMT on Monday and Tuesday, and the Mathematics portion on Wednesday and Thursday. PLEASE, please, please make sure your child is well rested all of next week. It is also very important for them to have a healthy breakfast. Both of these combined, along with the preparation we have worked so diligently on this year, will assist your child in reaching their greatest potential on each daily assessment. If your child is tardy, and testing has already begun, they will not be allowed to enter the classroom. They must be to school on time. Testing Monday-Thursday will begin at 8:00 and be over each day by lunchtime. If you are scheduled to help volunteer in the classroom next week, come Friday. Visitors will not be allowed during testing hours.
** I wanted to let you know of some upcoming activities:
...May 4 Celebrate Hoover Day at Veteran's Park 10:00-2:00
...May 6-9 ARMT testing (Students come to school well rested, having eaten a healthy breakfast.)
...May 10 All SSC library books are to be returned to the library
...May 10 Yearbook Distribution (Extra yearbooks go on sale May 13th for $25.00-first come, first serve)
...May 15 Volunteer Breakfast 8:00-10:00 (For all who have volunteered for our class in ANY way this year.)
...May 15 Foundry in a Box is coming to the 4th grade!
...May 16 Class end of the year celebration for students
...May 17 Field Day for students-School items will begin coming home, please have your child clean out backpacks EVERY night.
...May 20 Pajama Day/Read-a-thon/Bring a book from home
...May 21 Game Day/Disney movie (students can bring one board games/card games from home that they know how to play)
...May 22 Wrap up/Clean up - early dismissal at 12:45 (lunch served before dismissal)
...May 23 Cleaning classroom - early dismissal at 11:00 (students have the opportunity to purchase sack lunch prior to dismissal)
**If you know that your child will not be at SSC any time the last week of school, please let me know. I have a couple of gifts I would like to share with each student and would like to make sure your child gets theirs before they leave for the summer. :)
**If you know your child will not be at SSC the last week/day of school, please send in a self addressed, stamped envelope any time beginning tomorrow morning and I will make sure the final report card is sent to your home. Otherwise, they will be going home with the students the last day of school. If I don't received a self addressed/stamped envelope and they are not at SSC the last week of school, the report card will be held in the office for pick up.
**Please look around your house for any of the books I have loaned your child to read this year. I really enjoy sharing my books with my students each year. You may be surprised to find some next year, send them back any time they pop up.
**Thank you so much for supporting your child with ARMT preparation homework. As I promised the kids, if they can give me 2 more great days of homework as we make our final preparations for the assessments, then I won't give them homework during ARMT week, as well as the remainder of the year. (I have discussed many times that READING should be exciting, motivating, and fun. When we find books/magazines that we enjoy and that don't "stress us out" because we struggle to comprehend, then learning is always taking place. I hope they always continue to read daily by choice, not because a teacher expects it of them, or assigns it as homework. In other words, even though I won't be assigning homework, encourage them to read for fun. PLEASE spend time at the Hoover Public Library this summer with your child. It is an amazing place to be! Also encourage your child to continue to post on blogs, this will be a great way to keep writing AND have the kids be able to keep up with exciting summer activities that their friends are doing. I will leave that account open AS LONG AS the kids are using it!!!
I appreciate you all!
Mrs. C.
Summer ideas!!! http://tconstantine.wikispaces.com/Summer+Activities
*Check our calendar for other important dates.
**Thank you so much to everyone who signed up to send in items for our ARMT testing week. Wow! Ya'll are wonderfully supportive in so many ways! I really can't say thank you enough to ALL of our volunteers this year and we still have a few that will be running around this next week helping us with end of the year tasks. I can't say enough "thank you's"!
**Thank you to ALL who helped with our successful field trip to the Birmingham Zoo, as well and ALL who helped volunteer at the Family Fun Fair. Both were wonderful experiences for all who participated.
**As you know, MONDAY morning (May 6) we begin formal standardized testing for the ARMT. We will complete the Reading portion of the ARMT on Monday and Tuesday, and the Mathematics portion on Wednesday and Thursday. PLEASE, please, please make sure your child is well rested all of next week. It is also very important for them to have a healthy breakfast. Both of these combined, along with the preparation we have worked so diligently on this year, will assist your child in reaching their greatest potential on each daily assessment. If your child is tardy, and testing has already begun, they will not be allowed to enter the classroom. They must be to school on time. Testing Monday-Thursday will begin at 8:00 and be over each day by lunchtime. If you are scheduled to help volunteer in the classroom next week, come Friday. Visitors will not be allowed during testing hours.
** I wanted to let you know of some upcoming activities:
...May 4 Celebrate Hoover Day at Veteran's Park 10:00-2:00
...May 6-9 ARMT testing (Students come to school well rested, having eaten a healthy breakfast.)
...May 10 All SSC library books are to be returned to the library
...May 10 Yearbook Distribution (Extra yearbooks go on sale May 13th for $25.00-first come, first serve)
...May 15 Volunteer Breakfast 8:00-10:00 (For all who have volunteered for our class in ANY way this year.)
...May 15 Foundry in a Box is coming to the 4th grade!
...May 16 Class end of the year celebration for students
...May 17 Field Day for students-School items will begin coming home, please have your child clean out backpacks EVERY night.
...May 20 Pajama Day/Read-a-thon/Bring a book from home
...May 21 Game Day/Disney movie (students can bring one board games/card games from home that they know how to play)
...May 22 Wrap up/Clean up - early dismissal at 12:45 (lunch served before dismissal)
...May 23 Cleaning classroom - early dismissal at 11:00 (students have the opportunity to purchase sack lunch prior to dismissal)
**If you know that your child will not be at SSC any time the last week of school, please let me know. I have a couple of gifts I would like to share with each student and would like to make sure your child gets theirs before they leave for the summer. :)
**If you know your child will not be at SSC the last week/day of school, please send in a self addressed, stamped envelope any time beginning tomorrow morning and I will make sure the final report card is sent to your home. Otherwise, they will be going home with the students the last day of school. If I don't received a self addressed/stamped envelope and they are not at SSC the last week of school, the report card will be held in the office for pick up.
**Please look around your house for any of the books I have loaned your child to read this year. I really enjoy sharing my books with my students each year. You may be surprised to find some next year, send them back any time they pop up.
**Thank you so much for supporting your child with ARMT preparation homework. As I promised the kids, if they can give me 2 more great days of homework as we make our final preparations for the assessments, then I won't give them homework during ARMT week, as well as the remainder of the year. (I have discussed many times that READING should be exciting, motivating, and fun. When we find books/magazines that we enjoy and that don't "stress us out" because we struggle to comprehend, then learning is always taking place. I hope they always continue to read daily by choice, not because a teacher expects it of them, or assigns it as homework. In other words, even though I won't be assigning homework, encourage them to read for fun. PLEASE spend time at the Hoover Public Library this summer with your child. It is an amazing place to be! Also encourage your child to continue to post on blogs, this will be a great way to keep writing AND have the kids be able to keep up with exciting summer activities that their friends are doing. I will leave that account open AS LONG AS the kids are using it!!!
I appreciate you all!
Mrs. C.
Summer ideas!!! http://tconstantine.wikispaces.com/Summer+Activities
*Check our calendar for other important dates.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
April 2
I really cannot believe it is April! This class has been truly amazing. I really think that is why it seems like we have just started school. And all of you have been just as amazing. Your support of me, the children and all of the new things we incorporated into our classroom made for such a productive year, and made our class leaders in our school. I can not thank you enough. I feel like they are more than ready to be 5th graders and I hope you will keep me updated next year!
The ARMT is just around the corner. I will send you an email with a few test taking strategies that you can discuss with your child. We will also need lots of good snacks that week, Please sign up here if you can send something in. I will familiarize the kids with the format of the ARMT by doing some practice during class and some ARMT practice will come home starting next week as well. I will send info about what is expected for a good score, so please reiterate this at home so the kids will feel well prepared and will not "stress". :)
Just a little bit about what is going on in class: Reading-With our adopted reading program "Making Meaning" we are incorporating a study of non-fiction with our unit on Animals that we are starting in Science. Writing-We are finishing up or mystery writing and soon we will also be writing non-fiction in conjunction with Reading and Science. In preparation for the ARMT Spelling/Vocab will look a little different. Let me know if you have any questions. Math-We have finished fractions and decimals and like I mentioned in the email, the unit we are on now should be an easy review unit of larger multiplication and division problems. You should have received a parent letter about this unit. Content-We have just finished Geography and Landforms and we are beginning our study of Animals. We will be researching, discussing and doing class projects on topics such as the classification of animals, food chains, vertebrates and invertebrates, interdependence, habitats, camouflage and mimicry. The kids were excited to begin our study by researching their own favorite animal. Technology-The Aurasmas were so much fun. I hope all of our portraits are hanging on walls and still being enjoyed with smart phones! If anyone knows of a business that would like to display our Aurasmas for a while let me know! :)
*Check our calendar for other important dates.
The ARMT is just around the corner. I will send you an email with a few test taking strategies that you can discuss with your child. We will also need lots of good snacks that week, Please sign up here if you can send something in. I will familiarize the kids with the format of the ARMT by doing some practice during class and some ARMT practice will come home starting next week as well. I will send info about what is expected for a good score, so please reiterate this at home so the kids will feel well prepared and will not "stress". :)
Just a little bit about what is going on in class: Reading-With our adopted reading program "Making Meaning" we are incorporating a study of non-fiction with our unit on Animals that we are starting in Science. Writing-We are finishing up or mystery writing and soon we will also be writing non-fiction in conjunction with Reading and Science. In preparation for the ARMT Spelling/Vocab will look a little different. Let me know if you have any questions. Math-We have finished fractions and decimals and like I mentioned in the email, the unit we are on now should be an easy review unit of larger multiplication and division problems. You should have received a parent letter about this unit. Content-We have just finished Geography and Landforms and we are beginning our study of Animals. We will be researching, discussing and doing class projects on topics such as the classification of animals, food chains, vertebrates and invertebrates, interdependence, habitats, camouflage and mimicry. The kids were excited to begin our study by researching their own favorite animal. Technology-The Aurasmas were so much fun. I hope all of our portraits are hanging on walls and still being enjoyed with smart phones! If anyone knows of a business that would like to display our Aurasmas for a while let me know! :)
*Check our calendar for other important dates.
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