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12/12/2016 Bring in a wrapped, new or gently used 4th grade book for our book swap.
Class Spelling Bee-Study Words Here


12/14/2016 Poetry Presentation 9-10, Class party 10-11:30

12/15/2016 Pajama day-bring one small pillow or stuffed animal.

Friday 12/16/2016 dismiss at 11 a.m. Board Game Day. Bring ONE board game that you know how to play!

Class Pictures:

Pre-order your child's 5x7 classroom group picture today! Also available is a fourth grade level group picture!  The pictures are $7.00 each. The deadline for pre-ordering is December 16 if you would like to receive the picture before the Holidays. You can still place orders after the Holidays if you prefer. As a fundraiser for our school, SSC receives 100% of sales!!

Online payment is preferred at www.myschoolfees.com. There is NO FEE for paying online by check. However, there is a 3% convenience fee charged for using a credit card with a minimum fee of $1.00 (VISA is not accepted). Otherwise, you may send ​check or cash ​payment to the school ​(correct cash amount - we cannot make change). Please make checks payable to SSC.

Thank you for supporting our school with this memorable fundraiser. If you have any questions, please call the school office at 439-3000.

*Check our calendar for other important dates.

You're Invited! 

Our class will be memorizing and performing holiday poetry for you on Wednesday, December the 14th from 9-10 then our class party will follow from 10-11:30  This will be a very informal time just to be together and celebrate the season! If you cannot attend the poetry presentation, please make sure someone comes to watch your child. It can be a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or a neighbor. Let me know if you cannot find anyone to attend and I should be able to help. The children will be acting out winter poetry and will need to dress up/bring props to “show” their poem. Poems need to be memorized by December 9th. Parents are invited to stay for our holiday party but if you can’t, we understand.

Our student teacher, Haley Sims, is doing her full week of teaching this week, this will also be her last week with us. The following is from her. :)

This week in Math we will begin learning more about geometry. This week will be filled with polygons, angles, and seeing geometry in the world all around us! We will specifically be looking at triangles when learning about acute, obtuse, and right angles. In Science we are researching alternative forms of energy compared to fossil fuels. Each student signed up for an "expert group" and will be researching forms of alternative energy related to water, the sun, or wind. Later in the week we will get to make waterwheels similar to what we saw at DeSoto Caverns recently! Reading this week is all about poetry. We will be looking at several different styles of poetry and practicing it on our own. While we are focusing on poetry, we will also be learning more about adverbs. 

I have had an incredible experience getting to teach your children the past 5 weeks both part-time and full time during my last week! I couldn't have asked for a better class of students during this experience. South Shades Crest will always hold a special place in my heart because of your children!

-Miss Sims

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Thursday 12/01/2016: Cookies with Santa 5-7pm

12/14/2016 Poetry Presentation 9-10, Class party 10-11:30

Friday 12/16/2016 dismiss at 11 a.m.

Teachers will carol in your neighborhood soon, stay tuned for a schedule! :)

*Check our calendar for other important dates.

You're Invited!

Our class will be memorizing and performing holiday poetry for you on Wednesday, December the 14th from 9-10 then our class party will follow from 10-11:30  This will be a very informal time just to be together and celebrate the season! If you cannot attend the poetry presentation, please make sure someone comes to watch your child. It can be a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or a neighbor. Let me know if you cannot find anyone to attend and I should be able to help. The children will be acting out winter poetry and will need to dress up/bring props to “show” their poem. Poems need to be memorized by December 9th. Parents are invited to stay for our holiday party but if you can’t, we understand.

 Reading-We will learn more about the strategies of inferring, theme, knowing the main idea and synthesizing and practice using them while we read for the next few weeks. :) We are also starting a unit on poetry. December the 14th we will have a poetry presentation for parents from 9-10, then our class holiday party will be from 10-11:30!  Writing-We are finishing persuasive essays, then we will begin writing poetry. Math-We will continue to practice our multiplication and division strategies with bigger numbers as we learn more about geometry.

Continue practicing!!!
Strategies with 2 digit by 2 digit where both numbers are large like 48x76 and you need to split both numbers to solve. 3 digit by 2 digit using the open area model strategy. Here are two strategies that we will be using a lot.
Open Area Model
Rainbow Strategy

Other strategies:
FOIL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ASEnxp4_Kw

We are rolling right along with division of bigger numbers. Most of the kids are using the Multiplying UP strategy right now. And we have just discovered the Partial Quotients or the Big 7 strategy which is an even more efficient strategy. Soon we will figure out what is happening in the traditional algorithm but not quite yet. This concept is still fragile for us!

  Content-We are beginning our study of animals.

Have a great week!!
Mrs. C

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Club Day:
The kids signed up for club days last week, instead of one club for 3 days, they will be choosing 3 different clubs. Club days will be November 18, February 3, and May 5.

Thanksgiving Lunch at SSC:

On November 16 & 17 we will be having our Thanksgiving Lunch. We want to invite all parents and faculty to dine with us. We appreciate your support for your cafeteria. Teachers please motivate parents to come have a good nutritious meal with their child. We chose 2 days in order for parents to make arrangements to attend. Looking forward to see you soon! Thanks In Advance!

*Check our calendar for other important dates.

Welcome Ms. Sims! Ms. Sims is our student teacher under the directions of Dr. Charlotte Brown, (who if you did not know, used to be the principal here!) and myself. She attends UAB and is excited to be learning with our class! She will be with us for 4 more weeks, each week teaching one subject and the last week she will teach Reading, Math and Science. She gave a couple of number talks a try this week and did a wonderful job. Reading-We have been learning about comparing and contrasting in a variety of ways. This week, it was in our Story Works magazine with a story about a Turtle that was "Too Talkative". Ask your child how we compared and contrasted the Prince and Kambu. We also did the play in class on Friday. :)  Writing-Last week we worked on letters to the veterans and learned a little about Veteran's Day. We addressed our envelopes and they will be off in the mail this week to hopefully help a veteran feel appreciated. Math-We have begun to multiply even bigger numbers, where both factors are higher than 12:

Mid to late October
Strategies with 2 digit by 2 digit where both numbers are large like 48x76 and you need to split both numbers to solve. Here are two strategies that we will be using a lot.
Open Area Model
Rainbow Strategy

Other strategies:
FOIL http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ASEnxp4_Kw

And we are rolling right along with division of bigger numbers. Most of the kids are using the Multiplying UP strategy right now. And they will soon discover the Partial Quotients or the Big 7 strategy and find that this is even a more efficient strategy. We will figure out what is happening in the traditional algorithm but not quite yet. This concept is still fragile for us!

  Content-We have one more week of waves this week and then we will have finished with energy and electricity! Last Thursday I emailed grades home for quizzes on conductors and insulators, and circuits. I did not send a study guide home on purpose, for 3 reasons. 1. I think you all are busy enough at home. 2. These are things we went over and over in class and believe me, you want your child to learn to pay attention in class now! ;) and 3. I give lots of other science grades that will bring these scores up if they were low. So use this opportunity to commend your child for listening, or to have a conversation about how important it is to listen carefully and think about what you are learning in class.  If the emails did not get to you, let me know.  Technology-The kids love that we have figured out a way to make Mindcraft educational!  I'm sure they have mentioned this to you. In the next few weeks, we will be working on pixel art and coding!

Have a great week!!
Mrs. C  

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You can either get bitter or you can get better. It’s that simple. You either take what has been dealt to you and allow it to make you a better person, or you allow it to tear you down. The choice does not belong to fate, it belongs to you. ~Josh Shipp

Red Ribbon Week

Monday 10/24/2016: TNT here during PE

Tuesday 10/25/2016: Fun Run Science Show for winners

Wednesday 10/26/2016:

Thursday 10/27/2016:

Friday 10/28/2016:

*Check our calendar for other important dates.

Just a little bit about what is going on in class: Reading-We are enjoying Pax! Last week we did a Today'sMeet with our partner class in Wisconsin to talk about a few happenings in the beginning of the book. This week we will do a Padlet with them to share our thinking. Check our Padlet towards the end of the week to see what we have to say!  Writing-Sticking to a topic will continue to be a focus. Next week we will begin persuasive writing. This is a DOL (Daily Oral Language) week for grammar.  Math-We have started division of bigger numbers. Since we have been practicing and talking about multiplication and division fact families most of the kids are naturally using the multiply up strategy, as our numbers get bigger, the kids will find that the big 7 (or partial quotients) strategy is even more efficient. . Content-Towards the end of the week, we will be making and wiring our houses! We will also have a quiz on circuits at the end of the week.  Technology-Since last week was digital citizenship week, check out parent handouts form Common Sense Media for things you can do at home to promote good online habits.

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*Check our calendar for other important dates.

Just a little bit about what is going on in class: Reading- We finished City of Ember and watched the movie. After the movie, the kids enjoyed collaborating on a class google doc to compare and contrast the movie and the book. We start our Global Read Aloud, Pax by Sara Pennypacker this week! The kids are excited, we "Mystery Skyped" with one of the classes we will be working with. Ask your child to tell you about their class and what state they are from. Remind your child that all of our Mystery Skype information is on Google Classroom if he/she forgot. Writing/Language Arts-Just a reminder that I post skills we have covered or are covering each week on our Lab Lessons page for review and extra practice. Scroll down to IXL Language Arts or IXL Math, remind the kids they need to be signed in to IXL before clicking on a link.  Math-We are finished taking quizzes on basic multiplication tables. The kids should know all of them in 3 seconds or less by now. If this is not the case, then your child should be practicing multiplication facts nightly!! If your child is still using repeated addition for multiplication of bigger numbers, here is a game that we are using in class to practice a more efficient strategy. The array cards will need to be printed out. We have played in class, but the directions are included just in case. Make sure to look at the directions for making the array cards. Content-We are getting ready to create our own flashlight and learn more about Thomas Edison! As you saw in our pictures last week, we also made a light bulb. I was very proud of the kids for sticking with the task, not giving up, and troubleshooting their circuit until they made the nichrome wire (filament) light up! Technology-Sara Carpenter visited us and taught us how to make a hidden picture to play Guess My Number using Google Slides! This week she will be teaching us how to integrate Mindcraft into our curriculum! The kids are excited!!

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Monday 10/10/2016: no school!

Tuesday 10/11/2016:

Wednesday 10/12/2016: report cards go home,

Thursday 10/13/2016:

Friday 10/14/2016: makeup picture day

*Bring your parents or grandparents to lunch this week for National Lunch Week.

*Check our calendar for other important dates.

We have finished planing our field trips, if you would like to sign up, please click here.

Just a little bit about what is going on in class: Reading-Our Global Read Aloud, Pax by Sara Pennypacker starts next week. We are finishing up with The City of Ember this week, and will watch the movie at the end of the week and compare and contrast the book with the movie.  We are still practicing our literature circle jobs with our independent books and working on comparing and contrasting with articles in our Story Works magazine as well.  Writing-We are working on our seed ideas.  Math-We have officially started on division!.Content-We are getting ready to test conductors and insulators using our circuit testers then we will build a lightbulb! Technology-We are enjoying Mystery Skype and will have our 2nd one today, I wonder which state they will be in?!

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*Check our calendar for other important dates. 

We have a busy week this week, so just a quick post to let you know what is going on each day.

Monday 10/03/2016: Crazy sock day

Tuesday 10/04/2016: Wear your SSC attire

Wednesday 10/05/2016: Wear your favorite workout clothes (stay in dress code)

Thursday 10/06/2016: Wear your PJs

Friday 10/07/2016: Fun Run, author visit 3rd and 4th grade, flu shots for students, wear your running shoes! Parents feel free to come run and/or cheer your student on! We will be running at 12:45.

The Fun Run is off to a great start! Don't forget to bring your donations in each day this week!

Thanks to everyone who has been able to come to a conference, I have enjoyed talking to you about your child and I hope our talk was helpful! Please do not hesitate to contact me with any other questions. If you have a conference this week and it's after hours. Please enter the building through the after care door on the right side of the school.