Special Schedules for the Team

Here’s a look at what we’re up to in the fourth grade at Margaret Chase Smith…

Oh, by the way, this is a long one! We won’t always have a newsletter of this length, but there was just so much to tell you! Newsletters will come home once a month throughout the school year. They are also posted here: http://www.msad54.org/mcss/directory.shtml.

Greenlaw Herrick Monday Library none Tuesday Art Music Wednesday none Art Thursday P.E. Library Friday Music P.E.

Students are allowed to sign out 2 books from the school library for 2 weeks at a time. Sneakers should be worn for P.E. class.

4th Grade Grades

MCSS, like other upper elementary schools in the district, grades on the following scale:

A 90-100 B 80-89 C 70-79 D 60-69 E 59 & below

Assignment Books

Every child at MCSS receives an assignment book on the first day of school. Our team uses the assignment books every day to write down the assigned homework. There is a homework board in each classroom where we post the work for that day. Students copy down the assignments, we initial the bottom of the book, and it comes home each night. We expect that each student will show his or her parents their assignment book to be initialed every night by a parent. Your initials show us that you are aware of their homework and other class reminders. Thank you for taking the time to look at the homework your child has each night and making sure that they get their work in on time!

We have two consistent assignments for the team. The first weekly assignment is reading. Every Friday, students are expected to hand in their Reading At Home forms. The second weekly assignment is the Weekly Review for math. The math assignments have not started yet. They will begin soon. When this begins, the students will bring home a math review sheet on Monday with a few questions to answer each day throughout the week and return the completed assignment on Friday.

Late Work

Mrs. Greenlaw and Mrs. Herrick expect all homework to be neatly completed and handed in on time. Work that is not handed in on time will lose ten points off the final grade. If there are extenuating circumstances, please let us know - we are accommodating. Also, homework should not cause frustration at home. If there is an issue, let us know so we can help. Our contact information is at the top of every newsletter.

Book Orders

We are sending home our first book orders. Please do not feel that you have to order books from any of the book orders. The class does earn points when students order books from the book order. We use those points to order books for the classroom library. You can usually find some great deals in the book orders. Please send a check made out to Scholastic when ordering from the book order. Do not send cash or checks made out to the school or teachers. Once the book orders are collected and the orders are sent into Scholastic, it takes about two weeks to receive them here at school.

We have found a lot of success with the workshop model approach to math, so the first few weeks of school will be spent setting up the expectations and procedures of Math workshop. We have been concentrating on habits that mathematicians use. The students have been demonstrating these behaviors in classroom discussions, their morning work, calendar math, partner work, and independent practice. With our new math program, Envisions, we will begin math workshop very soon!

Math facts and mental math are a huge component of 4th grade math. Students should have their addition and subtraction facts mastered as well as multiplication facts, 1’s, 2’s, 5’s, and 10’s. Please take time to review these facts with your child. Every child will be participating in the Fastt Math program. This a computer based program the district adopted to help students master their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. It has been recommended that 4th graders start with mastering their multiplication facts. Each child works at their own pace to work his or her way toward learning the facts. We will begin this very soon. Fastt Math is worked on at school, however this doesn’t mean that math facts should be forgotten about at home. Please remind your child to practice their math facts.

Writing

The month of September will be spent learning and practicing the expectations for the writers’ workshop. We have started with learning to write better answers. The students will be expected to answer their questions in paragraph form. This includes restating the question, supporting their answer with four details from the reading passage, and writing a conclusion sentence. This should be a review from 3rd grade. Through this learning, the writing process will be highlighted for the students.

This year the students will be focusing on 3 genres in their writing: narrative, opinion, and expository writing. We will be working on a personal narrative to begin the year. This is a piece of writing that the students choose an experience that has already happened to them and they “zoom” in and focus on writing the details step by step.

Your child will be given the homework assignment of gathering flat items such as photographs, stickers, ribbons, cards, etc. that represent themselves. These items will be used to decorate the cover of their writer’s notebook. Please make copies of sentimental pictures before allowing your child to bring them in.

Spelling

To begin the year in spelling we will be focusing on our high frequency word list. These are words that students are expected to spell correctly in their everyday writing. The words are on display in the classroom, as well as on a portable word wall for the students to keep in their folder. The students will be given a test to see which words they have already mastered. The words that are incorrect will be added to their word work section of their writer’s notebook and will be gradually added onto their spelling lists.

Eventually the students will be given a list of words that fit their spelling needs. Each student will be given the Word Journey assessment. This is a tool that allows me to identify where your child is a speller. The students will receive small group spelling lessons on words based in their zone of proximal development for spelling.

The first few weeks of spelling will be setting up and going over the expectations of spelling workshop. During this time the students will be working on different language arts components such as word work, shared writing, writing task cards, and working on mastering their typing skills. Reading

We have started our reading lessons by getting acquainted with the classroom library and focusing on behaviors that support reading (such as getting started right away, staying in one spot, reading just right books, building stamina as a reader, and working quietly).

This year our reading lessons will include multiple read aloud books, whole group, small group, and individual reading conferences. We will focus on both fiction and nonfiction. Reading lessons connect with other subject areas whenever possible to help make them relevant to the students.

During the first week of school a letter and Reading At Home (RAH) forms were explained to the students and sent home to parents. The packet of forms should be enough for the first several weeks of school. There are always more forms in Mrs. Greenlaw’s classroom, or you are welcome to make your own. It is important that students read for 30 minutes at home almost every night. Like most things, we get better at reading by practicing often. RAH does count toward your child’s reading grade.

It is expected that every student always have a book to read. Students are expected to read the same book at home and at school so multiple chapter books are not being read at the same time. However, Reading At Home does not always have to include a chapter book. It is important for students to practice reading multiple, age appropriate, types of text (the newspaper, magazines, comics, etc). I also believe that it is valuable for students to listen to fluent readers read aloud to them sometimes. I would like to encourage a good mix of reading to take place at home. The overall goal is for students to enjoy reading and become life long readers.

Science

Our first official science unit is Land & Water. Over the next several weeks, students will make observations about the effects of water on soil. They will build a model of a stream and conduct experiments with differing quantities and speeds of water to see how it affects the soil. Other than learning about the science content, the three big objectives that I hope for students to gain from science class are: working as teams, making observations, and being able to clearly write & draw their observations in a detailed manner. The majority of our science lessons are hands on experiments in small groups of about 4-5 students. Students will make observations, in writing and drawings, in science notebooks provided by Mrs. Greenlaw.

Social Studies

In social studies we are going to be focusing on Maine studies. The students will learn about the various symbols that represent Maine. We started the unit off with discussing places that make Maine special. Your child may have come home asking for a photograph of the place in Maine that they considered special. Throughout the unit we will be focusing on Maine’s government, geography, state symbols, animals that live in Maine, products produced in Maine, and bodies of water.

The students will also become familiar with their social studies textbook through a scavenger hunt. This will familiarize them with what they will be studying this year as well as give them a review of nonfiction text features.

Dates to Remember

September 11 – Picture Day September 16 – After School Program begins – Sign up at the Rec. Center, if interested. September 24 – Early Release Day. Students will be released at 11:45. October 13 – Columbus Day – No School November 11 – Veterans’ Day – No School November 24 & 25 – Parent/Teacher Conferences – No School We will send home a sign up sheet for Parent/Teacher Conferences as the time get closer. November 26-30 – Thanksgiving Break – No School