Week of 9/19/16 - 9/23/16

A few reminders: 

• Conference sign up email http://www.signupgenius.com/go/70a0d4ca4aa28a13-october
• If you are interested in receiving text messages from us to remind you about field trips etc. then  text 81010 and message @2016room3 to join our text messages

Reading:  We slowly continued our class novel, Shiloh this week.  Already the students feel invested in this powerful story about a boy who discovers a dog that is mistreated by his owner.  This Newbury Award winning book is wonderful for teaching character development, internal and external conflict, plot development, and personal responses.  It's. so. good.   Ask your child about the main character, Marty, about where the story takes place, and about Shiloh.flat vs round characters.  Who is who?  (hint:  Marty and Judd are round because we know their thoughts, feelings, and how others feel about them.... Marty's family and Mr. Wallace are flat because we don't know as much, but they are important because they help us learn more about the main characters).  

Our independent reading workshop is off to a good start, too.  I'm noticing the kids already making better book choices and I look forward to working with them personally and in groups to develop their skills!  Ask them what they're reading during independent workshop.  Share with them some of your favorites!  

During read aloud, I re-introduced the genre "folktale"and we read one from India called "The Hare and the Moon."  It was my absolute favorite teaching moment of the week- their eyes!!!  Ask the kids about the hare's sacrifice and what the lesson of the story was.

Writing:  We are following along with the Lucy Calkin's Writing Units of Study, as is the rest of the district.  As I mentioned at Curriculum Night, it's a fantastic series of lessons that naturally guide students through the writing process in a fun way for each of the major writing genres.  We are beginning the narrative unit so this week we focused on gathering realistic story ideas for fictional narratives.  We chose an idea and, before launching into a draft, we developed some of the characters that we think the story might have.   Ask your kids about what story idea they chose.  Ask them to tell you about their characters internal and external characteristics.   

4th Grade Math: This week we moved on in our place value unit to rounding numbers.  We worked on rounding numbers in the thousands, ten thousands, and hundred thousands using a vertical number line.  We looked at the middle number in between two numbers to help us decide where to round.  On Friday we learned how to round the numbers without the number line (although students are welcome to always use the number line).  We also signed up for an online math program, Zearn and set up our app accounts on Educreations. I will be audio taping most of our math lessons so students can listen to it at home. Ask your student to show you the educreations app and how they can listen to today's math lesson.

Social Studies:   This week we wrapped up our fall growth mindset lessons with talking about effective effort.  We discussed how important effort is in our school work and what it means to put in a certain amount of effective effort.  We looked at an effective effort sundae (a little effort had an empty bowl and spoon and a lot of effort had everything including whipped cream) and then rated our effort.  Students found areas they are great at and areas that are goals for them.  We made to padlets to share our areas of strength and goals.  You can look at them here.  i'm awesome and  my goal.  Ask your student what they see as their strength and goal.

Science: This week we began studying soil components through our "Soil, Rocks, and Landforms" and Landforms" unit.  We had fun mixing up the materials and guessing which sample matched its real-life location.  We also enjoyed adding water to the vials to see how it all settled.   We will continue to study soil components next week!    Ask your kids which soil component settled to the bottom, and which sample they liked the most.

Miscellaneous: 

Whittier School will offer the “Early PE” program for 4th and 5th grade students. Times are from 7:00 to 7:30am for 5th grade and 7:30 to 8:00am for 4th grade. Early PE is everyday and runs Monday through Friday. This program will begin Monday September 26, 2016.  Current research shows that engaging in physical activity stimulates brain functioning, which results in improving reading and comprehension levels.  The plan is to provide an opportunity for students to increase physical activity every day.  All activities will be planned with cardiovascular fitness as a priority along with using good sportsmanship, and having fun. The students will use the gym space and possibly outdoor space during this time.  If you wish for your child to participate in the Early PE program, please complete the lower portion of this letter. Although not mandatory, please have your child try their best to participate every day Monday through Friday.  7:00 to 7:30am for 5th grade and 7:30 to 8:00am for 4th grade.   Morning drop off area will be in front of the school on Harvey

A message from PTO:  We are in search of parent volunteers who might be interested in servings as PTO parent liaisons for your classroom.  We're hoping we might be able to ask you for help in our search.  The goal of this partnership is to provide a more personalized line of communication between parents and the PTO.  We hope that adding PTO Liaisons will strengthen our school community and help us increase our pool of PTO parent volunteers.  General PTO parent liaison duties include:  

1) answering questions parents might have about PTO

2) providing parents and your classroom reminders about upcoming PTO events

3) assisting PTO chair members with marketing or recruitment for upcoming PTO events

4) requesting, from teachers, e-mail or other contact information of the families in their classroom

If you have any questions, please email either of the PTO Co-VPs of Parent Engagement: Esther Lopez at estherlopezdds@gmail.com or Kathy Dull at Kathy_dull@yahoo.com.