News for August 18

Dear Families:

We have just finished week 2, and next Thursday the 21st of August is Back to School Night, which begins at 4P.M.

Look for another email with detailed information, but know that the two "teacher speaking" sessions are at 4 and at 5 in the classroom.

It is very important that at least one parent attend. If you miss the event, email me at tbritt@aisch.org so that we can make an appointment to meet.

Dates to Note:

*August 21: Back to School Night at 4

*August 25-28: School photos

Homework:  

This link provides videos that support current geometry instruction in class. We are not studying geometric solids or volume, but the other videos are relevant.

http://www.mathatube.com/geometry-home.html

Students who cannot score above 90% accuracy on 50 multiplication facts in 3 minutes, must study at home. Here are some study tools:

1. Hoops Multiplication with an Expo marker. A copy of these will come home soon.

2. Product Pile Up with a deck of cards.

3. Flash Cards

4. Use an online game from my blog, such as http://freerice.com/user/login

Here are brief blurbs about our current units of study:

During Reading Workshop, we are Building a Reading Life by learning how to select “Just Right” books and building a series of habits that will help us think deeply about our reading. For example, we are now using the StopNJot, which is a quick blurb on a sticky-note.

In grade 3, students focused on text to text, text to self, and text to world StopNJots. In grade 4, we are adding in a plethora of new ways to StopNJot including “Making Inferences”.

Please encourage your son or daughter to write 2 or 3 StopNJots as they are reading for homework.

During Writing Workshop we are learning to write “Long and Strong” and writing every day, which is new for most grade 4 students. Building stamina is the most difficult aspect of writing, so we encourage students to use pre-writing strategies, such as webbing, listing, sketching, and the like. Then as we draft, we do not stress about spelling and grammar. We simply push kids to get “ideas” on the page!

Our first genre of writing is The Summary: instruction for this begins next week. We will use the wonderful children’s book The Emperor and The Kite to explore how to infer author’s purpose or theme and then weave our theories into a persuasive summary. Students will work through the writing process and have models written by the teachers to use as a guide. Then, they will be asked to write at least one summary per month at home.  

For science, Electricity and Magnetism is our focus. Yet, building habits that good scientists use is just as important. Students are learning to use “the power of quiet observation” as their first habit, which is torturous because so many kids want to yell out “I see the magnets doing…!”

Another habit, which is challenging, is to keep a tidy and detailed science notebook.

Thanks for reading!

If you have any questions please email me us tbritt@aisch.org and ddeanna@aisch.org.

Ms. T and Ms. Deanna