Thursday...

Hi All,
We have had a very busy day today, and tomorrow should be a big day, too.  Tomorrow is our end of the month celebration, and we are switching to October's character trait, which is creativity.  We are asking students to wear tie-dyed shirts if they have them, or brightly colored shirts.

Homework for tonight is as follows:

• Reading: Log; study for reading test over Kapok Tree story and vocabulary
• Spelling: study for test
• Math: finish worksheet
• Study for DR quiz

Wednesday Reminders

Hi! Please forgive me for missing a couple of days!!! The hectic schedules and sinus season have worn me down....but a VERY IMPORTANT REMINDER--TOMORROW IS PICTURE DAY!!!!! The Picture Order Form was sent home Monday. You will need to send in the payment tomorrow if you would like to order pictures. These are the pictures that will be in the yearbook and your child's picture will be taken even if you do not place an order. So be sure to look nice and wear your best smile! :)

Other news:
There will be a Reading Test, a Spelling Test, and a Daily Review Quiz on Friday! This will be our first weekly Reading Test over a story from the book (The Great Kapok Tree) and it will include an Open Response Question. We will be talking about Open Response Questions in class tomorrow. Students should already have some experience with these from past years, but they are probably out of practice. There will be many more as the year progresses.
Tonight's homework is:
Reading: LOG and Finish Scavenger Hunt worksheet (if not finished in class)---most likely will need the book for this
Math: Practice 5-3 Estimating Products (if not finished in class)
Spelling: Study words

Have a great night!!!

Kentucky Kids' Day

Fun + Educational = SUCCESS!
Today was a great day! The kids had fun AND they learned a lot! We've been studying animals in the last month and each hallway was turned into an animal habitat. Our hallway was the ocean! (I think it was the best one of all....but I could be biased.....=]......) I think it looked AMAZING!!! The kids loved it, too.

We made jellyfish using cool colors and wrote things that made us special on them. The students learned about ocean animals (vertebrates and invertebrates) in Science and made sea creatures to swim in our ocean....and in Language Arts, we took an ocean plant or animal to create a [fictional] "Why Story" (a story that tells why something is the way it is).
We had visitors today from the Lexington Philharmonic, local artist Garty Bertram, the Humane Society,and many other wildlife experts with REAL LIVE WILDLIFE! (Ask your child if he/she touched any slimy critters today!) I think it was a very successful day! The kids seemed to enjoy it and they learned a lot....and THAT is always a good thing! :)
Have a great weekend!

Tremendous(ly Busy) Thursday

Well, at least tomorrow is Friday! Tomorrow is also Kentucky Kids' Day!! Don't forget to have your child wear his/her YELLOW shirt provided by the PTO tomorrow! We will have several guest speakers visiting us related to our animal theme....and it looks to be a fun day!
Tonight's homework is:
Reading: LOG
Spelling: Sort worksheet and Study for TEST tomorrow!
Language Arts: Finish "Why Story" (8 sentence final draft) should have been finished in class hopefully!
Math: Multiplication worksheet (also should have been finished in class)
*Review for DR Quiz tomorrow!!
We didn't get through all the Book Projects today, but we'll try to finish them tomorrow...or get through as many as we can. There were a lot of really creative and original ideas presented today! I was really impressed with the effort students put into it.
Keep working on multiplication facts. It continues to be a struggle for so many. We appreciate all you do to help at home! Have a great night!

Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! Remember that Winn Dixie book projects are due tomorrow! Ten points will be deducted if it is not turned in on time. Other homework tonight is:
Reading- LOG
Math- Practice 4-4 worksheet ODDs ONLY
Spelling- Study words
Don't forget to work on multiplication facts!!!

The shirts from PTO were sent home today. They are BRIGHT yellow! You won't be able to miss it! :)  Please have your child wear his/hers on Friday. We ask that students do not sign/write on them until the end of the year.
Happy Birthday to one of our students today--Hannah!!! It is also my daughter's 8th birthday today! So, I'll have to include a picture..... :-)

Gloomy Tuesday

Hi Parents!
Tonight's homework: Reading LOG & Study Spelling words
Math: Finish Multiplication worksheet (keep practicing those multiplication facts!!!)
Don't forget that Because of Winn Dixie projects are due Thursday. Hopefully, you've already started working on this!
Students have been working hard this week on earning AR points--great!!! Our class has the highest average on their AR Test scores, too...YAY US!!!

Finally, I want to say THANK YOU to all the parents who volunteered Friday night and helped out with our class game. We couldn't do it without you! The Fall Fair was a lot of fun and a great success!
Don't forget that we will be sending home shirts tomorrow for Kentucky Kids Day and you can wash them if you want. We are asking that your child wear this shirt to school on Friday. Be sure to ask your child about the "ocean" in our hallway this week!
Have a great night!

Thrilling Thursday

Don't forget that tomorrow is our Fall Fair.  Games begin at 5:00, and pre-sale tickets will be on sale tomorrow morning at 10/$1.00.  They will be 10/$1.50 at the Fair.  Hope to see you there!  Also, tomorrow is the last day for the Book Fair.  It will NOT be open during the fair tomorrow night, so please send money with your child if you'd like them to shop during our library time tomorrow.

Tonight's homework is:

• Reading: Log; book report due one week from today
• Spelling: study for test
• Math: Practice X facts (we did 2's, 3's, and 4's today at school!)
• Study for DR quiz tomorrow

Wednesday

Even though there's not much homework tonight, I sent a paper home today about a Reading Project so please look for that! This project over Because of Winn Dixie will be due next Thursday, September 22nd, and there were several possible ideas on the paper that came home today. I told students to think about what his/her talents are and try to choose a project that would go along with that. This will count as a Reading Test grade and is worth 100 points. Be sure to talk to your child tonight about what he/she would like to do for this so they can begin working on it this weekend!
Other homework: Reading LOG and Study Spelling words....AND ....PLEASE practice multiplication facts! Fourth Grade Math is very challenging without having basic multiplication facts memorized. If there's any night when there isn't a lot of homework, please use the extra time to drill and practice these.
Thanks for all your help!!!

Monday

Happy Monday! Today was BUSY! Things were a little hectic with Grandparents Day....and the Book Fair...and preparing for Fall Festival....but overall, it was a great day! I really enjoyed meeting many of your family members. It means a lot to the students for you to take time out of your schedule to spend time with them, so thanks for showing you care.
Midterms came home today. Please sign and return this as soon as possible. Remember that this is a progress report so there is still a lot of time left in the grading period for grades to improve! Not many graded papers came home in the yellow folder today, so look for these later in the week...however a newsletter did come home and I hope to get all of the newsletters on the blog this week!!!
Other homework: Reading LOG, Study Spelling words (long u this week), and do EVEN problems on Practice 3-15 Math worksheet.
Have a great night!

Battle of the Books

Okay, so that last one didn't work....let's try it again....

I found the Battle of the Books link on the Scott County website! Hopefully, you can get there by clicking here. If it works, I'll include it in the links to the right!

Friendly Reminders

Hi Parents! I hope you are all enjoying the weekend and especially the fabulous sunshine today! Oh, how I missed it all week!
A few things I keep forgetting to tell you:
1. Our treasure box is running low already. This is because our class is so fabulous that our treasures go so quickly! However, I am in need of some items to restock it. Anything is appreciated (small things like starburst or bigger things like pencils--anything!!)..SO....if you are out and see something inexpensive that you could grab, that would be so helpful. Thanks in advance for your help with this!
2. Any fourth grader who wishes to retake his/her Grammar Quiz over Types of Sentences can do so on Monday (September 12th). This will be the same format as the original test and students should have the study guide and the first test to study.
3. Don't forget that THIS MONDAY (September 12th) is Grandparents' Day for our class. If you or another family member would like to come eat lunch with your child, please feel free to join us at 12:05 on Monday.
4. The Book Fair begins this week! If your child would like to purchase something, please have him/her bring money on Monday and Thursday this week. If you or a grandparent would like to take them to shop while visiting, that is also fine.
5. Finally, mid-terms come home on Monday. This will be your child's first progress report of fourth grade. Remember that this is just to let you know his/her progress at this point. We are halfway through the grading period and there will be many more grades taken. However, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is that every student complete every assignment and turn it in on time. Missing assignments can drastically impact grade averages! Low test grades can also bring grades down quickly. I can't encourage you enough to read AR books and take the quizzes because this will be a big part of the Reading grade. This is not included on the mid-term, but many students have zero points right now and that will bring the average down quickly!
6. Our Fall Fair is Friday night! Come join us for an evening of fun! Thank you to all the parents who volunteered to work our class game (Face Painting)! We can't do it without you!!!! If you still want to volunteer, it's not too late! Just send me a note on Monday and I will try to finalize the schedule and send it to you by Tuesday to let you know your time for sure.
Thanks for everything you do and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Thursday

Hi Parents!!! Tonight's homework:
Math: Subtraction (with zeros) worksheet
Reading: LOG
Spelling: Study words for TEST tomorrow!
and Review DRs for Quiz tomorrow!!!!
Have a great night! Stay dry and warm!!!

Tuesday (but feels like Monday)

I hope everyone enjoyed their LONG weekend! I know I did, but it still seems to go so fast! We sent home yellow folders today FULL of graded papers and other such things, but we did not send home a newsletter today. Last week's Grammar Quiz over Types of Sentences will come home tomorrow. I want to go over these in class tomorrow and discuss them again. Since several students did not do too well, I am going to give everyone a chance to improve their grade by offering a RETEST next Monday, September 12th. If your child got an 85% or higher, he/she does not HAVE to retake the test, but is welcome to do so if they would like the chance to get a higher grade. I will take the average of the two tests together for a final test grade.
Also, don't forget that Reading Logs count as a daily grade in Reading as well as AR. Each student is expected to have 10 AR points by the end of the grading period. This will count as a Reading Grade. I will also take a separate reading grade for the average percentages of the scores of these tests. For example, if a child earns ten points but took 20 test and averaged a 60% on the quizzes, then they will get 100% for one grade and a 60% for another. Thus, please encourage your child to be reading AR books at home (during Reading Log time) and taking AR quizzes over those books. There is time given almost every day for students to take AR quizzes.
Tonight's homework: Reading Log and Study Spelling Words.
Tomorrow we have Library, so please remember to bring back your books!! Have a great night!!!

Thursday :)

Hi Parents! I don't know about you, but it seems like things just keep getting busier and busier! Along with getting older this week and the changing weather, my mind and body is getting slower while my life keeps moving faster! That said, sorry I didn't post homework last night. Tonight's homework is a Review page in Math (the back side of a worksheet completed in class--should be in the homework folder if you want to check!) and a Spelling worksheet (Sorting the words by their spelling patterns). The Spelling worksheet could have been completed and turned in during class. Other homework is to study spelling words for tomorrow's test and review DRs for tomorrow's quiz....and of course, the reading log. I collected the Reading Log for August and gave students a new one for September. When your child reads tonight, be sure to fill out the box for September 1st.
We are having an assembly tomorrow to kick off our new character trait (knowledge) for the month so please have your child wear YELLOW if possible. Other important reminders:
Giovanni's SGE Spirit Day is TODAY!  We get a portion of their profits ALL DAY long today!  So take the family out for dinner or bring something home!
PTO Fundraisers are due!  Please send in order forms and money tomorrow.
Remember there is no school Monday for Labor Day!
The first Midterm ends 9/7 and reports go home 9/12!
Start signing up now for Fall Fair help.  Each classroom needs several volunteers for a little while to help with their game.  It takes a little time, but makes a BIG difference!  Fall fair is September 16th.
Have a great night!!!