I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and are ready for a busy week.
Passport to Adventure!
On Thursday, December 8, 2016, we will have our Passport to Adventure-Literacy Night. Each grade level is learning about a different continent and will present their learning to the community on Thursday night. The fourth graders are working on projects about Asia. We are researching Asia and its countries as well as analyzing fairy tales from Asian cultures. Come see our posters, plays, artwork, and computer presentations!
Libraries of Love-Book Drive for Africa
We will kick off our Libraries of Love Book Drive on Thursday with a video about the organization and their accomplishments in Uganda, Africa. We will collect donations of new or gently used HARD COVER books that will go to Africa for the children. Trudy Marshall, the founder of Libraries of Love and a former RRISD librarian, will be at our Passport to Adventure-Literacy Night to talk about her project. Our school will have a Walk to Read Event on Friday, Jan. 13 at 1:15 and will collect books and donations until that day. Learn more at https://librariesoflove.org/. Thank you in advance for your support.
Reading Contest-We had a Thanksgiving Contest as part of our reading challenge and there were some students who read a lot! That was very impressive! Those students received some prizes and some already earned a Schlitterbahn ticket! (The purple Schlitterbahn ticket papers need to be returned in February) However, many children didn't read or didn't record ANY reading from the Thanksgiving Break. That was very concerning for me because daily reading is necessary to maintain reading level. Lots of reading is necessary to increase reading level. Most of our students are good readers, but all of us need to read on a regular basis and challenge ourselves to continue to improve and reach our goals. We will have another reading contest over winter break and it will NOT be optional. Your child will receive a grade for their winter break reading log. Be sure to expect daily reading and model it yourselves. Talk about books and make it enjoyable and fun for everyone. Reading is amazing and I can't wait to hear about all the reading adventures from the winter break. Happy Reading!
40 Book Reading Challenge-Monthly Challenge-Biography-Your child needs to read a biography independently by Tuesday, December 13 to participate in our monthly challenge lunch on Wednesday, December 14. Be sure that your child has a biography or borrows one from school, so that they can get started. It is very interesting to learn about someone's life and the challenges that he/she overcame to achieve their goals.
Holiday Party-We will have our class Holiday Party on Thursday, Dec. 15 at 1:00. You will receive a sign up genius asking for supplies and volunteers this week. Thank you in advance for your help.
Read about our week:
Reading-We began some book club groups this week and have met to discuss the chapters read. We read independently, write a short summary and response to keep track of our thinking, then meet with our groups to discuss. It has been going very well and we will finish these books in December and begin some new book club groups in January. Family book clubs are also a great activity for your family and a wonderful way to share experiences and check for understanding. Analyzing characters together makes for rich conversations. Try it at home!
Writing-We are working on expository writing. We examined some models from different grade levels and discussed the strengths and next steps from these models. We then reflected and wrote some of our own strengths and next steps. Some of us used some sentence stems to help us organize and elaborate. We will continue to work on expository writing this week.
Spelling-we worked on silent letters b and w and will continue with more silent letters this week. g as in gnat and sign, k as in know, and t as in listen.
Grammar-we will continue to work on run on sentences.
Social Studies-We researched Asia and watched some videos of Asian Folk Tales. We are working on projects that will teach others about Asia and are looking forward to sharing these projects on Thursday at Literacy Night-Passport to Adventure.
Dates to Remember:
Monday, Dec. 5-College Shirt Day, Writing Club 2:50-3:50
Tuesday, Dec. 6-FCE Senior Choir Tour
Wednesday, Dec. 7-PTA Family Fun Night at Zaxby's
Thursday, Dec. 8-Passport to Literacy Night at FCE-More info to come
Friday, Dec. 9- Homework packets due, Reading Response Letter due, Spelling test, Turn in Reading Logs as you finish them, FCE Spirit Day! Wear purple and green. Ridgeview Band, Choir, and Orchestra Concert at 1:15 pm
Monday, Dec. 12-College Shirt Day, Service Club 2:50-3:50 pm
Tuesday, Dec. 13-Visit with our Mentors from The Court Retirement Facility-9:15-10:30, Turn in cards for Biography Monthly Challenge
Wednesday, Dec. 14-Monthly Challenge Treat at lunch time-Biography
Thursday, Dec. 15-Winter Party for fourth grade at 1:00 pm in classrooms, Homework packets due. Reading Response Letters due, NO SPELLING TEST
Friday, Dec. 16-Winter Break begins-Winter Break Reading Contest!
Tuesday, Jan. 3-Welcome back to school! Winter Break Reading Logs due for grade.
Let me know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you for sharing your children with me.
Sincerely,
Pam
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