Our Week In Review

We had another wonderful week in Room 24!  The days seem to just fly by, despite the weather.

This week in math we continued to work on creating and analyzing patterns.  The focus of these math lessons is to encourage thinking and problem solving as we learn to find rules in number patterns.  Our test for this topic is Thursday, and the students received a study guide today.

In Reading we have continued to work on Asking Questions when we read.  Stopping to think about a story or a part of a story is essential to reading. Students have been asking "thick" and "thin" questions.  We also have been discussing different structures of non-fiction reading.  This has helped us focus on our non-fiction reading in science and social studies.We will begin reading our first Interactive Read Aloud, Mr. Popper's Penguins, next week.

We observed our terrariums this week, and will complete an experiment involving grass seed next week.

On Tuesday this week, we had our Puff Mobile Race.  What an event!  The students were excellent and showed wonderful sportsmanship.  You can see some photos of our race below.

On Wednesday, we were treated to a visit from the Assistant Director of the Franklin Library. What a wonderful visit!  Ms. Andrews shared so many library resources with us.  You can see more about her visit by visiting our Fourth Grade News page.

  Today was our trip to the Franklin Public Library.  We learned so much about the history and architecture of our library.  We learned about the Greek influences in the structure and artwork at the library.  We also learned about Ben Franklin and Horace Mann. Best of all, we were able to check out library books!  Some of our students interviewed one of the librarians.  You can find the interview on our Fourth Grade page, or by clicking here.

The interviewers used chromebooks to document their work.

Later today we began working on our List Poems with Mrs. Williams' class. We are excited to share these poems with you!

From the Teacher's Desk ~

The students have adjusted very well to the expectations of fourth grade. As you know, we are focusing largely on independence and responsibility. To that end, I have stopped checking assignment notebooks, with the exception of a few students. Students have been responsible for bringing home their materials and writing in their assignment books. I have checked the books on Friday when I check for a parent signature as well.

I wanted to mention our homework policy. You can also find it in our student handbook. Each term, students are all given a "freebie". This is one missed homework assignment, no consequence, the student just has to bring it in the next day. After the freebie, a student who misses an assignment a second, third or fourth time, must make it up (in some cases redo it) at recess. After that he/she can play. After that fourth miss, the student must miss the recess, do the homework, and write a letter to you to be signed. This is so that you are aware of the missed homework assignments and is a clear way for me to communicate that to you. Homework includes: the nightly written assignment, his/her library book, his/her nightly reading book (to be brought to and from school), the reading log (due Friday) and the parent signature in the assignment book (due Friday). The written assignments must be complete.

I know that as the year goes on, this will become a habit for your children. At this point, several students have used their "freebie" plus at least one more assignment. I'd appreciate it if you take a minute and talk with your child about his/her homework progress. If your child has missed assignments, it is often helpful to set up a regular location for homework, and to have some type of checklist to be sure items are packed correctly. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about this. I am happy to assist.

Lastly, I have created an optional parent survey.  If possible, please take a few minutes to complete the survey.  You can find it here.