Our Week In Review

We made it to our first Friday!  This week we continued to work on establishing our classroom community, while beginning to focus on our academic tasks.We began our week with our first 4th grade Community Meeting. We greeted each other, and learned a little about one another. We finished our meeting by learning a few yoga poses.

On Tuesday, we were entertained by the FPS Music Department!  The music/band teachers came to JFK to share information about various instruments.  I'm sure many students were at the instrument rental night last night.

During math, we have been learning about Place Value, as well as working on our routines and expectations of Math Workshop.  Students can find some videos, games and other links which reinforce this topic on our blog on the Homework Help page (The link is also at the top of this page).  If your child would like to access the online version of the math book, there is a link on the Homework Help page as well.  Our first math quiz - on Place Value- will take place next Thursday.  Students will receive a study guide soon, and we will discuss the best ways to prepare next week.

During Reading this week, we focused on learning the structure and routines of Reader's Workshop.  We read some picture books, and students filled out a survey, sharing their feelings about reading.  We practiced our "Reading Zone" (independent reading) and began discussing strategies for choosing a "Just Right" book.  Next week, Mrs. Merten will help students fill their book bags and we will begin to have formal reading conferences.  One important aspect of Reader's Workshop is that the students read the same book at home and at school.  This maintains consistency with student thinking about the plot, characters, theme, etc. Students should be taking reading books back and forth to school each day, and are invited to take books from our classroom library.  Students are also invited to bring books to school from home. In the coming weeks, this will continue to be reinforced.

Looking Ahead~

• We will be talking more about our Hopes, Dreams and Goals for fourth grade, and writing about these during Writer's Workshop.
• We will begin our first Social Studies unit, Map Skills.

From the Teacher's Desk:

A major focus of fourth grade is independence and responsibility.  There has already been much discussion about what this looks like, and how students can show independence and responsibility. This theme will be woven into our year. I look forward to meeting you at our parent orientation meeting on Thursday.

Choosing Just Right Books
You may have heard the term "Just Right Books" from your child. A just right book is one that your child enjoys, can read with few errors, and has vocabulary that is understandable. It is expected that these books will look a bit easier than you expect.

When choosing a just right book, I've asked the children to follow some steps:
1. "5 Finger Rule": Students should open the book to a page (not the first one) and read it. Each time there is a word that needs to be sounded out, or is hard to read, one finger goes up on your child's hand. If 5 fingers are raised at the end of the page, that book is not "Just Right".

2. "Clunks": Reading the same page, students should keep track of "clunks". A clunk is a word that your child may be able to read, but does not understand. Two clunks on the page is the maximum.

3. Read the back: Students should read the back (or inside jacket) of a book in order to be sure that the book is interesting to them. I've really stressed that the book must interest your child. Please discuss this with your child, and remind him/her that the book needs to interest him/her, not the teacher, friends or family.

We are working with the students to help them understand that although reading is work,  it should be FUN!