It's Monday!

I hope everyone had a great weekend! We have a busy week at school this week.

First of all, I moved the reading tips to the left hand side of the blog...please be sure to check them out!!

Second, just a reminder that we have NWEA testing Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday this week.

Third, OES Book Club papers are coming home today. Try to get involved in at least one of these this year. It is a great way to read with your child and the Book Club nights are a lot of fun! The books are very good as well!

Fourth, we are continuing to work on place value in math. Even if we don't have homework it is great practice to have them write numbers in standard (1,236), expanded (1,000+200+30+6), and word form (one thousand, two hundred thirty-six) whenever you get a chance.

Have a great week!!

At Home Reading Tips

First of all, thanks for a great open house! It was great having such wonderful turn out!!

I had several parents ask at open house about how to help their child at home with their reading. Reading is essential to a student's success throughout school. I didn't have time to have long discussions and give ideas as I wanted, so I thought I would post some here.

Every night we have a nightly reading assignment of 20 minutes. This is highly recommended by literacy experts. It is even more beneficial for your child when there is conversation involved along with the reading. This can be included in part of the 20 minutes. This is the only way your child can be held accountable for not only reading, but understanding what they are reading.

Before reading:

*make predictions

*set a purpose (ie after reading I am going to ask you how the two characters are alike)

*talk about difficult vocabulary

*expect thinking and notes

While reading:

*students should collect notes (charts, sticky notes, etc.)

*jot down any difficult words

*have them read some out loud to you (you may also read some to them)

After reading:

*have a discussion

*review notes

*discuss vocabulary

*review the reading purpose you set earlier

WNB Headline

We spent some time in Writing Workshop today going through magazines and cutting out headlines that sparked some sort of story idea. I then modeled how to take one of those headlines and turn it into a story. I used my headline "Vacation Magic" as the title for my story. Take one of your headlines in your WNB and turn it into a story! Have fun and I can't wait to read them!!

Reminders

Hey Everyone! I can't believe the first week of school is officially over! Wow, time is flying! I hope that everyone is getting back into the school routine. The kids have been doing a great job of getting back into school mode here at school. Just a few reminders about upcoming events:

• Field trip and T-shirt forms are due Tuesday, August 25th.
• Back to School Night is Tuesday, August 25th 6:30-7:30
• Berne Field Trip is Friday, Sept. 11th
• PTO shirt sales are currently going on as well
• We have NWEA testing on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of next week

If you have any questions be sure to ask!! Thanks and have a great weekend!

WNB Sketch

Writers use their notebook to make some sketches as well. Have fun tonight and be creative! Sketch something from home: a room, a special place, an object, anything!!

Stella and Mrs. Butcher

I have had lots of requests for a picture of Stella...so I thought I would post one :)

Writer's Notebook Homework (WNB)

We have a WNB assignment tonight. Here are the directions in case anyone forgot:

How did you get your name? Ask your parents how they decided on your name. Write about it. Were you going to be named something different? Did they each have something different picked out? What were you going to be named if you were a girl/boy? Be creative!!

Our Class!

What a good looking bunch of 4th graders!

Showing their true colors....

First Day

One day of school down only 179 more to go! Great job today everyone! I was very impressed with every one of you!

Tell me, what did you enjoy most today?

Back To School

Can you believe it is time to think about heading back to school already? How do days go by so quickly? I am very excited about beginning a new school year! It will not only be a new classroom for all of you, but for me as well! I can't wait for you guys to come in and see what we have done with our classroom. It is looks great!

This blog will be a great source of information for students and parents! It actually takes the place of our newsletter. For those who may not have Internet access, I will be more than happy to print it off when I add something new. It may take awhile to get used to, but as the year progresses it becomes much easier. The students get more and more involved and comfortable with technology.

I will give everyone more information once the school year begins and at Back to School Night!