What a September!

It's hard to believe that September is just about over! We have had a great first month of school! The students have become accustom to the class routine! I will utilize this blog as our weekly newsletter to families updating you on the comings and goings of room 146. I will try to update the blog on Fridays, or during the weekend. I will list the activities we are working on in each subject in an attempt to shed some light on the things we do in school, I'm sure you probably get the same answer to the "what did you do in school today" as I do when I ask my own children. So here goes... 

Reading 

We are finishing the DRA, a reading assessment that helps me find your child's instructional level in reading. Our reading groups will also be made from the information gained from the DRA. We are also working together to learn the ins and outs of our reader reasponse journals. We are reading Room One by Andrew Clements as a whole class. Our reading strategies are getting lots of practice in our whole class discussions. Eventually I will send home cards for the children to use at home. These cards will help you see what your child is thinking as they read. Cut the cards up and place one of each in front of you and your child. Read a passage together, stop at a predetermined point in the story, and pick up the card that corresponds with your thinking. Within the next week we will break into groups and begin to use the comprehension strategies in small, teacher guided groups, with the hopes that the students can use them on their own. We are also working constructed responses in our reading response journals. The students are answering questions and using the text to support their thinking. This takes practice and I am utilizing the gradual release method to guide them to completing this task independently. The students have listened to my though process along the way and I am formulating answers based on their feedback. Some students are giving it a try on their own already!

Math 

We are coming to the end of our geometry unit in math. We will complete the unit 1 post test on Tuesday. I will send home a study guide on Monday. The post test is made up of examples we have practiced in class and I'm confident that everyone will do great! We have practiced determining differences between shapes based on sides and angles, types of lines used to make the figures, and we also have practiced similar figures and congruency. Our next unit will be data, statistics, and probability. 

Writing 

We are finishing our All About Me stories. The students completed an editing activity and we review the revising process. Students will revise their own writing and then participate in peer editing. Once they have peer edited their writing, a teacher conference will take place before the final copy is written. Now that we have 6 computers working in our classroom, we will put them to good use to publish pieces. If you have not sent in a USB drive for classroom use, now will be the time to do so. We no longer have a computer lab, so not every student will get to publish every piece. What I don't want to see is students rushing through the writing process to get to a computer.  If I start to see students skipping parts of the writing process or rushing through their work, I may not allow them on the computers for that piece.

Social Studies/Science

Our continents and oceans test were wonderful. We are working on latitude, longitude, and the compass rose. We will begin science the first week in October. Our rocks and minerals kit has come in and preparations are being made for our first investigation. 

Miscellaneous 

• Our first breakfast club will be held Friday October 7th. I will have muffins and juice available to those students who have completed all their homework for the month of September.  Look for the invitation to come home sometime next week.

• NECAP reading is October 4-6th. Math NECAP is October 11-13th. Please make sure your child has had a good breakfast and plenty of sleep. I will limit homework to just reading and math logs during NECAP, no spelling homework will be given. 

• There is no school this Wednesday for professional development, and on Thursday for the holiday

• There will be school on parent teacher conference days (November and April) we have not been notified as to how conferences will be made up as of now. I hope everyone enjoys the weekend!

• Feel free to leave a comment!

Mrs. Kiernan's 4th grade Rocks!!