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News From Room 207Week of September 5, 2011
Important Dates
To Remember
9/5 MondayNo school
9/27 TuesdayCurriculum Night6:30pm
10/10 MondayNo SchoolColumbus Day
1 1/1 TuesdayNo SchoolParent Conferences
1 1/11 ThursdayNo SchoolVeterans Day
1 1/23-25Thanksgiving Break
12/24-1/1December Break
Thank you for yourgenerousdonations ofclassroom supplies.
News and AnnouncementsWelcome Fabulous Fourth Grade
Families,
I hope you are enjoying your long weekend. We had awonderful
first week getting to know each other and ourclassroom. We will
continue over the next several weeksestablishing a safe,
challenging learning environment as webuild our classroom community
and daily routines.
We will begin projects using our summer reading books thisweek.
If your child has not turned in their completed summerreading form,
they should do so on Tuesday morning. If you
have the book at home, please send it in. There is no need
topurchase the book though if you currently do not have it athome.
We have several extra copies of each book at school.Additionally,
please be sure to send in a healthy snack daily.All snacks must be
peanut-free. We will have a morningsnack and recess daily from
10:45-11:00am.
I send home a weekly newsletter telling you about our weekand
upcoming events. Our newsletter will typically be emailedhome by
Monday mornings. If you would prefer a hard copy,please let me know
and I am happy to send one home in yourchilds Monday folder.
I enjoyed meeting many of you at Dean Park and I amlooking
forward to seeing you at Curriculum Night when I willgo into
further detail about our fourth grade year. We willbegin in our
classroom, room 207 at 6:30pm. At 7:15pm, you willbe invited to
join Mr. Mabie in the cafeteria for additionalinformation. The
evening will be completed by 7:30pm.
Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions
orconcerns. The best way to contact me is by using my schoole-mail
address at [email protected]. You shouldalso feel free
to send in a note to school.
I am looking forward to a wonderful year!
Warmly,Sandra Travers
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News From Room 207Week of September 5, 2011
Quote of the Week
Stay engagedto move forward!
SpecialsMonday-MusicTuesday-PEWednesday-ArtThursday-HealthFriday-Chorus
Media (every other week)Snack/Recess daily at ~10:45amLunch
12:05-12:40pm
August/September BirthdaysAugust12th Gregory28th
AnnabelleSeptember16th Sasha
English Language Arts (ELA)We will begin this week, combining
thestudy of engineering, technology andlanguage arts with the story
YiMins Great Wall. The children willdiscuss what technology is and
whatengineers do. Your children will buildtheir own walls with a
mortarmixture. The walls will have tosurvive a softball roll! This
content-connected project will provide theclass with cooperative
learning time,
fun, and LA skills. We will also focus onsummer reading
projects.
MathUnit 1 focuses on Geometry. Be sure tohave your child
explore thewww.aaamath.com website as time allows.Please practice
your addition/subtractionfacts nightly. We will be completingweekly
mad minutes to check ourprogress.
Read AloudOne day at the library, a book falls off the
self and hits Milo in the head. Its called BeA Perfect Person in
3 Days . In thebook, Dr. Pinkerton Silverfish doesnt look soperfect
but Milo decides to give it a try.Perfect is obviously the perfect
way to beor is it?
Social StudiesI am very excited about working withyour children
this year as we adventureacross the North American continent.This
introductory week will focus on
different types of maps, the continents,oceans, and
hemispheres.
ScienceWe will begin our unit on Earth Materialsthis week as we
investigate theproperties of Mock rocks. I am lookingforward to
exploring Earth Materials,Simple Machines and Magnets
&Electricitywith your children this year.
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News From Room 207
The following is a Reading Rockets article with practical
tips
for helping your child to better comprehend what they are
reading.The article can be accessed at
http://www.pbs.org/launchingreaders/parenttips_5.html.
Read about it, talk about it, and think about it!
Find ways for your child to build understanding, the ultimate
goal of learning how to read.
Make books special.Turn books and reading into something special
by taking your kids to the library, helping them
get their own library card, reading with them, and buying them
books as gifts. Have a favorite
place for books in your home, or even better, put books
everywhere.
Get them to read another one.Find ways to encourage your child
to keep picking up another book. You could, for example,
introduce him or her to a book series like The Boxcar Childrenor
Harry Potteror to a second
book by a favorite author. Ask teachers, librarians, and others
for recommendations that
match your child's interests and reading level, or look for
suggestions on
www.readingrockets.org. You could even buy a subscription in
your child's name to a magazine
that comes regularly in the mail.
"Are we there yet?"Use the time spent in the car or bus for
wordplay. You can talk about howjammeans
something you put on toast as well as cars stuck in traffic. How
many other homonyms can
your child think of? When kids are highly familiar with the
meaning of a word, they have less
difficulty reading it.
Crack open the dictionary.Let your child see you using a
dictionary. Say something like, "Hmm, I'm not sure what that
word means... I think I'll look it up."
First drafts are rough.Give your child encouragement when he or
she is doing homework or a writing assignment.
Remind your child that writing involves several steps like
planning, composing an initial draft,
revising, and final editing. No one does it perfectly the first
time.
Different strokes for different folks.Read different types of
books to expose your child to different types of writing. Stories,
for
example, are often organized around characters, a setting, and a
plot, while nonfiction books
are usually organized around main ideas followed by details.
Some kids, especially boys, prefer
nonfiction books.
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News From Room 207September 6, 2010
Talk about what you see and do.Talking about everyday activities
helps build your child's background knowledge, which iscrucial to
listening and reading comprehension. Keep up a running patter, for
example, while
cooking together; take your child someplace new and talk about
what you see; or discuss the
movie or television show you've just watched together.
Teach your child some "mind tricks."You can give your child tips
for figuring out the meaning of what he or she reads. Show your
child how to summarize a story in a few sentences, for example,
or how to make predictions
about what might happen next. Both strategies help a child
comprehend and remember. After
reading a story together, think out loud so your child can see
how you summarize and predict.
Say something like, "I bet D.W. would have eaten some more if
she hadn't known that it was
spinach."
