Hi there. Happy Weekend! Lots to blog about, so grab that cup of coffee and snuggle in. :0)
I had the pleasure of attending the PTA meeting last Thursday. WOWZERS!!! There are so many wonderful parents here at Arrowhead. There was so much on the agenda and it was so fun just sitting there taking in all the amazing things you all do for kids. These kids are sooo lucky!
There are some important events coming up to mark on the calendar. First up is the Arrowhead directory. Mr. Lohof has asked us to remind all of you that your mint green directory sheet is due no later than this Wednesday. How awesome to have that resource to connect with others for playdates, carpooling, and family get togethers. What a great idea! There is even a small portable copy for your car or purse. Now, that will make calling all of you a lot easier! :0)
Open House is on September 19th. It will be from 6-7. This is for parents only. There will be two sessions. One from 6-6:25 and one from 6:30-7. I can't wait to share all the wonderful things about 4th grade with all of you.
The following night is the Ice Cream Social on September 20th from 5:30-7:30. The committee asked if anyone had a couple of yoga mats that could be borrowed along with some pedometers. If you have such items that you would be willing to lend for the night, could you please drop them off at the front office. Please remember to label them. It will be such a fun night filled with games, pizza, t-shirt sales, and of course ice cream! Come one, come all! I know I will be there enjoying all the fun!
Saturday Live is quickly approaching as well. Each classroom is creating a basket for the silent auction. Cashasha, Taryn, and Haylee's moms are all over this one. They have been emailling back and forth coming up with some fantastic plans. Please check the Tuesday Folder for details on our basket theme! Pretty cool! A HUGE thank you to them. PTA is looking for MANY volunteers to help work the carnival game booths. There is a sign up sheet in the office. Please help if you can, whenever you can. You guys rock at this! Last year all the money earned from the baskets went right back to Arrowhead's kids. It bought 5 different computer programs with a license for each kiddo. Wow! Now, that is a chunk of cash and so amazing for all kids!
Honor choir tryouts for boys and girls is this coming Wednesday after school at 3:05 in the music room. Information sheets came home with those students that were interested. Need one? See Mrs. Wadell, the music director.
Cross Country running team starts this Tuesday morning. A yellow permission slip came home with those kids that said they were interested. Need one? See Mr. Pertuit, the gym teacher. It will be every Tuesday and Thursday morning and Wednesday after school. Bring those water bottles and tennis shoes. I may have to join in on the fun!
There were so many other things coming up, but I will blog more about them as the time comes closer.
In the classroom this week, we will be...
Spelling: working with words that have the long and short e sound. The words are already posted for kids to start studying. One parent shared that he just copy and pastes that list into a word document and then prints them out for the week. Awesome idea!!! The test will be next Friday.
Language: We will review the 4 types of sentences and make our way into splitting a simple sentence into the complete subject and predicates. We will discover that subjects are nouns and predicates are verbs. If we master that, we will journey on to nouns of all types.
Lead 21: We will continue on with our theme book whole group. Heritage is the topic and we are discovering what that entails. Along with the content, we will work on determining important information, synonyms and antonyms, context clues, and author's purpose. We will also begin our small group rotations. Rotations will consist of spelling seatwork, language seat work, handwriting, and meeting with me for leveled reader skills. When with me, we dissect the text and are able to learn so many skills at a deeper level. We will also review the different text features such as titles, headings, illustrations, captions, and charts/graphs. Each group will have a reading guide that we fill out together practicing all of these skills.
Writing: We will continue on with paragraph writing making sure we have a solid topic sentence, sound key ideas, and evidence to back each idea.
Math: We will move on from the three forms of numbers (however they will continue to show up in classwork and homework) and move onto rounding numbers. This skill requires kids to identify given place values, looking to the place value on the right, determining if it should be rounded up or left alone, and converting all numbers behind it to zeros. It is a little confusing at first, but once they get it then it is smooth sailing. They will have plenty of opportunities to practice. A parent asked me last week about multiplication and division in the 4th grade. Common core suggests that 4th graders come in knowing their basic facts from 0-10. We quickly introduce 11s and 12s. Then we move on to double digit by double digit multiplication and even triple digit by double digit. If kids don't know their basic facts before hitting this level, it is VERY difficult for them to focus on this new algorithm and back away from the thinking of the basic math. They become frustrated quite quickly. Division is the same way. We jump right into long division. We don't spend a lot of class time on the basics besides some quick reviews. It has been awhile since students have done multiplication with the summer and all, so pulling out those flashcards or games might not be a bad idea to make sure they are ready to rock and roll very soon.
Science: YAY!!! The kids will start science this week. They will travel to Mrs. Auch's class. I will be communicating with her to see what they are learning so that I can keep you informed on the blog. Kids will have science every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for one hour. So, so grateful we were able to fit this in.
Regional S.S.: This is also a new start for us. You have heard me blog about MT History already, but regional studies is the second part of the 4th grade curriculum. Kids will journey across the United States and visit the 5 regions. Each region takes about 3-4 weeks. Kids will be expected to know all the states and capitals of each region. I will post them on the blog just as I do the spelling words. We will also make two sets of flashcards. One for school and one for home. The test will be at the end of each unit. Students will be expected to identify each state on a map and then match it to its correct capital city. They will NOT need to know how to spell them, as there will be a word list for them. We will study in class using many different methods. I will also put online games on the blog to help. Studying at home will help as well. At the end of the 4th grade, students will be expected to know all 50 states and capitals. So, studying for the test and then flushing out brains is not a good strategy here. Keeping them all fresh in our brain when studying is a better strategy. Students will also take an in depth look into each region and discover why and how each one is different. Projects will also be assigned. Some will be done in class, and some will come home. Before we even hit the text book or the first region however, we will listen to a novel called, The Journey of Fallen Rock. I luckily came into contact with the author of this book last year. He is amazing, kind, and all about kids! I wanted to bring him out to meet the kids at Bitterroot, but wasn't able to do it. However, I have secured a visit from his this year on October 3rd and 4th. He will be coming to Arrowhead!!! A letter will come home on Monday will all kids about this very topic. The best part of this author is that he personally autographs books for kids before he mails them out. So, we sent in all of our 4th grader's names and ordered them their very own copy of the book! They arrived the other day! Each child now has a book autographed with their name from the author, AND they get to meet him very, very soon! The even better part...yes it gets better...is that the book is amazing and perfect for our regional studies. It takes the reader on a fun adventure across the United States. Did I mention how excited I am to teach this??????
MT History: We now know where MT is and a little about its rivers and mountains. We will now divide the state up into 3 different regions and see what makes MT so amazing and beautiful.
Computer Lab: We will go to the computer lab twice a week. While there kids will complete a keyboarding session along with a multiplication/division fast fact program. Common core expects kids to be able to type complete essays on their standardized test. This used to be a highschool skill, but in today's digital world it is now being taught as soon as kindergarten and first grade. So, we need to get these 4th graders typing with all their fingers and say goodbye to the hunt and pecking fingers once and for all. We will get there, one letter at a time. :0)
CC Meeting: We will continue to make our Character Warrior Shields. Kids are coming up with some great goals on how to make their character more solid. We will soon create our knights using a bobble head type method and shields will come home next weekend to decorate and mount. I can't wait to have these up on the wall for display when you come for open house. Kids are really starting to understand that IQ is only half the reason they are in school. The other is their EQ. Learning how to get along in society is just as important as academics. Therefore, it is treated like any other subject in my classroom. Students have enjoyed listening to all the picture books that bring each trait to life. They have also enjoyed watching Rusty each day online, along with the songs about each trait, especially the rap song about responsibility! I may have to video that soon and post it on the blog for you to enjoy. We will also learn this week where the handshake came from and how to do it correctly. This is a skill that is never to early to learn. One of my classroom jobs is Classroom Greeter. Anytime an adult comes into our classroom for whatever reason the greeter goes and handshakes them, gives them great eye contact, and says welcome to our classroom. It has already shocked some adults when they have walked in. Trevor did an AMAZING job at this last week.
M.A.P. Testing- We will take our MAP testing this week on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons. Students take this test throughout the year to show how much they have grown. This test is also called the NWEA test. We will take the math, reading, and language portions of this test. I will share the results with you soon after we take them.
Weekly reports came home on Friday. Please discuss them with your child this weekend, sign, and return them on Monday. Kids did soooooo much better this week. We are still working on transitioning as a group, but they are better each and every day. I also attached their spelling tests to their report. Great job by all kids. I am so proud of all of them.
Kids were able to see their hard earned cash in action yesterday. I offered juice and donuts for a morning snack (I rarely go the unhealthy route, but I wanted to entice them to spend their cash). It was fun to see the kids come in and get excited about it! In the afternoon, they were able to buy into a game of Pirate Ship Attack. You can get the idea of what that was all about by looking at the pictures above. They had a blast (a cannonball blast) trying to sink their classmates ship by using the powerful tool of teamwork. They all did a great job and had fun! Total cost to them: $150. It was $50 for each thing. It pays to save!!! I was happy that all kids were able to buy into all events that they wanted to do. :0)
I would like to close by just taking a minute to say thank you. I have to admit that I was pretty uncomfortable with the thought of working at Arrowhead. I knew that the level of expectations on kids and staff was higher here. However, is just a short time I have come to settle in perfectly. I thank you so much for all of your kind notes in the planners and emails about how you like what I am doing. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all of them. I LOVE that you LOVE the blog. I LOVE writing it. It is a great way for me to share with you just how amazing each and everyone of your kiddos are! I love your high expectations of your kids, and I love your high expectations of me. It makes me excited to do more and be a better teacher. I also love the level of professionalism found in and out of this school. It is a wonderful place to work, and I thank you for making me feel so welcome.
Have a wonderful weekend with those precious kids. Go out and make some great memories together!
Ms. Erickson
