Happy Birthday to Adelaide! We celebrated her birthday with yummy sugar cookies and juice pouches on Friday. She won't have to worry about earning money for awhile. :0) I hope you enjoyed going sledding and spending time with your family.
I am in DESPERATE need of consistent volunteers on Fridays from 10-10:30 for accelerated math. It is very difficult to run this program successfully on my own. It requires me to be at the computer, help kids scan their scantrons, listen to kids explain how they got problems wrong so they can obtain my signature to move on, and help kids with current assignments all in a half hour. Please consider coming in to help. If math scares you, then you can sure run the computer or scantron machine. It may seem at times as if you are standing around, but when kids get going it becomes a rat race to keep up with them all, and I hate making them wait for me. No need to let me know you are coming, just show up and I will put you to work! (Actually, the kids will put you to work :0)) Grandparents, aunts, uncles are also welcome. Thanks!
We use a TON of gluesticks putting our MT History interactive notebooks together. Some kids have ran out and have resorted to my supply of extras. That supply is now also gone. Please ask your child if they are in need of glue sticks. Some kids are complaining that other kids are always asking to borrow theirs and now they are running out. I encourage sharing, but when a child runs out they need to replace their own supply soon. If you are feeling generous, picking up a few extras to restock my extra supply would be great too. I started off the year with well over 50 gluesticks in reserve. Anyone willing to just go grab a bunch for us to use? That would be an AWESOME gift of kindness! It is a small thing
It is a short week this week, but we will pack in a TON of learning as always. It is a half day on Thursday and we are all off on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday! In Billings, we take two long weekends rather than a full spring break. This is one of those long weekends. Enjoy!
Math: We will finish up our fraction studies. Early next week we will test out and show mastery of all the concepts we have learned thus far in the 4th grade. Accelerated math and morning work keeps all of those skills fresh in our heads.
Lead 21, We will continue to work in our small leveled groups. We are working hard on Cause and Effect and Main Idea. We will also continue to identify types of questions using our Black History month biography sheets. When a student knows what type of question they are being asked, they then know different strategies on how to solve them. The types of questions we are working on identifying are: Inferential, Literal, Analogy, Fact or Opinion, Sequence, and context clues.
S.S.: Montana History. We are way behind in this area. If we want to make it to statehood, we need to get moving on this subject. We started last week by seeing what life was like before European influence on Native Montana's lives. Life back then, revolved around one animal. Ask your child which animal that was. If they can tell you, write what they say in the planner for $10 on Monday. We will also be discussing an inquiry project that will be done at home for our MidWest Regional studies. It will be modeled in class and grading expectation sheets will be given out before the project starts so there is no question on what I am looking for when it comes to showing me what they know.
Spelling: All alternates passed their first test with a 100%. Well done. Now they have the system down. Hopefully, we see more and more pass on the first attempt. All words are frequently spelled words in the English language. Many of them are homophones, such as there, their, and they're. Kids need to be able to use them correctly in context. Isn't this the real goal of spelling anyways??? It is odd in real life to have to spell a single word. Daily, we spell words in context all the time. Those that tested in the book and scored a 100% on last week's test will be offered an alternate spot this week. It is totally up to them. If they didn't earn 100%, then they will continue to study out of the book.
Language: We will mastery test out on subject and object pronouns. It is important that kids remember the brain questions that go along with these. Subject pronouns are doing the action verb, where object pronouns are receiving the action verb. For example, if i said, They watched her tumble on the mat, the pronoun They would be subject because they are doing the watching. Her would be the object pronoun because they are receiving the watching. We will also mastery test out on linking, helping, and action verbs. We have done a ton on action verbs all year long. Helping and linking verbs were new last week. Kids can remember linking verbs by thinking of a handful of them (5) am, is, are, was, were. However, they know that they also need to ask themselves if there is an action verb in the sentence. Linking verbs replace action verbs. Helping verbs, at this level, are found right in front of the action verb and make the verb stronger, usually making the voice change when reading the sentence.
Science: Finishing up animal unit. More talk on science fair projects. It is mandatory that all 4th graders complete a science fair project at Arrowhead. There are some information sheets in the front lobby with lots of ideas and how to's. I suggest stopping in and picking one up. I am also willing to help, as is Mrs. Auch. Last Friday, we did a fun Valentine lab. Kids had to determine what reaction baking soda, vinegar, and water would have on Candy hearts. They all knew about vinegar and baking soda reaction with volcanoes, but the adding of water confused them. The result…dancing hearts. Due to the making of carbonation bubbles, the hearts did flips and rose and sunk in the jar. Fun!
CC Meeting: Strategies on how to stay focused and when to ask a teacher for help. We read another RJ book this past week on this subject. RJ had a hard time focussing in on the actual lesson when it was being taught. He would then ask for one on one help after the lesson was complete. RJ's teacher ended up teaching the lesson twice because RJ didn't pay attention the first time. We have some of this happening in our class as well. If students can get it with me standing beside them, teaching the exact same thing I just taught whole group, then they could have got it the first time. There are definite times kids need one on one help to work a problem, but to not pay attention and then seek a 7 minute help lesson from a teacher is frustrating to all. When we have 22 kids, and one teacher, then 7 minutes is a long time. Most of the time one on one help is one to two minutes and the light bulb will go on. As shared with the class, I love helping kids, and that is part of my job. All I ask, and all RJ's teacher asked, was that students stay focussed to the main lesson. Getting involved by raising our hands and begin an active participant ensures learning. Staring out a window and having a blank notebook or whiteboard ensures a repeat lesson. It is easy to spot these types of learners. They know that if I do spot them, they will be last in line to receive help. I am more willing to spend one to two minutes with a student that was trying and paying attention before I go to one that I know did not. This week, we will focus even more on this topic with Rusty's help.
Valentine's Day is this week. Our class party will be from 10:30 to noon. Students are dismissed at noon that day as well. Students need to bring in their box and Valentine's Day cards that day. Please don't send them in early, as we don't have room to keep them safe. Please contact Mrs. Egan if you are interested in helping out our bringing in treats. She is amazing at organizing these things!!!! A HUGE thank you to her!
Prizes were given out for the Read A Thon envelopes that came in on Friday. They were just little prizes, but for each 5, 10, 20 sponsors, kids were entered into the drawing for the larger prizes that will be drawn at the end of February. Reading logs should have started this Saturday. Hopefully, your kiddo is marking their minutes down. I am planning on doing a money reward for the minutes read. So, even if they are not doing the sponsor/fundraising part, they should still mark their minutes to earn fast cash. It will be $10 per hour read. They must have YOUR signature by it to verify the amount read each day. I will check those on Fridays. (Thursday this week). They can either use the green recording sheet that came home with the envelope or make their own or use their planner. Thanks for all your support for Arrowhead and your kiddos!
Well, I think that about covers it. Have a great snowy Sunday!
Ms. Erickson
