October 8

October 8^th, 2010

Dear Families,

It has been a full, but slow moving week here at SCS. The NECAPS have filled up our mornings with reading and math testing. The students have done a really great job staying focused and quiet during the testing. In addition to NECAPS here is some of the stuff we have been working on:

Reading: We have been engrossed in our reader’s theater scripts this week! Students were broken up into three groups, and have been practicing three different stories. Performances were this afternoon, and they were wonderful! Students did a great job following along in the script, using vocal and facial expressions to convey their roles, and read fluently as a group. The three performances were from the books; Wayside School is Falling Down by Louis Sachar, Piggie Pie by Margie Palatini, and The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams. Next week in reader’s workshop we will be focusing on book recommendations and how to monitor our comprehension as we read.

Writing: This week in writing we have officially started our unit on memoirs. We have been immersing ourselves in memoir related material-reading picture books and excerpts from chapter books-and discussing what qualities make a memoir. Next week, students will continue to be exposed to memoir rich literature and begin to focus on their own lives and writer’s notebook entries to develop a seed topic to write about!

Math: We started the new October Number Corner this week which consists of students exploring a base four pattern on the calendar collector, as well as measuring cups, quarts and gallons. The discussions we have had as a whole class have been amazing! It is so great to see the amount of growth in students’ observations and their abilities to discuss these math concepts. Even from just a few weeks ago in September, they have made so much progress, and I couldn’t be happier! I have to stop the discussion sometimes because we have to move on! We are also exploring different strategies for multiplication. Next week I will be sending home a packet that has all the different strategies for each multiplication fact so that parents at home can learn right along with the students. Some of the strategies your fourth graders are learning are so cool- I wish I learned my multiplication facts this way!

Science: We have just hit the very tip of the iceberg this week in science. Students have created a KWL Chart (Know, Want to know, and Learned) on the Human Body, have watched an introduction to the Body Systems video, and explored the circulatory system a bit by checking our pulse rates. We will be diving more into the Human Body next week, but probably won’t begin any experiments until after NECAPS are over.

Geography: Students came into school Monday morning very anxious to see their scores on their Natural Landmark Geography Tests. I was so impressed with everyone’s effort, excitement and overall performance on this first round of tests. I had a chat with students on Tuesday, and I want to clarify it for all parents as well, that ALL students will receive a prize no matter when they pass the test. Whether it is on the first, second, third or fourth try, everyone gets the prize when they pass. There was a bit of confusion this week as students thought the prize was only given out if they pass on the first time. I stressed to them all that it does not matter which try they pass on, when they do pass, they should feel good about themselves because they completed something very challenging!

Other News: I have sent home a permission slip for our field trip taking place at the end of this month to the State House in Montpelier. Please return the bottom portion of the slip ASAP! We will continue math NECAP testing on Tuesday and Wednesday next week. Since it is only two days of testing, we will begin an almost regular homework routine; spelling, one math worksheet and only two days of clinic.

We are also still looking for a few parents who can volunteer to come in and do fluency with some students. Preferably, you would come in the mornings, but we can arrange it to meet your schedule! Please email me if this is something you are interested in!

J Katie

** I have attached the November Conference Schedule to the email newsletter. Please respond with your top three conference times and I will get back to you with your time slot!