Oct 14-18

Welcome to a short week! I hope you had a great weekend together with your family. As your children enjoy the day off tomorrow, there are a few websites they can look into.
1. Raz-kids. This is linked on the gal.lethsd.ab.ca website. This is a great reading website at their level and counts for home reading too!
2. Mathfactspro.com I introduced this site last week in computer class and it is a great five minute a day practice of basic facts.
3. Spelling City. Again, this will have an assignment attached each week in which your child will have two weeks to complete.
A few other reminders:
**We will be hosting a clothing exchange next week. If you have some clothing to donate, bring it in before Friday.
**Picture retakes will be on October 21st.
**With Halloween approaching I want to explain how we do things a little differently at the Grade 4 level. We don't do an official Halloween party with snacks rather we have a Halloween-themed-curriculum-based afternoon. We feel that with the kids going trick-or-treating they need an afternoon full of treats as well (and we just had a movie and popcorn party too!). We will still have fun and we are looking forward to seeing the kids' cosutmes! Just a reminder that the students will come to school in the morning dressed to do the Halloween parade and the afternoon will consist of the Energy Day Assembly and fun centers. Feel free for you child to bring a change of clothing if they don't want to spend the entire day in their costume.

Week at a glance:
Monday

• Happy Thanksgiving

Tuesday

• PL Day (I am attending a session in Medicine Hat in regards to the Leader in Me)

Wednesday

• Welcome back!!

Thursday

• I will have a sub (Mrs. Smith) in for me today and tomorrow.  I will be in the building and I know that the students will have a great couple of days.

Friday

• Frolicking Friday

Oct 7-11

It's hard to believe we are venturing into the sixth week of school.  There has been a lot of learning happening in these walls!  And I do want to say thank you to you - parents - for supporting the homework assignments that come home as well as home reading.  Lastly, if you ever have questions regarding homework, please don't hesitate to email me.  If the question pertains to social, please direct them to Mrs. Morrison.  You can email her at colleen.morrison@lethsd.ab.ca

I'm sure to that your child came home on Friday, pumped and buzzing with excitment over Enrichment Friday's.  The first day was truly a success!  We will have three rounds throughout the year with your child being able choose their options.  They give a ranking of 1, 2, or 3 and the committee then tries their best to place them within one of those three choices.

A few announcements:
1. The home reading tracking should be occuring on the October monthly calendar pages.  Your child should be reading for at least 15 minutes a night. 
2.Mr. Davidson is starting a Choir on Wednesdays.  Children will eat their lunch with Mr. Davidson and then sing their hearts away! 
3. I will be introducing Spelling City in computers on Wednesday.  This is an online spelling tool to help with words and working with words.  I have paid for the program and all students have access to it from home.  Eery two weeks, expect a new assignment to come home. Students will be given some time in class to get started, then they will have two weeks to complete the assignments from home. The username for the site is their school login, and the password is my last name. This week the words are homophones (or sound alike words). They are at a grade 4 level and this may or may not be the right level for your child. Don't worry. Assignments will soon be tailored to meet individual students' needs.

Here is a quick recap of the upcoming week:

Monday:

• Library books due
• Friday letters to be handed in
• Social poster due (and a little in class quiz)

Tuesday

• Library today!
• Tone it up Tuesday

Wednesday

• Picture money due

Thursday

• Our first Wanted Assignments Reward Day will take place. Students are invited to wear their pyjamas, bring one stuffy (that can fit in a backpack), and a G-rated movie to vote on. Students who have been proactive about their school work will be permitted to watch the movie and enjoy some popcorn from me. Students who are not caught up will be given the opportunity to complete any outstanding assignments and then join the party afterwards. After all, first things first!

Friday

• Enrichment Friday!
• Frolicking Friday....be prepared for the weather.
• Hot lunch money due

Sept 30 - Oct 4

Sorry for the late post. It's hard to believe that we have completed the fist month of school. Fall is truly here with the weather we had today, so just a reminder that your child is dressing appropriately for it. We have had a great first month of school. We have learned the classroom routines and expectations. Students by now should be taking responsibility for their learning and their belongings. Things included in those categories would be making sure their agendas are filled out and signed and returned daily; home reading recorded in the agenda calendar; Friday Letters signed and returned every Monday and homework assignments returned promptly.

In math, we have finished our first unit on whole numbers. In grade four, students are expected to know numbers up to the ten thousands place and understand all of their components. They should be able to give the number in standard form (32,573), expanded form (30,000 + 2000 + 500 + 70 + 3), base 10 name (3 ten thousands, 2 thousands, 5 hundreds, 7 tens, 3 ones), base 10 picture (draw big cubes for ten thousands, cubes for thousands, a square for hundreds, a stick for tens and a dot for ones), ordinal number (32,573rd), words (thirty-two thousand five hundred seventy-three) and place value (there is a 3 in the ten thousands place, etc.). How you can help at home: have your child read numbers for you, give you the place value of certain digits, show them when you write a cheque, get them to teach you how we made numbers using playing cards, go on a number hunt while in the car or through a newspaper. Show them how we use numbers in real life and make it fun!

This week's schedule:

Monday: •Friday Letters due

Tuesday: •bring a water bottle for Tone it Up Tuesday

Thursday: •Swimming from 1-3 p.m. Dress for ANY weather - we will be walking over.

Friday: •Frolicking Friday - again, dress for any weather and wear proper outdoor footwear for running and walking

Sept 23 - 27

It's hard to believe that we are in the last week of September already! We are looking forward to our first "energy day" assembly tomorrow morning at 8:30 in the gym. You are welcome to join us!

Thank you to all the parents and families that came out last week for our Welcome Back to School/Meet the Teacher BBQ. It was a huge success! If I didn't get a chance to meet with you in the classroom, last week your child should have brought home a package with what I shared that night. Please look for it in the backpack.

Lastly, if you would be interested in volunteering to be our Parent Rep on council, please let the office or myself know. It doesn't take a lot of time and I honestly won't make you work that hard! (Promise!)

Here is a glance of this weeks coming events....

Monday

• Author visit - Celia Lottridge - ask your child what they learned.

Tuesday

• Energy Day Assembly - 8:30 - Colour Day theme - wear your favorite colour!!
• Tone it up Tuesday - wear comfortable clothing and bring a water bottle.
• Library day - books should be back!

Wednesday

• Bring in your white T-Shirt for the colour run today! (please label the shirt)

Thursday

• Terry Fox Colour Run Day! Bring in your Toonie for Terry to support cancer research.

Friday

• Frolicking Friday

Sept 16-20

My biggest apologies for posting this so late! I will try my best to not be this late - - all the time! Last week was a great week and I'm looking forward to the week ahead (and getting the chance to meet you tomorrow night!) Toonies for Terry will be starting tomorrow. The container is in our classroom and students can bring in a "Toonie" (or any other denomination) to support the cause that Terry Fox started many years ago. Tuesday *Library day! *Welcome Back BBQ & Meet the teacher *Tone it up Tuesday - bring a water bottle and wear something comfy Thursday *PICTURE DAY! Friday *Frolicking Friday - the students are enjoying this time!

September 9 - 13

Well, I have some good news!  We all survived the first week of school and decided to come back today for a full week of learning!  I love my job and the kids that come into the classroom every day.

Just a reminder, that agendas need to be signed daily and that home reading should be happening at home for about 15 minutes.  Remember to sign the calendar portion in the agenda with what your child is reading.  (Look at the label as an example.)

Monday

• Friday letters were to be handed in today with a parent signature.  Thank you to those of you that took the time to write back to your child. 
• Highlights forms also went home today.  They need to be signed and returned with NO obligation to purchase anything.  The bonus - is that more forms that are returned, the more free goodies we can get for our classroom!

Tuesday

• First official day of "Tone it up Tuesday"!   Be sure to ask your child about this half hour gym class.  Bringing a water bottle for this is encouraged.
• Library today!  Your child will be bringing home their library books and they need to be returned next Monday.

Wednesday

• Our first Grade Level Assembly - ask your child what those are all about.

Friday

• First Book Buddies today.  Be sure to ask your child who our class is paired up with. 
• We will begin to present the "Introducing... Spectacular Me" projects. They look awesome!  (and spectacular!!) 

Welcome to the new year!!

I am so excited to welcome you to my class this year!  I can't wait to see the awesome learning and adventures that you child and myself will embark on.  It was a pleasure to meet some of you this morning as well as your child and I'm thankful that they are here.  I only ask one thing of your child and that is that they try their best.  Please take the time to ask your child what the rules are of the classroom (and they should be able to tell you as I only have two!)

I use this blog as a tool to help keep you informed with upcoming events, learning happening in the classroom and little things that can be done at home to help out the school environment.  I do my best to update this blog once a week (every Monday) but I would like to make it a goal this year to add some other posts. 

A couple of other pieces of information before I give you the weekly update:

1. Please read and sign your child's agenda. Please do this every day even if there is not a message.
2. Home Reading is a very important component of a child's learning and it starts now! Please take note of the labels in your child's agenda on today's date (Sept. 3) and on the calendar for September. (I will place this label in there tomorrow.)
3. There is an option to the left to "Follow by Email." If you would like to receive email notifications of when my blog is updated, please sign up.

This week at a glance:

Tuesday:

• Welcome to school! 
• "Introducing... Spectacular Me" assignment sent home

Wednesday:

• School Council meeting 7:00 p.m.

Friday:

• "Introducing... Spectacular Me" assignment due
• Welcome Back Assembly 8:30 a.m.
• First day of Frolicking Friday - wear appropriate outdoor footwear. 

Thank you for leaving your child in my care this year.  It is an honour.