Dear Families, We have had a wonderful week in fourth grade! It is during these beginning days of school that we have been adapting to our school routine, learning our team rules, establishing peer relationships, and introducing the fourth grade curriculum. It is crucial that during these first few days expectations are spelled out and predictable structures are established. This helps us create a cooperative and stimulating learning environment. I just want to remind you that Thursday, September 20th is Parents’ Night. There will be a brief introduction in the Commons at 6:30 followed by our fourth grade presentation in Ms. Pindell’s classroom. You will have time to look around your child’s classroom after the presentation. I look forward to seeing you all then! Below are a few curriculum highlights from the week: Morning Meeting/Social and Emotional Learning Morning meeting is a time that allows us to greet one another, share important news, engage in a team building activity, and hear about the day ahead. We also will use this time to discuss topics that are important to the social and academic growth of the children. This past week we discussed Fixed Mindset vs. Growth Mindset. Below is an image we have in the classroom to remind us of how to have a growth mindset: Language Arts
Students have started to learn the reading and writing routines used in fourth grade. Having time carved out in our day for independent reading will help build reading stamina. Students also took time to go through our classroom books and they decided together how to organize our library. This was a great team building activity that helped students feel a sense of ownership within our classroom. During Writer’s Workshop, fourth graders have been introduced to the Writer’s Notebook. This is a place where students will write stories or share ideas over the course of the year. Each student has brainstormed different topics that are meaningful and close to their heart. These topics were put in a Heart Map. They can refer to the Heart Map if they are ever stuck for a writing topic. Math Fourth graders have spent the first few days of school reviewing their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. This is has been done through independent practice, class review, and partner or whole group games. The math games are a wonderful way to support and extend math concepts. Please let me know if you are looking for suggestions to reinforce math skills at home. Along with a Math in Focus math journal, each fourth grader will have a Math Notebook. This notebook will be a place where students store math vocabulary and examples of concepts introduced and can be used as a resource over the course of the year. Students can also use the grid paper in the notebook as an extra place for solving problems. I hope you all have wonderful weekend! Warmly, Brigid P.S. Check out the photo section to see fourth graders in action! Comments are closed.
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Welcome!Learn more about fourth grade happenings by reading this newsletter. Archives
May 2019
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