Moving right along...

Hi fourth grade families,

Last week marked our first full 5-day week in Room 210! We were all tired by the end of it, but we accomplished so much!

In math, your kids continued to work hard understanding multiplication and division rules and how the two operations are interconnected. Today we wrapped up Topic 1 and will spend tomorrow reviewing all of the concepts we've been working on. On Wednesday, students will take their first math test in the fourth grade! As a class, we set a S.M.A.R.T. goal to have 80% of our class pass the test at 80% or higher. I will keep you posted on how we do! (On a side note, ask your student to explain what a S.M.A.R.T. goal is!)

In reading, we started our first "week" of study in Reading Wonders last week too. This curriculum has so much great stuff that our "weeks" tend to take between 7 and 8 days, so you will notice in the planner that we don't always start a new week on Monday. Our genre this week is Fairy Tales and students have spent time reading a story called, "The Princess and the Pizza," which was fun! They're using their skill with sequencing story events to better understand the text, as well as using the text evidence to predict what happens next in the story! We will finish up this "week" in the next couple days and students will also take their first weekly reading assessment. 

Last week, we also finished up the i-Ready assessments for both reading and math. Your kids worked really hard to do their best and I'm proud of them. I will be compiling data from those assessments to share with you at conferences next month. 

Thank you to those of you who were able to attend Curriculum Night/Open House last Thursday! We had a pretty good turn out! I hope you enjoyed the new format and that you loved watching your kids shine! I was impressed with their ability to explain the features of our classroom! Look for your student to continue taking on these leadership opportunities as we progress through the year!

This week we are beginning our first science unit which focuses on Electricity! It is a pretty fun one and the students are always really excited to do the experiments in this unit. We will spend a couple weeks working on this topic and then will go on a field trip to Clark Public Utilities in November to put our knowledge into action!

Please continue to take some time each night going over the planner with your child. They know that it is an expectation that they are sharing their day with you. Also, please make sure students are completing their homework nightly, as well as reading 20+ minutes and practicing multiplication facts for 10+ minutes. Those foundational skills will set the stage for the more difficult concepts we will get to later in the year!

Thanks so much for your continued support!

Mrs. Beck

ashley.beck@vansd.org