Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Welcome Back to School! Students have been doing an excellent job learning about our classroom and understanding classroom expectations. We will be using I-pads, our 4th grade hallway laptops, and logging in to Edmodo/Schoology (a student friendly blogging tool) and more! Thank you for your parental support as we enter this important year of learning.
Please feel free to contact Mrs. Voinovich or I with any questions or concerns. I will be teaching math and social studies to our students. Mrs. Voinovich will be teaching language arts and science.
Mrs. Voinovich-330-954-2359 gvoinovich@aurora-schools.org
Mrs. Flynn- 330-954-2171 lflynn@aurora-schools.org
Reading Workshop:
We have already been busy “Going for the Gold” for the 30 book challenge! Students are excited and the buzz around the classroom is about how many books they will read. Also, I hear students socializing with others about interesting books they have read and they would like to share with others. If you stop by the building, you will see students reading at restroom breaks and stealing every free minute they can engrossed in a book! It truly is amazing how the reading bug has been caught in our classrooms. Students can even earn “Caught being Good” tickets from other school personnel from reading a book in the hall. Please encourage your children at home to keep reading!
Check out this link to visit the reading video (as with any website, especially You Tube, take caution as inappropriate messages can occur) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJF4Xb4FeQY.
As we open up the school year discussing reading concepts such as visualization, predicting, answer/asking questions about our reading, teachers are also conducting reading assessments to see where your child is with their reading fluency and comprehension. Please talk to your child about their reading at home. Ask them questions like: how do you know that, can you show me evidence in the text, can you prove that, etc. Ask them to come up with questions about their reading and answer them as they go. Tell them to think about the image in their mind that was created while reading. These types of questions aid in strong comprehension skills. If your child is struggling with decoding unknown words, tell them to skip the word, read on, and go back to it. Also, ask them what makes sense and what sounds right to figure out unknown words. Context clues are very important to look for when not knowing a meaning of a word. Look around the word and see if there are clues the author has given to figure out the word.
We will also be working on the reading skills of author’s purpose, plot, and sequencing this quarter.
Writing Workshop:
We are beginning the school year talking about what good writers do. We are also learning about how to write a great sentence. We will do an activity called sentence pyramids where you start with a simple sentence and revise it 3 or 4 times to add sensory details. We will be working on “Show-Don’t Tell” type sentences to help us become better descriptive writers. We have also discussed on our vocabulary bulletin board-RIP or trash can words. These are words that need to be put to rest or tired words. Students are encouraged to use descriptive words as they write and access the thesaurus to assist them in making their writing. Also, ask your child if they have brought in their editing hats yet!
Math:
Place value has been our focus in math. Students are refreshing their memories from third grade on the place value chart. Ask your child about who lives in the place value house . We will work on standard, expanded, and word forms of numbers. Arrow cards are a tool students will use to help them organize numbers and add and subtract large numbers easily.
Students have also started practicing Rocket Math multiplication facts. I passed out practice packets to students who wanted them for at home practice. If you feel your child would benefit from a packet, please check to see if they received one and if not let me know and I will be happy to provide you with one.
Finally, we have set up our math journals. Students will learn a strategy for solving word problems called the “SEW” (solve, equation, write) box to demonstrate learning. We have also been practicing highlighting key words and using BUNS (Bubble, Underline, Number, and Star) directions. BUNS is also used in reading and for any set of directions no matter the content area.
*AM Math is a morning work activity the students complete throughout the week in the morning. The intent is to review skills taught in class and skills from years past. We did the first one together so it wasn’t officially counted in the grade book.
*I do expect students to write in their planners daily. I always check their planners in the morning to see if there are notes from parents. If a child doesn’t have homework, then I have told them to write “no notes” in their planners. We have had a lot of good discussions about how planners are an excellent organizational tool and how to manage their time at home.
Dates to remember:
September 2-No School
September 19 - Ice Cream Social – 6-8 PM at LES
Please feel free to contact Mrs. Voinovich or I with any questions or concerns. I will be teaching math and social studies to our students. Mrs. Voinovich will be teaching language arts and science.
Mrs. Voinovich-330-954-2359 gvoinovich@aurora-schools.org
Mrs. Flynn- 330-954-2171 lflynn@aurora-schools.org
Reading Workshop:
We have already been busy “Going for the Gold” for the 30 book challenge! Students are excited and the buzz around the classroom is about how many books they will read. Also, I hear students socializing with others about interesting books they have read and they would like to share with others. If you stop by the building, you will see students reading at restroom breaks and stealing every free minute they can engrossed in a book! It truly is amazing how the reading bug has been caught in our classrooms. Students can even earn “Caught being Good” tickets from other school personnel from reading a book in the hall. Please encourage your children at home to keep reading!
Check out this link to visit the reading video (as with any website, especially You Tube, take caution as inappropriate messages can occur) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJF4Xb4FeQY.
As we open up the school year discussing reading concepts such as visualization, predicting, answer/asking questions about our reading, teachers are also conducting reading assessments to see where your child is with their reading fluency and comprehension. Please talk to your child about their reading at home. Ask them questions like: how do you know that, can you show me evidence in the text, can you prove that, etc. Ask them to come up with questions about their reading and answer them as they go. Tell them to think about the image in their mind that was created while reading. These types of questions aid in strong comprehension skills. If your child is struggling with decoding unknown words, tell them to skip the word, read on, and go back to it. Also, ask them what makes sense and what sounds right to figure out unknown words. Context clues are very important to look for when not knowing a meaning of a word. Look around the word and see if there are clues the author has given to figure out the word.
We will also be working on the reading skills of author’s purpose, plot, and sequencing this quarter.
Writing Workshop:
We are beginning the school year talking about what good writers do. We are also learning about how to write a great sentence. We will do an activity called sentence pyramids where you start with a simple sentence and revise it 3 or 4 times to add sensory details. We will be working on “Show-Don’t Tell” type sentences to help us become better descriptive writers. We have also discussed on our vocabulary bulletin board-RIP or trash can words. These are words that need to be put to rest or tired words. Students are encouraged to use descriptive words as they write and access the thesaurus to assist them in making their writing. Also, ask your child if they have brought in their editing hats yet!
Math:
Place value has been our focus in math. Students are refreshing their memories from third grade on the place value chart. Ask your child about who lives in the place value house . We will work on standard, expanded, and word forms of numbers. Arrow cards are a tool students will use to help them organize numbers and add and subtract large numbers easily.
Students have also started practicing Rocket Math multiplication facts. I passed out practice packets to students who wanted them for at home practice. If you feel your child would benefit from a packet, please check to see if they received one and if not let me know and I will be happy to provide you with one.
Finally, we have set up our math journals. Students will learn a strategy for solving word problems called the “SEW” (solve, equation, write) box to demonstrate learning. We have also been practicing highlighting key words and using BUNS (Bubble, Underline, Number, and Star) directions. BUNS is also used in reading and for any set of directions no matter the content area.
*AM Math is a morning work activity the students complete throughout the week in the morning. The intent is to review skills taught in class and skills from years past. We did the first one together so it wasn’t officially counted in the grade book.
*I do expect students to write in their planners daily. I always check their planners in the morning to see if there are notes from parents. If a child doesn’t have homework, then I have told them to write “no notes” in their planners. We have had a lot of good discussions about how planners are an excellent organizational tool and how to manage their time at home.
Dates to remember:
September 2-No School
September 19 - Ice Cream Social – 6-8 PM at LES
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