God's Most Amazing Creatures...: Happy First Friday!

Fourth Grade News

From the Week of August 25, 2017

Hello, 4th grade parents! We have had an amazing first week of school! We have learned many new routines and have had a lot of fun getting to know one another, with some fun games and activities. We have eased into the transition of all the core classes, with the exception of Language Arts: Reading/Spelling. We will begin that on Monday! I have had so much fun getting to know your child, or to see how they have grown. It is amazing how much maturity happened over the summer. :) They are all taking ownership in their actions, and trying so hard to have a successful year! I am so excited to see what is in store for us! I am so proud of all of them, and feel so blessed to be their teacher! Besides all of the fun we have had, I have highlighted just a few things below that we have learned this week:

Religion- This week, we learned the creation story, and about the fall into sin. We learned the words: original sin, omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent. Our God is such an AMAZING God! Our first memory work on Tuesday! I have listed it below. Your child also has this in the book I gave at home visits, as well as it is always available online.

Language Arts- We created our time capsules, which we will put away and get back out in May to see our many changes. We measured our height and traced our hands and feet. We also filled on surveys about ourselves, and created self-portraits. We also completed our first writing activity this week, when we wrote about our summer vacations. We went through all the steps of the writing process with this! Next week, we will have our first Reading stories out of our basals, and we will have our first spelling test next Friday. Spelling words, and our challenge word will come home on Monday in the assignment books. I will also put these words online for you to access. I ask that your child take their reading book home at least twice a week to review the story. We will have a comprehension test over the selection on Fridays as well. Next week, we will also begin English, where we will identify complete and incomplete sentences. The students were introduced to Judy Blume, the Author of the Month, this week, and they love her and hearing about Fudge’s antics! We read Freckle Juice and have begun Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Monday the students will also receive information about book reports, when they are due, and what is expected. They will be reading Newbery Award winning books. Thank you!

Math- We took our first mad minutes and I assessed where each child was in this process. Each child will see some progress in memorizing his or her facts! We worked on place value through the hundred thousand, and also worked with putting numbers in standard, expanded, and word form. We completed some Problem Solvers, which takes real world math problems, and breaks them down, so that they can solve and experience them. This is such good practice! Please practice math facts at home with your child through flashcards and computer games. Thank you!

Social Studies- We dove head first into Missouri History! Today, we learned about the state flag, the state seal, and learned about how and why people record history. We each have shared ideas for a classroom flag and seal as well. We will vote on these next week, and adopt one as our own. This was fun!

Art- We made Cursive Creatures. Be sure to come and check them out….They are lurking in the hallway… ;)

As a reminder, Friday Folders will come home this afternoon filled with graded work. Please empty these and return the folder on Monday. Although we did not have very many assignments this week, anything with a letter grade can be “redone” for half credit per answer, and turned back in on Monday. So far, everybody is doing very well and working very hard!

Our blog is an excellent place to find information! Please look here at the side tabs to find spelling words, memory work, athletic information, and other valuable information.

Next week, homeschoolers will join us! We will begin Writers’ Workshop, Art, P.E., Music, Spanish, and Computers. There will be many more fun times in 4th grade… :)

There has been one change to the information about field trips that I sent home at before-school visits. The field trip to School of Economics has changed from October 18th to December 13th. Thank you!

We have had such an AMAZING week with behavior and participation, that we have already earned a whole STAR! We voted today to have an hour of games next Friday afternoon. I will get out Life, Monopoly, Candy Land, Sorry, Apples to Apples, etc. and the kiddos can have some fun! If your child wishes to bring electronic games for that afternoon as well, please allow him or her to do so. Please just make sure the games are school and age-appropriate. Thank you! Please also congratulate them for me--Job Well Done!

Dates to Remember:

AUGUST

29- First Day of School for Home School Students

SEPTEMBER

1-Classroom STAR Party (please see above)

4- No School or Childcare, Labor Day

8-TLS Volleyball games (Site to TBD)

9-TLS Soccer game at LHS at 10:15 (vs. MLA)

15-TLS Volleyball games at Bethany beginning at 7:00

16- Blue Springs Fall Fun Fest Parade 10:00 am

22-Mid-Term; TLS volleyball games at Timothy beginning at 6:00

23-TLS Soccer game at LHS at 9:00 (vs. Hope 1)

29-TLS volleyball games at Trinity beginning at 6:00

30-TLS Soccer game at LHS at 10:15 (vs. Bethany)

Parents, this week has been so wonderful. I hope your child has come home with excitement at all we are going to learn, experience, and accomplish this school year. We are all going to grow so much! I praise God that he has placed your child in my classroom and my life. I am so blessed. Thank you.

Have a great weekend and God’s Blessings!

Kim

Here are some more pictures from our first week of school!

Our Cursive Creatures...