Update: November 1

Dear Parents,

Thank you to all parents who scheduled conferences Thursday and Friday. I am happy to report that all conferences met and no rescheduling is required. This makes conferences easier for me and I really appreciate all of your efforts to meet the schedule! Plus our conferences were a wonderful opportunity to sit and talk more about each child as an individual in the larger class. I had a couple complaints (while joking) that my loud laugh was heard in nearby classrooms. It was a good two days. Thanks again.

Coming Up:

ERB Tests are Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. We will complete eight 30-40 minute multiple choice tests over three days. All of the 4th grade teachers encourage all students to eat well and sleep especially well to prepare for the tests.

Students will be reviewing testing taking skills such as…

--reading the directions thoroughly

--eliminating choices we know to be wrong

--reading over answers with answers plugged in

--making good guesses

--taking our time and not rushing

Reading
This week, we are refocusing our book logs and book notes. Students need some assistance with organization as well as the content of their notes. We are encouraging students to go beyond the events of the story and share their thinking of why these events are important. 

Writing
This week we are publishing our Realistic Fiction Stories. Illustrations will be finished, and then inserted into their documents. Then stories will get one final read through for edits. Finally, stories will be published their personal blogs with a reflection on the process.

Math
I am sending home the Unit 3: Family Letter with homework folders Monday. We will be starting unit 3 with some multiplication and division review and some games. We also hope to finally finish our Birthday Party Project Presentations this week.

Social Studies

Students are starting to look outside Oregon and into Western USA, specifically at droughts, bottled water and water rights. We are gaining a broader understanding of the multiple water issues that surround us these days as well as the multiple perspectives on the problems and benefits of each.

Passion Projects
This week, we are having some hard conversations about Passion Projects. An eagerness for partners and larger broad topics have lead us away from our brainstorming pages and into uncharted territory of disjointed project ideas. We hope to have some more clarity and expectation understanding this week, starting Monday.

Is that all????

I am sure you are noticing it is not a lot of big work this week. We are creating lots of time for the ERB testing as well as time for students to practice test taking skills Monday and Tuesday. We also want to give the kids more play time and down time as the tests can feel long and tiring. Homework is also minimized to help students, play, eat well and rest this week.