The First Few Days

Hello Fourth Grade Families!

The first few days with your kids have been SO GOOD!!!  They have been polite, cooperative, and willing to try everything I've thrown at them.  So far we have:

• Set up our Writing notebooks and started learning the procedures for studying Mentor Sentences (we study the writing of published authors and use them as our mentors).  
• Set up our Math Notebooks and gone through all of the types of problems that we'll do each week in the Mountain Math Center (this is a great way for them to regularly review the skills that they've learned in 3rd grade, and will learn in 4th).  
• Gone over 3 days of the Daily Language Review that we'll do during our Morning Work time (they'll do 5 problems every Mon-Thur and each morning follows the same pattern).

• Started our class read aloud, The Indian in the Cupboard (I know they're loving it when I finish a chapter and they're begging for "just one more chapter...please?!?").  
• Set up our Reading Notebooks and learned how we'll format our Reading Responses.
• Looked at what kind of smart we are (with a Multiple Intelligences survey).
• Started building our Reading stamina during independent reading time (I call it Read to Self time).
• Learned about our "I'm Done, Now What?" activities.  The kids can always take out their books and read if they finish an activity early, but these activities give them some other options, such as:  Read It, Write It, Solve It, Draw It, Journal It, and Create It.  This is something new I'm trying this year, and so far the kids are loving it!
• Started working on Math and Reading assessments that will allow me to understand what their strengths and struggles are so we know what to focus on.


Whew...looking at that list makes me tired!  But it also shows me how much we've been able to accomplish in only a few days.  


Your kids have been working hard, but we've thrown some fun in there too.  Ask the kids about a teamwork activity we did called Save Fred.  It's challenging and fun, and the kids will had a ball!


I'm having so much fun getting to know your children, and I can already tell it's going to be a great year!