September 22, 2017

          Each day in 4th grade, we are adding a new layer to our learning. Homework started last week with students writing in his/her planner each afternoon the homework for that evening. A quick reminder that homework will be give Monday-Thursday nights with the weekends off. Math homework should be completed the night it is assigned and ready to review the following morning. Please help your 4th grader develop a system of both completing homework and making sure the homework and planner gets packed up to bring back to class the next day. This is an important skill for academic success moving forward. Please initial or sign your 4th graders planner each night as a way to communicate to me that you have seen the current skills we are working on in class. I will be looking for your initials starting this week. 

     The 4th graders have begun our first book study this week with Winn Dixie by Kate DiCamillo. We will be reading this book in class, discussing and dissecting the text practicing the ways 4th graders need to comprehend text. One main focus this year will be finding the author's purpose through out the book and supporting our thoughts with evidence from the text. I love hearing each student's idea and interpretation of stories. Together we practice this skill a lot. If you are reading aloud at home with your 4th grader, please take time to discuss your ideas modeling how you support your opinion with examples from the text. 
    

     The 4th graders practiced for their first spelling test this week online at Spelling City. They can practice this way at home. You can access the site by clicking the link to the right of this screen! 

     Each morning the 4th graders have been practicing cursive handwriting for a few minutes to get back into using those small motor skills of neat and correct writing. It is amazing how good their writing looks in just 2 weeks!

     With each chapter in our Religion curriculum, there is a take home sheet so that you will be able to support what we are talking about at Religion time here at school. Chapter 2 take home sheet went home in Friday Folders. This coming week, the Madeleine School will be collecting non-perishable and canned foods for St. Vincent de Paul to be brought to the Thursday afternoon all school Mass. Please send in your donations to the classroom. Thank you for your generosity!

God Bless, 

Jenn Langhus

Welcome Back to School!

We are off to a great start in Fourth Grade despite the heat, smoke and ash that accompanied our first days together. This first week of school the Fourth Graders have had time to explore their new classroom and practice some procedures that will help to make our year run smoothly. This includes helping around the classroom by putting up the American and State flags outside our classroom each day. It has been fun chatting with each student about what he/she is interested in and what he/she would like to read. We will be doing a lot of reading in Fourth Grade! We took some time to share 5 things about each student which was very fun and informative. There was even time for some fun, like Head's Up 7 Up. This is going to be a great year!