Good morning, families,
Five weeks off and then a two hour delay. I like easing back into the school routine. 😊 This week, we will be starting to read historical fiction. As a class, we will be reading Number the Stars which takes place during WWII. Each student will be choosing an historical fiction book of their own and will be analyzing it in time period related book clubs. We will be using details from fiction and non-fiction texts to make inferences, we will begin writing an opinion piece of writing, and will be practicing correct homophone usage. In math, we will begin everyone's favorite....fractions! For those kids that still don't have their multiplication facts memorized, they will have nightly homework to practice them. In science, we will be studying animal adaptations. This is always a fun unit. We are very, very low on tissues. We had a several (tons) of runny noses before we tracked out in December, so we are down to 2 boxes. With 26 noses and flu season on the horizon, that won't last long. If you have any extra boxes and can send them in, I would really appreciate it!! I have opened the Scholastic tab on my website. For the rest of the year, if you want to order books, you can use the tab to make your order using a credit card. Click on the link then use the code: PBN9M. Easy-peasy. I'll close the order each month on the last day of the month. Thanks, Stephanie [email protected] msadgate.weebly.com @TheAdgators (Twitter) Good morning, families,
Happy Track Out week! I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving break. I visited my family in beautiful Berkeley Springs, WV. It was so peaceful! This week, we are responding to reading using sticky notes to "stop and jot" and response journals to expand on our thinking We are practicing the difference between our and are, their, they're and their, and your and you're. We are finishing up geometry in math and creating a bill to turn into a law in social studies. Book Fair starts this week. The kids previewed books during their media time today. If you want to purchase a book for your child, you can send cash or a check made out to DRES PTA with your child. Friday is breakfast with Dads and Grandparents from 8 to 8:30am at the Book Fair. Feel free to shop then, as well! Next week, December 5, will be the chorus concert. Events begin at 6:30. Book Fair will be open then, too! December 14 is the spelling bee at 5:30. We have several Adgators participating in this event. Please come out to support them if you are in town. 😊 Cookie dough pick up is THIS FRIDAY. Friday, December 1st 4:00-6:00pm DRES Gym Items must be picked up in person at DRES on Friday. No holds. Any items not picked up will be forfeited without refund of money. Have a wonderful track out and I hope you are able to enjoy your holidays. 😊 Stephanie Good morning, Families,
I hope you enjoyed your long weekend. I managed to strain a ligament in my shoulder. I wish I could say I was doing something super impressive, but I was not. It is yet another "old lady" injury. 😉 This week we will be examining how authors support their points with evidence, we will use specific language to describe a non-fiction event, and we continue to use context clues to decode unknown words. Students are taking the midyear mClass reading assessments, as well. We will be learning how to use Google Docs to share writing and comment on others' writing. In math, we will be learning about circles and angles. We will be learning how to use protractors, too. Our guest speaker, Senator Michael Lee from New Hanover County will be visiting to talk to us about NC government on Wednesday. The rest of the week we will be running our own campaigns with speeches. posters and voting. Next week is a short week with a full day of school on Monday and an early release on Tuesday. On Tuesday of next week, we will be making fleece blankets for Project Linus. Project Linus works with hospitals, social services, hospices, and other agencies to provide blankets to people in need of warmth. We did this last year and the kids really loved being able to create something that helped others. The book fair is approaching. It will be held from November 27 thru December 8. The PTA will be working with a new partner (Bedford Falls) and our fair will have a more intimate look. Our goal is to get a good book into every child's hands. We are still in need of volunteers to make sure the fair is manned full time. Please consider signing up to help using the signup genius below: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20f0e4dabab2da0fd0-book Book Fair www.signupgenius.com Please help out at our only Book fair this year. No newsletter next week, since it is a short week. Thanks, Stephanie i Families,
This week we will keep pretty busy. We have an assembly today to kick off the cookie dough sales fundraiser. Details will be coming home with your child. The exciting news is that fourth graders that sell cookie dough can "bank" their sales toward their cost of the fifth grade field trip to Washington, DC. This will cut down on the amount you will have to pay next year if you opt to send your child on this amazing trip. 😊 In reading, we will begin a non-fiction author study and work more with integrating information from more than one text. In math we will do a LOT of practice with mixed operation problem solving, in social studies we will begin studying NC government and in writing, we will begin a research project on an endangered animal. Sometime in late winter, we will hold a literacy event in which you will get to see the work your child has done on this research project. This week, the children will take the NC Check In test. This test gives us a mid year data point, so we know what information has been learned and what still needs to be taught. This is NOT a part of their report card! It is taken on the computer. We will do the online tutorial today and take the test on Thursday and Friday. As with all tests, those of you whose children have IEP with testing accommodations will have those accommodations honored for this test. Please mark your calendars: EOG testing will be May 24 for ELA Tuesday and May 29 for Math. Please try to plan vacations and doctor's appointments around these dates so your child will not have to make the tests up! Tomorrow, in case you haven't heard, is Halloween! LOL. We will be having a school wide pajama day. No costumes are allowed at school. We will save that fun for you! 😊 Finally, please find a letter attached from Mrs. Cassario regarding recorders. Each student needs to buy a recorder for music class. They are $5 and are available at the school store (cash only). Thank you! Stephanie Hello, families!
I hope you enjoyed your weekend. What beautiful weather we had. :) This week, we will be examining text features and their role in comprehending non fiction texts. In writing, we will discern between sentence fragments and run on sentences, correcting each to become complete sentences. In math we will be doubling up, learning about symmetry and 2 dimensional shapes, while practicing problem solving involving multiple steps. We finish up our science for the quarter with volcanoes, earthquakes, and fossils. We will have a special guest here on Friday; a meteorologist will be here to give us some background information on extreme weather. If you haven't already, please return the envelope that your child's report card was in; I reuse these each quarter. Thank you! Stephanie Good morning, families, I hope you enjoyed your weekend. My youngest went to the Homecoming Dance on Saturday and I am still stunned that she is old enough for these shenanigans. Time does fly! Our AC in trailer 6 is still not repaired, but the temperatures are nice enough for us to return to the trailer. The kids were so resilient in dealing with having to work from two trailers last week. I was really proud of them! Thank you to Mrs. Silber for loaning us her fan for the week. Along with one from my house, two from the first grade team, we have lots of air circulation! This week, your student will be learning common nonfiction text structures. We touched on this in the first quarter, but we are bearing down on it this quarter as we are learning more about reading nonfiction. We have learned the major parts of speech this year (nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs). This week, we will be learning about prepositions, including a song about prepositions that will be almost as torturous to hear as hearing your child learning to play the recorder!! We will be doing some experiments in science about physical and chemical weathering and in math we will begin work on multiplicative comparisons (Jane has three times as many pencils and Mike. Mike has 3 pencils. How many does Jane have?) On Wednesday, we will be visiting the symphony. Please have your child dress nicely. Nice slacks/skirt/dress. No need for sequins or bow ties, just no sports shirts or cut offs, please. We will be back in time for lunch, so no need to send a bag lunch. Early release Friday!! :) Thank you, Stephanie Good morning, Families,
I hope you enjoyed your weekend! My college boy was home from school for fall break, so I got to have both of my kiddos under the roof for the weekend. 😊 This week in math we are dividing larger numbers using the area model and using standard notation. If you aren't sure how to do either of these methods, go to my webpage msadgate.weebly.com, click on more, then click on math videos. The link will take you to the county YouTube page for math instructional videos. In reading, we remain focused on reading non fiction. This week, we work specifically on identifying and using first hand accounts and second hand accounts in research. In science, we continue to explore land forms. An optional level 4 opportunity was given to the kids today. Ask your student about it for more information. This week is bullying prevention week. Today is hat day, tomorrow is sweatpants day, Wednesday is wear two different socks/shoes, Thursday is favorite team day, and Friday is pajama day. Our next field trip is Wednesday, October 18 when we will be visiting the NC Symphony. No chaperones are required. Children are asked to dress nicely. No need for a tie or ball gown, but nice slacks/khaki shorts/collared shirts or dresses are requested. As an aside, our AC stopped working again today. I have submitted a work order for repair. Luckily it isn't too hot outside this time. 😊 Thank you, Stephanie Welcome Back Fourth Grade Families,
I hope you enjoyed your track out. As always, it went by too fast. We will ramp right up this week in school. In math we will begin learning how to divide larger numbers. Again, the division strategies your child will learn will look different from what you and I learned in school, but please give these new strategies a chance. I pushed back hard on this at first, but have come to see fewer errors using these methods than the traditional algorithm (which they will learn in fifth grade!) Keep practicing those multiplication facts. They become more and more important as we learn to divide and hit fractions in third quarter. In ELA, we continue work with non-fiction reading, including several research projects. In science we will learn about landforms and in writing, we will continue work with grammar and will write a research paper. Our field trip to Carolina Tiger Rescue is THIS THURSDAY! I need several county approved chaperones. It really is a great trip and you will love it. Please consider attending! If I have not received your child's payment for the trip by Wednesday of this week, your child will not be allowed to attend. The cost for this trip only is $15 and for all field trips combined is $37. If you require financial assistance, please contact me privately. I want all of the kids to be able to go. :) Other announcements: *The DRES Read-A-Thon fundraiser will continue accepting donations through this Friday. This is simple way to help your school. Any amount will be helpful for our PTA as they work to support the classroom and school needs at Durant. Checks can be made to DRES PTA. *The DRES Campus Clean Up will be this coming Saturday beginning at 8:30am. The last clean up resulted in remarkable changes to the front of our grounds. We need all hands on deck to spruce up the other parts we couldn't get to last time. Bring shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows, and your muscles. 😊 *Our NC Symphony Field Trip will be October 18. We will not need any chaperones for this trip. *Report Cards will be coming home this Friday. The comments section will look a little different school-wide this year. Comments will address intervention or enrichment accommodations for students that require them ,but others will have very few comments at all . This is a county-wide change that may take some getting used to. If you have questions that were not addressed by our first quarter conferences or by the report card, please contact me. I am more than happy to answer! Sorry for the long letter! Thank you, Stephanie Happy track out week, fourth grade families!
Hard to believe, but we are a quarter of the way through the school year. Report cards will come home in the week that we track IN. This change made at the county level will make it so we can get more instruction completed before having to submit report cards for review. :) This week, we will finish learning strategies for multiplying and introduce division concepts and strategies. We will continue learning to read non-fiction and we will be writing a song this track out week. :) We will learn about NC symbols and present them on Friday. LOTS OF ANNOUNCEMENTS!! Please get your field trip money submitted before we track out. The cost for all four field trips is $37. You can send a check made payable to DRES, send cash or pay online. If you are having financial hardships, please contact me and I will work with you. I want all of the kids to be able to go! :) If you are interested in your child participating in the Spelling Bee this year, please respond to this email and I will send home a copy of some words to study. The preliminary test day will be October 20. The Reflections contest for this year will have the theme of "Within Reach." This program encourages students to express themselves through the arts. More information about this program is to come later! READ-A-THON is in full swing here at DRES. Please consider donating to this fundraiser as the PTA tries to collect money to put in new playground equipment. If you want to refer your child for AIG testing, please email Lori Gibbons at [email protected] to nominate him/her. Are you a soccer family? The NC Courage women's soccer team will be playing on September 30 at WakeMed Soccer Park. Tickets are $10. $1 of each ticket sold will come back to DRES. Finally, come out to the McDonald's at Fall of Neuse and Durant Roads to see your DRES teachers hard at work! I'll be working the Drive Through from 5:30-6:30; come on by and I can completely mess up your order!! :) Have a restful and safe holiday weekend; see you Tuesday! Thanks, Stephanie [email protected] msadgate.weebly.com @TheAdgators (Twitter) |
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