Angelville News October 8-12, 2012

BON DIA
Week 6

Dear Parents,

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend with this continued killer weather!!  It makes me so very happy :)!  Not sure what I'm going to do when the rain hits!:(

*Tomorrow we have a very exciting visit from Author John Stephens who wrote Emerald Atlas and The Fire Chronicle.  Many of the students in my class have already read one of his books, so this will be extra special for them.  His book talk will be from 10:45 - noon on Tuesday.  Books will be available for purchase tomorrow.  Might be kind of fun to have a personalized signed copy of one of his books.  I will send this information home with your student today.

*Please continue to check your student's planners.  All homework packets are due on Friday's (this includes the TFK, Spelling Unit and reading log).  All Entry Tasks are due on Friday's.  Geography packs are also due on Friday's.  If your student is missing something I will do my best to email you immediately.  On top of emailing you I also let the student know what they are missing.  After that it will be up to the student to turn in the work.  
Home work packet this week:
TFK - Polar Explorer
Spelling Unit 5
Reading Log

Sr. Giovanni will be a guest teacher in my 4th grade class this week talking about the Rosary.  October is the month of the Rosary.

4th Grade Math this week is all about MULTIPLICATION!  Last week we worked with two digit multiplication by one digit.  Today our assignment is Lesson 4.5, Three digit by one digit.  Tomorrow there will not be math classes due to our guest speaker.  Math on Wednesday and Thursday will be two-digit by two-digit, Lesson 4.6 and 4.7.

I have begun to give reading assessments.  At conferences I will let you all know what reading level your student is at.

Today the students will be given a practice writing prompt.  On Thursday they will be given their Fall Writing Assessment.  There are two prompts that the students can choose from.  There are 3rd grade prompts and 4th grade prompts.  The writing on Thursday will be assessed and your student will be given a writing level.  A second writing assessment will be given in Spring.

In Social Studies we continue to talk about Washington.  This week the students will study the regional locations of Washington, Mountain ranges, mountains, cities and large bodies of water.  There will be a quiz on the map of Washington on Thursday.  If time allows we will begin to talk about the US Presidential Election (Who can vote, US Voting Laws, Presidential Firsts, What's a political party, and the two candidates.  We will not discuss personal family voting feelings/beliefs for one candidate or another.  It will all be general information.

In Science the students are working in the FOSS kit, Sun. Moon and Stars.

KEEP SHINNING SUN, have a great week!!  

4th Grade Religion

The 4th graders will take their first Religion Quiz Friday the 5th, tomorrow over the 7 Sacraments.

What to know:
*7 Sacraments as they are received in the Church and a brief description of each
*meaning of MASS
*meaning of Sacraments
*meaning of Grace

They can study their notes and Chapter 28 in their Religion books.

October 4, 2012 PICTURE DAY

Good morning families,

I read the picture day sheet wrong and thought it was a week later.  This Thursday, the students will be taking their personal pictures.  The students may wear non-uniform/Sunday Best attire, even though it says on the sheet that they need to be in their uniforms.  Of course they can be in their uniforms if that is your choice, but it is not required.

Have a good day,

Miz Schmutz

Angelville News October 1-5th 2012

BON DIA
Week 5

Here we go with some more wonderful weather!!  LOVE IT!!

We had a fabulous field trip last week to the King Tut Exhibit.  I will post the pictures this week on the blog.  The kids were AWESOME as were the Chaperone's.  Thank you all for a great day!

Reminders:
*Non uniform dress this Friday
*Continue to check your students planner and binder each night.  If your student has late work or missing work I will email you.  I will not continue to ask for the late work.  If the work does not show up it will go into my grade book as a Zero.

In Writing this week we will continue to write stories for each student's personal Newspaper.  I need a picture of your student's Hero as well as one of your student, or student with family etc.  These pictures you will not get back in the same form.

In 4th grade math we have been working solving story problems.  We will continue with story problems and go into multiplication.  It is imperative that your student knows his/her multiplication facts for memory.  We will be working on multiplying 4 digit numbers by one digit numbers and two digit by two digit.

In Religion we will finish up with the 7 Sacraments this week and there will be a test on Friday over the Sacraments.

In Social Studies we are studying the 5 Regions of Washington.  The students will also get a new Studies Weekly Newspaper, Did Washington have Dinosaurs?  In our Geography this week we are learning about Grid Maps.

 3/4 Science-- The students worked hard to demonstrate what they learned by creating a poster about the salmon life cycle. The students worked in groups to show the habitat, predators and prey during each stage of the cycle. Check out the posters on display outside of our classrooms. Next, students will study life cycles of other animals and begin some of the lessons from our Sun, Moon and Stars unit. We will also be reading our National Geographic magazine.

Please contact me if you have any questions.  mizschmutz@gmail.com

Angelville News September 24-28, 2012

BON DIA
WEEK 4

*Field Trip to King Tut is tomorrow.  We will leave and take the city bus to the Pacific Science Center.  Leaving around 8:45 am and returning around 12:45pm.  IF YOUR CHILD HAS NOT RETURNED HIS OR HER FORM THEM WILL NOT BE ABLE TO GO ON THE FIELD TRIP WITH US!!!  Please make sure those come back.  I believe I am missing 4 forms.

*I continue to have many students not turning in their work on time.  Tracking down work is one of the biggest struggles for a teacher.  Please help that your child has all of their belongings each day.  Please help me by checking and signing their planners each night.  If you feel as though your child needs accommodations in helping him/her remember their school work please let me know and we can pull our heads together and come up with some ideas.

-In Social Studies we are studying Washington State.  This week we will be talking about the 5 regions of Washington on a map.  Students will be responsible for locating and labeling all 5 regions along with State Capital, boarders, mountain ranges in Washington as well as important cities.  We will continue with our Geography Weekly; this week we are studying the 4 hemispheres.

-In Writer's Workshop we have begun our "All about ME" newspapers.  Your student needs a picture of their HERO as well as a picture of themselves or a picture with family.  The sooner you can have those come to school the better.  You will not get these pictures back in the same form.  If it is not a picture you want to give us you can take a copy of it and send it in with your student.

-In Religion this week we will continue with the 7 Sacraments.  October is the month of the Rosary, and will will have a two day visit from Sr. Giovanni.

-In Math my 4th grade students are studying 'factors' and 'multiples' of any given number.

-In Science the students are studying the life cycle of a salmon.

Hard to believe we are already in week 4!  Have a great one!  Contact me with any questions!

Angelville News September 17-21, 2012

BON DIA

WEEK 3

*CURRICULUM NIGHT Wednesday, September 19 at 7pm.  Please come and see our classroom and hear about what is going on in 3/4 West!

We had a wonderful walking trip to the Ballard Locks last Wednesday.  Our Ranger was excellent!  I think the students really enjoyed themselves and learned a few things about the locks and the fish ladder for the salmon.  We saw so many salmon coming through, more than I have seen in the past 4 years doing this field trip.  It was GREAT!!

*A new Field Trip form is going home tomorrow, KING TUT!  We will take the city bus to the Pacific Science Center on Tuesday, September 25th.  We will leave around 8:45am and return around 12:30.  Please pack your student a sack lunch for this field trip.  The cost and information about the trip is on the back of the field trip form.

In my 4th grade Religion class we applied one of our Religion SLE's "Wonderment and Awe" to our field trip.  The students showed what it "LOOKS" like and "SOUNDS" like to have Wonderment and Awe in relation to our field trip.  This week Fr. Shane is going to come in to class and lead the students in a lesson on the 7 Sacraments.  We will continue to learn about the 7 Sacraments this week and next.

In my 4th grade Math class we are reviewing many skills.  We are also doing quick minute checks on our addition and subtraction tables.  Once we have mastered those we will move on to multiplication.  This week we are covering >,<,=

In SS we will begin our Washington Studies Weekly newspapers this week.  Our curriculum this year is Washington.

In Writer's Workshop the students are writing about a place they know so well or an activity they know so well that it has become part of who they are in a way.  We read a children's literature book the first week of school called If you're not from the prairie..............., their personal writings are a spin off from this book.  I am hoping they are all completed to have on display at curriculum night.

*PLEASE CHECK YOUR STUDENTS' PLANNERS EACH NIGHT, AND SIGN.  Checks mean work is complete, circle means not complete and needs to be done and brought back the next day.

Thank you all for your support!  Keep bringing on that SUN:)

Homework/Planners

The students will learn how to use their PLANNERS today.  Planners will come home each day to be signed by a parent.  If a student did not complete their daily work in the classroom they will bring it home to finish this work should be circled in their planner.  Daily work that comes home is different from the homework for the week.  If you find that your student is bringing home daily work often, this is a sign to you that your student may not be using his/her time wisely in the classroom.  Math may be an exception to this rule.

Daily work that does not get completed that night at home and returned to school the next day will resort in your student staying in for break to complete this work.

If you have any questions please let me know mizschmutz@gmail.com

I will go over this in greater length at open house!!