Fun in Fourth Grade
A Newsletter About Our Fantastic 4th Grade "Chastain-ians"
Heartfelt Thanks & Shout Outs
I want to shout out Will C. who has reached his two million word goal this week! Congratulations Will!
Thank you so much to our volunteers who have supported our class this week! Jeanine Brown and Gretchen Lenart were so helpful during math workshop this week. I also sincerely appreciate Joanna Clark's help with copies on Friday. Thank you so much, ladies!
I have an incredibly generous class who are so thoughtful. This week Andy M. wanted us to learn about one of his favorite fruits, the tamarindo, so her brough enough to share with the entire class. We have special kids!
Progress Reports/Goal Setting
Review your child's progress report. Please sign the yellow copy for your child to return to class on Monday.
Next week, I will begin goal setting with our students. In one-on-one conferences, we will review assessment data and determine one language arts and one math goal to help them grow. At this time we will also create a student action plan to meet these goals.
Why set goals with young students? Goal setting provides students with ownership of their learning. Achieving goals, and having voice and choice as to how they will increase their proficiency, improves motivation and understanding that growth is achieved through focused practice and effort. This link will take you to a page of student resources on our daily work website. These websites can be used at any time for student practice. Feel free to bookmark this page and encourage your child to use these resources at home all year long.
Age of Sail Update
On Wednesday the fourth grade teachers were able to draw names for who will be chaperones (Tall Sailors) on this adventurous journey. Our class tall sailors are:
- Tall Sailor: Tina Nguyen
- Tall Sailor: Eloisa Gomez
- Tall Sailor: Sherry Nealon
- Tall Sailor: Chris O'Brien
- Tall Sailor: Jeff Henderson
- Historian: Joe Clark
Alternate Tall Sailor: Rob Thrower
Should any tall sailor not be able to go on the field lesson Rob would be asked to go in his or her place.
Congratulations Tall Sailors! Remember to get fingerprinted and TB tested at your earliest convenience!
Upcoming Events
- Want to learn more about Growth Mindset, Technology, Project Based Learning, Social Emotional Skills, Common Core Mathematics, or NWEA? Parents Go to School Night (fall edition), led by our fantastic administrators, will be held this week on September 30th. You can RSVP for this event using this form.
- Thursday is Picture Day. Students should wear their uniforms for pictures.
- This Friday is a spirit day! Students can wear clothes to celebrate their favorite decade in history!
- Westlake Charter will be hosting a high school information night on October 20th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. on the Pebblewood campus. Representatives from our local high schools will present information about their programs and answer parent questions.
- The 5th Annual Fall Festival will be held on October 24th on the Del Paso campus! Save the date because you don't want to miss this fantastic WCS community event. This is also a terrific opportunity to earn parent volunteer hours. Please sign up at this link to volunteer at the Fall Festival.
Curriculum Updates
English Language Arts
- This week we will finish, The Westing Game. Our students have been doing excellent work analyzing text details for significance and examining character clues. They have also been strengthening their vocabularies within the context of this fantastic novel.
- Next week students will work on Spelling City List #13. Activities should be completed by Friday. We will test on this list in class on Friday, October 2nd.
- No vocabulary list this week - With a spelling, math and social studies test scheduled for Friday, students have a full plate this week.
Math
- We finish Chapter 3 in math this week. We will take the chapter test on Friday, October 2nd. Please see the curriculum's "Math at Home" summary of the math in this chapter for more information.
- 4th grade IXL strands that correlate to the math in this chapter include: D.1, E.1, E.2, D.8, D.2, D.5.
Social Studies
- We have concluded the ISN notes and textbook work on material for our California regions unit. This week we finish our overlays project that allows students to see how regions, bodies of water, population density and natural resources interact with one another.
- We will be testing on the material learned on Friday, October 2nd. Students were reminded on Friday to review their ISN notes to prepare for the test. We will be completing a study guide in class on Tuesday and reviewing concepts in class on Thursday. However, it is a good idea for students to review at home for this test. Students should make flash cards, highlight notes for key ideas that correspond to the study guide and ask family members to quiz them on material.
Every Kid in a Park!
4th Grade Book Club Opportunity
Is your child interested in joining a 4th grade book club? Two book clubs will meet after school every other Tuesday, beginning September 29th (please note the date change).
Another book club is forming and planning to meet on Mondays. For all book clubs, students will need to get the book and read it before we meet, then come ready to hang out with friends and discuss the book.
The book club for A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle is currently full. Parent, Jinny Beaton-LĂȘ, will lead a second book called Wonkenstein (Creature from My Closet Series #1).Wonkenstein has an AR book level of 5.3 and a lexile of 860. This book will also be discussed on the same dates and time. More information to come about the book chosen for the third book club.
If you are interested in having your child joining a book club, have questions, or are interested in facilitating a group, please email Elena.thrower@gmail.com.
*Space is limited depending on how many additional parents we get to facilitate different groups.
Upcoming Dates
- Sept. 30: Parents Go to School Night (fall edition) RSVP here.
- Oct. 1: Picture Day - Wear uniforms
- Oct. 5-9: October Break
- Scholastic Book Orders due October 15th. Book orders can be placed here using activation code: L6L3V.
- Oct. 20: High School Information Night on PW campus from 6:00-8:00 p.m.
- Oct. 24: 5th Annual Fall Festival on Del Paso campus
- January 7 & 8: Age of Sail field lesson for Chastain-ians
Warmly,
Heather Chastain