Letters from Language Arts
What's Happening In ELAR, Issue 3
Thank you from the Bottom of our Hearts!
Because of the generosity of so many of you, our classroom libraries grew!! We want to take a minute on a public platform to show our appreciation for each and every one of you who shopped our buckets! We know you didn't have to, and we are so very grateful for the gifts we've received.
Caitlin Mozisek and Anne Smalling
Nut Free Classrooms
A student in your child's classroom has a life threatening allergy to peanuts and all peanut products. Please do not send any food snacks with any peanut or nut by-products listed as an ingredient. Many non food items that don't contain nuts can be used to celebrate events or for snack. Thank you for your participation, and please contact our school nurse at 713.251.6325 if you have any further questions.
Celebrate Good Times Come On!
Thank you so much to the parents that were able to come to our writing celebration this week. Your children enjoyed showing off their hard work to all of you. For those that were unable to make it, although you were missed, we made sure that peers provided constructive feedback to each other. This celebration represented a very busy time in writer's workshop. It was a culmination of hard work and grit over 19 sessions. Students wrote, revised, conferenced, and edited to get to the place they are now. We couldn't be prouder of their work.
"Help, I need somebody!"
If your child ever needs help understanding a topic in class, they bring home a grade below a 70, or they need to get caught up with notes, they are always welcome to come in and get help to improve and bring their grade up to a 75. We are available every morning at 7:30am, unless we have morning duty.
Reluctant Reader? Just Looking For A Good Book? Check these out!!!
Meet Herbie!! - Our mascot and class pet
Herbie, Herbacious, Herbs is our wonderful class pet and 4th grade mascot. He is available for family time on the weekend, and he comes with a clean cage, food, bedding, hay, and a water bottle. If you would like to host our precious Herbie, please reach out and let us know. Please note, Herbie cannot be taken on a school bus, so for our bus riders, alternate transportation plans must be made.
Parent Conference Time
Very soon you will be receiving a link to sign up for parent conferences. Because we have so many students, we are limiting each meeting to 20 minutes. At this meeting, we will be discussing MAP results, current reading levels, and progress in 4th grade thus far. If you would like to discuss anything specific in addition to these items, please let us know. If you would prefer, we are providing an option for phone conferences as well. Please just indicate that on the sign up form when you receive it.
Subjectively Speaking: What To Expect When You're A 4th Grade Parent
Reader's Workshop
We just finished Year of the Dog and discovered how Grace became an author. We loved the book, and it allowed us to read deeply. Students were able to practice the stopping and jotting skills that encourage them to hold on to their stories. This is very important as they will be doing this the rest of their reading lives. At home, we ask that you continue to read and ask your children what they've been reading and what is happening in the story. They should be able to give you character, setting, and plot details. Next week we begin our study of non-fiction and information books.
Writer's Workshop
We displayed our hard work this week and marked the end of writing realistic fiction and fictional stories. For the next month and a half, we will be concentrating on sharing our expertise with others through writing. We will be writing to teach during our non-fiction unit.
Social Studies with a Texas History Twist
We have just completed Freedom Week, and we jumped into exploring the regions of Texas. We will be diving deep in to each region to help students understand the various adaptations settlers made based on the regions they inhabited.
UpComing Events
October 2: Individual Picture Day
October 3: Open House Rescheduled 6:15 - 6:45 PM
October 11: Student Holiday
October 14: Student/Staff Holiday
October 15: Austin Trip
October 17 and 18: Noon Dismissal for Parent Conferences
About Us
We are overjoyed at being your language arts and social studies teachers. It is our goal to not only create good readers and writers but lifelong readers and writers. Thank you for making this journey with us.
Email: Anne-Louise.Smalling@springbranchisd.com
Location: https://maps.google.com/?cid=7155001544484722155
Phone: 713 251 6300
Twitter: @MDESmalling