Ms. Nickley and Ms. Scapicchio
Week 3 Newsletter: 8/21-8/25
Upcoming Dates
Monday, August 21st-Friday, September 1st: Kindergarten Colors Weeks (See below)
Tuesday, August 22nd: FAST ELA Assessment (PM1)
Thursday, August 24th: FAST Math Assessment (PM1)
Thursday, August 31st: T-Shirt Orders Due (See Below)
Monday, September 4th: Labor Day, No School
September 16th: SLE Orlando City Soccer Spirit Night (See Below)
FAST Assessments and Homework
Due to FAST assessments during the upcoming week, students will be leaving their computers on campus Monday and Wednesday. It is critical that students have their charger and headphones to leave in class as well.
Because of this, students won't have any assigned weekly technology goals to complete at home. Instead, we will be sending home a Spotlight Student paper to be completed for homework and returned by Friday. Throughout the year, each student will have a turn to be featured as a Spotlight Student. When it's your child's turn, we will send home additional information.
If you are looking for additional practice, students can:
- Read a good book
- Work in their reading workbooks
- Take an AR test
- Complete the optional math workbook practice
Fourth Grade T-Shirts
We will be ordering a special Fourth Grade t-shirt to show 4th grade and school pride! All 4th grade t-shirts will be the same color. When selecting your child’s size, please allow room for growth and then select your child’s homeroom teacher.
The cost is $10.00 per shirt and all orders are due by Thursday, August 31st.
Classroom Rules and Expectations/Behavior Plan
While we focus on positive reinforcement, there are times when students need reminders. When this occurs, we will be giving an "Oops" on Class Dojo. If a student earns five "Oops" during a week, they will not be able to participate in Fun Friday. Each Monday, students will start fresh and have the opportunity to improve the following week. You can support us at home by viewing your child's Class Dojo reports and notifications to aid you in conversations with your child. At times, there are more serious behaviors that will result in additional consequences. Our behavior plan is as follows:
1) Warning
2) "Oops" on Class Dojo
3) Parent Contact (phone or email)
4) Loss of Fun Friday
5) Referral to the office
*Severe behavior would result in an automatic referral.
The Great Guinea Pig Heist!
The guinea pigs have been found!!! Students got to practice their Science skills to investigate what happened. 4th graders made observations, inferences, asked questions, made predictions, and drew conclusions to determine who took them. It turns out that Spike the Eagle made a poor choice by taking them, but he returned them safely to my classroom today.
August Lunch Menu
If your child requires a special meal accommodation due to food allergies and/or a medical condition, please visit the website below to complete the required online Diet Order Form.
ELA
We look forward to working on our first reading CRM when assessments conclude. During this first unit, we will be reading various pieces of fictional text. Some of the skills we will be working on are story elements and how they contribute to the plot, character point of view and perspective, context clues, and summarizing.
We are also working on writing with Fun Film Fridays. We are starting the year by focusing on basic writing conventions and sentences structure, as well as allowing opportunities for the students to write for different occasions to build their writing skills.
The kiddos are loving our first class novel, Wonder, this week. I will display the book on the projector, but you are welcome to send a copy with your child if they would like to follow along in their own book.Social Studies
Math
We are finishing our beginning of the year math diagnostic assessments. Once your child completes these, we will begin our weekly math technology goals which will help review previous math topics and introduce new math topics.
Our first math topic is Place Value: Numbers to One Million. Topic 1 extends your child’s understanding of place value to one million. In this unit, we will compare and round numbers using the relationship between the values of the digits in different places. Please see the attached family letter for more information and examples.
We will also be focusing on learning our basic math multiplication and division facts (0-12’s). Students have access to their Reflex math app on launchpad to practice and learn their basic facts! We are earning our “green” lights during class time this week. I will keep you updated on when Reflex transitions to being a weekly homework assignment.
***Math Canvas on Launch coming soon!
Science
In our first unit of science, we will learn about the different types of investigations including models, simulations, repeated observations, field studies, and controlled experiments! We have a lot of fun and exciting hands-on investigations planned! Please message me if your child has a popcorn allergy. We always want to make sure we are safe when experimenting!
***Science Canvas on Launch– coming soon!
Schedules
Celebrating a Birthday?
OCPS Food & Nutrition Services would like to help you celebrate your child’s special day by offering healthy, cute, and fun individual pack treats you can easily purchase for the entire elementary school class. You place the order...WE DO THE WORK!
This preferred process also ensures that students with specific food allergies can also participate in the celebration.
https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/eaee33b9649b4a4791f24cd24eb1e2ae
Cafeteria Manager: Maritza Gonzalez (maritza.gonzalez3@ocps.net)