Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Field Trip Update and Open House Reminder

Dear Families,

The lighthouse 4th grade classrooms were originally planning to hike Mt. Philo on October 4th, but will no longer be able to go.  Mt. Philo overbooked the number of groups attending on that day and unfortunately our group was one of the ones that was told that we could not hike.  We were also told that there are no other dates available to hike this fall.

Since we already have the buses booked for October 4th, we will now be going to Shelburne Farms instead. Students will be able to participate in a variety of activities and also hike on some of the trails. An updated permission slip will be available tomorrow evening at Open House (6:30-7:30), or will be sent home on Friday. The cost for this field trip will be the same.

REMINDER- Open House is TOMORROW- September, 20th from 6:30-7:30.  I hope to see you there!

Please email me with any questions.  Have a great evening!
Mrs. Carney

Friday, September 14, 2018

Hi Everyone!

Happy Friday! We have had another fabulous week!  We are continuing to learn about each other and are figuring out our classroom expectations and routines. We are also learning about our brains and have had lots of discussions about growth mindset.  Ask your child to tell you about how making mistakes actually helps your brain grow!

Below you will find some updates on things that are happening in our classroom.

Math- We spent our first week of math doing inspirational math activities.  We learned about having a growth mindset in math and learned how to think about numbers flexibly.  We also discovered that we all see and think about math differently! This week we started our Everyday Math program.  Unit 1 focuses on place value concepts and multidgit addition and subtraction. Students also had a chance to use Prodigy.  Prodigy is an educational online math program that students LOVE! It is aligned to common core and helps students practice math concepts that we are learning in the classroom.  An information sheet on prodigy went home last week in Friday folders. It also had directions of how to link your child’s account to your email for progress updates. If you need another sheet, please email me and let me know.

Reading- This week students explored our classroom library and discussed all of the ways that readers choose books.  Students took a Reading Interest Survey and shared their thoughts on how they feel about reading. In addition, we are practicing how to build our stamina during read to self time.  Over the next few weeks I will be doing one-on-one reading check ins with students to help form reading groups.

Science- We completed our first Mystery Science lesson and explored the question, “Why do scientists know so much?”  We learned the difference between the way an artist draws and a scientist draws and even had a chance to practice drawing like a scientist with flowers outside.  Our first science unit will be on Energy, Force and Motion.

Writing- Students created a Heart Map in their writing notebooks with all of the things that are special and important to them.  We will use our Heart Maps for writing ideas throughout the year. Today we practiced 5 minute free writes and wrote all about our names.    

Writer's Notebooks- Next Monday, students will be personalizing their writer's notebooks.  If you have any pictures, magazines, or stickers, please send them to school with your child by Monday, September 17th.  Keep in mind the pictures will be cut and glued, so please do not send in any special original copies that can't be cut!

Slideshow- Next week, students will be creating google slideshows to share a little about themselves and also to practice speaking in front of the class.  Your child needs to choose FIVE pictures that represent who they are and what they like to do.  These could be pictures of their family, friends, favorite vacation spot, animals, hobbies, etc. Pictures can be emailed to their school email address- lastname.firstinitial@colchestersd.org or to my email address- kari.carney@colchestersd.org. Please email pictures by next Tuesday, September 18th. If you are unable to do this, please email me and let me know!

Field Trip- Lighthouse 4th graders will be taking a field trip to hike Mt. Philo on October 4th. Field trip forms are in Friday folders.

Open House- MBS Open House will be on Thursday, September 20th from 6:30-7:30pm. I hope to see you there!

Book Order- Book orders are due on Friday, September 21st. You can either order online by visiting our class blog and clicking on the book order tab, or by sending in a hard copy order with your child.

Early Release Day- Wednesday, September 26th will be a district wide early release day.  Students will be dismissed at 12:45.

Picture Retake Day- October 12th

Class Blog- Please subscribe to our class blog to stay up to date with news and information.

Please feel free to contact me anytime by email- kari.carney@colchestersd.org and/or school phone- 264-5867.

Phew, I think that is it for updates and reminders! Please know that you have amazing children and they are all working so hard. I am very fortunate to have such a great group of kids in my class this year.  Get outside this weekend and enjoy time with family and friends.

Happy Weekend!

Mrs. Carney

Reminders