Parents thank you for attending our first parent-teacher conferences! I truly appreciate your support and suggestions to better help your child. I also enjoyed getting to know you and your families a bit more. All my students have made a good start in fourth grade. However, we do need to continue to routinely read at home, complete and turn in homework, remember to label math solutions, show our thinking in math, turn on our inner voice when reading, use fix-up reading strategies, and write meaningful essays.
Before winter break, there are many things to learn. In math, we will finish statistics and start learning how to find area and perimeter. We will also start Rocket math to practice multiplication facts. In reading, we will finish questioning as a reading strategy and start learning about inferring. In writing, we will finish an essay about a special memory and hopefully start a narrative essay.
Over the next three weeks, students will have an opportunity to watch the Polar Express movie by reading 3 hours by the Friday before winter break. Please look for a letter to be sent home regarding this challenge.
After winter break, I plan to individualize homework for some students in order to get a bit more fluency practice in. This will not be additional homework, but replace 15 minutes of reading at home. In math, we will start geometry. In writing, students will learn to elaborate in their essays. In reading, we will continue to work on inferring and supporting our thinking with evidence from texts we read. Our next science kit will be about water.
Some final thoughts- Every school day is important, there is always something students will learn, practice, and or work on. Parents, you are always welcome to visit or help out in the classroom.