Winter Spirit Week Schedule

Next week, December 12-16, is our winter spirit week. The spirit days are as follows:

Monday: Holiday/Winter Day

Tuesday: Crazy Hair Day (must still wear uniform)

Wednesday: Twin Day (uniforms do not count)

Thursday: Hippie Day

Friday: Be Yourself Day (no Cambridge clothes required, however, clothes must be appropriate for school and follow the basic dress code)



Show your Coyote spirit by participating! The class with the most participation each day will be entered into a drawing to win a prize. The winner will be announced Friday, December 16. If students choose NOT to participate, uniforms are still required.

December Major Assignment/Testing Schedule

Thurs. 12/1
"Abraham Lincoln" Reading Comprehension Test

Fri. 12/2
WW Lesson 13 Test
Spelling Test

Mon. 12/5
Science: Water Collection Wksht Due

Tues. 12/6
Social Studies: Find 5 familiar items or animals that got their names from Spanish words and compare the names in Spanish and English. Ex: alligator (from el lagarto, "the lizard") DUE in class.

Wed. 12/7
"How Fast Do You Eat Your Ice Cream" Reading Comp. Test

Fri. 12/9
WW Lesson 14 Test
Spelling Test

Mon. 12/12
Science Vocabulary Test (see rubric for words)
Chapter 10 Math Test

Wed. 12/14
Science: Water Cycle Drawing/Labeling Test

Thurs. 12/1
"The Snowflake" Reading Comprehension Test
Social Studies: Mining Town Newspaper (GROUP PROJECT) due in class- Your child will be assigned a piece of the newspaper to complete on their own for the final project they will work on together in groups in class.

Fri. 12/16
WW Lesson 15 Test
Spelling Test

Wed. 12/21-Wed. 1/4 WINTER BREAK

$20 Challenge #2

Alright students- this one's something new that I learned over Fall Break that we all need to know!

The Anasazi Indians that were anciently in Arizona and throughout the Four Corners area in the SW United States are now being called by a different name by Native American tribes, educators and historians. What is their new name? (PS- this will be on the SS test next week too... we'll be changing it in our notes at the end of this week.)

Honoring 9/11

We had an amazing week last week to honor September 11th's ten year anniversary. I feel so privileged to be able to teach about the heroism and bravery that our fellow countrymen exhibited that day and in the years since.

We spent Tuesday discussing the facts of the attacks that took place on 9/11. We viewed video tributes to those who lost their lives and we talked about the feelings that many Americans felt that day.

Wednesday, we were lucky enough to have three special guest speakers come to our room to share their experiences. One was Army Captain Crystal Haas who is currently deployed and serving her second tour in Iraq, leaving behind her husband and 2 year old son Reed. Another was Lance Corporal Ian Rush, a Marine Reservist based here in Phoenix who enlisted after 9/11 and has trained and worked to be ready to be called to serve where needed. The third guest speaker was Major Ben Luoma, a CA fourth grade student's father. He is a full time member of the Army National Guard and has served in Afghanistan and now locally since 9/11.

These guest speakers were an invaluable eye opener for our students about the sacrifices and bravery that are still taking place in regard to the events of that fateful September day ten years ago. There were many questions from the students as to the whats, whys and hows of military service, which were answered honestly and opened even more discussion.





Following the guest speakers, we opened the floor for students to share words that described their feelings about all that they had learned, seen and discussed about September 11th. We listed all the "negatives" like fear, terror, pain and anger in blue on the board. Positive words like faith, bravery, heroism and pride were written in red. After the board was filled, I had the students look for an overall color of the words. The board was nearly completely red. This made me so happy! The students really focused on the good and positive that came from the horrible things that happened.

Our final activity of the week to honor September 11th was to create a model of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers out of the white boxes that students brought in. On the boxes, students wrote their response to our discussions. Some wrote one word on all sides of their box. Some filled their box with multiple words. Some illustrated, some left it stark. Each box was a beautiful piece of their own feelings. I felt privileged to handle them and use them to build the Towers model. I hope you had a chance to get up close and look at the words and feelings that were shared by your student and their peers on our memorial. It was very touching!











Our goal this week was to look for the good and focus on the positive while still giving respect to the things that happened and to those that were (and still are) affected by September 11th. I hope that we succeeded in reaching your child and encouraging a pride for being an American in them!

Tentative Calendar

Some parents have requested a tentative calendar be posted on our blog that shows upcoming test dates. Please note that these are flexible dates depending upon how we move through the curriculum. Our upcoming test dates are:

Friday, September 2:
Wordly Wise Lesson 5
"Langston Hughes, Poet of the People" Reading Test
Spelling Test

Friday, September 9:
Wordly Wise, Lesson 6
"Daedalus & Icarus" Reading Test
Spelling Test
MATH Chapter 3 Test: Multiplication Properties & Multiples

Friday, September 16:
Wordly Wise, Lesson 7
"The Great Kapok Tree" Reading Test
Spelling Test

TUESDAY, September 20:
MATH: Chapter 4 Test: Division Relating to Multiplication

WEDNESDAY, September 21:
SCIENCE: Chapter 2 Test (See Study Guide)

Friday, September 23:
Wordly Wise, Lesson 8
"The US Constitution and You" Reading Test
Spelling Test

THURSDAY, September 29:
SOCIAL STUDIES: Arizona's Early People (See Study Guide)

Friday, September 30:
Wordly Wise, Lesson 9
NO Reading Test scheduled at this time...
Spelling Test

Watch their agendas for any changes and reminders of upcoming events! :)

$20 challenge

Answer this question (on your own!) using the internet or any other materials you have. Remember to use a complete sentence so you can get credit for your answer.
What is a word that can be spelled the same forward and backward called?
Examples:
Mom
Dad
Wow
racecar
Submit your answer by email (mwashburn2@gmail.com) and get an extra $10!

Wordly Wise

Here are some helpful websites for students and parents alike to use to practice the Wordly Wise word lists for each week's lesson. There are games, animated flashcards, word lists and more to encourage memorization and incorporation into daily vocabulary. Check them out to get ready for this week's test and those in weeks beyond... they help parents to increase their vocabularies too! :)

http://www.wordlywise3000.com/games/book04.cfm

http://quizlet.com/408364/wordly-wise-3000-book-4-lesson-5-flash-cards/

Happy Practicing!

Important Information

This is going to be a great week I'm sure!

I wanted to make you aware of a few important pieces of information. As scheduled on the Master Calendar, School Picture Day is tomorrow for 4th grade. There is a flyer in your child's HW folder tonight and they have been coached on what to wear (bright colors and a whole outfit because some poses include feet) and that they need to make sure they have a pair of sneakers or PE appropriate shoes to change into for PE tomorrow afternoon. Please direct any questions to the office staff, as this is my first CA picture day!

One more important tidbit: Spirit Shirts are now available for ordering. Yay for casual Fridays! :) Please see the information below from CA Student Council to get yours.

"Dear Parents,

We have exciting news! You can now order Cambridge Spirit shirts online! The site is www.aridzoriginals.com . Once on the site, click on "Cambridge Academy" on the left side of the screen. There you will find instructions on how to place your order and how to pay for it. Please note the deadline for ordering. Since the ordering is online and goes directly to the t-shirt printer, we can no longer accept late orders. However, you will have the opportunity to order in the future if you miss this first deadline.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Gardner or Miss Wilson at 480-641-2828.

Mrs. Gardner & Miss Wilson

Cambridge Academy East Student Council"

Homework... (cue the scary music!)

There are still some mumblings and grumblings going on about HW in our class.:)

I'm realizing more each day that the students in my class aren't as familiar with cursive as I originally thought. Since we need to fix this issue before I can realistically ask students to write a lot of assignments in cursive, I think it would be best to build up to a larger cursive expectation.

I'd like to ask the kids that are relatively comfortable with cursive handwriting to continue to do their 3 spelling assignments in cursive. However, if your child is struggling, please know that I am fine with them turning only one of the three assignments in written in cursive. Understand that we still want to push them to grow in their penmanship- both in print and in cursive- so full credit can' t be given fairly for sloppy print work. Starting at the next quarter, I'd like to have 2 of the 3 assignments completed in cursive. At the 3rd quarter (January) I feel that it'd be realistic to request all 3 in cursive. In the meantime, I'm giving them handwriting packets in class and some will have one to take home as well, depending on their need for practice. :)

Next week, check your student's backpack for an example of a correctly completed agenda depicting a "typical" week in our class homework-wise. As a general rule of thumb, a fourth grade student should be spending between 40-60 minutes a night working on HW- including the 20 minutes of reading. I am giving a lot of time in class to complete Wordly Wise and writing prompt assignments and there is generally 20 minutes or so given each day for students to begin their math homework as well. I will also be sending home an example of each spelling HW assignment for the students to use as a guide- and for parents to know what it is I'm asking for because there's been some confusion on a few of the assignments.

I realize that HW is a grouch button for a lot of students. I am trying to help them understand that HW is for practice and not for torture purposes! :) I give them plenty of time in class to work on assignments and am trying to be realistic about expectations at home as well.

Hopefully, this available handwriting modification, extra practice in class with handwriting, the example agenda and example HW will help to clear up any confusion and make the HW process more smooth.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns!

Homework

Parents,
There's been some questions and concerns about homework for our class. I want to clarify what homework consists of so that there's no confusion.

Weekly homework comes home on Friday evenings. It's a single page introducing the story for the following week and the spelling words are listed in the last paragraph. On the other side. there is a description of the 5 assignments that your child can choose from for the week. They are required to do any 3 of the 5. There is also a reading log for Monday-Thursday night for them to record their nightly 20 minutes of reading.


Any additional assignments that you see come home are those that are unfinished in class- these will mainly be math independent practice (can be accessed online at the Pearson website or by him bringing his book home), the math online quizzes (5 questions each day about the topic learned in class) and/or writing assignments.

Your student is supposed to be filling in an agenda on a daily basis- every time we finish a subject during the day- so that they know what assignments need to be finished at home or during our Workshop time on Wed/Thurs. Between time in class and Workshop twice a week, there shouldn't be much beyond the regular assignment coming home each night. I encourage them to work hard in class because I realize that time at home time- when everyone finally gets there each night- is precious. I understand this more now than ever since my daughter started Kindergarten this year and has homework of her own every night.

Hopefully this will clear up any confusion and help your students to continue to be responsible for themselves!

As always, feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.

Thank you!

Declaration of Independence

This week in Social Studies, we began to discuss the Declaration of Independence. To illustrate the drafting of and the reasoning behind the Declaration of Independence, I used the video at the following link:
http://www.webtexts.com/declaration/

It was very popular, and they're pretty excited to share it with family members and friends. I've posted the link and given the homework assignment to discuss the things we learned in class today.

We did an activity where they closed their eyes to envision what life would be like without the liberties we have today. I gave situations like King's soldiers taking your home, your dinner & bed because they wanted to- and you had no control over it; or having outrageous taxes placed on everyday necessities because King George III decided he wanted more money in his coffers. We explained our feelings at these "injustices" and then talked about what the signers of the Declaration did about it. We picked apart much of the actual document and discussed what thd Founding Fathers wrote, especially the part that our class recites on a daily basis, so that they'd better understand what they're saying.

Please discuss these things with your student so they can come back to class prepared to discuss it full group again.

Happy Conversing!

Week One is (almost!) Done

Week one of school has been a great success! I am thrilled to have each of your children in my/our class. We have a great bunch- really!

Thank you for being so prompt in returning all of your parent surveys and student information sheets. The kids are excited to have the money to pay rent on Monday morning. Some have already learned about the fines and cost of using the bathroom... :)

We will begin our regular curriculum for the year on Monday. We will be reading a story about the Scientific Method, learning about place value & how to read large numbers, working with the writing process to create a narrative account, and studying the Declaration of Independence. The students will be memorizing a section of the DofI to recite every day with the Pledge of Allegiance. It's a great conversation piece at the dinner table, so ask them about it!

Regular homework will begin next week as well. This week, each student was given their login information for Pearson Success Net- our digital/interactive math curriculum. They can access everything that I do in class on their own computer now. So if you need them to stay home for any reason, they can still work to stay caught up at home. They were all made aware that they are expected to complete homework and a mini-quiz for each section on a nightly basis- both of which are available online for them. Please allow them time to complete these assignments!

One last note: some kids are "short" on their Classroom Cash for August rent... I told them today that I will accept donations to our classroom and pay them $10 for each one. These are things above and beyond the original supply list. In case they ask you to contribute, the things we need most are Kleenex and hand sanitizer- these go like CRAZY in classrooms!

As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions or comments. Thank you for all you do. I'm excited to have this opportunity to work with each of you and your wonderful kids!

Beginning of the Year Supply List

Here is the list of things that EACH STUDENT in our class is asked to provide as the school year begins. These things are deeply discounted during the summer, so I'd suggest buying multiples for home and possible classroom replacement as the year progresses.


Some of the items listed are things that will be shared as a classroom community- and are MUCH needed! (Kleenex, hand sanitizer, paper towels, etc.) Please feel free to send things in as the year goes on, as we will use it all!

At the bottom of the list is a section of things that are my own wishes for the classroom based on projects and units we'll be working on during the year. Any donations are much appreciated!

Thank you in advance for all of your efforts and commitment to our learning community. It's going to be a great year! :)

For Our Classroom:
2 rolls of paper towels
2 boxes of Kleenex
2 pkgs. of baby wipes
2 containers of disinfecting wipes
2 reams of copy paper- 8.5 x 11”
1 ream of color copying paper (your choice of color)
1 bottle of hand sanitizer
2 pkgs. of 3 hole punched, wide-ruled, lined paper
1 pkg. of 12+, #2 pencils

For Student’s desk:
2 dry erase markers
2 highlighters
1 pkg. washable colored markers
1 pkg. coloring pencils
1 pkg. 3x5 index cards
1 pair of scissors
2 large pink erasers
1 ruler with cm/inch
1 bottle of white glue
2+ glue sticks
4 spiral bound notebooks
1 pencil box
2 plastic 2-pocket folders (with or without prongs)- for home/school communication
10 paper 2-pocket folders (with prongs)- for work organization in the classroom

Mrs. Washburn's Wishlist:
hanging file folders
sticky notes
"Forever" stamps/postage for students to send letters during writing units
tape refills
electric pencil sharpener
construction paper
paper plates
napkins
plastic spoons/forks
sandwich/quart/gallon sized storage bags
paper bags
crafting glue dots
Crayola Model Magic modeling material- any color
fourth grade age appropriate classroom library books

Meet Your Teacher

Hello Students and Families! Welcome to fourth grade! I am excited to get to know you and so I'll tell you a little about myself.

My name is Marianne Washburn. I was born and raised in a military family, so I moved around a lot. I attended ten schools during the course of my education! Most of my education took place in California, but I moved to Arizona when my father retired from the Marine Corps and took a job in Phoenix. I finished high school at Red Mountain High in Mesa and then attended Arizona State University to earn my Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education in 2005.

I've had lots of experience working both full time teaching Kindergarten, first and fifth grades, and part time as a substitute teacher in multiple districts in the East Valley. I taught as a substitute teacher for Cambridge in from 2010-2011 in fact and I have had a chance to meet many of you already.

I married my husband, James, in 2002 and we now have two beautiful- and feisty!- little girls. EmmaLee is five years old and Maycee is two. We live near Cambridge Academy in Mesa and I like to ride my bike to school some days with my daughter EmmaLee, who is in Kindergarten this year.

Some of my favorites are:
color: yellow
song: She Drives Me Crazy by Fine Young Cannibals
chapter book: Frindle by Andrew Clements
subject: social studies- I LOVE history!
poem: Dreams, by Langston Hughes
artist: Georgia O'Keefe
way to spend an afternoon: playing with my daughters or curling up with a good book
season: Autumn
holiday: Thanksgiving- my family is really big on traditions
candy: Twix bars or chocolate covered pretzels (YUUUUM!)
way to move around: my step aerobics class at the gym- I attend regularly because I love it!

Three things I want to do before I die:
1- Visit Europe...especially Ireland.
2- Drive a really fast car... really fast!
3- Learn to fly an airplane

I'm looking forward to getting to know you too! Please remember to come say "hi" at Cambridge Academy's Meet the Teacher Night. It's Thursday, July 21st from 5-7pm. We're in Room 9.
See you there!
Mrs. Washburn