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! :)
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
$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!
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!
Monday, August 29, 2011
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!
http://www.wordlywise3000.com/games/book04.cfm
http://quizlet.com/408364/wordly-wise-3000-book-4-lesson-5-flash-cards/
Happy Practicing!
Monday, August 22, 2011
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"
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"
Friday, August 12, 2011
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!
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!
Thursday, August 4, 2011
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.
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!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
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/
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!
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