Crumb Chronicles, Issue 6

Crumb Chronicles

***A Family Newsletter***

October 29, 2012 – Issue 6

Dear Families:
Tomorrow afternoon, teachers will be meeting to schedule fall student-parent conferences.  If you haven't sent in your request for certain days/times, please get them to me by tomorrow morning.  Your scheduled day and time will be sent home this Friday.

Thank you to everyone who is sending in supplies for Wednesday's 4th grade Harvest Party.  Kids will not be assigned written homework that night (Halloween) and the following evening (4th grade concert at 7 p.m.).  Students should still read for 20+ minutes and practice math facts each of those two nights.

In writing this fall, we've been working on how to write different types of paragraphs.  Currently, students are learning to write persuasive paragraphs.  We are also continuing to learn about all of the different ways to use commas correctly.  Of course, our weekly spelling program continues -- if you have questions about how it works, check out the link "Spelling Program" on the class web site, which explains everything in detail.

Please remember that the first monthly book project for this school year ("Wanted Poster") is officially due on October 31.  The directions for the next project will be reviewed soon in class, but you can always take an early peek on the class web site.

The second progress report for this trimester went home on Friday.  If you'd like more frequent updates, just e-mail me.

                                                                                                      Sincerely,
                                                                                                      Michael Crumb

P.S.  All S.E.S. 4th grade classrooms are participating in "Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF" this year.  This friendly class competition raises money to help other kids in less fortunate situations around the world.  This is voluntary, but the 4th grade room that raises the most will receive a "fabulous reward."

Crumb Chronicles, Issue 5

Crumb Chronicles
 

***A Family Newsletter***

October 25, 2012 – Issue 5

Dear Families:

Thank you to all of our parent volunteers who helped make this year's S.E.S. Walk-a-Thon such a success.  We really lucked out on the weather!  This is the one and only major fundraiser for the P.T.S.A. this year, so please help your child gather those pledges, if you haven't done so already.  I have promised that if the class averages $80 in pledges per student (0ur school goal), I will dye my hair a striking shade of pink.

A couple of important dates are coming up.  On October 31, the entire 4th grade will celebrate with a Harvest Party in the afternoon (more details will be coming soon).  The following evening, our 4th graders will perform their annual concert at 7 p.m. in the gym.

The main focus of this edition of the Crumb Chronicles is on what your child is working on in reading.

Every day, students have 20 minutes in class to read independently (called D.E.A.R. – Drop Everything And Read). As you know, students are supposed to read at least 20 minutes every night as part of their homework. After each session of independent reading, students should record the title, date, and minutes read in their Reading Logs. They are also expected to respond from the menu of the prompts in the log once a week – they then turn in this entry every week to be graded. I starting collecting Reading Log entries on the second week of school. Sometimes a reading log entry will be assigned as homework, and occasionally there will be at least one 20 minute class period per week for your child to complete an entry. Please take a look at your child’s log once a week and sign it (directions and student responsibilities should be in the front of the reading log and are also posted on the class web site: http://ses.svsd410.org/crumb/index.htm ). My expectation is that every student in class read at least two chapter books each month.

One of the books a student reads will be the basis for our monthly reading project. The directions for the first reading project of this school year (“Wanted Poster”) were handed out and reviewed at the beginning of October.  We went over my expectations, how it will be scored, and took a look at past student samples.  It will due on October 31. On several nights in October, the written portion of the nightly homework has been for students to work on this project for at least 20 minutes at a time. The directions for all of this year’s reading projects are also posted on the web site.

Sometimes during the school week, we will run a set of Literacy Centers. Each center runs 15-20 minutes, and students practice a variety of reading & writing skills. In September, some of these centers included: games and activities to practice identifying parts of speech, synonyms, antonyms, and end punctuation; a time for students to complete their Reading Log entry for the week; practice using the table of contents and index to locate information in a book; and discovering how to better use the reference tools in our room (dictionary, thesaurus, atlas). We also may read short stories and novels with related small group activities and/or discussion.

Another way we build vocabulary and comprehension skills is through our study of Latin & Greek root words. Three times a week, we examine one of these root words and come of with as many possible English derivatives as we can to help us figure out the meaning of the word. On a 3 x 5 card, students record the meaning of each word, at least two derivatives, and what each derivative means. These cards will be used for study and practice, both in class and for homework. Students will be responsible for 25 words every trimester, 75 words for the whole school year. The words that students will be responsible for this 1st trimester are posted on the class web site.

This week, you will receive your child’s second progress report. If your child has missing assignments, he or she may see me at one of their recesses to find out about make-up work or extra credit (and they might also want to check the “no-name pile.”). I will be sending home one more progress report before the end of the trimester. If you want more frequent “check ups,” please e-mail me (crumbm@svsd410.org) on Fridays, and I can let you know if any assignments are missing for that week.

By the way, fall conferences are just around the corner, so the letter with the schedule date/time request will be sent home with students tomorrow.  Please be as flexible as you can -- with 29 students and 30 conference slots, I obviously can't see everyone at the end of the day.  Return these forms by next week, as teachers will be meeting on the afternoon of the 3oth to schedule together (putting sibling conferences back-to-back).

Remember, be on the look-out for Harvest Party information (and a progress report) later this week.
                                                                                                               Sincerely,
                                                                                                               Michael Crumb

P.S.  Student math fact practice is starting to pay off.  Our class average on the last multiplication facts "opportunity" was 21 out of 28 (compared to the class average of 11 out of 28 at the beginning of the school year).  Our last division facts class average stood at 19/28, which is also a big improvement of 10/28 at the start of September.  Keep practicing!