Sunday, August 28, 2016

Mr. Sassman's 4th Grade Class Blog

I am so proud and privileged to have your kids this year. Fourth grade usually proves to be a challenge academically and socially for kids, and this class has delivered thus far! This week we will continue with our insects (science) unit, spelling packets, and cursive handbooks. We will also add GeoNotes and Daily Oral Language (DOL) practice to our agenda. Our summer essays are coming along and I hope that most students will finish their first writing piece of the year by Friday. Math is cruising along through topic one and multiplication facts are always a challenge!

Last Week:

We had a great second week and are almost in full swing! Several grades have been entered in PowerSchool and I am still working on finishing up grading soon. We had a scavenger hunt in the garden and helped our first grade buddies make water color pictures. The students all had a chance to log into the school laptops and sign their technology agreements, so we will utilize the computers this coming week. We capped our week with a nice pancake breakfast Friday morning!

Thank you so much for making Back-to-school Night a priority and it was nice seeing you all. I hope I covered any or all questions you had at the time. As I mentioned, we will be hiking to Ballaine Lake on Thursday, September 1, 2016 from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. There, we will examine "Water Bugs" and have several stations for students to learn and connect with our beautiful surroundings. I am so happy to have five parents joining us, please come with your walking shoes and be ready to get a bit mucky!

Don't forget to sign up for the Pearl Creek Elementary School Newsletter if you have not already: Pearl Creek Elementray School Newsletter

The First Quarter Plan:

• Narrative Writing - Summer Break Reflections
• Spelling
• Insects
• The United States - Geography, Mapping, Economy
• STEM Kits
• Kahn Academy
• Daily Oral Language (DOL)
• StoryTown
• Reading Logs
• Cursive Handbooks
• Literacy Groups

Monday looks like:

9:00 - 9:10

Classroom Jobs

Planners

9:10 - 10:25

Daily Oral Language (DOL)

Spelling Lesson 2

10:25 - 11:00

Library

11:00 - 11:40

Read Aloud -  Where the Red Fern Grows

Cursive Handbooks letter "B"

11:40 - 12:10

Lunch

12:10 - 12:40

Recess

12:40 - 2:00

Math Block

2:00 - 3:30

The United States - GeoNotes

Summer Reflections

*Please note that Math, Specials, Lunch, and Recess are Intermediate schedules and stay in blocks. At times, curriculum instruction will be shuffled to accommodate different initiatives.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please feel free to call or email me anytime to discuss things further. I hope you find this information helpful and useful.

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS - QUIZZES - TESTS
ON Friday, September 2, 2016:
-- Spelling quiz Lesson 2 (in-class) words are listed below and in planners
-- GeoNotes 1
-- Cursive letter "B"
-- DOL week 1
-- Summer reflections final draft
-- Math Quiz 2 Lessons 1-8 through 1-11

HOMEWORK (homeroom)
DUE Friday, Friday 2, 2016:
-- Spelling Lesson 2 (homework)
-- Planners signed by parents/guardians

MATH HOMEWORK DUE THIS WEEK (only if your child is in my math class)
Homework due Tuesday, August 29, 2016
-- Practice 1-8
Homework due Wednesday, August 30, 2016

-- Practice 1-9
Homework due Thursday, September 1, 2016
-- Practice 1-10
Homework due Friday, September 2, 2016
-- Practice 1-11

*Please keep in mind, projects or tests we have in class may have to be brought home to be finished or to study. Please ask your child if they have completed their work before you have signed their planner. 

ONGOING INFORMATION

READING LOGS
Reading logs are a regular part of our class. Students will receive "points" for for each day that they read a minimum of 20 minutes at home. The purpose: for students to read each day (not 100 minutes over the weekend or 40 minutes on Tuesday to catch up for Monday).
The logs will be due on a rolling basis and should have dates read on them. I will give credit as they are turned in and filled out correctly (please initial these). The points students receive will be added to their overall reading grade, counting towards their final grade.
It is simple, if students read and turn in their logs, they will see their grade improve significantly while naturally benefitting in fluency and accuracy. If they do not, they will not be given a "0" on the assignment, they simply will not receive any points.
Please look for these to come home this week. I have a yellow folder by the classroom front door filled with new reading logs. Email me with any questions or concerns please.

GOOGLE DRIVE
You can access all of your student's digital assignments online and work at home if you would like. Just go to www.gmail.com and type in their email address and password. Then find the Google Menu (where you will find the Drive, Docs, and Slides) icon in the top right corner (it is a nine square grid next to their s-number). This is where they will make their Google Slides Presentation for their Biography Book Reports. It is as follows:

Username: s#@student.k12northstar.org (for example: s123456@student.k12northstar.org)

Password: s#g (for example: s123456g)

DATES TO REMEMBER

Thursday, September 1, 2016
Field Trip - Ballaine Lake Science and Art Excursion (parent volunteers requested please)
We will be walking there - please have you kids come to school with good walking shoes.

Friday, September 9, 2016
Harvest Festival 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm @ Pearl Creek Garden

It's a good life!

Mr. Sassman

SPELLING LESSON 2:

1. cheese	6. gape	11. eagle	16. woke
2. heel	7. aim	12. throw	17. ripen
3. season	8. brain	13. rose	18. cube
4. boast	9. fluke	14. student	19. rainbow
5. chief	10. crayon	15. goal	20. scrape

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Mr. Sassman's 4th Grade Class Blog

Welcome back to school and to fourth grade!

  

PUFFINS TAKE FLIGHT!!!

I had the pleasure of meeting several parents/guardians during the annual Ice Cream Social and it was a huge success. Thank you for attending and if you were unable to make it, I hope we will meet in the near future (back to school night next week - August 25, 2016 6:30 PM Intermediate/5:30 PM Primary). We will have an opportunity to talk one-on-one if necessary and go a bit more in-depth about our class! 

If you have not yet, please read through our handbook. There have been a few changes from last year (in case I had your other child :)

The first three days of school were dedicated to team building, ice-breakers, rules and procedures, and mini-lessons. Our classroom chemistry is great! I can tell that this is going to be an amazing year! I especially enjoyed talking with students and getting to know one another.

We have already started our first formal writing piece of the year, Summer Reflections. The kiddos seem very excited about writing in cursive! We have also finished our first read aloud - Frindle, by Andrew Clements and there is a buzz about the origin of words. Next up, Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls - a classic. 

We capped off our week with a Spirit Assembly that rocked the house - special thanks to Mrs. LaPlaunt for organizing it. 

This coming week, we will hit the ground running and our academic campaigns begin!!! PLEASE check your child's planner for homework and correspondence.  

There are a couple of housekeeping items to mention here:

Thursday, August 25, 2016

6:30 PM - 7:00ish in room 324 - Primary meetings start at 5:30 in case you have more than one child at Pearl Creek.

Back to School Night/Parent Classroom Meeting Night at Pearl Creek. We will meet in room 324 to discuss our school year together, classroom policies and procedures, fundraisers, and field trips. This is also a great time to ask questions! Thanks and I look forward to seeing you there. 

I mentioned that I would maintain a class blog for you to see a "snapshot" of what lessons and activities we do in class. I will also include a rough sketch of our schedule for the week, highlighting some of our main events, but please keep in mind that things may change from time to time. At the bottom of the blog post, I will list the homework, classwork, and spelling words that are due for the week, for your reference.

Also...if you would like to subscribe to the blog and receive this in your email weekly, enter in your email address at the bottom where it says "Subscribe." You will receive an email from Feed Burner confirming your participation. Follow the instructions and check your spam folder if you do not receive an email. This will set you up for the email campaign.

Don't forget to sign up for the Pearl Creek Elementary School Newsletter as well: Pearl Creek Elementray School Newsletter

The First Quarter Plan:

• Narrative Writing - Summer Break Reflections
• Spelling
• Insects
• The United States - Geography, Mapping, Economy
• STEM Kits
• Kahn Academy
• Daily Oral Language (DOL)
• StoryTown
• Reading Logs
• Cursive Handbooks
• Literacy Groups

Monday looks like:

9:00 - 9:10

Classroom Jobs

New Seats

Planners

Class Meeting - Rules and Expectations (re-cap)

9:10 - 10:25

Spelling Lesson 1

Summer Reflections

10:25 - 11:00

Library

11:00 - 11:40

Individual Meetings

Summer Reflections (con't)

11:40 - 12:10

Lunch

12:10 - 12:40

Recess

12:40 - 2:00

Math Block

2:00 - 3:30

Garden Scavenger Hunt

Instruments Demonstrations

Read Aloud - Where the Red Fern Grows

*Please note that Math, Specials, Lunch, and Recess are Intermediate schedules and stay in blocks. At times, curriculum instruction will be shuffled to accommodate different initiatives.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments, please feel free to call or email me anytime to discuss things further. I hope you find this information helpful and useful.

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS - QUIZZES - TESTS
ON Friday, August 26, 2016:
-- Spelling quiz Lesson 1 (in-class) words are listed below and in planners
-- Summer reflections rough draft (in-class)

HOMEWORK (homeroom)
DUE Friday, August 26, 2016:
-- Spelling Lesson 1 (homework)
-- Planners signed by parents/guardians

MATH HOMEWORK DUE THIS WEEK (only if your child is in my math class)
Homework due Tuesday, August 23, 2016
-- Practice 1-1
Homework due Wednesday, August 24, 2016

-- Practice 1-2
Homework due Thursday, August 25, 2016
-- Practice 1-3
Homework due Friday, August 26, 2016
-- Practice 1-4

*Please keep in mind, projects or tests we have in class may have to be brought home to be finished or to study. Please ask your child if they have completed their work before you have signed their planner. 

ONGOING INFORMATION

READING LOGS
Reading logs are a regular part of our class. Students will receive "points" for for each day that they read a minimum of 20 minutes at home. The purpose: for students to read each day (not 100 minutes over the weekend or 40 minutes on Tuesday to catch up for Monday).
The logs will be due on a rolling basis and should have dates read on them. I will give credit as they are turned in and filled out correctly (please initial these). The points students receive will be added to their overall reading grade, counting towards their final grade.
It is simple, if students read and turn in their logs, they will see their grade improve significantly while naturally benefitting in fluency and accuracy. If they do not, they will not be given a "0" on the assignment, they simply will not receive any points.
Please look for these to come home this week. I have a yellow folder by the classroom front door filled with new reading logs. Email me with any questions or concerns please.

GOOGLE DRIVE
You can access all of your student's digital assignments online and work at home if you would like. Just go to www.gmail.com and type in their email address and password. Then find the Google Menu (where you will find the Drive, Docs, and Slides) icon in the top right corner (it is a nine square grid next to their s-number). This is where they will make their Google Slides Presentation for their Biography Book Reports. It is as follows:

Username: s#@student.k12northstar.org (for example: s123456@student.k12northstar.org)

Password: s#g (for example: s123456g)

DATES TO REMEMBER
Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Field Trip - Creamer's Field (parent volunteers requested please). Please send in $5.00 with your child for transportation expenses. We will embark on a nature hike through the Boreal Forrest and explore our own backyard. We will discuss local flora and fauna, highlighting bird migration and water fowl.

Thursday, August 25, 2016
Back to School Night - Parent/Teacher Classroom Meeting
Intermediate grades at 6:30 pm
Primary grades at 5:30 pm 

Thursday, September 1, 2016
Field Trip - Ballaine Lake Science and Art Excursion (parent volunteers requested please)
We will be walking there - please have you kids come to school with good walking shoes.

Friday, September 9, 2016
Harvest Festival 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm @ Pearl Creek Garden

It's a good life!

Mr. Sassman

SPELLING LESSON 1:

1. pact	6. tread	11. dread	16. split
2. brand	7. film	12. spend	17. sting
3. brick	8. else	13. past	18. strap
4. crop	9. gram	14. plot	19. task
5. broad	10. gum	15. check	20. twin