Sunday, April 23, 2017

Mr. Sassman's 4th Grade Class Blog

A special thanks to Tom Douglas, who hosted us at the UAF Permafrost Tunnel and Research Center. It was an awesome experience and the kids learned a lot about their own backyard! It fell right into place with our rock studies!

Please keep saving your "Clean recycling/trash" for us to bring and use at Twin Bears.

After school ELA Workshops are on for this week as normal. We will most likely end this program at the start of May. I have really enjoyed my time with the kids, and we have made tremendous progress, all while reading several books! I am so proud of their hard work.

--Fantastic Mr. Fox

--Abel's Island

--The Boxcar Kids

--George's Marvelous Medicine

Here is a TDL (to do list) of our final projects, activities, and assignments for the year.

This week: Universal Screening, Google Slides presentations, TDL, Volcano making, a field trip to the Morris Thompson Cultural Center, and Mock Trial at the courthouse downtown, with Judge Jane Kavaur. 

Band Concert is this Monday. One performance will be during school on Monday, and the other will be after school. Check with your child about what time they need to be there.

I don't normally put a plug for this, but as you know, our school district's budget is being cut again, tremendously. We need your help and advocacy, by speaking to the borough and state, to advocate for your child and their education. It is extremely impactful when a student or parent conveys their feelings towards the matters at hand. Even more so than a teacher or school employee. The changes they are talking about go deep, so please don't wait. The ways you may do so is by: A letter, email, phone call, or testimony at a meeting. This will be the one and only time I ask of you to speak up if you are able and willing. You can make a difference.

Monday looks like:

9:00 - 9:10

New Jobs

9:10 - 10:30

Volcano Making

10:30 - 11:10

Library

11:00 - 11:40

Read Aloud - The Call of the Wild

TDL

11:40 - 12:10

Lunch

12:10 - 12:40

Recess

12:40 - 1:55

Band Concert

1:55 - 3:30

Presentations

Chromebooks - TDL

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS - QUIZZES - TESTS

See TDL

HOMEROOM HOMEWORK

See TDL

MATH HOMEWORK DUE THIS WEEK (only if your child is in my math class)

NONE

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 benefiting 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, April 26, 2017

--Morris Thompson Cultural Center (AM) and Superior Courthouse tour/mock trial (PM)

Wednesday, May 10 - Friday, May 12, 2017 (3-days)

--Twin Bears/Angel Rocks Hiking/Camping Trip

Monday, May 15, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Birch Hill (Hiking and Picnic/Games) 

Tuesday, May 16, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Bowling at Arctic Bowl and hike to Pioneer Park for picnic and play

Wednesday, May 17, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Last day of school, Field Day, School Picnic

It's a good life!

Mr. Sassman

Sunday, April 16, 2019

Mr. Sassman's 4th Grade Class Blog

THANK YOU! Our Read-a-Thon fundraiser was a huge success. As a class we raised $1,719...altogether with Mrs. Hammer's group, we have raised about $3,400! This will fund our field trips for the remainder of the year, including all expenses for Twin Bears. You are awesome, and we are so fortunate!

I hope you had a nice weekend, whatever you did! My family
and I enjoyed the beautiful weather and a fun egg hunt :)

Testing went well again last week. We finally finished our PEAKS (Performance Evaluation for Alaska Schools). This Tuesday and Wednesday, we have: Universal Screening (Reading fluency and accuracy, math screenings), and MAP (Measures of Academic Progress). Please see that your student gets plenty of rest and that they eat a hearty breakfast, so they can feel comfortable during our sessions.

Please keep saving your "Clean recycling/trash" for us to bring and use at Twin Bears.

After school ELA Workshops are on for this week as normal.

We added one more field trip...I just couldn't resist! Check the Important Dates section down below. If you are able, join us, there is plenty of room, and we would love to have you. 

Here is a TDL (to do list) of our final projects, activities, and assignments for the year.

Time is flying by: This week we have the speech contest finals, a two field trips, testing, Google Slides presentations, and a lot of work to keep up with. 

In April/May

--Persuasive Essays

--Spelling City

--Kahn Academy

--DOL

--Typing Agent

--Cursive Handbook

--Biography Book Reports

--PenPals

--Read Naturally Live

--STEM

Monday looks like:

9:00 - 9:10

New Seats

New Jobs

9:10 - 10:30

Two Views - Hokusai Mt. Fuji

10:30 - 11:10

Library

11:00 - 11:40

Tree Planting with Buddies

11:40 - 12:10

Lunch

12:10 - 12:40

Recess

12:40 - 1:55

Math Block

1:55 - 3:30

Presentations

Chromebooks - TDL

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS - QUIZZES - TESTS

See TDL

HOMEROOM HOMEWORK

See TDL

MATH HOMEWORK DUE THIS WEEK (only if your child is in my math class)

NONE

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 benefiting 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, April 20, 2017

--UAF's Permafrost Tunnel - THANKS TOM DOUGLAS, for getting us access to this wonderful, local resource, during our rock cycle unit.

Friday, April 21, 2017
--Tree Farm (right in our own backyard with our buddies and after the speech contest finals)

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

--Morris Thompson Cultural Center (AM) and Superior Courthouse tour/mock trial (PM)

Wednesday, May 10 - Friday, May 12, 2017 (3-days)

--Twin Bears/Angel Rocks Hiking/Camping Trip

Monday, May 15, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Birch Hill (Hiking and Picnic/Games) 

Tuesday, May 16, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Bowling at Arctic Bowl and hike to Pioneer Park for picnic and play

Wednesday, May 17, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Last day of school, Field Day, School Picnic

It's a good life!

Mr. Sassman

Monday, April 10, 2017

Mr. Sassman's 4th Grade Class Blog

I will also send a copy of this home with the kiddos...please have your student read for 20 minutes a night. It will make a tremendous impact on their learning.

Testing went well again last week. This week we will finish our our PEAKS (Performance Evaluation for Alaska Schools) on TUESDAY morning (science). Please see that your student gets plenty of rest and that they eat a hearty breakfast, so they can feel comfortable during our session. Special thanks to Lawanda and Barry Reed for sending in snacks for the kiddos last week during testing.

Next week: Universal Screening (Reading fluency and accuracy, math screenings), and MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing will be on Wednesday and Thursday mornings.

As mentioned in the last meeting, we will be collecting "Clean recycling," so please start saving your trash for us to bring and use at Twin Bears.

After school ELA Workshops are on for this week as normal.

We have booked all of our final field trips for the year. Check the Important Dates section down below. If you are able, join us, there is plenty of room, and we would love to have you. 

I have asked students to bring in money for our Read-a-thon fundraiser, and they have delivered big time! I can't wait to announce our final number. I will wait until all funds have come in, but THANK YOU for now. We will in fact, have that hoagie and movie party this Wednesday in the afternoon. If you haven't already sent in your child's contributions, please do so. We can accept cash or checks made out to Pearl Creek.

Last week the kids asked me to make them a TDL (to do list) of our final projects, activities, and assignments for the year, so I did. I gave it to them so they may monitor and track their progress as this year starts to wind down. They also asked that I prioritize the list, so I did. We have talked a lot this year about what it means to "Prioritize," so feel free to keep that conversation going over the summer, as it seems to have had a positive and impactful effect on organization and responsibility on the kids. 

I was especially impressed with the beautiful poetry that the kids produced on Friday. We will keep that going this week. April is National Poetry Month, so we will be exploring quite a bit in this genre, but WOW! I can't wait to share their writings with you. 

This week is the semi-finals for the speech contest here at Pearl Creek. 

  

Art Specialists will be here tomorrow in the afternoon. I always look forward to their visits and we are so lucky to have this wonderful resource in our schools.

Kids have started to present their Google Slides Biography Book Reports and they have rocked them! Please encourage and help if you are able, so they may finish up. We will have some time to work on them in school, but your evolvement at home would be great. For those students that do not have access to a computer and/or internet at home, I will be here on Mondays and Tuesdays until 4:30 PM, after school, so they may stay after and use our resources here to get them done. 

In April/May

--Persuasive Essays

--Spelling City

--Kahn Academy

--DOL

--Typing Agent

--Cursive Handbook

--Biography Book Reports

--PenPals

--Read Naturally Live

--STEM

Monday looks like:

9:00 - 9:10

New Jobs

9:10 - 10:30

Folk Tale Triramas

10:30 - 11:10

Library

11:00 - 11:40

Read Aloud

Partner Read

SSR

11:40 - 12:10

Lunch

12:10 - 12:40

Recess

12:40 - 1:55

Math Block

1:55 - 3:30

Presentations

Chromebooks

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS - QUIZZES - TESTS

See TDL

HOMEROOM HOMEWORK

See TDL

MATH HOMEWORK DUE THIS WEEK (only if your child is in my math class)

Depending on how far we get in the lesson, homework will be determined on a rolling basis for math for the rest of the year. Today, we will be reviewing Topic 13. Several of the kiddos took a "Practice Test," last week, and it is apparent that we need to review some key components of Fractions/Decimals.

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 benefiting 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, April 20, 2017

--UAF's Permafrost Tunnel - THANKS TOM DOUGLAS, for getting us access to this wonderful, local resource, during our rock cycle unit.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

--Morris Thompson Cultural Center (AM) and Superior Courthouse tour/mock trial (PM)

Wednesday, May 10 - Friday, May 12, 2017 (3-days)

--Twin Bears/Angel Rocks Hiking/Camping Trip

Monday, May 15, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Birch Hill (Hiking and Picnic/Games) 

Tuesday, May 16, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Bowling at Arctic Bowl and hike to Pioneer Park for picnic and play

Wednesday, May 17, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Last day of school, Field Day, School Picnic

It's a good life!

Mr. Sassman

Monday, April 3, 2017

Mr. Sassman's 4th Grade Class Blog

We had a bit of fun last Friday learning about Health and Nutrition from some professionals!
Check out www.choosemyplate.gov to see what we learned and talk about it with you kiddos!

Testing went well last week and we have another round of it this week. PEAKS (Performance Evaluation for Alaska Schools) will be this Thursday morning (math). Our final session of PEAKS will be next Tuesday (science). Please see that your student gets plenty of rest and that they eat a hearty breakfast, so they can feel comfortable during our session. Special thanks to Kelli and Matt Powers for sending in snacks for the kiddos last week during testing.

Universal Screening (Reading fluency and accuracy, math screenings), and MAP (Measures of Academic Progress) testing will start the week of April 17, 2017 and likely overlap a bit.

Wednesday, April 5th, from 5-6 PM we will have a "Volunteers" meeting about our spring trip to Twin Bears. At this time, we will coordinate and get better numbers on who may be helping out and with what tasks. If you would like to volunteer, please try and make it. As mentioned in the last meeting, we will be collecting "Clean recycling," so please start saving your trash for us to bring and use at Twin Bears.

After school ELA Workshops are on for this week as normal.

We have booked all of our final field trips for the year. Check the Important Dates section down below. If you are able, join us, there is plenty of room, and we would love to have you. 

Our Read-a-thon fundraiser ended last Friday, so please gather donations if you haven't already and send them in. We can accept cash or checks made out to Pearl Creek. Our class goal is $1000.00 and if we reach it, we will have a hoagie and movie party during school in April (in the afternoon, following our wonderful state-wide, mandated, standardized tests).

In April

--Persuasive Essays

--Spelling City

--Kahn Academy

--DOL

--Typing Agent

--Cursive Handbook

--Biography Book Reports

--PenPals

--Read Naturally Live

--STEM

Monday looks like:

9:00 - 9:10

New Seats

New Jobs

9:10 - 10:30

DOL

Science - Ecosystems and the Rock Cycle

10:30 - 11:10

Library

11:00 - 11:40

Read Aloud

Partner Read

SSR

11:40 - 12:10

Lunch

12:10 - 12:40

Recess

12:40 - 1:55

Math Block

1:55 - 3:30

Chromebooks - Google Slides Biography Book Reports

IN-CLASS ASSIGNMENTS - QUIZZES - TESTS

--Spelling City - List 3
--Persuasive Essays

HOMEROOM HOMEWORK

--Reading Logs
--Continue Read-a-Thon
--Start creating slides for Biography Book Report

MATH HOMEWORK DUE THIS WEEK (only if your child is in my math class)

Tuesday, April 4, 2017
--Quick Check 13-4
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
--Quick Check 13-5
Thursday, April 6, 2017
--Quick Check 13-7
Friday, April 7, 2017
--Quick Check 13-8

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 benefiting 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, April 20, 2017

--UAF's Permafrost Tunnel - THANKS TOM DOUGLAS, for getting us access to this wonderful, local resource, during our rock cycle unit.

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

--Morris Thompson Cultural Center (AM) and Superior Courthouse tour/mock trial (PM)

Wednesday, May 10 - Friday, May 12, 2017 (3-days)

--Twin Bears/Angel Rocks Hiking/Camping Trip

Monday, May 15, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Birch Hill (Hiking and Picnic/Games) 

Tuesday, May 16, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Bowling at Arctic Bowl and hike to Pioneer Park for picnic and play

Wednesday, May 17, 2017 (also early out day 2 PM)
--Last day of school, Field Day, School Picnic

It's a good life!

Mr. Sassman