Mr. Sassman's 4th Grade Class Blog
Weller Elementary School
Last week...
Our State Reports Potluck and Gallery Walk was a huge success and thank you for coming to celebrate your child's hard work. I lost count after 150 people! We will leave the artwork up this week and send it home on Wednesday, before the long weekend (no school this Thursday and Friday by the way). I loved seeing all the students and how proud they were. I also enjoyed speaking with many extended family members. I made some nice connections and I am always pleasantly amazed by how small Fairbanks really is.
Our Pillow Extravaganza went smoothly, thanks to the 10, yes I said 10, volunteers that made it. I hope I am clear when I say: WOW! I have never seen this amount of family support and I am truly uplifted. I am so proud and privileged to be a part of it all, and please know that it is much appreciated. It truly makes a tremendous impact on the kids and their academic endeavors. Thank you again for helping. On Tuesday, we will take a class picture with all our pillows and I will post it here next week. We will keep the pillows here until Spring Break-ish!
As you know, Thanksgiving is this Thursday. We have a short week and I will be posting the Q2 TDL below. Now that we are done with our projects, we will focus on Biography Book Report Presentations and change speeds with science. We will start our "Place in the Universe" unit and we will conclude with some pretty righteous SPACE ART!!! It is out of the world...sorry I had to! I also introduced Current Events Presentations, but that is an enrichment project for this quarter. Next quarter, all the students will be required to do a project!
Speaking of Book Reports...here is the calendar and our Q2 TDL.
This week and next...
Pretty Simple...Biography Book Reports, Space Unit, Athabascan Spirit Masks, Snowflakes, Where the Red Fern Grows, My Side of the Mountain, Cursive Handbooks (some students have finished the book already!), GeoNotes, and a little poetry sprinkled in!
On your radar...Winter MAP testing is coming up for our class...Monday, December 2nd will be ELA, and Tuesday, December 3rd will be math. Tuesday, December 10th, Art Specialists will be in the house!
FYI...
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| Please make sure your kiddo has the proper gear. |
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| How about that pickup line! |
The Second Quarter Plan:
- Fictional Narratives - States Reports
- Persuasive Essays
- State Reports and Poster Board
- States Potluck
- Spelling
- Life Sciences
- GeoNotes
- enVision Math
- Daily Oral Language (DOL)
- Q2 Book Reports - Biographies
- Reading Logs
- Read Aloud - Where the Red Fern Grows
- Cursive Handbooks
- Class Novel - My Side of the Mountain
- STEM Kits
- Scribble Bots
- Art
- Current Events Round 1
- And much, much, more...
8:30 - 9:00
Arrive
Writing Prompt
Morning Announcements
New Jobs
9:00 - 9:30
Gym
9:30 - 10:00
Music
10:00 - 11:30
New Seats - Pair and Share
Snack/Read Aloud - Where the Red Fern Grows
Q2 TDL
11:30 - 12:00
Lunch
12:00 - 12:30
Recess
12:30 - 1:45
Math Block
1:45 - 2:00
Break/Movement Activity
2:00 - 2:45
Class Novel - My Side of the Mountain
Our Place in the Universe - The Sun!
2:45 - 3:00
Clean Up
Pack Up
Stack Up
Mailboxes
*Please note that math, specials (PE, music, and library), lunch, and recess are part of a fixed schedule 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
See Q2 TDL Above
HOMEWORK
ONGOING
--Reading Logs (ongoing)
MATH HOMEWORK DUE THIS WEEK
DUE ON
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
--Practice/Reteach 6-2
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
--Practice/Reteach 6-3
***A brief note about homework. It is my philosophy that homework is an opportunity for students to practice skills that they have learned in school that day/week. The benefits are proven and tremendous. I try to keep things simple: 20 minutes of reading practice (reading logs), 20 minutes of math practice (worksheet), and 5-10 minutes of spelling (1 page per night). If your student is working on homework for more than an hour each night (Monday - Thursday, none on the weekends), please contact me so we can discuss things further. It is not my intention to make life impossible for you at home.
DUE ON
Tuesday, November 26, 2019
--Practice/Reteach 6-2
Wednesday, November 27, 2019
--Practice/Reteach 6-3
***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 and check PowerSchool regularly.
ONGOING INFORMATION
READING LOGSReading logs are a regular part of our class. Students will receive "points" 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).
Reading 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 grades 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.
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. Simply 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. All passwords have been reset and synched to their individual defaults for the start of the school year. Please do not make any changes. It is as follows:
Username: s#@student.k12northstar.org
Password: s#g
User Name for example: s123456@student.k12northstar.org
User Pswd for example: s123456g
User Name for example: s123456@student.k12northstar.org
User Pswd for example: s123456g
DATES TO REMEMBER AND FIELD TRIPS
Friday, December 6, 2019
--Field Trip to Herring Auditorium at Lathrop HS to see "The Nutcracker." More details to follow.
Friday, December 13, 2019
--Field Trip to the Alaska Room at Anne Wien Elementary School. We will depart at 11:30 AM and return at 2:30 PM.
Tuesday, December 20, 2019
--Marble Jar Field Trip to the Big Dipper. We will leave Weller at 9:15 and return around 11:30. It will be a total of $10 per student and that includes transportation and ice time (1 hr.). Skate rental is an additional $3 per kiddo and I will cover the cost of that, however, if your student has skates, please have them bring them to school that day. Thanks.
Friday, January 31, 2020
--Field Trip to UAF's Davis Concert Hall to see "Bach to the Future." More details to follow.
Friday, March 20, 2020
--Field Trip to Herring Auditorium at Lathrop HS to see "Eileen Ivers." More details to follow.
Wednesday, May 13, 2020 - Friday, May 15, 2020
--Angel Rocks Hike and Twin Bears Educational Excursion. We will have several meetings throughout the year about this as it is a 3-day overnight camping trip, and yes we will need volunteers!
It's a good life!
Mr. Sassman
