Friday, August 21, 2020

Friday, August 21, 2020


 Mr. Sassman's 4th Grade Class Blog


Weller Elementary School


Welcome to the 2020-2021 school year! I had the pleasure of meeting several kids, parents, guardians, aunts, uncles, and/or grandparents during our pre-school, in-person conferences here at Weller Elementary and I believe that the introductions went well. Thank you for attending, and if you were unable to make it, I hope we will meet in the near future.

I am so excited to be your child's teacher this year and so far the first two days have been interesting, to say the least. We are Zooming right along (sorry, I couldn't resist, not sorry). We have explored our Google Classroom a bit, started our "Perspective Art," began a read-aloud - Frindle - and we even did a mini-math lesson with the whiteboards. I mentioned a few times now, that we will be easing into our remote learning lifestyle and I will be adding new things every week, troubleshooting along the way. Thanks for your cooperation and understanding. 

Speaking of Zoom, here is our class' meeting ID and password:
In the meantime, please take some time to enjoy this weekend and get away from technology :). For next week, I am trying to line up a day that works for all, so you can (if you are able) drop off your questionnaires, diagnostic tests (vocab and math), and the kids' Who Are You? worksheets. To save you a trip, I will also have some math papers, a copy of Charlotte's Web, a Cursive Handbook, and some Social Studies Materials for you to pick up.





If you have not yet, please read through the folder that you received. It has a lot of pertinent information about our class and school as a whole.

Homework Already???
Please have your child reading for 20 minutes a night. Then, have them record it on their reading logs. When the log is complete, you may either send it in, take a picture and email it to me, or enter it digitally in our Google Classroom (I am still working on the best way to submit this electronically). Math worksheets will also be a part of our day and may spill over into the evening...more to come on that, but I promise, no tears!

Lastly, as you know by reading this, our class blog is for you and your child 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 and classwork that are due for the week, for your reference, as well as important dates coming up. As of now, these sections are still being developed.


The First Quarter Plan:
  • Non-fiction Narrative Writing - Summer Break Reflections
  • Spelling
  • The United States - Geography, Mapping, Economy, States Reports
  • EnVision Math
  • Daily Oral Language (DOL)
  • Q1 Book Reports
  • Reading Logs - SSR
  • Cursive Handbooks
  • Poetry
  • Figurative Language
  • Class Novel
  • Art
  • And much, much, more...

Monday looks like:
8:30 - 9:15 (Synchronous - With the teacher)
Class Meeting
Check-ins and feedback about turned in assignments
Writing Lesson - What is a complete sentence?
Art/Read Aloud
9:15 - 10:15 (Asynchronous - Independent Work)
Work on Writing Prompt
Snack
Break from a screen
10:15 - 11:00 (Synchronous - With the teacher)
Quick check-in
Math
11:00 - 12:00 (Asynchronous - Independent Work)
Math Assignment
Lunch
Break from a screen
12:00 - 12:30 (Synchronous - With the teacher)
Re-cap of the morning lessons
Talk about what is next
Homework
12:30 - 1:30 (Asynchronous - Independent Work)
Recess
1:30 - till' tomorrow
Go outside
Play
Be a kid
Help around the house - take out the trash
Read for 20 minutes and record it in reading log

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
--None for now! But hopefully not for long :)

HOMEWORK
ON Wednesday, September 4, 2019:
-- Paper Bag Biographaphies (we will talk about this)

MATH HOMEWORK DUE THIS WEEK
--None for now! But not for long :)

*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 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 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.
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. 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. It is as follows:

Username: s#@student.k12northstar.org (for example: s123456@student.k12northstar.org)
Password: s#g (for example: s123456g)

DATES TO REMEMBER
This section will be coming soon!

It's a good life!

Mr. Sassman
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