Friday, October 16, 2020

Friday, October 16, 2020

        


 Mr. Sassman's 4th Grade Class Blog

Weller Elementary School


This week...
Was the end of the first quarter. WOW! That was fast. I have updated PowerSchool and grades this morning (again), and I imagine more work will come in before grades finalized next week. Feel free to check grades and comments on the link below.


We are almost done with Charlotte's Web. In fact, we have one more chapter! We will finish our packets next week as well as the final chapter on Monday. We are almost done with Wonder. I anticipate the conclusion next week as well. It has been an amazing book so far!

We have sailed through Topic 4 in math, and are almost ready for the Topic 4 online test. We finished CW Packet Chapters 15-18, and are halfway through Packet 17-19. We completed Weekly Geo Number 4 and I anticipate finishing Number 5 next week.

We finished DOL Session 2, and we will be starting Session 3 next week.

We finished Spelling Packet 3, and we will be starting Packet 4 next week.

Speaking of next week...and next quarter...I have updated some stuff down below to reflect our Q2 Plan!
  
Next week...
Our next drop off and pick up day is coming. Wednesday, October 21st, 2020. I will send out a separate email about what I am looking to collect and what will be ready for pick up. I realize that this is a task for some folks, but it really is necessary and meaningful. I hope every other week is not too burdensome. I would love to plan for once a month, but pacing and content that far out is too difficult to predict. I am sorry.

Parent-Teacher Conference Sign-ups are opening up on October 21st! We will be meeting online if possible, but we can have a teleconference if necessary. We will not have "school" those days. I will have meetings all throughout the day with parents and kiddos. I will send a reminder and a link for those sign-ups as soon as I get them. 

Report Cards will be available, I am just not sure when. You can access them through PowerSchool.

The kids will be working on the following:
-Finish Wonder (Read Aloud)
-Finish Charlotte's Web by E.B. White (read together, worksheets together, and discourse)
-Finally start Charlotte's Web Google Slides
-Finish Charlotte's Web Worksheets (Chapters 17-19 and Chapters 20-22)
-Complete GeoNotes 5  
-Complete Spelling Packet 4
-Complete Math Topic 4 Test (This one will be online)
-Start DOL 3 (Daily Oral Language - sentence editing)
-Continue with our Daily Writing Prompts
-Finished with Math Art yet? (Parabolic Curves and Repeating Patterns)
-Continue with Cursive Handbooks (Letters K and L)
-Continue with Mystery Science Lessons: What do people who are blind see? And How can animals see in the dark? (I have not had a lot of kiddos doing these, and I would love to see more here). 

Homework
Our Google Classroom Stream has now become a thing! I have recently started posting on our Stream at the end of each day, a list of tasks that the kids need to finish up with for the day, and the things we have been working on. I believe it is helpful, so I will keep on doing it. Some work may spill over into the evening and becoming essentially, homework...more to come on that, but I promise, no tears!

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.

The Second Quarter Plan:
New Additions
  • Persuasive Essays
  • State Reports and Posterboards
  • Q2 Book Reports - Biography Book Reports and Google Slides Presentations
  • Poetry - Winter Haikus, Diamantes, What I love about Winter, and more...
  • Figurative Language - Similes, Metaphors, Personification, Alliteration, Onomatopoeia, and such... 
  • Class Novel - Shiloh by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
  • Read Aloud - Out of My Mind by Sharon M. Draper
  • Art - Warm and Clod Trees
  • Instructables - STEM stuff
The Staples
  • Spelling Packets
  • Cursive Handbooks
  • Reading Logs - SSR
  • EnVision Math
  • Daily Oral Language (DOL)
  • Weekly Geography

Monday looks like:
8:30 - 9:15 (Synchronous - With the teacher)
Class Meeting
Class Novel - Charlotte's Web
CW Packet (Chapters 17-19 and Chapters 20-22)
9:15 - 10:15 (Asynchronous - Independent Work)
Complete Writing Prompt
Writing - Work on any missing or late assignments
Snack
Break from a screen
10:15 - 11:00 (Synchronous - With the teacher)
Math Topic 4-5 and 4-6
11:00 - 12:00 (Asynchronous - Independent Work)
Math Topic 4-6 Reteach
Lunch
Break from a screen
12:00 - 12:30 (Synchronous - With the teacher)
Social Studies - Weekly Geography 5/Spelling Packet 4
Read Aloud/Art - Wonder
12:30 - 1:30 (Asynchronous - Independent Work)
Finish up the day's tasks
Check the Google Classroom Stream to make sure kiddos are on track
1:30 - till' tomorrow
Go outside
Play
Be a kid
Read for 20 minutes and record it in reading log
Finish up any work from the Google Classroom Stream for the day

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/PERSON ASSIGNMENTS - QUIZZES - TESTS
--None for now! But hopefully not for long :)

HOMEWORK
-Reading Logs each night and record it online or on paper
-I have posted on our Google Classroom Stream our list of items that needed to be completed for the day and things we are working on over the week. Kids may have additional work to finish up from the day, and therefore would essentially become "Homework," for the evening.

MATH HOMEWORK DUE THIS WEEK
-I have sent home worksheets for the topics that we are working on. Please complete those and save them to turn in when we do pick up and drop off days.

*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
ZOOM
Here is our class' meeting ID and password:

CLASS WEBSITE
If you have not yet, please browse our class' website: www.wellerwhales.org. It has a lot of great resources and we will use this from time to time. I am currently making adjustments and enhancements on some pages, but the site is full and live.

READING LOGS (In-Person)
Reading logs are a regular part of our class and the students' overall reading grade. Students will receive 5 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). I have a yellow folder by the classroom front door filled with new reading logs or they can submit through our GC. If a student reads for 5 days or more, they will receive a ticket for the "Prize Box" drawing. We draw prizes weekly, on Fridays at the end of the day.

READING LOGS (Remote Learning)
Reading Logs are required and will count towards the students' overall reading grade. Kiddos will receive 5 points for each day that they read during the school week. They can be turned in either digitally in our GC or by paper during our drop off and pick up days.

GOOGLE DRIVE/CLASSLINK
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
Friday, October 16, 2020
-Last day of the first quarter

Wednesday, October 21, 2020
-Our next materials/assignments drop off/pick up day

Thursday, October 29, 2020
Friday, October 30, 2020
-Both of these days are dedicated to Parent-Teacher Conferences. I will be sending out instructions and links to sign up for a time slot. We will be meeting over Zoom!

It's a good life!

Mr. Sassman
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