CAMP Payment

Friday, October 6th is the deadline for the first installment payment of the donation for Coloma. Please have it in by that date, as payment has to be made to CODS.

Progress Reports

    Progress Reports & Grade Sheets will be coming home on Monday.  Please remember theses are "PROGRESS" reports. There are several weeks before Report Cards to raise grades. Many students are still learning about the high expectations of 4th grade, and their grades will show it. Now, with the removal of homework, it forces teachers to push much more work into our day. This work must be completed. Plenty of time is given in class to complete tasks if a child uses their time wisely. They are reminded that it becomes homework if not complete. There is no "down" time anymore. Every precious minute of every day is filled with instruction, curriculum, student engagement, and learning. We as teachers value the importance of more time after school for activities and families, and we must now accomplish much more in a day then in previous years to enable this. 

     If your child has lower grades than you expected, scan through the grade sheet and see why. Was it missing or incomplete assignments? Low test scores that they didn't take the retakes on to bring up scores? This is a time for a friendly, positive Growth Mindset chat. What can they do to improve? How can you help them?

Math Facts!!

Multiplication facts [through 12] are used almost every day in 4th grade math.  I am seeing a fair number of students that don't have those math facts mastered.  I often find that students know the process of a math concept--long division, reducing fractions, etc--but not knowing their math facts gets in the way of an accurate answer.  Please help your child at home by working on math fact memorization...make flash cards, quiz each other, etc.  It really will make math not so hard if these are mastered.  

Cordelia Library on Thursdays

Cordelia Library will be here in the school library after school on Thursday.  They will have books to check out so students will need their Public Library cards.  If your child doesn't already have his/he own library card, s/he can pick up an application from Mrs. Sagara in the Nelda Mundy library.   

Thursday the 28th is the first visit.  After that, they will be here the 2nd and 4th Thursday of every month.  How awesome is that???!!??!

Solano Kids Read

Solano Kids Read is a reading program for elementary-age students; it runs during the month of October.  It couldn’t be simpler:  kids pick up a passport at any county library branch and read whatever they want—there are 30 challenges in each passport (example:  read a book with a character who does something you want to do when you grow up).  After reading, they bring their passport to the library and receive ‘meow money’ for the books read.  They can then immediately go shopping at little “library stores” set up at each branch, and use their meow money to buy prizes, which include  toys and books.  The purpose of the program is to encourage reading for pleasure—I bet you guys can get behind that. SKR Poster 2017.pdf

Coloma

Just a reminder that the first donation payment installment for Coloma is due on October 6th. We have 21 of our 31 students [in 504] attending at this point. If you have not returned the green yes/no your child will be attending slip, please do so... Or just email me your answer. This will help us determine how many chaperones we need. 

Coloma Outdoor Discovery School link

Order Your Yearbook!

Here's the information for ordering yearbooks! 

https://ybpay.lifetouch.com/Order/SelectJob
Yearbook ID Code: 10276918….
Reminder - Ordering deadline for Yearbooks is
December 31st, 2017.

Thinking Journal

  

Every day, your child writes in a Thinking Journal that goes home. The purpose of the Thinking Journal is to spark discussion about vocabulary words, and thoughts and questions your child has about the day.  As we have no "official" written homework, this takes its place. Your child should be sharing his/her journal with you every day!

• Each entry in your child's Thinking Journal should include the vocabulary & all three sentence starter:
• I noticed...
• ___________ reminds me of....
• I wonder...

On Fridays, students have a "Sticky Moments" entry.  This writing is sharing with you what "stuck" with them this week.  Their newsletter to you... 

Every few weeks I will keep the journals overnight to grade them. Grades are based on effort, completion & neatness. I am not grading grammar, etc., but will point out if there is a particular issue that I am seeing.

Please read and discuss your child's Thinking Journal!

Room 504 Updates

FLIPGRID

Check out the Flipgrids we've been doing in class! If you want to see them, they are available on my website--under the Flipgrid tab. This last week we read and annotated a long article about state government and what it does. We divided up into expert groups and presented our main ideas and details using Flipgrid.

COLOMA CAMP

Just a reminder that the green slip and first donation payment installment for Coloma are due on October 6th.

PROGRESS REPORTS

First trimester progress reports will be sent home the week of October 2. Every student will get a progress report, along with a copy of the grade book. The report will need to be signed and returned.

MAP Testing Continues 

We will be continuing our MAP testing with the Math portion on Monday, September 25.

Clubhouse Crew Application

If your child is interested in becoming a part of Mrs. Casas' Clubhouse Crew in the mornings, please complete this form by Wednesday, September 27th.

Clubhouse Crew Application

AR GOALS

Accelerated Reader [AR] goals have been set!!  

I met with each student this week to set his/her personal goal. Each student has a lavender AR tracking paper in their "Take Home" folder.  Each time students take an AR quiz, they should record their quiz information there to keep track of their progress.  Goals are flexible...  So if your child easily meets his/her goal with plenty of time left in the trimester, we can adjust it.  If your child is struggling, but making good progress towards their goal, we can adjust that, too!  It is my expectation that students meet their AR goal each trimester.  

 

Book Reports

This week I assigned the 1st Trimester Book Report.  Projects are due Thursday, October 26th.  Students choose what genre they want to read & the which project they want to complete. Right now your child's focus should be on finding a book to read & getting it read in the next few weeks.  Directions to each of the three projects are posted on my website HERE. Use these a reference when helping your child decide on a project.  Once s/he has decided, I will give them a "hard copy" of the instructions with the added graphics & examples.  

MAP Testing

MAP (Measure of Academic Progress) testing will take place three times during our school year.  We will begin in ELA next week--Math the following week. These tests are done on a computer and they measure academic growth throughout the year.  The tests are unique as they can adapt to your your child's level of learning!  Each student has the same opportunity to set goals for themselves and to succeed while maintaining a positive attitude toward testing!  MAP tests take a shorter amount of time to administer and give us detailed accurate information about their growth. Check out THIS Parent's Guide to MAP Growth!

Picture Day is Coming!!

Friday [9/22] is Picture Day! All students will be photographed, even if you are not purchasing pictures. This is the one where we take a group picture standing on risers, plus individual pictures.

Solano County Library Cards

If your child does not yet have a library card through the Solano County Library system, s/he can pick up an application from Mrs. Sagara in our library.  

The Cordelia Library has agreed to come to our school library one or two Thursdays a month with a cart full of books that the students will be able to check out.  She and her helpers will be in the school library right after school on the scheduled Thursdays. Students must have a Library Card from the Fairfield/Cordelia Library to check out these books. 

The schedule has not been set up as of yet. We will let you know what dates the librarian will be here!

How awesome is that?!!

Wet Library Books

From The Library

I know students need to stay hydrated and they need the water bottles. Please, please keep library books away from water bottles and other liquids. Most library books will fit in a gallon size ziploc baggie.  Oversize books can be put in a regular plastic bag. We are getting a lot of wet books returned to the library.

Watch D.O.G.S. and Fingerprinting

Parents, if you want to be fingerprinted to volunteer in the classroom [or in anticipation for camp!!!]: 

Dads, Watch D.O.G.S. is for you!

WHAT:                 Fingerprinting and WATCH DOG meeting – Sept 12^th

WHERE:              MPR

TIME:                   Fingerprinting starts at 6:00 / WATCH DOG meeting starts at 7:00

COST:                  $47.00 for fingerprinting (exact cash or check only)

Scholastic Book Order

I will send home a Scholastic Book Order on Monday. It is due online this Friday, September 22th. Remember every book you buy helps us grow our classroom check out library. This month we can get 10,000 Bonus Points if we spend $300. This is a great chance to support and encourage your readers and to stock your shelves for your Family Reading time every night. Use our code when you log in so we get points :GQZNM.
THANK YOU!