WELCOME: I'm very excited to be your child’s fourth grade teacher! I believe that every student is intelligent, unique, and full of potential. This packet will assist you and your child in knowing what can be expected this year. If you have any additional questions, please feel free to call Lu Sutton 897-3196 #4376 or Email me at [email protected]
CLASS GOALS and BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS:
ATTENDANCE: It is very important that your child is at school everyday unless he or she is ill. It is also very important that your child arrives to school on time. In motion begins promptly at 8:40. Supervision begins at 8:15. Dismissal time is at 3:15 everyday except Wednesday, which is at 1:35
HOMEWORK and DAILY PLANNERS: Students will be assigned homework on a NIGHTLY basis (except for Fridays and holidays). All homework assignments will be written in the students’ daily planners. They will be assigned 30 minutes of nightly reading and goal based math practice. It is your child’s responsibility to make sure he or she has all of the books, folders, and/or papers needed to complete the assignments. Parents will need to check the homework and sign the planner every night.
MORNING MOTION:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays we will do Morning Motion, which is daily exercise. Physical activity undertaken at the start of each school day does the following:
READING: We will be implementing Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Reading. This program is taught through a workshop model. Students are actively engaged in authentic reading experiences and matched with books based on their individual strengths and needs. Each workshop session will include a teacher read aloud of a mentor text, mini and mid workshop lessons on specific reading strategies, independent reading time, individual conferring time between the teacher and the students, small group work, and book talks with a reading partner. The students will complete narrative, informational, and historical fiction units of study. It is VERY important for your child to read at home to expand his/her vocabulary and build his/her reading fluency.
Writing: The students will write informational text, narrative, historical fiction and opinion/argument pieces . Curriculum is from the Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Writing, which fosters high-level thinking where students synthesize, analyze, and critique.
MATH: Our math series is MATH EXPRESSIONS. We will be working on operations and algebra, number and operations in base 10, fractions, measurement and data, and geometry. Students will learn to:
SOCIAL STUDIES: We are using the PEARSON CALIFORNIA HISTORY-SOCIAL SCIENCE series. Our focus in fourth grade is the history of California. We will learn about the land of California, early people in California, early history to statehood, growth and development since 1850, and California government
SCIENCE: This year we will be implementing the Next Generation Science Standards. The students will learn about plant and animal structures and function, energy, waves and information, and the processes that shape the Earth.
FIELD TRIPS: We have a limited amount of funds for field trips year, so we will be asking for optional donations for each trip. We have planned trips to the San Francisco Solano (Sonoma) Mission, the Missions Museum at Cline, General Vallejo’s Home, Mt. Taylor Regional Park, and the Oakland Museum. We will be looking into grants for additional field trips as well to AT&T Park for Giants and Geometry, and the California Academy of Sciences.
WEBSITES: These websites offer additional information and activities for parents and students:
www.lusuttonschool.org, www.stutzmanink.weebly.com, www.reflexmath.com, www.prodigymath.com, and www.khanacademy.org
CLASS GOALS and BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS:
- Each student will show respect
- Each student will make good decisions.
- Each student will solve problems.
- Each student will embrace empathy
- Each student will have fun!
ATTENDANCE: It is very important that your child is at school everyday unless he or she is ill. It is also very important that your child arrives to school on time. In motion begins promptly at 8:40. Supervision begins at 8:15. Dismissal time is at 3:15 everyday except Wednesday, which is at 1:35
HOMEWORK and DAILY PLANNERS: Students will be assigned homework on a NIGHTLY basis (except for Fridays and holidays). All homework assignments will be written in the students’ daily planners. They will be assigned 30 minutes of nightly reading and goal based math practice. It is your child’s responsibility to make sure he or she has all of the books, folders, and/or papers needed to complete the assignments. Parents will need to check the homework and sign the planner every night.
MORNING MOTION:
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Fridays we will do Morning Motion, which is daily exercise. Physical activity undertaken at the start of each school day does the following:
- improves students’ mood
- improves students' focus
- improves students' physical health
- stimulates brain activity – makes us smarter.
- sets students up for a day of maximum learning
READING: We will be implementing Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Reading. This program is taught through a workshop model. Students are actively engaged in authentic reading experiences and matched with books based on their individual strengths and needs. Each workshop session will include a teacher read aloud of a mentor text, mini and mid workshop lessons on specific reading strategies, independent reading time, individual conferring time between the teacher and the students, small group work, and book talks with a reading partner. The students will complete narrative, informational, and historical fiction units of study. It is VERY important for your child to read at home to expand his/her vocabulary and build his/her reading fluency.
Writing: The students will write informational text, narrative, historical fiction and opinion/argument pieces . Curriculum is from the Lucy Calkins Units of Study for Writing, which fosters high-level thinking where students synthesize, analyze, and critique.
MATH: Our math series is MATH EXPRESSIONS. We will be working on operations and algebra, number and operations in base 10, fractions, measurement and data, and geometry. Students will learn to:
- Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.
- Reason abstractly and quantitatively.
- Construct viable arguments and critique the reasoning of others.
- Model with mathematics.
- Use appropriate tools strategically.
- Attend to precision.
- Look for and make use of structure.
- Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.
SOCIAL STUDIES: We are using the PEARSON CALIFORNIA HISTORY-SOCIAL SCIENCE series. Our focus in fourth grade is the history of California. We will learn about the land of California, early people in California, early history to statehood, growth and development since 1850, and California government
SCIENCE: This year we will be implementing the Next Generation Science Standards. The students will learn about plant and animal structures and function, energy, waves and information, and the processes that shape the Earth.
FIELD TRIPS: We have a limited amount of funds for field trips year, so we will be asking for optional donations for each trip. We have planned trips to the San Francisco Solano (Sonoma) Mission, the Missions Museum at Cline, General Vallejo’s Home, Mt. Taylor Regional Park, and the Oakland Museum. We will be looking into grants for additional field trips as well to AT&T Park for Giants and Geometry, and the California Academy of Sciences.
WEBSITES: These websites offer additional information and activities for parents and students:
www.lusuttonschool.org, www.stutzmanink.weebly.com, www.reflexmath.com, www.prodigymath.com, and www.khanacademy.org