Merry Christmas!!

Some pics from our Core Value Crunchers

Our kids have had a blast making the dog biscuits!!   Next week we will sell them in the morning before school starts.  I would like to send out a BIG THANK YOU to all of the people who volunteered their time and talent to help make this a great experience for our kids.  :)

Winter Sing, Early Release and Video Problems

Hello! 

Please have your son/daughter in our classroom by 5:40pm tomorrow night for the annual Winter Sing Concert.  Your child has been working hard all year to prepare songs for tomorrow evening.  We had a rehearsal today in the gym and they sounded great!  The 4th grade performs first this year, but please stay until the end of the concert for the respect of all performers.  I can't wait to see everyone dressed up and doing their best!  It is going to be a very cold, but awesome evening!

Remember that the students will be released at 12:40 on Wednesday for Early Release. 

Lastly, it has been brought to my attention that some people have been experiencing difficulties accessing my math videos at home.  My videos currently require Adobe Flash Player to work, but I'm working on uploading them to YouTube so that they will be available to everyone.

Welcome Back!

Hello!  Welcome back!  I hope that everyone had a wonderful and relaxing Thanksgiving Break with their families.  I wanted to give you a brief update of what we will be working on between now and Christmas Break.

In ELA, students will continue reading from The Long Winter.  Tomorrow is the day that we will be sharing our yarn dolls with the other 4th grade classrooms, so please make sure your son/daughter is ready to present their dolls to one or two other students.  I will be walking around the room and listening to the students and grading their presentations, so please have your child rehearse with you tonight so they are prepared for tomorrow. 

It is going to be a pretty fast and furious Unit 3 for math.  It is my goal to start and finish the whole unit before Christmas break.  The unit focuses on division.  Please be watching my blog for video tutorials throughout this unit as math is learned very differently than when we were in school.  The videos will help you help your child at home.  There will also be a letter sent home tonight to give you a little information about your child will be learning division.

Lastly, we have the Core Value Crunchers fundraiser coming up this week!  It is a fundraiser that the fourth grade does every year for the local animal shelter.  If you would be interested in volunteering for this, please let me know asap by emailing me at bmarienfeld@hayward.k12.wi.us.  There can never be too many hands!  I will be sending a letter home about this as well.  All volunteer times run from 1:00-3:00.  My class will not be participating every day and we will always be done by 2:10. The following is a list of the available dates:

Thursday, December 5 (I will be absent this day, but many other veteran teachers can show you the way!)

Friday, December 6

Monday, December 9 (My class will NOT be participating on this day, but you are still welcome to help other classes if this is a day that works for you.)

Thursday, December 12

Friday, December 13


Below is the letter I will be sending home with kids tomorrow.

Dear Parents and Guardians:

‘Tis the Season!  For the past several years Mrs. Baier has organized a community service project for the 4^th grade team to participate in.  It is called Core Value Crunchers Community Service Project.  We will be making dog biscuits for the Humane Society here in Hayward, but also offer them up to the public by selling the biscuits here at school in the morning.  This is something that the students love and will remember throughout their school years.

That being said, we are looking for some parent volunteers.  All of the times are in the afternoon as that is what works best for the 4^th grade team.

Here is the schedule:

Thursday 12/5-Friday12/6-Monday 12/9-Thursday 12/12-Friday12/13

 

Mixing and Rolling in Mrs. Baier’s Room 1:00-2:15pm

 

Thursday 12/5-Friday12/6-Monday 12/9-Thursday 12/12-Friday12/13

Rolling and Clean-Up in the Cafeteria 1:45-3:00pm

 

If you are interested in volunteering for any amount of time during these days it would be greatly appreciated.  As you know the more hands and eyes the better! Please fill out the portion below and return to school with your student if you would like to donate your time.  Thank you in advance for all of your help!

 

Mrs. Marienfeld

 

 

 

 

Reading Groups and Math Unit 2 Test

On Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, students from my class and Miss Kelsey's class get together in book clubs during our I/E (Intervention/Enrichment) time.  I think it is a nice opportunity to switch things up for the students and give them a chance to work with other students they don't get to see on a regular basis.  The students have been grouped by reading level and then each group came up with a group name and chose a book.  Miss Kelsey and I have decided to focus on fiction books this first time around and will look at some non-fiction selections for Quarter 3.  So far the students have really seemed to enjoy this change of pace.  We very intentionally created the groups so that students would be working with other students they would enjoy and work well with.

I will be assigning some math homework over the weekend, but it is my hope that students will be able to finish most, if not all, in class tomorrow.  I will hand out the Unit 2 review on Monday and go through with the kids and give the Unit 2 test on Tuesday.  Please see the videos on my blog if you need any help under the Math Tutorials: Unit 2 tab at the top of the page. 

Have an awesome day!

Math Tutorials: Unit 2

Please check out the tab above labeled "Math Tutorials: UNIT 2" and let me know what you think!  If parents and students find these tutorials helpful, I will keep doing them as the year progress. Have a great Monday!

Quick Quiz Tomorrow in Math

Happy Monday!

There will be a quick quiz in math tomorrow.  Please help your child study tonight by assisting them with their math homework (2.14).  I am going to try to upload some math tutorials that I made by the end of the day, so stay tuned!  It might be on a separate tab called "Math Tutorials" at the top of the page. 

Have a great day!

Testing Week is Over!! Yahoooo!!!

Testing week is over!!!!  YAY!!!  It was a LONG week for everyone and I am so glad it's now behind us.  Some students will have some make up tests to complete on Monday, but then we can really forget about all of it for a while.   The PAC provided snacks for all of the kids every day of testing.  It was great! 

The fourth graders celebrated the end of first quarter with a reward party if they qualified.  In order to qualify students had to keep 75% of their tickets.  The party took place this afternoon.  The students were able to compete in a variety of "minute-to-win-it" games.  Fun was had by all!

Next week we will have a short Veteran's Day ceremony on Monday and early release on Wednesday.  Other than that, it will be back to business as usual and I am looking forward to returning to some routine.

WKCE Testing Next Week

Hello! 

Next week is a very big week for schools across the state of Wisconsin.  All students are required to take the Wisconsin Knowledge and Content Examination (aka the WKCE).  Please make sure your child is here if at all possible and that they get good sleep next week and eat a hearty breakfast each morning.

Book orders are due on Friday, November 8th.  Report cards will be sent home on Tuesday, November 12, so please be watching for them. 

I was doing some research and looking into different ways to get boys more interested in reading.  While I have many boys in my class who devour books and love to read, I have some other boys who are just plain bored by the thought of reading.  For the most part, girls are more apt to have a natural desire to read than boys.  Although this isn't always the case, it is a lot of the time.  Anyway, please check out http://guysread.com for ideas to get your son reading.  It is a website made by guys for guys with reviews about the latest and greatest books, both fiction and nonfiction.  It was created by author Jon Scieskza.   I would highly suggest reading the "about page" for more information at http://guysread.com/about/.  The website isn't perfect yet, but I am hoping it is a jumping point for some families.  I am having a hard time determining what reading level a lot of the books listed are written at, but a quick search on Amazon.com will give you a better idea if the book is a good choice for your child.  Check it out and let me know what you think!  I love the idea behind this website so much!

Also, I am hoping to launch a new part to my blog soon that will include short video tutorials of how the math curriculum is being taught at school.  It is my hope that it will become a great resource for you and your child and help make math homework a little easier at home.  Stay posted!

Lastly, thank you so much for letting me a part of your children's lives.  I am seriously so grateful.

Have a great weekend!

Happy Halloween!!

Sorry for the delay!

It has been a while since my last post.  Life has been fast and furious lately, but also pretty fantastic! 

Mrs. Lee came into our classroom and taught us a lesson using the Dr. Seuss book The Sneetches.  She also challenged the students to say something to nice to someone every single day.  I have noticed many students being kind to one another and I think it's great! 

We finished learning about all of our different body systems and drawing in our bodies.  The kids had a lot of fun with this project and learned all sorts of different things about how our bodies work.  I encourage you to ask them about their body systems and see what they can tell you.

 

 

The kids also enjoyed an awesome concert by Morgan Frazier.  It was so kind of her to take her time to come to our school and talk to our students about the dangers of bullying and how deep bullying can hurt another person.  The kids sang her songs loudly with her and it was so neat to hear all of their voices together.  Below is a short video clip from our concert.

 

This week we are celebrating Red Ribbon Week.  We are proud to be a drug-free school and encourage all of our students to just say "no" to drugs.  Wednesday is hat day, Thursday is costume day (remember, no gory costumes or face paint that can be easily smeared please), and Friday is RED day instead of our usual Black and Gold day.  Next Friday, November 8th there will be a school-wide contest to see which room has the most students wearing Black and Gold.

Important Notes:

*Our Halloween party will be this Thursday morning from 10:30-11:40.  Ashton, Erin, Gretta, and Alexis all signed up to bring treats.  Elijah signed up to bring cups and beverages and Reese signed up to bring paper plates.  I am looking forward to a fun morning with our students.

*All Veteran's Day essays are due on Friday of this week.  Please help to ensure your child will have them ready to turn in on November 1!

*Next week, all students will need to come to school with a great breakfast because it is WKCE testing.  The fourth grade is a big year for students and WKCE testing scores because the state takes an extra close look at the knowledge of fourth graders.  Our students will have more testing than the third and fifth grade students.  This is true every year.  Please encourage your son or daughter to do their best and to take these tests seriously.  Also, please do everything you can in your power to make sure your son or daughter stays healthy and is in the building for these tests.  Attendance is of the utmost importance!  Because of all of the testing next week, the teachers are putting some extra efforts into making our afternoons fun for kids.  The mornings will be for testing, but the afternoons will be for fun or enrichment type activities. 

*Book orders are due on Friday, November 8.

Have an awesome rest of the week!

Chain Reaction of Kindness

Hello!

We are finishing body systems this week and beginning Unit 2 in our ELA blocks.  We have already begun Unit 2 in our math block and will continue plugging away. 

We have a lot of things going on this week and I wanted to you to be aware of them.  On Tuesday, Mrs. Lee will be coming to our classroom in the morning for a special lesson.  I think it is great that we have a principal willing to come into our rooms and teach our kids.  How cool!  On Wednesday, the students will be meeting with Mrs. Reinke for a short guidance lesson.  They were a little wound up the last time they met with her, so it will be their goal to be on their best behavior this time.  There is also a possibility of a special speaker from the Fire Department coming to talk to our kids on Wednesday, but that hasn't been confirmed.  Last week was Fire Safety Week and it's always a good idea to review fire exit plans/safety as a family so your kids feel safe and will be safe in the event of an emergency.  Finally, as I mentioned in an earlier blog post, Hayward Intermediate will welcome up and coming country music star Morgan Frazier on Friday!  She is a part of our Bully Awareness campaign.  She will perform her hit song, "Hey, Bully!" and talk to our students about her own life experience being bullied throughout her younger years.  Although this concert isn't open to the public, she will perform at the Nauti Pine on Friday night and that is open to the public.  For more information, please contact Nauti Pine as I don't know anything more than that.  :)

In Morgan Frazier's song, she tells the imaginary bully that she won't be a link in their chain meaning that she refuses to be mean to others over her hurt feelings. Our class has been talking today about instead of starting a negative chain reaction of abuse and hurt feelings, we should start a positive chain reaction of kindness.  Students will be making a paper chain of kind things and brainstorming ways to show one another kindness and respect. 

Please ask your child about all of the things in this post.  I bet most of them will be talking about a lot of them anyway, but if you have a quiet child or one that is hard to get information from, these are all good places to start!  :)

In other news, please, please, PLEASE make sure your son or daughter is working towards memorizing their multiplication facts every night.  If they finish their multiplication, start on division.  It is imperative that students are well versed in their facts for many reasons!  A lot of fifth grade students are struggling A LOT because the fifth grade curriculum expects students to know their facts like the back of their hand.  In order to help your student be successful down the road, please make sure they are practicing now.  I am also giving timed multiplication tests each week and I have students practice their facts each morning after they finish their DOL.  Your awesome support is always appreciated!

As always, drop me an email or a call if you have any questions!

Make it a FABULOUS day!

Cranberry Fever!

Enjoy!