October 31st is Sneaking Up!

We are preparing for a bit of fun in the afternoon on Friday, October 31st!  We are actually going to be doing a bit of computer "code" writing.  The students have really enjoyed this in the past, and it is highly engaging and great for critical thinking.  We would also like to enjoy a little treat on this day.  Are you willing to send in a few fresh, crunchy apples or a container of soft-serve dipping caramel?  After doing our last health unit on eating more fruits and vegetables, apples seem like a good compromise. :)  Please send us an e-mail if you can help with sending in these items.  You are appreciated.

Routines

Routines

In the fourth grade, we take a lot of pride in helping our students learn and maintain routines that lead to ongoing success. This is why we spend a lot of time working on establishing and practicing day-to-day organization skills. Below, we have included our Back-to-School night presentation, which discusses some of our routines.

If you have any questions, please contact Mrs. Harrington or Ms. Kinsman. We are here to help!

And in the Classroom...

We had another busy week. With school pictures, our first spelling tests, and technology class, there was not a dull moment to be had!

Math

We are nearly to the end of our first unit on multiplication. The students have been learning about different strategies they can use to solve simple multiplication problems. Many of these skills will be transferred into more complicated equations in the coming months. 

In addition, we have continued using our longer math block to provide daily math fact fluency quizzes. For students that need the practice, we will continue to focus on subtraction fluency through the end of the month. About eight of our students have started their multiplication facts; in November, all of our kids will be practicing multiplication facts.

Language Arts

We are wrapping up our study of My Name is Maria Isabel and will be assessing the students ability to identify the main idea, characters, and theme of a story by reading Tómas and the Library Lady next week. 

In addition, we started reading Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing aloud. Next quarter we are going to look at how the story has been adapted into different formats, like plays and films. Plus, it is a great read.

Our students also finished their family writing essays. These pieces of writing will be ready for you to read at conferences next month. For many of our learners, this is their first "five paragraph essay". We have been very impressed with their hard work and dedication in making these great pieces of writing.

Technology

We also had our monthly technology class last week. The students reviewed the logging in process, opening Word documents, and practiced using a search engine. Our hope is to provide students with enough exposure and education to technology that they can use it with ease and responsibility. Our new state tests are computer-based and will require a good deal of typing. We are very fortunate to be able to offer this class to our students to help them prepare for the spring!

Back to School Night Presentation 2014-2015

Back to School Spanish2

Come Back to School on Thursday Night

Back to School Night

Yes, that's right, on Thursday evening, from 6:00-7:30pm, we will be holding our Back-to-School Night.  This is an important event where we will cover the following topics:

• Our goals at Free Orchards Elementary
• Our goals in the fourth grade
• Our homework policy (with a video, no less!)
• A chance to meet the teachers face-to-face and ask any questions you may have about the year

A Glance at Last Week

Last week we accomplished so much with our students. Take a look below to see what we have been working on.

Math

Last week we focused on multiplication models and improving our subtraction fluency. Based on a pretest, we saw that students needed some extra work with subtraction. Each morning students were given a quick, two and a half minute, timed test on basic subtraction facts. Most kids had score of 15 or less on the 50 question quiz on Monday; by Friday, nearly every score had doubled, or even tripled!

We will continue to work on multiplication arrays next week and will be learning about prime and composite numbers. If you need a quick review, here's a great song to help students remember their prime numbers (don't worry, we'll watch this in class at least 50 times this year!):

Reading

Our students received their first "Reading Menu" of the year. This is a fun, student-driven set of activities designed to help students focus on a variety of reading skills. They are given a selection of 5-10 reading exercises to complete over the course of two weeks. Some of the activities review basic skills, while others extend learning beyond the text we are reading in class. 

We have been reading The Kid in the Red Jacket aloud and Grandfather's Journey in smaller groups. Both stories tell about characters that have dealt with life-changing moves. We are focused on finding the main ideas, character's traits, and the themes of these pieces.

A-Z Reading Challenge

We also introduced the A-Z Reading Challenge on Friday. This is a fun way to help motivate our students to read throughout the year. We included the PowerPoint presentation below in case you or your student have any questions about this fun activity.

A to Z Reading Challenge

Homework

We also assigned our nightly math homework, provided a reading log, and gave our second DSL (writing homework) of the year. If you are not seeing these items every night, please be sure to ask your student to see their homework folder. If you have any questions, you may contact Mrs. Harrington or Ms. Kinsman by phone or email.

We are looking forward to seeing all of you next week!

"I Pick" books

Yesterday in class we worked on choosing books that are the right fit.  These are books that the students will read during independent reading time.

I  - Chose the book

P - There is a PURPOSE for the book: pleasure, research, etc.
I - You have to be drawn in or have an INTEREST in the book.
C- You have to be able to COMPREHEND or understand the book.
K- You have to KNOW the words.  The book needs to be at a level that you can figure out the words.

At the end of the period all of our 4th grade class had 3-5 books chosen.  If you are a parent reading this, take a minute and ask your student what books they chose and what they like about what they have read so far.




  

Back to School and Having Fun!

Thank You to our Wonderful New Students!

Thank you for making our first week back to school a success! Mrs. Harrington and I were VERY impressed by our students' behavior and self-management skills this week. We received numerous compliments from other school staff about the amazing attentiveness and positive attitudes of our learners. All around, we had a fabulous week!

Schedules

As we get the year started, we wanted to share a little more information about what a typical day looks like in the H/K classroom:

• 7:50-8:00       BIG 5 (Math Practice) & Attendance
• 8:00-8:30       English Language Development
• 8:30-10:00     Number Corner/Math
• 10:00-10:30   E/I (Extensions and Interventions)
• 10:30-11:20   Lunch & Recess
• 11:20-11:40   Read Aloud & Response
• 11:40-1:00     Language Arts/Content (Science & Social Studies)
• 1:00-1:15       Recess
• 1:20-1:50       Specials
• 1:50-2:18       Language Arts/Content

And our specials calendar:

 

‘A’ Week	PE	Music	Library	PE	Keyboarding
‘B’ Week	Music	Music	Library	PE	Guidance Lesson

We need our students to remember to come with appropriate shoes on PE days and to have their library books ready to turn in on Wednesdays. Last week was an 'A' week, the upcoming week will be a 'B' week.

Homework

Next week we will also begin sending home nightly homework. Our assignments typically only take students 10-15 minutes to finish and work to reinforce or review skills from class. We try to be very careful about reviewing our homework assignments and allowing students to get started in class.

Upcoming Events

Our PTO fundraiser kick-off assembly will be held on September, 12 at 7:50am. This is for students, but you may attend if you like. On Thursday, September 25th, we will be holding our Back-to-School Night. This is a VERY important evening, filled with a lot of important information about our school and classroom. We look forward to seeing you there!

Welcome Back!

With the final moments of summer slipping away, we want to welcome our new students and families to The Whole Array with H/K blog. Instead of a weekly newsletter, we try to post updates, fun picture or videos, and important information each week. You can follow our posts by submitting your address in the text box to the right. We also send email reminders to check the blog. 
 
We are very excited to be starting the new school year, and want to make sure our students "Soar to Success"! Here's our official list of H/K FAQ's to help our families get started:
 
What supplies do we need for the 4th grade?
 

• We appreciate all supplies sent to school with your student. Unfortunately, we do not use three-ring binders in the fourth grade. We have very little control over the supply list and apologize for this miscommunication.


• We do, however, love, Love, LOVE to receive extra Kleenex and Ticonderoga pencils (Yes, I could talk for at least an hour about my love of these pencils!).


• We also have enough hand sanitizer to sanitize the state of Oregon; if you haven't purchased any yet, we should be set for the year!

Do we give homework on the first day of school?

• Of course!! We will be sending home short homework assignments and paperwork to be signed each night this week. We will be sure each student has a homework folder started before sending them home Tuesday afternoon. Please take a few minutes each evening to review the information in your student's folder.

Why do I have so many teachers?

• Mrs. Harrington and Ms. Kinsman co-teach, which means we share the week. On Mondays, Tuesday, and every other Wednesday, Mrs. Harrington is in the classroom. Ms. Kinsman teaches the rest of the week.


• This year we also have a student teacher, Ms. Cocheu (Co-shoe), who will be joining us in January.

Where do I send the rest of my questions?

• We both respond to emails, phone calls, and other school business all week. If you have a classroom question, please do not hesitate to contact us by phone or email, including both our names in the 'To:' line. Whoever reads/hears the message first will get back to you as quickly as possible.


• Reach us at harringk@hsd.k12.or.us and kinsmanl@hsd.k12.or.us or by phone 503-844-1140 x5527.

Do you have children of your own, and are they cute? 

• Yes! And here is a picture to prove it! We'll see you Tuesday!

 

This is the End!

Next Week

Next week we have a lot of events to celebrate the end of the school year. 

• On Monday afternoon, the teachers will be competing with the sixth graders in a staff vs. students kickball game. 
• Then, on Tuesday morning, we have our school talent show at 9:15 in the gym. Please come and join us watch our talented Free Orchards students. 
• On Wednesday we will celebrate the end of the year with a movie afternoon.
• We have our 'Hats Off' awards assembly on Thursday morning at 9:00. Dismissal on Thursday will be at 11:20 and summer then begins!

Oregon Garden

We had a wonderful time at the Oregon Garden last week. We had perfect weather for the outdoor adventure and learned a lot about the forest and water habitats in Northwestern Oregon. We want to thank our parent volunteers for joining us on the trip. We really could not do the field trips without the support. 

The Boston Tea Party (without the tea)

Finally, we would really like to thank Sina Hirning, from our cafeteria, for making the absolutely delicious Boston Creme Pie served at our tea party. While we didn't have the tea, there were very complaints when students saw the size of the cake slices they were about to receive. This was a great activity to end our study of the American Revolution.