4th Grade

Dear Parents,

This interruption to our school year has come so suddenly. It has caused much anxiety for everyone. Please know how much I will miss teaching your children in the upcoming weeks. I have sent work packets home with the students. Schedules within homes differ and you know best what will work for your child. I know with my own children that developing an expected, consistent routine works best.

Students may be more comfortable working with a schedule that more closely parallels their typical school day. (ELA and Math exercises in the morning, additional studies after a break)

*Daily Language / Daily Edit Exercise

*Reading

* Math

* Lunch

* Writing

*Social Studies

* Homework - Independent Reading

I have sent home packets in two folders. Students will begin working in the clear plastic folder. For this week, students will be working on reading, math ,and writing assignments beginning tomorrow (Wednesday, March 18th). Their assignments will be posted on Google classroom daily.

Students that were in school on Monday are already signed in to Google classroom. For those students who were absent, they should have received an invitation to accept Google classroom through their school email account. Students log into Clever. They use their regular password. They will click on the Google classroom icon.

The packets contain:

• Our weekly Daily Language and Daily Edit exercises. Students are quite comfortable with these lessons as they are done each day for before school work. Students may work on 1 Daily Edit and 1 Daily Language exercise each day, Monday through Thursday.

• There are 2 lists of vocabulary words in each packet. We will be using the clear folder first. Students may continue with our weekly routine: Monday - 4 Square; Tuesday - write a sentence for each word containing context clues for it’s meaning; Wednesday - synonyms using an online thesaurus; and Thursday - write a story using at least 4 of this week's words. I ask for your help in assisting your child with understanding the meanings of their new words. Using the words in daily conversations is a terrific way to assist in vocabulary acquisition.

• Two chapter books have been sent home accompanied by reading guides. Students will be encouraged to read these novels for at least 30 minutes each day. Partner reading (with a parent or sibling) is encouraged when possible. Students will complete the reading guides. Upon completion of the book, an open response question will be posted online. Students will be asked to use the ACE Strategy, supporting their response with evidence from the text. I will be explicit in elucidating the expectations for the response. Students will then take an online Scholastic test as Scholastic Reading Counts will be available through Clever backpack while students remain at home.

• MCAS ELA and Math practice supplements

• Figurative Language packet

• Susan B. Anthony Social Studies Packet

• Math workbook pages and the Student Activity Book

• Students are expected to continue to read independent books of choice each evening. I am not requiring summaries, however, I do encourage students to use their post-its when reading independently. Our typical weekly requirement is to read for at least 30 minutes each evening Monday - Thursday and at least 1 hour during the weekend. Students will be able to take their online Scholastic testing at home!! :)

• Please be sure to keep all packet materials together as they contain the bulk of our daily ELA exercises.

• Please do not stress. This is new to everyone. All that is asked is that we do the best that we can.

• Supplemental math games and academic resources online are encouraged as well.

• The student math workbook may be used to review math concepts and strategies already covered.

• Board games,cards, and movie nights may be the silver lining here as some families may have more at home time to enjoy peaceful time together.

• I will continue to be in touch.

Please feel free to contact me with questions and concerns. klundy@bostonpublicschools.org

Thank you all for your continued support.

Yours truly,

Mrs. Lundy :)

I cannot tell you enough how much I will miss seeing my students daily. I am, however, looking forward to communicating with both parents and students on a regular basis as we attempt to keep learning on track for everyone, working towards meeting our 4th grade goals and standards.

Each student has at home:

** An individualized book along with a chapter by chapter novel study.

** Riding Freedom by Pam Munoz Ryan, along with its companion novel study

** Two Math practice booklets that review all of the concepts we have covered over the past several months.

**math workbook- to move forward in our learning- currently Fractions and Decimals work.

** Vocabulary workbooks- to continue our weekly assignments. (currently Lesson 20)

** Several ELA reading and writing packets.

** An animal research project packet and Zoobook.

** Independent Reading Portfolio

We will be using these materials and many others in the coming weeks. Please keep these materials safe and organized so that they can be utilized as needed and assigned.

In order to keep on a daily schedule of activities, I expect for each student to log into Google Classroom each school day at 10 am to see what the expectations are for that school day. Each day students will have reading, vocabulary, writing and math activities. Social Studies activities will be integrated 2-3 times a week.

Google Classroom can be accessed through the BPS Clever Backpack utilizing the student's BPS email and password. (Each student is very familiar with their login information as it is used daily in our classroom. (If anyone has any difficulty please contact me.)

While our online learning is an evolving situation, and many other websites and programs will be integrated over the next few weeks, some of the programs that we will be using to start are:

Raz Kids- username; cacummings1

Readworks- sign in with google username and password

Illuminate- sign in through Clever Backpack

Quizlet-sign in through Google using BPS login info

Khan Academy- sign in through Clever Backpack

Prodigy-each student has individual login information. If your student does not remember their login info, please text me and I will pass this information on.

Boston Public Library: If you do not already have one, I encourage you to get a Boston Public Library ecard. The ecard will allow you to borrow books electronically. Get one online here: https://www.bpl.org/ecard/

It is integral to keep the lines of communication open. As always, feel free to contact me. (860) 620-2744 or ccummings4@bostonpublicschools.org

Thank you for your partnership!

Email with questions:

Ms. Colleen Cummings-ccummings4@bostonpublicschools.org