Good Morning!

Well…we survived the week of testing! It was a long week but the students were such troopers! Not only was the testing mentally straining on the students but everyday was an adjusted schedule. There were times (myself included) that we didn’t know whether we were coming or going! This week was a rather light week academically due to Terra Nova testing. As you know, no written homework was assigned during the week, so that the focus of the week could be on mental rest each night in order to prepare for each new day of testing. Thank you so much to all the fourth grade homeroom parents who sent in a positive treat for the students on each day of testing. The students really looked forward to the treats and the words of encouragement each day! 

Report cards from the second trimester were sent home on Wednesday. Please take the time to sit with your child and review the report card. I feel it is important to meet with students to conference about their report cards and congratulate them on their successes and discuss areas with them where there are some weaknesses, in order to work with them to make a plan towards turning it into a strength. Keep in mind that in each of the core areas, students have been working on building their knowledge of previously taught skills, along with working with emerging skill sets where they have little background knowledge. With that being said, it is not unusual to see a dip in grades between the first and second trimesters upwards of 10 percentage points. The first trimester is comprised of scaffolded skills from third grade in which we are bumping up the standard and taking it to the next level, very little of it is new information that they have not worked with before. The second trimester consisted of fourth grade skill sets where the students had little to no prior knowledge. The third semester will continue to immerse the students with new skills set as well as build upon some of their knowledge of previously taught concepts and skills. 

Items to Note: 

Biography Book & Wax Museum - Thank you so very much for working to obtain a biography for your child’s notable. I know that quite a few read them after testing this past week. I am so excited that they are eager to learn all about their notables! I did want to state that many will have to reread their book as they will be working on note taking about their notable. Students will be given a packet or can type on a digital copy posted on Google Classroom to keep their notes on their notable. This will become part of their homework each night and will count as their 20 minutes of reading. The packet or the digital copy of the notes will be assigned or given to the students early next week. We began learning about the life of Thurgood Marshall. This week students learned how to take the information from the text to complete various sections of the notes on Thurgood Marshall. This is modeled to show the students exactly how to complete the notes on their notable as well.  More specific information regarding expectations at home as well as at school will be coming after Easter break. 

Class Trip: Be on the lookout... for a permission slip for the class trip to the Lenape Village at the Churchville Nature Center early next week as well! The fee for this class trip will be pulled directly from FACTS. Thank you to those parents who have completed the Google Form expressing interest in being a chaperone on the trip! I would love to take all of the parents but unfortunately, we are unable to do so! UGH!  We have quite a few so we will be holding a lottery for the 3 chaperones per room. Once selected, we will be reaching out to those who won via email! Please remember that this is a closed event and not opened to the public. Due to this, we can not take additional chaperones and/or parents with us. 

A few things to keep in mind next week:

• 3/30- Spring/Summer uniforms begin! 

• 4/1- Noon Dismissal

• 4/2- No School! Holy Thursday!

• 4/3- No School! Good Friday!

• 4/9- No School! Easter Monday!

• 4/10- Return to school! 

Lastly, I will not be sending an weekly update next week due to the short week and Easter break. I do hope that you enjoy this time with your family and rejoice for He is Risen! 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Go Phillies!  

    Mrs. Cox

Good Morning!

Can you believe that we are more than halfway finished with the month of March?! I honestly can’t! It seems like yesterday that we were trying to navigate the beginning of the school year! 

This past week was a busy one! We spend the beginning part of the week preparing for the Terra Nova testing. Students completed a practice test for the In-View testing on Monday and Tuesday.  As you know, we began our Terra Nova testing this week beginning with the In-View testing. This test contained patterns, sequences, and analogies that your child worked to solve. In speaking with the students after the test, they said that it was just like we practiced and some questions were a bit challenging. We did speak about how just like any test, there are problems that are easy and some that are more challenging. Please remember that our testing schedule is as follows for next week:

Monday, March 23rd- Math (Don’t forget to send in a basic calculator with your child!)

Tuesday, March 24th- Science

Wednesday, March 25th- Social Studies

Students are permitted to wear their gym uniform for each day of Terra Nova testing! Also remember, that each day of testing, we are on an adjusted schedule. These periods are shortened in length but students are able to see all content areas classes/specials each day. 

A big shout out to the homeroom parents in 4th grade who have been sending in little encouragement treats to the students each day. The first day of testing students received 2 #2 pencils and an eraser with a note of encouragement. The second day of testing students were given Goldfish crackers as they were “o-fish-ally” done with testing for the day! On Friday, students received a small bag of Smarties candy for being a “smartie”! We will have to see what next week brings! 

Ok… onto the good stuff! Here is a breakdown of what we did in each content area. 

Math- We spent time this week solving questions using the Order of Operations. I am sure many of you still remember “Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally” to help you remember the order of operations. We ended the week working with multi-step word problems using both multiplication and division. This can often be a challenge for students as with any word problems. On Friday, students were introduced to a problem solving skill on interpreting remainders. Next week, we will continue to work on this lesson for the vast majority of the week! 

Religion- We began the week learning all about St. Patrick. I read the book “St. Patrick- Patron Saint of Ireland” written by Tomie dePaola aloud to the students. The students learned about some common myths and legends that are associated with St. Patrick such as the legend of the snakes, and the altar stone. Students also worked to read a short passage about St. Patrick and answer written response questions using PQA.  

Reading- During our reading class this week, we continued to work with the story “The Circuit” from our Savvas series. Together we continued to work on annotating the text of this story. Students had a lot of questions as the narrator is a boy about 12 years old who helps to support his family by working in the field and does not attend school full time. Make sure to ask your child about this story. 

Grammar- We used our grammar periods this week to complete the In View practice test. We also spent time together talking about the test and students were able to ask any questions that they had. I can tell that some students are a bit anxious about the testing but when I explained that this test is not graded but just to see what they know in each content area, they were very relieved. 

Wax Museum- I sent an email to the entire fourth grade regarding getting a biography book on their historical notable by March 25th. I know that quite a few parents have reached out to me regarding their book. If you have difficulty getting the book, please do not hesitate to reach out. I have also given Mrs. Schmalbach a list of the notables this year so that she can begin to pull books if students ask. We also began the formal instruction of Thurgood Marshall this week. Thurgood is used as a model for the students so that they are aware of how to complete various portions of their Wax Museum project. Make sure you ask your child what they learned about Thurgood Marshall from our lesson activities this week! They really seem to enjoy learning about his impact during the Civil Rights Movement.

Lastly, I sent an email to the entire 4th grade regarding interest in becoming a chaperone for our class trip to the Lenape Village at the Churchville Nature Center on Thursday, April 23rd. If you are interested in being a chaperone, please complete the Google Form by March 25th.

A look ahead:

3/23- Terra Nova (Math)

3/24- Terra Nova (Science)

3/25- Terra Nova (Social Studies), book on Notable due, chaperone interest form due, Report Cards 2nd Trimester

3/27- Stations of the Cross @ 2 PM

Enjoy your first weekend of spring and Good luck to all those who are participating in the OLM 5k! 

   Mrs. Cox

Good Afternoon,

We hope that you are having a great week! We wanted to send a quick email congratulating the students on completing the second trimester (which ended Friday, March 13th), as well as about getting a physical  biography book on their notable for the Wax Museum.

Can you believe that we are now entering the last trimester of fourth grade?! Your child has completed ⅔ of fourth grade! Where has the time gone?  We want to congratulate each and every one of the students for all the hard work and effort they have put forth this trimester. We can really see in them a sense of accomplishment and growth. So many of them are living our fourth grade motto of A.I.R.(accountability, independence, responsibility) and we thank you for your help and support in that. 

In each of the core areas, students have been working on building their knowledge of previously taught skills, along with working with emerging skill sets where they have little background knowledge. With that being said, it is not unusual to see a dip in grades between the first and second trimesters upwards of 10 percentage points. The first trimester is comprised of scaffolded skills from third grade in which we are bumping up the standard and taking it to the next level, very little of it is new information that they have not worked with before. The second trimester consisted of fourth grade skill sets where the students had little to no prior knowledge. The third semester will continue to immerse the students with new skills set as well as build upon some of their knowledge of previously taught concepts and skills. 

We feel it is important to meet with the students to conference about their report cards and congratulate them on their successes and discuss areas with them where there are some weaknesses, in order to work with them to make a plan towards turning it into a strength. We will be meeting with each student on March 25th, prior to distributing the report cards.

Biography Book for the Wax Museum - Students should be working to acquire a physical book to read for their biography. We kindly ask that students have a physical book by March 25th. We know some friends may also have books on Epic, but they cannot access those after school hours. Some students have already gotten theirs (either from the classroom library or Mrs. Schmalbach). Feel free to order the book or go to your local library. If you are getting the book from the library, your child will need the book for a significant amount of time so you will have to renew it a few times. Mrs. Weir is also looking into another program called “Learning Ally” which would allow students to access a book on their notable digitally with an audio component as well. She will communicate this information to you later this week! 

 If you are having difficulty getting a book, please let us know as we are happy to help. We know that the students are eager to read all about their notable! That's awesome! Read away my friends. They will be rereading (with a purpose) once we start talking about what information they will want to be making notes of as they read. Students will be given a packet in which to keep their notes. This will become part of their homework each night and will count as their 20 minutes of reading. Shortly, we will begin formal instruction to prepare for the Wax Museum. Thurgood Marshall is used as a model for students to complete various portions of the Wax Museum. The vast majority of this project will be completed in school. Students will begin to learn about the life, accomplishments, dreams, roadblocks, and education of Thurgood Marshall in the coming weeks. More specific information regarding expectations at home as well as at school will be coming in the near future.

Enjoy the rest of your day and stay dry!

 Mrs. Stephanie Cox, Mrs. Nancy Weir, Ms. Mary Cate Crotty

Good Morning!

Can you believe that we are more than about halfway finished with the month of March?! I honestly can’t! It seems like yesterday that we were trying to navigate the beginning of the school year! 

This past week was a busy one! We spend the majority of the week preparing for the Terra Nova testing. We spent time reviewing how to measure angles. Students also completed practice tests for the reading, language arts, and math. These practice tests expose students to samples that may be similar or harder as to what would appear on their Terra Nova testing. Next week, we will be completing the In-View practice test. Please remember that our testing schedule is as follows for next week:

Terra Nova schedule starting 3/18: 

Wednesday 3/18 - In-View

Thursday 3/19 - Reading

Friday 3/20 - Language Arts

I sent an email to the entire fourth grade on Wednesday 3/11 outlining some things that you can do at home to help your child prepare for testing. Don’t forget students are permitted to wear their gym uniform for each day of Terra Nova testing! I did receive a few emails regarding the calculator. This is only needed for a portion of the math test. A basic calculator works just fine! 

On each day of testing, students will be operating on an adjusted schedule. Students will have all six periods however, the periods will be shortened due to the testing in the morning. Wednesday, March 18th will be the exception, as we will have periods 4 through 6 for the remainder of the day. These will be full periods.

Ok… onto the good stuff! Here is a breakdown of what we did in each content area. 

Math- We continue to spend time working on division. This week the focus was on a three digit dividend. Students worked to have multiple bring downs as well as zeros in the quotient. As I have previously stated, division is a difficult concept for students to grasp and understand. To end our week, students completed a division classwork check. 

Religion- We wrapped up our Liturgical Seasons Unit in religion class this week. We finished learning about the season of Easter and students completed their unit test on Thursday. 

Reading- During our reading class this week, we continued to work with our Savvas reading anthology. This week, students worked to annotate the text of our current story “Weslandia” and were introduced to a paired text called “The Circuit.” The students found this historical fiction story to be interesting as it is about a boy and his experience as sharecropper. We will finish this paired text next week as well as annotate this text. 

Grammar- During our grammar periods this week, students continued to work with complex sentences. To end our grammar periods this week, students worked to complete a classwork check on complex sentences. 

Writing- During our writing periods this week, we spent time working to complete the Terra Nova practice tests. Next week, during our grammar instructional periods, students will complete the In-View practice test so they are aware of what to expect when completing the In-View testing on Wednesday. 

Wax Museum- I am sure that you have heard, but the historical notable assignments have been posted! They can be found in the Wax Museum Google Classroom under the topic "Important Info." As I have previously stated in my email, students were given one of their five choices that they submitted in their Google Form. Next week, I will send an email to the entire grade about getting a book for your child. Also, starting next week, we will be using our writing periods to begin our preparations for the Wax Museum. Students will be taught how to do specific sections of their project using Thurgood Marshall as their model. They are super excited to get started!

Have a wonderful weekend! 

   Mrs. Cox 

Good Morning! 

It is so hard for us to believe that we are already staring at the calendar and it is March! This time of year means two things; Terra Nova testing is about to commence and we are getting ready to hit our final trimester of the year.

In fourth grade we strive to make Terra Nova as stress free for the students as possible. This past week and continuing into next week, we have been exposing students to some examples of questions/problems that may appear on the test. We also began discussing the purpose for these tests and the fact we ask that they just put forth their best effort and apply all the skills we've been working with throughout the year. One of the most important things we can all do for them is to remain calm and put forth an aire of positive thought. Terra Novas are never used as a grade for the students (even though many of them think they are), but as a way for us as teachers and administration to analyze our curriculum instruction and help us in creating a plan for the next academic school year. Yes, Terra Nova's are taken into consideration for entrance into the honor's math program for fifth grade, but so are their current math grades, their end of the year test in math, and the effort and perseverance they put forth when they are stuck and trying to work out a problem. Teacher recommendation is also a part of the requirements for this program. The criteria for the Honors Math program is set by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and is as follows:

CSI- 125 range

Terra Nova Math - 90 or above

Terra Nova Reading- 80 or above

Final Cumulative Report Card Grade in Math- 90 or above

End of Year Math Test- 85 or above

If we are calm, this will help them to be calm, resulting in clear thinking during their tests. Here are some things you can do at home:

1. Make sure they get a good night's sleep and eat a healthy breakfast. As always, we are looking for brain foods. If they are a fan of oatmeal, this is a great breakfast with some fruit. We also ask that snacks during this week are not sugary.

2.  Students must have #2 pencils to use for testing days. We encourage them to have 5 sharpened pencils each day. If these could be sharpened at home or with hand sharpeners that would be great and keep the line at the pencil sharpener short and for emergencies. Yes, they may use mechanical pencils, but the pencil itself must clearly read #2.

3. Students must have a working calculator for a section of the math test. This calculator will be used for one portion of the math test. There will be a portion of the test where they will only have paper and pencil. 

4. When students are finished with sections of the test we encourage them to color zentangles or other creative illustrations. Allowing students to color these images helps to create a calm classroom environment, reduce stress levels, and prepare the brain for heavy concentration tasks, thus improving outcomes. Bonus, they’re also known to help improve fine-motor skills. For those kids struggling with printing or cursive, these types of illustrations offer a more creative way to practice correct grip and the flowing lines needed for good penmanship. Students who struggle with grip can benefit from fine motor work; creating a piece of art using Zentangle methods allows students to practice skills without following a regimented pattern. We know many students have these types of coloring books at home and they are welcome to bring them into school during the week of Terra Nova. We will also be creating packets for students to work on. 

Terra Nova schedule starting 3/18: 

          Wednesday 3/18 - In-View

          Thursday 3/19 - Reading

          Friday 3/20 - Language Arts

          Monday 3/23 - Math

          Tuesday 3/24 - Science

          Wednesday 3/25 - Social Studies 

We will be running on a 2 hour delay schedule on these days, allowing all testing to be completed first thing in the morning. Students will then pick-up with our “day” around 10:30. Please note that some tests do take a bit longer to complete. Also note, there are scheduled breaks in between the tests to allow for use of the restroom and to stretch.   

Absences do happen! Please do not worry!  Students will be pulled to complete make-up if possible especially for the In-View testing, Reading, Language Arts and Math as these are the most important components of the Terra Nova Tests. Make-ups will take place during the week if time permits. Students may be pulled from content areas to make these up during the week. We just wanted you to be aware! 

Last, but not least, students are permitted to wear their gym uniform for each day of Terra Nova testing! 

As always, we are so blessed to be entrusted to teach your children every day. And we thank you for all that you do for them and in supporting us.

    Mrs. Stephanie Cox, Mrs. Nancy Weir, Ms. Mary Cate Crotty

Good Morning!

Can you believe that we will be wrapping up the second trimester next week and will be shortly entering the last trimester of 4th grade? This year is really going rather quickly! I know that there was a lot of excitement in the air due to the Wax Museum's notable selection this past week. I know that a few parents have reached out to me about a few things about the Wax Museum. We typically hold it in the afternoon after lunch and recess. I have a meeting with Mr. Delaney next week to confirm the logistics of the Wax Museum. Once I receive more information and specifics, I will communicate that information to the entire grade. I know that a few parents want to plan ahead due to their work schedules. We will be working to assign students their notable next week. Once we have finalized the notables, it will be communicated to the students. 

Next week, I will be sending an email regarding Terra Nova testing. It will outline some things that you can do at home to help your child prepare as well as what the day will look like at OLM each day of testing. I know that there are quite a few parents that have questions about the honors math program in 5th and that will be outlined in the email as well since Terra Nova scores do play a role in determining the entrance into the program. 

Ok… onto the good stuff! See a breakdown below to see what fourth grade was up this past week!

Math- The focus this week was on division! Thank you for working at home with your child. As I have previously stated, this is a challenging concept for students. We have spent the week working with two digit divisors, and finding quotients with remainders. Now that we have the basics down, next week we will be building upon this and students will have more challenging problems with multiple bring downs!  

Grammar- Students were introduced to complex sentences this week. They have learned that complex sentences contain an independent clause (can stand alone) and a dependent clause (cannot stand alone) within the sentence. Students have also learned that complex sentences have a subordinating conjunction. Subordinating conjunctions are unlike coordinating conjunctions in that they can be used in the beginning of a sentence or in the middle or a sentence. We will continue to work on complex sentences next week.  

Religion- This week, the focus was on Palm Sunday and Holy Week; in particular the Triduum.. Students watched a short video about Palm Sunday which gave them a brief overview of why Palm Sunday is important to our Catholic faith. Students also read about Palm Sunday and the Triduum in our Religion textbook as well as documents posted in Google Classroom. I did send an email to the entire 4th grade on Wednesday, March 4th  regarding an upcoming unit test in Religion on the Liturgical Seasons. This test will be Thursday, March 12th. A study tool has been posted in their Religion Google Classroom to begin studying nightly for 5-10 minutes. 

Reading- Students were introduced to their new story “Weslandia” from our Savvas reading series. This story is a fictional story about a boy named Wesley who is a bit of an outcast at school. He decides over the summer to create his own civilization in his backyard. Wesley plants his own crops, designs his own clothes, makes sunscreen and mosquito repellent, even creates his own sport!  We spent some time discussing and creating an anchor chart in our Reading copybook about point of view as this story is told from a third person point of view.  Next week, we will continue to work on this story as well as learn about the reading skill of compare and contrast using a venn diagram. 

Writing- Our writing periods have been devoted to Terra Nova preparations. This week students wrapped up a project about area and perimeter (as this will be something covered on Terra Nova testing). We also spent time reviewing how to measure using a ruler and began learning how to use a protractor to measure angles! 

A look ahead:

• 3/10- Confessions Grades 2-8 @ 1PM

• 3/12- Rice Bowl Assembly @ 10 AM

• 3/13- 2nd Trimester Ends, Stations of the Cross @ 2 PM

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the taste of spring this weekend and next week! 

   Mrs. Cox

Good Morning!

Can you believe that the month of March is just around the corner!? I am so ready for the spring temperatures, the flowers in bloom, baseball (Opening Day is at the end of the month!), and being able to enjoy the outside (unless my allergies kick into high gear!). I am sure that the students are in agreement as well. We are all over the snow! 

Students were busy at work this week in all content areas. This week I sent an email to the entire fourth grade regarding our Wax Museum project for 4th grade. The Google Form for the selection of historical notables will be posted early next week(I will send an email as to when it is posted so that you are aware as well).  We would really like the students to think about and briefly research a notable of interest to them. Please note, in moving forward with the Wax Museum, there are a few components that will need to be completed at home with parental support, while the vast majority of this project will be completed in school. We will also be speaking to the students about the project as well. More information about the Wax Museum will be communicated in the weeks to come. Please mark your calendars now… the Wax Museum will be held on Friday, May 15th!! 

Ok… onto the good stuff! See a breakdown below to see what fourth grade was up this past week!

Math- This week we continued to work on division which is the focus of Chapter 8. Students learned and practiced divisibility rules in class. Students watched a short video and we spent two periods working on this skill. Divisibility rules will help the students as we begin to dive deeper into the process of division. To end the week, students were introduced to the steps to divide. To help the students remember the students to divide, I have the students think of a cheeseburger. They also learned another way using hand gestures to remember the steps to divide!  Make sure to ask them about both! HA! Next week, we will be practicing the steps to divide to find 1 digit quotients with remainders. 

Grammar- Our focus for grammar this week was on compound sentences. Students learned about coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) and that a compound sentence is two simple sentences separated by a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction. We really focused on making sure there was a comma placed in front of the coordinating conjunction. We will wrap up compound sentences as well as coordinating conjunctions next week before moving onto complex sentences. 

Religion- Students learned about the Alpha and Omega symbols which are located on the Easter or Paschal candle. The Alpha symbol means that Jesus is the beginning of all things and the Omega symbol means that Jesus is the end of all things. Both of these symbols are from the Greek alphabet as many early Christians spoke Greek. Next week, we will wrap up the season of Lent and move onto Holy Week. I will send an email next week regarding a test for the Liturgical Seasons Unit in religion class. It will most likely be given during the week of March 9th. 

Writing- During our writing periods this week we finished publishing our Encounter poems before using this period for Terra Nova preparations. This week students reviewed area & perimeter. To review, students created an area & perimeter robot. This project is a graded activity and a rubric was reviewed with the students so that they are clear of the expectations. These projects will be displayed in the hallway. Next week, we will be moving onto using a ruler to measure as well as how to use a protractor to measure angles.  

Reading- The students were introduced to a new story within our “Savvas” reading series this week. Students were introduced to new vocabulary for our new story “Weslandia”. Using the cover page/illustration, students made a prediction about what they think the story will be about. Also, to end our reading classes this week, students worked with a paired text that includes the vocabulary words. This paired text will continue to reinforce the vocabulary words for better understanding before we get to the main text.  

A look ahead:

• 3/6- Mass @ 9 AM, Peacemaker for month of February awarded

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the warmer weather tomorrow!

   Mrs. Cox 

Happy Saturday!

I don’t know about you but this weather is something else! Between the warmer temperatures (I swear anything above freezing feels warm to me) and the rain, it has been quite a change! I also believe that there is some sort of talk about snow, maybe tomorrow evening into Monday. I don’t know about you, but I have had my fill of winter. I am very much looking forward to those warm spring days which believe it or not, will be here shortly! I am counting down the days until Opening Day for the Phillies!  

Well… this week was quite a busy week even though it was a short week! We had a lot of things going on at OLM; due to adjusted schedules. This week with Ash Wednesday mass, a Middle School Club day on Thursday, and we ended our week with our first Stations of the Cross as an OLM community. 

Please make sure that you check your email as I sent an email on Friday morning to the entire grade about our 4th grade class trip this year! Make sure to mark your calendars. I will be emailing again in the near future about payment, and chaperone information. Next week, I will be sending another email about the Wax Museum  because believe it or not, we need to start thinking and planning about it! 

Ok… onto the good stuff! See a breakdown below to see what fourth grade was up this past week!

Math- On Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, students were given time to complete and/or finish their Chapter 6 Math test. On Thursday, students completed a pre-test for Chapter 8 which focuses on long division. We will be spending quite a bit of time on long division, as this is often a difficult task/skill for students to grasp. Once we get into the “thick” of division, it is important that you continue to work with your child at home to expose and practice. Between the contrast repetition a home and school is essential for the students to be successful with this concept/skill. My hope is that we have this unit complete by the time Terra Novas begin. 

Grammar- Our focus for grammar this week was on compound sentences. Students learned about coordinating conjunctions (FANBOYS) and that a compound sentence is two simple sentences separated by a comma followed by a coordinating conjunction. Our focus this week was identifying a simple sentence or a compound sentence. Next week we will focus on writing compound sentences by combining two simple sentences. Students will make sure there is a comma placed in front of the coordinating conjunction.

Religion-  This week the students learned about the Liturgical season of Lent. This week students learned about the importance of Ash Wednesday. Students learned that Ash Wednesday begins the season of Lent which lasts 40 days. They also learned that the ashes used at Ash Wednesday Mass are the burned palms from last year’s Palm Sunday. Students were also introduced to the three pillars of Lent: prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Together using pages from our Religion textbook, we created booklets about the Stations of the Cross. Next week, we will dive a bit deeper into the season of Lent during our instructional periods. 

Reading- This week we wrapped up our reading skill of inferring. On Tuesday of this week, students were given a scenario and they needed to infer as to where or what was happening based on the clues provided. They also have to confirm how they know that their inference was correct. To end our reading instructional periods, students completed a classwork check on inference. Next week, students will be introduced to a new story within our Savvas reading series. 

Writing- This week, the students worked hard to complete their published copy of their “Encounter” poem. The vast majority of the students completed the publishing of their poem in their best cursive and began working to design the cover of their writing.  I do have to say, they came out fantastic! It has been about three years since I have done this writing assignment with my class and I am so very pleased about how well the students have done! 

Side Note…Keep your eye on the weather, especially since there are multiple reports of various amounts of snow as well as the timing. Information about the Open House, whether it will still be held on Sunday or cancelled will be communicated. Also, I will keep you posted regarding Monday if any changes are made due to the snow. I did send students home with extra copybooks and textbooks to be prepared. 

A look ahead:

2/22- OLM Open House (Rescheduled) 11 AM- 1 PM

2/27- Stations of the Cross @ 2 PM

Have a wonderful weekend! Go Phillies! 

     Mrs. Cox

Good Morning! 

Can you believe that we are in the middle of February?! I honestly can’t! Now that football is over, it is time to think of baseball! HA!  Pitchers and catchers reported to Spring Training this week!! Clearly, I am ready for the Phillies baseball season to begin! LOL! 

I know that this week was a rather short week but I did want to quickly touch base with you in regards to a few things. Progress reports for the second trimester were sent home in your child’s test folder on Wednesday. Please note that these grades are a “snapshot” in time. Since these grades have been sent home, a few content areas have grades that have since been added. For an updated true academic picture of your child in each content area, please check FACTS. The second trimester is one that is filled with new content skills that students do not have any prior knowledge of whereas, the first trimester is comprised of skills or content that your child has been exposed to in third grade. It is common to see grades dip during the second trimester as things become much harder and require more effort on their part.  

The students had a wonderful day on Thursday to celebrate Valentine’s Day. They decorated bags to hold their Valentine’s in and were given time to exchange them in the afternoon. The students really enjoyed the treats and sweets. Thank you to those students who gave me little gifts. Be on the lookout for a thank you card!  All was very much appreciated! 

Ok… onto the good stuff! Here is a breakdown of what we did in each content area this week. 

Math- The focus of math instruction this week was on multi-step problem solving. To begin the week, the students worked on football multi-step problems with Mrs. Anderson. For the remainder of the week, students received formal instruction on multi-step word problems. We worked together to identify the question, information needed to solve the problem and the computation needed to find the answer. We continue to work on this skill using problems within IXL and documents assigned in Google Classroom. We also spent time working in small groups to collaborate and then solve the problems.  I sent an email on Tuesday, Feb. 10th regarding the Chapter 6 test. Students were given a study guide in Math Google Classroom to help them prepare for the test. Chapter 6 test will be given on Tuesday, January 17th. 

Religion- We spent time this week learning about St. Valentine. Did you know that St. Valentine was a priest who married soldiers when at the time it was against the Catholic Church? Together we answered true and false questions about St. Valentine, completed a mini project, and watched a video. Next week, students will learn about the season of Lent next in our unit, which feels appropriate as the season of Lent begins next week with Ash Wednesday. 

Writing- This week the students were able to work on their published copy of their “Encounter” poems. I was able to meet with all the students to check their rough drafts. The vast majority of students finished their published copy and will be ready to work on their covers during our next instructional periods. 

Reading-  This week we wrapped up our story within our reading series of “Savvas”. The students completed a comprehension of our story “Out of My Mind”. To assist the students in completing this comprehension they were permitted to have their reading anthology with the story open to allow them to go back into the text. Students answered both multiple choice questions and written response questions. There were also cold read texts (texts that students have not been exposed to) in which they also had to answer questions. When we return from the President’s Day long weekend, we will be moving onto our next story “Weslandia.”

Grammar- In grammar this week, we continued to work on subjects and predicates. Students identified simple and complete subjects and predicates within a given sentence. We spent a great deal of time practicing locating simple and complete subjects and predicates using task cards, and Pixel Art activities. Students also completed a classwork check which was assigned to students digitally on Google Classroom. Next week we will be moving onto compound sentences.  

Looking Ahead:

2/16- No School! President’s Day!

2/18- Ash Wednesday- Mass @ 9 AM, Peacemakers awarded for month of January

2/20- Stations of the Cross @ 2 PM

Enjoy the long weekend! Go Phillies! (HA!)

     Mrs. Cox

Good Morning! 

Can you believe that we are already in the month of February?! I honestly can’t! I also don’t know about you but I am SO over the cold weather and the snow! Next week will be halfway through the month!! UGH!! On a side note… the Phillies’ trucks were packed and shipped off for Spring Training! That means baseball is just around the corner! YAY! On 

The students had a great full week of school! It was packed with a lot of learning and application of skills! Just a reminder next week, we will be exchanging Valentines on Thursday, February 12th. Please note that this is not a party in 4th grade, but students will be having a treat. If your child is going to exchange Valentine’s please make sure there is one for all students in the class. Class lists were included in the last two weekly emails.

I just wanted to put on your radar, that believe it or not, Terra Nova testing is in our near future. The fourth grade team will be sending a formal email about what to do at home to help your child prepare for Terra Nova. Over the next several weeks, students will be completing practice tests to expose them to how the test will be set up as well as how the questions are formatted. Students have also been working on various skills on IXL and Prodigy during W.I.N. to help them prepare. I also have the students working on math math maintenance as a “warm-up” before we begin our instruction for the period. These skills focus on math (ie- graphing, counting money, etc.), reading (ie- nonfiction text comprehension, order of events, etc.), and language arts/writing (ie- choosing the best topic sentence, combining sentences, using context clues, etc.).  Mr. Delaney will also be putting information in the Mercy Messenger in the near future regarding Terra Nova testing as well. Below I am including the breakdown of the dates as well as what assessments will be given each day as a heads up:

Wednesday, March 18th- In View Testing

Thursday, March 19th- Reading

Friday, March 20th- Language Arts

Monday, March 23rd- Math

Thursday, March 24th- Science

Friday, March 25th- Social Studies

Lastly, Mrs. Schmalbach thankfully took a lot of pictures during THON last week. She has kindly asked that I share this link with all of you. I know that there are quite a few pictures of the students from our class in the files. Feel free to take a look! 

Ok… onto the good stuff! Here is a breakdown of what we did in each content area this week. 

Math- Mrs. Cox’s class spent the vast majority of the week focusing on how to multiply two digits by two digit numbers using the standard algorithm. Practice of this skill continued through working on problems in the math textbook, 99math, IXL group jams, and Pixel Art. Students were also exposed to multiplying three digit numbers by three digit numbers. Next week we will focus on working on multi-step problem solving with multiplication. Students will be informed next week when they will have a quiz on Chapter 6. 

Religion- This week the students continued to learn about the Liturgical Season of Ordinary Time. Students learned that ordinary means “numbered” or “counted”. They also learned that this is the only season in the church that occurs twice during the year. During class, students worked to complete task cards. While working on the task cards, students illustrated two miracles that Jesus performed, a feast day that occurs during Ordinary Time as well as design a chasuble that the priest would wear during this season. Students also answered written response task cards. To end the week, students completed a classwork check on Ordinary Time.

Social Studies- The students began their unit on William Penn. Make sure to ask your child what they covered this week during class! 

Writing- The students were really excited to hear and begin their new writing project! This project is again focusing on poetry. For this writing project, students are writing about an encounter they had with an animal in nature. Together we used the poem “Encounter” by Lilian Moore as our example and focused not only on the encounter that occurred in the poem but also the use of pronouns. To end this week, students spent time brainstorming some ideas of animals that they encountered, the reaction they had when they encountered the animal, the animal’s reaction, and where they were when this encounter happened. 

Reading- This week the students worked on the skill of inferencing. This skill is often a challenge for students however, it does seem as though this class has a good grasp of the concept! We worked on short text passages in which we needed to infer about what was happening, as well as worked on some activities within Google Classroom for additional practice. 

Grammar- We moved onto subjects and predicates this week during our grammar instructional periods. Students were introduced to both simple and complete subjects and predicates. Together we spent time working within our grammar textbook as well as skills within IXL to practice simple subjects and predicates. Additional practice and reinforcement is needed with complete subjects and predicate which will occur during grammar classes next week. 

Looking Ahead:

2/11- Progress Reports

2/12- Valentine exchange & treat day @ 2PM

2/13- No School! Teacher Professional Development

2/16- No School! President’s Day! 

I did want to thank you for bearing with me as I deal with whatever sickness I have. As the week has progressed, I am feeling a bit better. Not quite myself just yet, but better. Enjoy the weekend and the Super Bowl! 

     Mrs. Cox

P.S.- I will be out on Monday as I am taking a personal day. Mrs. Anderson will be my substitute teacher for the day. I know that the students are in great hands and will have a wonderful day! 

Good Morning!

Happy Saturday! I hope that everyone is staying warm with these bitter temperatures this week! Between the snow/sleet/freezing rain that occurred last weekend to the frigid temperatures, I have had my fill of winter. LOL!! I am so ready for the spring and baseball season. At least in a few weeks, we can be distracted by the Winter Olympics!

The students really enjoyed a rather short Catholic Schools Week! What a way to start the week with an asynchronous learning day! I must say that the kids really did a great job working on the assignments! I do hope that it was rather easy to complete at home as I know many of you were working from home for those days.  Please note that the Bagels with Buddies has been rescheduled for next week! I am sure that an announcement will be made in the Mercy Messenger to remind you as well. 

I am sure that you heard that I am a bit under the weather this week. I have a nasty cough, and congestion. Hopefully with some rest and fluids, I will be much better! I am sorry to say that I missed the teacher luncheon as well as the talent show on Thursday afternoon! I heard that the food was delicious and the talent show was a huge success!! Thank you to all you helped or donated their time to both of these events. Unfortunately, I also missed THON! This is the first time that I have missed THON in all my years at OLM. As always, THON is a fantastic way to end another amazing Catholic Schools Week at OLM. 

Ok,  onto the good stuff! Check out below to see what was covered this week!

Writing- During our writing period this week (as we only had one), we spent some time tying up some loose ends. I used this time as an “odds and ends” period for students to work on some assignments that I was missing or complete some assignments. I did ask those students who did not finish their grammar project  “Snowmen at Night” to please complete that for homework as it is due on Tuesday. Next week, we will begin our new writing assignment which continues to focus on poetry. 

Math- We also continue to work with Chapter 6 this week. This chapter has a focus on multiplying two digit numbers. Students worked to create an area model using the distributive property to solve a two digit by two digit multiplication problem. We also worked on estimation with two digit multiplication.  Please continue to work with your child at home on their multiplication facts! This will make a world of difference as we work on multiplying using the standard algorithm next week (the way in which we learned to multiply)!

Religion- This week we continued to work on our unit of the Liturgical Seasons; in particular the season of Ordinary Time.Students completed review questions that were assigned to them in Google Classroom. Students were also introduced to a task card activity which they will complete next week. For this activity, students will complete task cards in which they had illustrate two miracles that Jesus performed, a feast day that is celebrated in Ordinary Time, and create a new vestment for the priest to wear during the season of Ordinary Time. To end this portion of our unit, students will also complete a graded classwork check on Ordinary Time before we move onto the season of Lent.  

Social Studies- This week the students completed a test and turned in a project about New Sweden or New Netherland. Make sure you ask your child what they are currently doing in class!  I believe that due to the shortened period on Thursday (due to the Talent Show), that the Social Studies test will continue next week. Please have your child continue to study! 

Reading- This week the students were introduced to the skill of inference. Students completed an interactive notebook page in their reading copybook all about inference. Next week, we will work together to put our inference skills working through some activities to observe and then use our background knowledge to make an inference. 

Grammar- Our grammar skills this week as on subjects and predicates. Students were introduced to both simple and complete subjects and predicates. Together we completed guided notes in our grammar CB. Next week, we will dive a bit deeper into this skill as well as practice. 

Believe it or not Valentine’s Day is around the corner! In fourth grade, we have a treat day where students have the opportunity to exchange Valentines with their classmates and enjoy a treat. We try to keep it fun and low key for the students. I kindly ask that if your child is to bring in Valentines for his/her classmates, please be sure to have one for every student. I will be purchasing bags for each student for their Valentines. We will be exchanging Valentine’s and enjoying the treat in the afternoon of  Thursday, February 12th. Please keep in mind that there is no school on February 13th due to a Professional Development Day for teachers. Below I am attaching the list of students in our class, in the event that you are going to label each Valentine. We have 19 students in the class. 

Class List 2025-2026

Lastly, on Wednesday afternoon the students in the class were treated to a lesson by one of our school guidance counselors, Mrs. Parkhill. The lesson focused on sportsmanship. 

A Look Ahead: 

2/3 - Bagels with Buddies A-L 7:30- 8:15 AM

2/4- Bagels with Buddies M-Z 7:30- 8:15 AM

2/6- Dress Down Day to support THON ($2- Former Students (Romano’s) Thon at Mount & Penn State)

Have a wonderful weekend!

    Mrs. Cox

Good Morning!

Happy Saturday! If I am completely honest, this week seemed rather long. I am not sure if it was due to the MLK holiday on Monday or the fact that we ended the week with two days of adjusted schedules. On top of the adjusted schedule to end the week, snow seems to be on everyone’s mind!!  Congratulations to those students from our class who were part of the band concert on Thursday afternoon! Job well done!

I am going to keep the email rather short this week. Instead of providing a breakdown of what we accomplished in each content area, I wanted to quickly outline what is occurring each day next week for Catholic Schools Week. 

Next week is Catholic Schools Week, which as you may know is a big deal at OLM. However, it seems like the impending weather may put a bit of a damper on things. Please make sure you check your email from OLM as there have been a few changes to the week so far. I also believe these changes will be announced in the Mercy Messenger on Sunday. Please note there may need to be additional changes depending on this winter storm. 

Monday, 1/26

Celebrate OLM

Wear gym uniform bottoms with OLM spiritwear

Winston, the OLM mascot, will make an appearance during Morning Assembly to kick off CSW at OLM!

Tuesday, 1/27

Bagels with Buddies- Last names A-L

From 7:30- 8:15, those students with last names beginning with letter A to L, can have a bagel breakfast with their adult buddy in the school cafeteria. 

(If this event needs to be cancelled due to the weather, it will be rescheduled for Thursday 1/29)

Free Dress Down Day

At no cost to you, your child can dress down! Please wear sneakers! 

Wednesday, 1/28

Bagels with Buddies- Last names M-Z

From 7:30- 8:15, those students with last names beginning with letter M to Z, can have a bagel breakfast with their adult buddy in the school cafeteria.

NJHS installation assembly at 1:30 for those students who will be installed as well as the parents/guests, and siblings are invited to attend.

Student dress attire- regular uniform 

Thursday, 1/29

Talent Show @ 2 PM

Student dress attire- gym uniform.

Friday, 1/30

OLM Mini- Thon

Students will participate in a dance a-thon for children with cancer for part of the morning. A pretzel snack will be provided for your child. 

Noon Dismissal

Student dress attire- gym uniform. If you ordered a THON t-shirt, you may wear with gym uniform. 

Believe it or not Valentine’s Day is around the corner! In fourth grade, we have a treat day where students have the opportunity to exchange Valentines with their classmates and enjoy a treat. We try to keep it fun and low key for the students. I kindly ask that if your child is to bring in Valentines for his/her classmates, please be sure to have one for every student. I will be purchasing bags for each student for their Valentines. We will be exchanging Valentine’s and enjoying the treat in the afternoon of  Thursday, February 12th. Please keep in mind that there is no school on February 13th due to a Professional Development Day for teachers. Below I am attaching the list of students in our class, in the event that you are going to label each Valentine. We have 19 students in the class. 

Class List 2025-2026

Just a heads up… if school is closed on Monday due to the snow/weather, your child will have an asynchronous learning day. This means that there is no live instruction but students will have work assigned to them. I have spoken to the students yesterday about their assignments and they are aware of where to get their assignments for the day. I will most likely send an email on Sunday evening (if they call it early) as well as Monday morning. 

Thanks again for all you do to support OLM! Enjoy your weekend! Stay safe and stay warm! 

     Mrs. Cox

Good Morning!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week! The bitter cold temperatures have arrived yet again. Please make sure your child arrives to school prepared. If the outside or real free is above freezing, students will most likely go outside for recess. Thankfully, they were able to get outside for a bit this week. They really needed to get some fresh air and have the ability to run around a bit. It looks as though next week will be freezing! Some days they are calling for temperatures that may not even reach the teens! BRRRR!!! 

A few things before I move onto what was covered this week in fourth grade. THON will again be held this year on the last day of Catholic Schools Week (January 30th). This will be a half day dismissal as well. Make sure you look in the Mercy Messenger this week to see some of the fun activities that are planned for Catholic Schools Week! I will put more information in my email next week about Catholic Schools Week. 

Lastly, I am attaching the replenish list of school supplies for fourth grade. Your child will be coming home with both their art box and pencil case so that you can see what they are missing. There are a few students who also need to replace their headphones/earbuds.  If you could please replenish any missing supplies over the long weekend, we would greatly appreciate it! 

Replenish List

Ok… onto the good stuff! 

Math- Mrs. Cox’s class continued to work on various skills within Chapter 5. This week, students focused on using the standard algorithm (this is the traditional way to multiply!).  Students worked through math centers this week in which they worked on multiplying using the standard algorithm. They also completed a classwork check on multiplying using the standard algorithm. To end the week, we began wrapping up the last remaining lessons in the chapter. I will be giving a quiz on Chapter 5 on Wednesday, January 21st! Study information for the quiz is posted on the Math Google Classroom under the topic “Chapter 5.”  Students should study for about 5-10 each night in order to prepare. 

Religion- This week we wrapped up learning about the season of Christmas. Students learned about the Feast of the Epiphany and the reasons why Jesus received the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Students also completed an interactive notebook page on Christmas as well as a classwork check on the season of Christmas. All religion classes set up their copybooks for religion maintenance. These questions will be completed each day upon entering the class each day. Religion maintenance are five questions which serve as a review of previously taught skills to keep them current. 

Grammar- During ELA class, we continued to focus on the types of sentences. This week, students completed task cards and a worksheet in which they needed to determine the sentence in order to color the picture. Students also completed a classwork check to assess their understanding of the types of sentences. To complete this check, students were able to use their Grammar CB to help them. Lastly, to end the week, students were introduced to a grammar project! Make sure to ask your child all about it! 

Social Studies- In social studies class this week, students completed a post card activity. For this post card, students created a post card about why they should come to the colony of New Sweden or New Netherland. Students also completed a classwork check this week. Ms. Crotty also informed the students that they will be having a Unit 6 test on January 26th. She will be providing students with a study guide next week. 

Science- The students are currently learning about the five senses. This week the students completed a hands-on activity in which they had to bend a paperclip and press it lightly on various parts of their body (hands, arm, leg). Students needed to determine if they felt the bend edge of the paperclip or the point of the paperclip. Make sure to ask your child all about it! 

Reading- During our reading period this week, we continued to work within our new reading series/textbook. Students learned from their textbook the diverse ways in which people communicate such as smoke signals, sign language, carrier pigeons, and even speech guided devices. Students were also introduced to their first story within the reading series entitled “Out of My Mind.” Students completed a picture walk which is a predication of what they think the story will be about using only the illustrations. We will continue to work on this story as well as the skill of inference next week during our instructional periods. 

Writing- Students spent their writing periods working to create their rough drafts of their haiku poems about winter. Students were asked to write two poems. I have to say that they did a great job and are super creative! I was able to meet with the students to conference about their writing. Many students are publishing their poems as well as drawing their images that they wrote about on their published copies. Students will be using water color paint to bring their winter haikus to life!  

A Look Ahead

• 1/19 - No School! MLK Day!

• 1/22- Band Concert @ 2 PM

• 1/23- OLM Designer Bag Bingo

• 1/26- OLM Open House Kick-off for Catholic Schools Week @ 11 AM- 1 PM

Whew…That is a lot! Please remember we do not have school on Monday due to the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday! Enjoy the long weekend! 

Mrs. Cox

Happy New Year and welcome back! 

Happy New Year! I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and the New Year is off to a great start for you and your family. To be honest, these past two weeks have gone by rather quickly. My husband and I were busy spending some much needed time with family and close friends. We did have a few days of rest but for most of the break we were on the go! I feel like I need a break from the break! HA! I must say it was rather nice to “unplug” from school for a little while! I honestly think I need a break from the break. I felt as though everyday of the break we were running around doing things with family and friends. Those few days that we were home, it was great to unplug and relax.  

Thank you again for all the Christmas gifts. If your family or your child sent in a gift for me, I typically send home a hand written thank you note. I was able to get a few out before the break but I did hand out the reminder of them to the students on Monday. Thank you again for your generosity and your thoughtfulness! 

Before I get into what we covered this week, I do have a few favors to ask of you. I am noticing that more and more students are coming to school without their Chromebook charged. Could you please remind your child to charge it each night? I know that coming off such a long break it does take some time to get back into the swing of things but any reminder that you could provide at home would be greatly appreciated. I am also noticing that quite a few students are running low on their school supplies. I know that next weekend we have a long weekend due to the MLK holiday, so I was thinking this may be a good time to replenish any supplies. I will send the students home with both their pencil case as well as their art box next Friday so that you can see exactly what they may need. Also, I am attaching a copy of the supplies that they may need to replenish. Don’t worry, I will send the list again next week as well! 

Replish supply list

It was nice to just get our feet wet, and ease back into the swing of things at school. Students completed some New Year’s activities over the past few days as well as were introduced to their new topics of instruction in math class (multiplication of one digit numbers), types of sentences (grammar) and a new story from our Savvas reading textbook series. Speaking of textbook books, I am happy to report that they have finally arrived! Students were given their handwriting textbook, Grammar, and their new consumable reading textbook from Savvas.

Check out below to see what the students covered in each content area:

Grammar: Students were introduced to types of sentences this past week. The types of sentences are declarative, imperative, interrogative, and exclamatory. Students worked to create an anchor chart in their grammar copybook on the types of sentences. We also spent some time working on types of sentences within our grammar textbook. We will continue to work on this skill again next week. 

Math: We began the week by completing a pre-test for Chapter 5. This pre-test allows me to see what prior knowledge the students have about the material in Chapter 5 (multiply by a 1 digit number) before I begin my instruction. We spent some time again reviewing the Properties of Multiplication. In their particular chapter, we will be spending quite a bit of time focusing on the distributive property of multiplication. This week, we learned how to break apart a factor in order to use the distributive property to multiply. We also learned how to create area models to multiply using the distributive property. To end our week of math instruction, students were introduced to the standard algorithm (traditional way to multiply). Next week, we will focus on learning to multiply using the standard algorithm. I am asking that you work with your child at home to practice their multiplication facts. This will be a huge help as we press forward with the remainder of the chapter/unit.

Religion- Just prior to Christmas break, students were introduced to the Liturgical Season of Advent. During our classes this week, we spent time wrapping up our lessons on Advent by completing an interactive notebook page that was glued into their Religion CB. Students also worked collaboratively in table groups to answer Advent task cards. Lastly, to wrap up the season of Advent, students completed a classwork check. Toward the end of the week, students were introduced to the season of Christmas and the Feast of the Epiphany. 

Reading- This week we began our first story within our new reading series. Students were introduced to the genre realistic fiction. Together we completed an anchor chart outline the characteristics of this genre. Students were also introduced to the vocabulary words for the story. We worked with a paired reading text that incorporated the vocabulary words as well as written responses to further assess their understanding of the vocabulary. Next week, students will be introduced to the story “Out of My Mind” within our Savvas reading anthology. 

Writing-  Students were introduced to our next writing assignment. This assignment focuses on a form of poetry called haiku. A haiku is a form of Japanese poetry that consists of 3 lines. There is a specific format that needs to be followed for this poem. Haikus are typically written about something found in nature. Together we spent some time brainstorming things found in nature during the winter season. Working together in table groups, students wrote a haiku poem about winter. Next week, students will begin to complete their rough draft of a winter haiku. 

Science- The students were happy to have science this week as they had an experiment. Make sure that you ask your child all about this experiment! Mrs. Weir also handed back to the students a project that they were working on prior to Christmas break. There is a rubric attached to the project so that you can see how your child was graded and the expectations. 

Social Studies- The students began a new Chapter in class this week. This chapter focuses on the relationship between the Native Americans and Early Explorers. The students were introduced to Henry Hudson and Entiene Burle. 

A look Ahead:

1/13- T-shirts orders for Mini Thon shirts are due! Please send in either cash or check with the order sheet. 

1/16- Dress Down Day to support the OLM Mini Thon!

1/19- No School! MLK Day! 

Have a wonderful weekend!

   Mrs. Cox

Good Morning! 

I hope you had a wonderful week! Can you believe that next week is our last week of school before Christmas break? Where has the time gone!?! I feel as though I have so much to do and not enough time to do it all! I know that many of you would agree with me! 

This week we began the second trimester. It is hard to believe that we are ⅓ of the year finished with 4th grade thus far! Next week, your child will receive their report card. I do like to take some time to meet with each child and review their report cards. We discuss how they look (as they do look different from 3rd grade) as well as we talk about some goals that they may have as we enter into the 2nd trimester. We also spend some time talking about areas where they can improve. Report cards will be coming home with your child on the 17th of December. 

There was a lot of excitement this week due to the door decorating contest. As a class we voted on a theme for the door and the students worked together to decorate.Thank you so very much for sending in supplies. They have been hard at work. Below is a picture of our inspiration! I will send a picture next week of our completed door! Voting is scheduled for next week.  

Next week will be a bit hectic due to Tableau practice as well as the class party. Two days of adjusted schedules (or as I call them “Roller Skates Days” because we just “skate” on through the day) will be a bit of a challenge for the students on Monday and Thursday for Tableau practice. On these days, students will have all six periods before lunch. Practice will be held from 1:15- 2:30 on both Monday and Thursday.  Information was provided in the Mercy Messenger about Tableau. I have also included it below as well for you. 

Some information regarding the Tableau:

**The OLM Tableau is Thursday, 12/18/24, at 7:00 PM at St. Alphonsus Church for Grades K-8.

The arrival time & attire are as follows:

     -Grade 8: arrive at 6:15 PM~ Attire Costumes.

     -Grade 1: arrive at 6:30 PM~ Attire Angel Costumes.

     -Kindergarten: arrive at 6:30 PM~ Attire “Sunday Best.”

     -Grades 2-7: arrive at 6:30 PM~ Attire is winter uniforms,  No shorts, No gym uniforms.

All students should report to their homerooms. 

Following the Tableau, students will return back to their homeroom in grades K and grades 2-7. Please arrange to pick up your child/children in their homerooms.

Check out below to see what fourth grade was up to this past week:

Grammar- This week in grammar we started off the week with the students completing their published copy in which they described their Christmas tree. The remainder of the week we did some Christmas review activities which included some of the parts of speech that we have already covered (verbs, nouns, adjectives, adverbs) and I introduced to the students briefly simple, compound, and complex sentences. 

Math- Mrs. Cox’s math class wrapped up Chapter 4 this week. Students completed graded classwork assignment for the last several lessons in the Chapter. The remainder of this week and next week we will be working on fun Christmas math activities!  When we return from Christmas break, we will begin Chapter 5 which again will focus on multiplication. 

Social Studies- During Social Studies classes this week, the students wrapped up their unit on Native Americans. Students worked on a review packet of questions about the material covered during this unit. The students also completed a graded classwork check to wrap up the unit. When students return from Christmas break, they will begin a new unit in Social Studies class. 

Religion-This week the students learned about the history of the Immaculate Conception, the history of Saint Nicholas and all about the Advent wreath. Students watched a short video that echoed the text about the Advent wreath that was read together as a class. In the text, students learned about the meaning behind each candle. Students then created a poster in which they need to include facts or information about the Advent wreath as well as illustrations. 

Science- The students continue to work on finishing their project on the external structures that support growth and survival of an animal. Mrs. Weir has spent class time reviewing the expectations of the project as well as how they will be graded. Students will be given time next week to finish it up.  

Reading- Students continued to work on learning about the Christmas celebrations around the world. This week students read about the Christmas celebrations/traditions in Mexico as well as Brazil. Next week, students will be answering written comprehension questions as well as using cardinal and intermediate directions to answer questions about a county of their choice. They will be able to choose one of the following countries; Mexico, Germany, Italy, South Africa, or Brazil. 

Writing- We continue to work on our “Don’t Eat Me!” persuasive writing piece. This week, students finished their stars and strips graphic organizer for reasons why you should eat beef instead of turkey. Students also worked in their groups to take this information and write their rough draft of this paragraph. Together we 

Lastly, make sure you are on a look out for an email from Mrs. Deal (one of our homeroom parents). She has some last minute reminders that she wanted to send your way! 

A look ahead:

12/15- Tableau Practice- adjusted schedule

12/18- Tableau Practice- adjusted schedule

12/18- gifts for 4th grade Pollyanna Sock Exchange due!!! 

12/19- Christmas Party & Noon Dismissal, party will end at 11:30 to begin dismissal 

12/22-1/5- Christmas Break! No School!

1/6- Classes resume!

1/10- Mass @ 9 AM- Peacemaker for December awarded

I will not be sending an email update next week. I am looking forward to some much needed time off surrounded by my family and friends. I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and a Blessed New Year! Thank you so much for all of your support of fourth grade!

I am off to do some Christmas cookie baking with my mom! 

  Mrs. Cox 

P.S.- I will not be in on Monday as I have several doctor appointments. Mrs. Anderson will be in with the students for the day! 

Good Morning!

This week was quite an exciting week filled with a PJ dress down day, picture retakes, and confessions. I don't know about the kids, but I am exhausted! LOL.

I can’t believe that we are already in December! Time is quickly passing by! Just think, we have about two more weeks until Christmas break. UGH!! Over the next few weeks, there are many exciting things happening. Please note that our class will be attending Santa’s Secret Shop on Tuesday, December 9th from 2:10-2:40.  A flyer and an envelope were sent home with your child on Wednesday, December 3rd. Items range in price from $0.25 to about $11.00. The majority of the items are under $3.50. If you would like your child to shop, please send your child with an envelope designating the people that your child is to buy gifts for. Feel free to even budget how much they are to spend on each person! If you have lost the original envelope, feel free to use any envelope to send the money into school! 

Take a look to see what fourth grade has been up to in each content area this past week!

Grammar- This week in grammar students worked on a fun activity in which they used adjectives to describe their Christmas tree! We spent some time reviewing what adjectives were and then students were given time to brainstorm adjectives to describe their tree. Together we used a photograph of my Christmas tree and brainstormed adjectives to describe it. Then we wrote 10 sentences which contained 15 adjectives to describe the tree. Students did the same for their tree. Many students were able to publish their paragraph this week! We will finish publishing on Monday before moving onto another Christmas grammar activity!

Math- Students were introduced to Chapter 4 this week. Students completed a pre-test which allows me to see which skills students have background knowledge of to determine my pacing of lessons. This week we began learning about the Properties of Multiplication (Identify, Zero, Associative, and Communicative) as well as the Distributive Property. We also spent time learning how to model multiplication problems using place value models. Students completed a mid chapter checkpoint for the lessons 1 and 2 within Chapter 4. For this chapter (especially with all of the interruptions the next weeks), we will be completing classwork checks rather than tests or quizzes. When we return from Christmas break we will jump right into multiplication! 

Social Studies- The students continue to learn about Native Americans in their Social Studies classes this week. This week the students learned about the tribes that called Pennsylvania home: Lenni Lenape, Shawnee, and Iroquois. The students also learned about Chief Tamanend who was the Chief of the Turtle clan in the Delaware Valley. 

Science- The students are currently working on a project in science class. For this project students illustrate an animal and need to write about the features of it. The students are really enjoying this project, especially the illustrations! 

Religion- Students were introduced to the Liturgical Seasons of the Church. This week, students learned about the season of Advent as well as the feast days of Saint Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe. Students watched a short movie about Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe and colored a page that was placed inside of their religion copybooks on Our Lady of Guadalupe. Next week, students will learn about the feast days of Saint Nicholas, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, and all about the Advent Wreath. 

Writing- Students continued to work on their “Don’t Eat Me!” persuasive writing. This week the focus was on completing their graphic organizer about the reasons why you should eat chicken instead of turkey (we call this organizer “stars and stripes”). Students then worked to take the information from their organizer to write a rough draft. I am currently in the process of checking the rough drafts. While students are waiting for me to check, they began working on the cover for their published copy. Students then began working to use their research on the health benefits of beef to begin completing their graphic organizer. 

Reading- During our reading class this week, students read about the Christmas traditions in Germany, Italy, and South Africa.  Students also completed a graphic organizer. On this organizer, students needed to identify the gift giver, provide three to four holiday foods, and three to four Christmas traditions. During their WIN rotations on Friday, students read and answered comprehension questions about the Christmas traditions in Israel. 

A few reminders for next week: 

• Mon. Dec. 8th- Mass @ 9 AM- Peacemaker awarded for month of November

  • Please have your child wear their REGULAR UNIFORM with sneakers. Students will still have gym class in their regular uniform. 

• Tues, Dec. 9th- Santa Secret Shop for Mrs. Cox’s class 

• Fri., Dec. 12th- Ski Club Dress Down Day $2 

**Before I forget, I sent an email to the entire 4th grade on Wednesday, Dec. 3rd  regarding the 4th Grade Pollyanna Christmas sock exchange that will occur on Friday, December 19th.  Please make sure you send in the sock wrapped by the 18th of December!**

I am off to do some Christmas shopping! To all of those in the Ambler Christmas parade, I hope you have a wonderful time and dress warm! Looks like another cold day!

Have a wonderful weekend!

     Mrs. Cox 

Good Morning!

I wanted to send a quick email and wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving! I am so very thankful to have your support this year! I am thoroughly enjoying your child(ren) in my class this year and I look forward to continuing to make more memories with them over the course of the year. 

I wanted to share a few things with you before I forget. HA! 

-Thank you yesterday for sending in the supplies to construct the balloons for our STEM project! It was a major hit! They had so much fun and were learning in the process. I am attaching a link to the photos that I was able to capture yesterday. 

- I will not be sending home test folders today due to the holiday break. I know that I have quite a few out this week as well as today. They will be send home next week. Feel free to check FACTS for updated grades on assignments. 

- When we return it will be December! UGH!!  December is quite a hectic month at OLM. The students have the following when we return:

    - 12/3 Confessions (I will review with all students before.)

    - 12/4- Dress Down Day ($2) to support Student Council adopting a family for the holidays

    - 12/5- End of the First Trimester & Picture Retake Day

Ok! That is it!! Thank you again and enjoy this long holiday weekend with your family and friends!

    Mrs. Cox 

Hello!

Happy week before Thanksgiving! I hope that everyone had a wonderful week. It is slowly starting to feel more like fall. I can’t believe that the holiday season is quickly approaching! I am going to try my best to keep this email rather short.  

There was a lot of excitement in the room this week as students were assigned new seats. I typically try to change seats monthly. As you can imagine there were some who were excited about their new seat and who they sit with, while others were less than thrilled. HA! Please note that there is a method to my madness (so to speak) about the location of where your child is sitting and who they are sitting with. I also try to have students collaborate with other students in the class rather than their friends. I have to say so far so good!  

Onto the good stuff! Here is what fourth grade has been up to this past week:

Math- This week we spent the time wrapping up Chapter 3. We completed the last two lessons which focused on problem solving with equations as well as using a model (chart or list) to solve. Students also had two days of formal review in order to prepare for their Chapter 3 test which will be on Monday, November 24th. I assigned to the students in Google Classroom a study guide for them to use in order to prepare for their test. Students should spend about 5-10 minutes a night studying in order to best prepare. 

Religion- This past week we wrapped up Chapter 3 from our Religion TB. Students completed a graded classwork check for the chapter in which they were able to refer to the information in their textbook to assist them in answering the questions. We took a bit of a commercial break as the students had many questions about the process of becoming a pope as well as about our current Holy Father; Pope Leo XIV. Together we read an article about him and watched a video that explained to the students about the conclave. Next week, we will wrap our lesson about Pope Leo XIV.  When we return from Thanksgiving break we will be moving onto our next unit which focuses on the Liturgical Year beginning with the season of Advent.

Reading- Students continued to work with the book, “Balloons Over Broadway” which is based on the true story of how the balloons in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade came to be. We read a paired text about the Macy’s balloons and worked together to identify the problem and solution. To end the week, the students completed multiple choice comprehension questions about the text as well as critical thinking questions.  Next week, we will be working through the steps of the Engineering Design Process to see how Tony Sarg created the balloons for the parade. Also, students will be working on a STEM project. Check your email because I did send an email about this on Monday 11/17 around 11AM! Items for this project are due on 11/25 as we will be constructing the balloons in class that day! 

Writing- The students are really enjoying our current writing assignment entitled “Don’t Eat Me!” Students continued to work in small groups recording information about beef onto a large chart paper. They will be using this paper with their groups to construct a paragraph about why they should eat beef as well as chicken instead of turkey. We also worked together to take the information that we had gathered about turkey and complete a graphic organizer to construct a paragraph. Students worked in small groups to begin working on their graphic organizer all about the health benefits of chicken. Students will use this graphic organizer to construct their paragraph about the benefits of chicken in the coming weeks. 

Grammar- The students continued to learn all about adverbs this week. Adverbs are a challenging skill for them especially to identify within a sentence. We spent a lot of time this week working on identifying the verb within the sentence FIRST and then finding the adverb that describes the verb. This was much more successful for them. We will wrap up adverbs next week prior to Thanksgiving break. 

Science- Mrs. Weir gave a quiz on plants this week. From what I am able to gather, the students did a good job! These will be returned to the students next week, however, the grade may be posted in FACTS if you would like to check how your child did. 

Social Studies- This week the students were introduced to the Native American tribes located in the state of Pennsylvania. Students read about these tribes within their Social Studies textbook. They also learned about a powwow. 

A look ahead:

11/24- Chapter 3 Math Test

11/25-  Supplies for theThanksgiving STEM project are due! We will be spending time in class to create our balloons for the Macy’s Day parade! (I will be taking pictures so don’t worry! )

11/26- Prayer Service- First Responders @ 10 AM, NOON DISMISSAL

I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Please note that  I will not be sending an email update next week due to the super short week (only 2  ½ days! YAY!). I  most likely will reach out with an email containing updated information on pictures from their Thanksgiving STEM project! I know that the students are super excited about this! 

I pray that you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your family!

    Mrs. Cox

Hello!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week. It is slowly starting to feel more like fall. I can’t believe that the holiday season is quickly approaching! With that, fall is in full swing this week. Quite a few students were not prepared for recess this week. Please remind your child to bring some sort of jacket as the weather continues to dip. Remember, girls are permitted to wear sweatpants under their skirts for recess as well as in the morning when arriving to school. 

There are many exciting things going on in fourth grade in the coming weeks. I will be sending an email next week about a Thanksgiving STEM activity that we will be doing during the week of the 24th! Following Thanksgiving break, I will be notifying you of events such as Santa’s Secret Shop as well as the Christmas Tableau. After Thanksgiving, school passes rather quickly as there are so many events that occur during the month of December at OLM!

Thank you again for all of the birthday wishes, cards, gifts, plenty of sweet treats (Reese’s peanut butter cups), coffee, and the class gift (Gerber daisy flowers, gift card to GAP, Goldfish crackers, Reese’s peanut butter cups, etc.). I had a wonderful day filled with love from the students, faculty, staff, and my family members. I greatly appreciate your generosity and thoughtfulness!

Onto the good stuff! Here is what fourth grade has been up to this past week:

Math- This week we continued to work within Chapter 3 on the skill of subtraction. This week we worked to subtract greater numbers with multiple regroupings as well as subtract across zeros. Subtraction across zeros is often a difficult concept for the students to grasp. They tend to make many mistakes when regrouping multiple times. Make sure your child shows you the “trick” that I taught them. This “trick” allows them to make only a few regrouping rather than multiple steps. We finished out by completing a classwork check on subtracting across zeros. I am looking at administering the Chapter 3 test on November 24th as I would like to wrap this up chapter before our Thanksgiving break. I will let the students know for certainty early next week and will push out a study guide/tool as well to the students.

Religion- This past week students were introduced to Chapter 3 in our religion TB. Students learned about how God speaks to us through the Church as well as the story of Peter. The students learned how Jesus trusted in Peter to “give him the keys to heaven” as well as to build the church. This week we also spoke about who the leaders of the church are on both the local level in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia (Archbishop Perez), parish pastors, as well as Pope Leo. Students also were able to experience a virtual tour of St. Peter and St. Paul’s Basilica in Philadelphia. Students will be having a quiz on Chapter 3 on Thursday, October 20th. I have emailed all 4th grade parents about the upcoming quiz. A digital study tool has been posted in Google Classroom to help the students to prepare.  

Reading- Students continued to work with the book, “Balloons Over Broadway” which is based on the true story of how the balloons in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade came to be. This week students also completed a “sketch and jott” activity where I read the book aloud and they drew or sketched items that they heard as well as write a few lines. Students also worked with a paired text in which we identified the causes and effects within the text. We ended the week watching a video through the platform Edpuzzle which explained how the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day balloons are created and come to life for the parade. 

Writing- This week students researched the health benefits of chicken and beef for our upcoming writing piece entitled “Don’t Eat Me!” in which they will need to persuade someone to eat chicken or beer rather than turkery. Together we read an article each about chicken and beef. Students worked together to identify important information within the text that discusses the health benefits of both. To end the week, students worked in small groups to pull their research information and place it into a graphic organizer for chicken and they began doing the same for beef. Additional time will be needed to complete beef next week. 

Grammar- We wrapped up our lessons on verbs this week. To begin the week, students worked on task cards as a review of verbs. Students worked in small groups to either identify the action verb, helping and main verb within a sentence or linking verb. We also completed a quick review of main and helping verbs before completing a classwork check on Tuesday. Students were introduced to adverbs to end our grammar classes this week. 

Social Studies- This week all the students in fourth grade wrapped up their lessons on the regions of Pennsylvania. Students had a quiz about the regions on Thursday of this week. 

Science- The students will be having a plant quiz on Tuesday Nov. 18th. Mrs. Weir created a physical study guide for the students which they worked together in class to complete. Mrs. Weir also informed the students that they should also review their notes in their CB about plants as well as review specific pages within their Science textbook. The specific pages that they are to review are located at the top of their study guide. Students should be studying about 5-10 minutes a night to best prepare. 

Lastly, next week the students are invited to visit the St. Ignatius book fair which is being held in the Narthex of St. Alphonsus Church. Our class will be attending at 1:35 PM on Tuesday, November 18th. Here is a link to preview the books, items, and prices that will be available to purchase at the book fair. Feel free to send in your child with money on Tuesday for the book fair! 

A look ahead:

11/10-11/21- Collection for St. Vincent de Paul food drive continues! 4th grade to bring in peanut butter or jelly! 

11/21- Dress down day if brought in an item for the Food Drive!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend and thank you again for all the birthday love! 

    Mrs. Cox

Good Morning!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful week! Can you believe that we are already in the month of November? Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away! UGH! I just wish that it would truly feel like fall. These up and down temperatures are killing me. 

The time change was tough for all of us this week. I know we “get” an additional hour of sleep but I think I am more tired this week than the previous weeks! The fact that it gets darker earlier is also throwing me off. LOL! Thank you so much for your support in chatting with your child/ren regarding the lunchroom behavior. The remainder of the week was much better! 

Check out below to see what the students were up to this week in 4th grade:

Reading: We wrapped up our mini unit on “The Widow’s Broom” during our reading classes last week. This week students were introduced to our next mini unit on a Thanksgiving themed book. During our last reading class this week, students were given a primary source; a newspaper article from 1933! Together we analyzed the article and found some interesting adjectives, and important information that the reader needs to know. Together we also worked to analyze another primary source next week from a newspaper; however, it was from 1964.  

Math-  We began Chapter 3 in class this week. Chapter 3 focus is on subtraction. To begin the week, students completed a pre-test which was pushed out to them through their online math textbook. The pre-test allows me to see the background knowledge on the concept of subtraction. Our first lesson focused on estimating differences. The remainder of the week we worked on subtracting with either one or two regrouping steps to solve. 

Religion- Religion classes this week were a lot of fun for the students. They spent their time working to create and complete their saint project. I do have to say that many students did well with their research and their project. These will be hanging out in the hallway once they are completed and graded. I am so very happy (and I know they are too) with how they turned out! 

Writing- Students finishing our monster writing activity. Many students were able to publish their final copy of their writing and complete their published writing project in the hallway. This published project contains their illustration of their monster as well as their paragraph. Look for these published pieces along with their monster illustrations based on their glyph located in the hallway. Next week, students will be introduced to a new writing project entitled “Don’t Eat Me!” in which students will research the benefits of eating chicken or beef instead of turkey. Together we will construct a well developed writing piece (persuasive) as to why beef or chicken is a healthier option than turkey. 

Grammar- Students continued to learn about verbs during their grammar instructional periods this week. Our focus this week was on helping verbs. Students were introduced to a song about helping verbs set to the tune of “Jingle Bells.” I have found that this song is not only catchy (I apologize if your child has been practicing it at home! HA!) but a creative way for them to remember all 23 helping verbs. Together we worked through pages from our textbook to identify helping verbs and main verbs as well as determine the correct helping verb needed to complete the sentence. Next week we will wrap helping verbs and move onto adverbs.

Social Studies- The students are currently learning about the regions of Pennsylvania in Social Studies class. Ms. Crotty will be giving a quiz on the regions of Pennsylvania on November 13th. She has prepared a study guide for students to work on to best prepare for the quiz. Please work with your child to complete the study guide. 

Science- Students continue to learn about plants. This week the students learned about photosynthesis. They also spent time learning about roots as well as how plants protect themselves from predators. Next week Mrs. Weir will be working with the students to review the plant curriculum. Students will be having a quiz or test prior to Thanksgiving. More information will be forthcoming next week. 

Lastly, Ms. Gawthrop came into the classroom to teach a lesson about stepping outside of your comfort zone. Ms. Gawthrop orally gave students some situations and they needed to determine if this was something that they felt comfortable doing, or if it was a challenge to them. Ms. Gawthrop talked about strategies about how to get over situations that are uncomfortable to them such as speaking in front of the class, or introducing themselves to a new classmate or peer. The students really enjoyed her lesson and the activities that she has planned. 

A look ahead:

11/10-11/21- St. Vincent de Paul food drive- 4th grade is asked to bring in peanut butter or jelly. Students must bring in the above listed items in order to dress down on 11/21. 

11/13- Social Studies Quiz- Regions of PA

11/14- $2 D.D.D. for Ski Club

Have a wonderful weekend! 

   Mrs. Cox

Good Morning!

Well… we made it through the week! If I am completely honest, it was a rather long week. Due to all of the Halloween excitement, as well as Halloween bingo with our first grade prayer partners it seemed like the week was long! To be honest,  I am looking forward to turning back the clocks this weekend. I think we all could use the extra hour after this week! 

Thank you again to Mrs. Deal and Mrs. Valentine for coordinating the Halloween party! The kids had a great time and really enjoyed the games, craft (thanks to Mrs. Geppert) and the treats! Thank you to all the parents that contributed in some way to the party whether it was sending in treats, drinks, plates/napkins, or stopping by. 

It was such a pleasure to finally connect with each of you whether it was via phone or face to face these past few days or weeks! Thank you so much for working with me to create a wonderful partnership in your child’s education. 

As you know, students will begin wearing winter uniforms next week (November 3rd). Boys are to wear long pants along with a brown of black belt. They can wear the long or short sleeve OLM uniform shirt. As the weather becomes colder, girls are permitted to come to school with sweatpants under their kilts. They will need to take the sweatpants off during the day but can put them back on for recess and dismissal. Girls are also permitted to wear tights and navy leggings with their uniform. 

Ok…Check out below to see what we were up to this past week!

Grammar: Students completed a short classwork check to assess their understanding of linking verbs. The remainder of the grammar classes this week were spent working on “My Scoop in Fourth Grade.” This document that I shared at conferences allows the students to have a “voice” during the conference to share what they feel they are successful at, what they need to improve upon, some of their favorites, and what they enjoy about fourth grade. Hopefully you were able to see our ice cream “scoops” out in the hallway during conferences! 

Math- This week we worked to complete a formal review over the course of two days to prepare for our quiz on Chapter 2. On Monday, students worked through rotations to work on various skills to prepare for the quiz. One of the rotations was also meeting with me so that we could review together as well in a small group. On Wednesday students completed their Chapter 2 quiz. I am still in the process of grading them but students will get these returned to them next week. On Thursday we did a fun activity for Halloween called “Spooky Shop” math. Next week we will begin Chapter 3 which focuses on subtraction. 

Religion- Our focus this week has been wrapping up the Parable of the Prodigal Son or The Lost Son. Students were also introduced to a saint project which they will be completing next week during their religion classes. For homework, I did ask that students complete research about their saint of choice. Please make sure to check your emails as I did email all parents in fourth grade about this upcoming religion project. Students also learned about the origins of All Saint’s Day as well as the connection between All Saint’s Day and Halloween. Next week students will be using their research to complete their project in class. 

Social Studies- The students continue to learn all about Pennsylvania. This week the students learned about the Amish and Mennonite population that resides in the state of Pennsylvania in and around the Lancaster area. 

Science- Students continued to revisit the Engineering Design process in class this week. This week students constructed a Halloween “bone” bridge activity using the steps of the Engineering Design Process. Make sure to ask your child what materials they used, what their constraints were, and how their bridge turned out! I believe there was even a social media post about what they did in science class this week! 

Writing- The students wrapped up their published copy of the “My Monster” project. Before submitting their published copy in Google Classroom, students checked their document for any words that may have been underlined in red or blue on the Google Document. These are clues to the student that there are spelling or grammatical errors. To end the week, students did a fun Halloween writing activity! Make sure to ask your child what this was! 

Reading- This week we wrapped up working with the story “The Widow’s Broom.” Students completed two comprehension assessments for this story. One was a multiple choice assessment while the other was written responses. They also continued to work on their mobile project (some were hanging on display in the classroom) on identifying the story elements of the story. 

Lastly, I have created a folder that contains photos from this school year. Within this folder,  I have some photos from this week (prayer partner bingo and that Halloween party). As the year progresses, I will continue to add more. 

4th Grade Class of 2025-2026 photos

A few reminders:

11/3-  Winter Uniforms begin

11/4- 4th Grade Mass @ 9 AM

11/7- Mass @ 9 AM, Peacemaker for the month of October awarded, OLM Trivia Night @ 7 PM

Whew… I think that is it! Have a wonderful weekend!

    Mrs. Cox

Good Morning!

As always, it was another busy week in fourth grade! This past week we had picture day on Wednesday as well as found out who the winner of H&S 50/50 raffle was!  It looks as though next week will be another busy week with Halloween just around the corner. I know that the students are already looking forward to bingo with their prayer partners next week! Our class has been paired with Ms. Bordoni’s class for prayer partners.

Check the detailed report below to see exactly what your child was up to!I 

Math- This week we finished Chapter 2. The students completed a classwork check on adding to the thousands period, millions period, and well as adding three or more addends. We also spent some time working on the last lesson which was problem solving; making an organized list. This is one of my favorite problem solving skills/lessons. If I am honest, this can also be a challenge. Students need to think critically about the questions and work in an organized manner to come up with the solutions. Next Monday and Tuesday, we will do a formal review in class to prepare for the quiz on Wednesday. An email was sent to all parents on Wednesday about the quiz as well as how students can prepare for the quiz. A study guide is posted in their math Google Classroom. 

Grammar- This week the students continued to work on verbs. On Monday, students completed a scoot activity to review verbs. The remainder of the week focused on linking verbs. This concept can be challenging to the students as they need to understand that an additional verb is given to link the main verb to the noun. This week, students completed an anchor chart in their copybook of guided notes as well as worked on pages within worksheets from their Grammar TB. 

Religion- Our focus this week continues to be on parables. The focus this week was on the parable of “The Prodigal Son” (also called “The Forgiving Father” or “The Lost Son”). Students watched an animated video about the parable before reading about the story within the BIble. Together we worked to answer comprehension questions about the parable through an interactive document assigned to the students in Google Classroom. Students also worked to 

Social Studies- In Social Studies class, the students continue to work on map skills as well as cardinal and intermediate directions. Students did have their unit test on Thursday which focused on the above mentioned skills. Students were given a study guide to help them in preparing for this unit test.  

Science- This past week in science the students continue to work on their plants unit. During the week they spent class time to set up their science copybook to take notes. Ask your child what else they did during their science instructional periods this week!

Writing- We continued to work on “My Monster” writing this week. I met with many students to check over their rough drafts and offer suggestions or correct spelling errors. Once they met with me, students published their writing on a document assigned to them in Google Classroom.  I am hoping that this can be completed next week! I do have to say that their monsters are pretty adorable! 

Reading- This week, we continued working with the picture book “The Widow’s Broom” by Chris Van Allsburg (author/illustrator of books such as “The Polar Express” and “Jumanji”). As you know Chris Van Allsburg is one of my all time favorites. Together we worked to put a summary of the story “The Widow’s Broom” in order into our reading copybook. Students were also introduced to a project on story elements for the “The Widow’s Broom”. 

Lastly, this week Mrs. Parkhill, one of our OLM school counselors, came to visit our classroom and taught a lesson. She taught about her role as the school counselor. The book “One” by Kathryn Otoshi was read aloud to the class. The book focuses on courage, empathy, and that it takes “just one” person to make a difference. Mrs. Parkhill talked with the students ways that can be kind and courageous in the classroom with their peers and how their one action can make a difference.

A look ahead:

10/28- Lock down drill @ 10:45

10/29- Adjusted schedule- Halloween bingo with prayer partners @ 2 PM

10/30-  $2 Dress Down Day in support of Ski Club, Halloween! Classroom party, Parent Teacher conferences 

10/31- No School! Parent Teacher conferences. Happy Halloween! 

Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the fall-like temperatures!

    Mrs. Cox

Good Morning!

I don’t know about you but I really enjoyed the fall-like temperatures this week! I know that it is supposed to warm up a bit this weekend but I sure do like the taste of fall.  Before you know it, the holidays will be here! UGH!!

The students had a great week and really enjoyed the assembly on Tuesday morning! I am super impressed with their knowledge about science! It seems as though quite a few in the class really enjoy all things science related! 

Before I get into what was covered this week, I did want to remind you that on Tuesday, October 28th, we will be having a school wide lockdown drill. This will occur while the students will be in math class. Please note that this is not a surprise drill. Next week, I will be reviewing with the students what to do in a lockdown drill when they are in my classroom or in another teacher’s classroom. An announcement for the drill will be made over the school issued walkie-talkies that all staff members have, as well as over the PA. When the all clear is given, we will resume to our “normal” scheduled class period. This drill should take about 10-15 minutes. 

Onto the good stuff! As always, it was another busy week in fourth grade! Check the detailed report below to see exactly what your child was up to!

Grammar-We continue to work with possessive pronouns for most of our grammar class this week. This is often a difficult concept for the students to grasp or understand. To begin the week, students played “scoot” with task cards on possessive pronouns. We also completed a “Study Jam” on IXL to review before taking a graded classwork check. Toward the end of the week students were introduced to verbs; action verbs, helping verbs, and linking verbs.  

Reading-  We continued to work on the story “The Widow’s Broom” in our reading classes this week. We spent some time this week learning about personification. The focus of this week was on inference as well as a window pane activity where the students illustrated events from the story about what the author wants you to think happened. We worked together to complete this activity as well as identify what actually happened.  I have to say that we do have some pretty talented artists in the classroom! Their illustrations were very good! 

Math- During our classes this week we continue to work on the concept of addition within Chapter 2. This week students learned how to estimate sums and completed a classwork check on lessons 2.1- 2.3. We ended the week by adding to the thousands and millions place! Next week we will be finishing out the chapter by completing the last two lessons. I will let the students know when they will have their Chapter 2 test as well as give them a study guide. 

Religion- This week students learned how to locate passages in the Bible by identifying and finding the book, chapter, and verse(s). Together we watched a video of how to locate passages in the Bible and completed guided notes which are located in our Religion CB. Students were also introduced to Parables this week. We will continue to work on locating passages within the Bible next week as we will be spending time locating parables within the New Testaments and working together to break them down. 

Social Studies- Students were informed of a unit test this week. The unit test will be administered on October 23rd. Ms. Crotty did give students a study guide which they can use to prepare. Also this week, they continue to work on learning about the cardinal and intermediate directions as well as continue to work on map skills. 

Science- The students continue to learn about plants in science. This week they completed an experiment (or hands on activity) all about plants! Make sure to ask your child all about this. This hands-on activity continued over the course of two class periods.

Writing- Students continue to work on our new writing assignment which is all about their monster. Students used a glyph last week to illustrate their monster. This week, students used a checklist to help them write a paragraph describing their monster. Many students finished their rough draft of their monster and are waiting to meet with me for teacher review before publishing.  

A look ahead:

• 10/23- Picture Day! Students are to wear their OLM uniform. A picture order was sent home. If you are ordering pictures of your child, you can do so digitally or complete the form that was sent home. 

• 10/28- Lockdown drill practice

• 10/30- Parent teacher conferences 3-6 PM

• 10/31- No school for students! Parents teacher conferences  8 -12 

Above I have included the link of Parent Teacher conferences. This will allow you to double check the date and time that you have signed up for.  If you have not signed up, please do so. Also, if there is a conflict please let me know. I am happy to schedule another date and time in which to chat about your 4th grader! 

Have a wonderful weekend! Go Eagles! 

   Mrs. Cox 

Good Morning!

I hope you had a wonderful week! The Phillies as well as the Eagles losing put a bit of a damper on the tail end of our week. The Phillies had a good run but the bats ran a bit cold.  I am sad to see the season come to an end but I am already looking forward to seeing what next season will bring! Bring on Opening Day! HA! 

I know you are curious as to what has been occurring in fourth grade this past week. So without further ado, here you go!

Math- This week the students were introduced to Chapter 2 which focuses on addition. Students completed a pre-test through their online math textbook. This week students were introduced to mathematical expressions and variables.  To end the week, students  were introduced to the properties of addition (communicative, associative, and identity property). We are working on taking notes within our math copybook so that it serves as a helpful resource to us. I also take pictures of my math copybook and post it for the students in Google Classroom if they are unsure of what they wrote or can’t read their math! 

Religion- This week we spent some time in class learning how to navigate through the Bible. Students learned to become familiar with how to find the books of the Bible in both the Old Testament and the New Testament using the colored tabs on the side of the Bible. Working in table groups, students went on a “Bible Hunt” and found all the books of the Bible. To review for our quiz, students completed a “Kahoot” which included questions from their digital study tool posted in Google Classroom. To end the week, students were introduced to parables. 

Social Studies- During social studies class this past week, students worked on map skills. Last week students were introduced to a compass. This week, students applied how to use a compass rose as well as the cardinal and intermediate directions to locate things on a map.

Science- Students began their next unit which is plants. They were super excited to have a hands-on activity in which they dissected the parts of a flower. Students will continue to learn all about the parts of a plant during their instructional classes next week as well. Mrs. Weir has graded their quiz. Students will be given their graded quiz next week in their test folders for you to review and sign. 

Writing- I am happy to report that we have finished publishing our “What I Found in My Desk” poems. They turned out super cute and are currently displayed in the hallway. I know that you will thoroughly enjoy reading and look at them during conferences. Toward the end of the week, students were introduced to a new writing project called “My Monster”. Many students were working on their illustration of their monster based on the glyph posted to them in Google Classroom. Students completed the rough draft of their monster and then began working on their final copy of their monster which will be displayed with their writing. 

Grammar- The grammar skill continued to focus on pronouns. Students were introduced to possessive pronouns. Together we created an interactive activity within our grammar copybook. We also spent some time working on pages from our grammar textbook to identify the possessive pronouns within a given sentence. Students do need a bit more practice with this concept/skill so we will continue to work on this next week as well. 

Reading- We continue to work on story elements within our reading instruction. Students were introduced to a picture book called the “Widow’s Broom” which of course is a Halloween book! This is a wonderful book by Chris Van Allsburg, who is one of my favorite authors/illustrators. You may be familiar with some of his books; The Polar Express, and Jumanji. Students listened as the book was read aloud and vocabulary was introduced. Students also learned about the difference between internal and external traits of a character.  

A look ahead:

• 10/14- Fall Assembly @ 10 AM

• 10/22- School Pictures- (order form will be coming home shortly!) 

• 10/30- Parent teacher conferences 3-6 PM

• 10/31- No school for students! Parents teacher conferences  8 -12 

Above I have included the link of Parent Teacher conferences. This will allow you to double check the date and time that you have signed up for.  If you have not signed up, please do so. Also, if there is a conflict please let me know. I am happy to schedule another date and time in which to chat about your 4th grader! 

Have a wonderful weekend! 

   Mrs. Cox

Good Morning!

Happy October! I don’t know about you but it is a great way to start the month of October with playoff baseball. Thankfully the Phillies got to rest a bit this week before heading into the series. The Phillies Phever has already set in for me! Hopefully, they will be able to pull out a win against the Dodgers in the NLDS and make our way to the NLCS. 

Believe it or not, Halloween is just around the corner! I know that the students are excited about Halloween and I have heard about their costumes. Please make sure that you check your email as our homeroom parents did reach out via email. They will continue to communicate any and all parties/treat days information with you in the coming days/weeks.  Many thanks to Mrs. Deal, mother of Nathan, and Mrs. Valentine, mother of Gavin, who are our homeroom parents for the 2025-2026 school year! Also, many thanks to Mrs. Deal who was able to come in this week to watch the students as I was able to attend the funeral for Mrs. DiCarne’s husband. Please continue to keep Mrs. DiCarne and her family in your thoughts and prayers.

This week was yet another busy week in fourth grade. I am beginning to learn a bit more about each of the students as the days and weeks pass. Continue reading below to see what your child was working on/completing this past week!  

Math- This week we spent two class periods preparing for our Chapter 1 test. On Monday we worked through rotations (problem solving with place value, a digital pixel art activity on place value and rounding, and a teacher center with Mrs. Cox). Students worked through these rotations in small groups for about 10 minutes. On Tuesday, students spent time using the Chapter review within their textbook as a “practice test”. Students used the class time to answer the questions and to “practice” like it was an actual test. Together we checked the answers to see if their thinking was correct. This also allows students to see what skills they need a bit more practice with before their test. Next week, we will move onto Chapter 2 which focuses on addition. 

Religion- This week we spent some time in class learning some “Fun Facts” about the Bible as well as how to prepare for our upcoming quiz next week. Students really enjoy the ability to study independently for this quiz. Next week students will learn how to navigate through the Bible. Students learned to become familiar with how to find the books of the Bible in both the Old Testament and the New Testament using the colored tabs on the side of the Bible. 

Grammar- The grammar focus this week was personal pronouns. Together we completed guided notes about personal pronouns which can be found in our Grammar CB as well as worked to replace some proper nouns and common nouns with a pronoun in a sentence. Students also completed a scoot activity with task cards in which they had to identify the personal pronoun within the sentence. 

Writing- In writing this week, students continued to work on the poem “What I Found in My Desk” which has a skill focus of nouns and adjectives. Students are still working to publish the rhyming couplets about the items that they found in their desk as well as illustrate the items within their desk. We also spent some class time reviewing the rubric that will be used to grade the writing project. Look for these to be on display in the hallway during conferences! 

Social Studies- During social studies class this past week, students continue to work on map skills. Please note that the map quiz on Pennsylvania and its border states has now been moved to Monday. A map key is located in their copybook as well as a blank copy of the map is posted in Google Classroom for the students to use to prepare. 

Science- This week the students spent time reviewing for their quiz on the Engineering Design Process. Students not only reviewed the vocabulary but also went through each step of the process. Yesterday, the students had their first science quiz on the Engineering Design Process as well as the vocabulary that is associated with each step of the process. 

Reading- We continued to work with story elements in reading class. Together we worked with a short text entitled “The Puppy Problem” and located within the text the story elements using different colored pens. Students then worked in small groups on a short text, “Trouble at the Campground” in which they had to underline or highlight the characters, setting, problem, and solution within the text. Also, students worked with the picture book “Creepy Carrots.” Mrs. Cox read the story aloud to the students and they had to determine the characters, setting problem, and solution. Students also completed a graded classwork check to assess their understanding of story elements. This was a digital assignment for the students to complete. 

A few reminders:

• Mrs. Saxton has sent home an envelope to some students this past week. She would like to begin her math and reading groups next week. If your child did receive an envelope, please make sure to sign the permission slip and return to school so that she can begin seeing your child ASAP!

A look ahead:

10/8- Living Rosary @ 10 AM

10/10- $2 Dress Down Day- benefits NJHS, Pie Principal in the Face @ 2:25

Have a wonderful weekend! Go Phillies! 

    Mrs. Cox 

Good Morning! 

Happy last week full of September! I can’t believe that we have been in school for almost a month already! Time really seems to be picking up the pace! Students are getting the swing of things as far as switching for classes and learning what materials are needed for each class. Check out below to see what we were up to in fourth grade this week!

Religion-  This week we continued to work on Chapter 2 in our religion textbook.  Our focus this week was on the two sections of the Bible; Old Testament and New Testament. Students will be having a quiz on this chapter and information about the quiz as well as a study guide will be given to the students next week. Students also learned about Catherine McAuley. Catherine is the founder of the Sisters of Mercy. In class students watched a short video about her life and her work. Following the video, students wrote on the leaves ways in which they can show mercy to others. These leaves are displayed in the hallway on the “Tree of Mercy” which is outside the Innovation Center. 

Grammar- In grammar this week, students completed a classwork check to assess their understanding of common and proper nouns. To complete this classwork, students were able to refer to their notes in their Grammar CB on both common and proper nouns. Students were also introduced to adjectives this week. We also spent some time working with adjectives within our Grammar textbook as well as complete a scoot task card activity! We will wrap up adjectives next week and move onto personal pronouns. 

Math- This week we wrapped up Chapter 1. I sent an email on Tuesday morning regarding the Chapter 1 test which will be administered over the course of two days (Wed. 10/1 & Thurs. 10/2). We ended the week continuing to work on problem solving. Next week we will begin the week with a formal review over the course of two days to help prepare the students for their Chapter 1 test. Students will have about 15-20 minutes to finish up their test on Monday during class. Feel free to use this weekend to study a bit more! Next up, the focus is on addition of larger numbers with regrouping. 

Social Studies- The students are currently working on map skills in Social Studies class. This past week the students spent time labeling maps of the world to show the relationship of where the state of Pennsylvania is with the world as well as within the United States. Ms. Crotty informed the students that they will be having a map quiz on Thursday of next week. For this quiz students will need to be able to label the state of Pennsylvania as well as the border states.  

Reading -What are the necessary ingredients for a story? This question was answered during your child’s reading classes this past week. Students learned that characters, setting, problem, solution, and key details are those such ingredients and they are called story elements. Students worked in small groups to place to read over a small text on a task card and determine which story element was being described in the text. 

Writing- Students were introduced to their next formal writing assignment. This writing assignment incorporates both nouns and adjectives which has been our focus the past week. Students were introduced to a poem “What I Found In My Desk” which included some funny and interesting things that a student found in their desk. Within the poem, we identified the nouns and adjectives within each line. Students also began brainstorming some things that they “found”in their desk as well as work on their rough draft of their poem. Some of their items in their desk were rather creative! Be sure to ask your child what some of their items are! 

Science- Students completed a hands-on activity in class this week. Make sure you ask them what this activity involves. Students are currently learning all about the engineering design process during their science instruction classes.  Students will be having a quiz on the engineering design process as well as the vocabulary associated with it. The quiz will be Friday, October 3rd. Students were provided with a study guide with blanks that they should be working to fill in as they prepare for their quiz. 

A Look Ahead:

• Monday 9/29- OLM Golf outing at Blue Bell Country Club

• Wed. 10/1 -Chapter 1 Math test

• Thurs. 10/2- Chapter 1 Math test (continued), Social Studies Map quiz on PA & border states

• Friday- 10/3- Mass @ 9 AM- Peacemakers for the month of September will be awarded. The virtue for the month was positivity. , Science Quiz on the Engineering Design Process & Vocab

Whew! Ok… I think that is it! I apologize for the length of this email! Have a wonderful weekend! Go Phillies! Bring on Red October! Go Eagles! 

   Mrs. Cox

Good Morning!

Can you believe that we are entering the last week of September?!? I don’t know about you, but time seems to be passing by rather quickly. Honestly, it isn’t a bad thing! We had a rather busy week this week.This week we switched twice for the content areas of science, social studies and religion. Next week we will switch three times as we are slowly but surely building up to switching for content area classes on a consistent basis.  Please read below to see what your fourth grader was up to this past week!

Math- We continue to work within Chapter 1 with a focus on place value. This week the students also learned about expanded form. We actually reached the halfway point earlier in the week and completed their first chapter check on Tuesday. We ended the week working on rounding. This is often a difficult skill for the students to grasp especially when they are asked to round within a number. Next week students will finish up the chapter by comparing and ordering numbers and creating a chart to solve word problems. My hope is that next week, I will notify the students of when their Chapter 1 test will be. I will post a study guide in Google Classroom to help the students prepare. 

Grammar-  We focus on nouns to begin the school year in Grammar. This week students were introduced to common and proper nouns. Together we spent time working through anchor charts in their grammar CB to review the definition and examples of common and proper nouns. Students also worked within their grammar textbook to identify common and proper nouns. Students also reviewed adjectives this week. We will be spending our next writing periods working on a project that will incorporate both common and proper nouns as well as adjectives. They were introduced to it at the end of the week and they were super excited about it! 

Religion- The students were introduced to the Bible this week during religion class. They participated in a listening activity where they learned some interesting facts about the Bible. So far, the students have learned that the Bible contains 73 books, and that the Bible should be thought of as a library with various sections to explore. We read about the Bible within our religion textbook and learned that the Bible is also called Sacred Scripture. We discussed how the Bible is divided into two sections; the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Reading- We finished up working with a text on September 11th in which we identified the main idea and details of the passage. Also this week, students were introduced to story elements. In their reading copybook, students glued into notes about each story element and then we worked together to watch a short Pixar video and identified the story elements from the video. Make sure to ask your child all about this Pixar short as it was a major hit with the students! We will continue to work with story elements next week as well! 

Science- They students continued to work on an interactive notebook located inside their science copybook. Students also worked within their textbook to locate and define vocabulary. Students have a copy of their vocabulary in their Science CB. They also did a STEM challenge activity.  

Social Studies- Students were introduced to the state of Pennsylvania as this is a major focus on the curriculum. Students worked to label a map of Pennsylvania of major cities/locations as well as landforms. 

A Few Other Things

IXL Homework- if your child is given an IXL skill for homework we ask that they follow the formula of 10 minutes or 80%. If they reach that 80% Smart Score in 3 minutes that's great! They are done. If they reach 10 minutes and only have 3 done...that's great too.There are also times where we assign an IXL “Quiz” for homework which is typically about 5-6 questions. From both the Smart Score as well as the “quiz” this information/data is used to drive our instruction. Yes, it is practice for them, but it also helps us see who is struggling and who we can push a bit more. 

Online Textbooks- I have added links to the following textbooks on my homework page of my website: Grammar, and Math. I am hoping that this will make life easier for both you as a parent as well as your child! 

Lastly, it was so very nice to see/meet the vast majority of you on Wednesday evening! If you were not able to make it, please do not worry. I have posted my presentation on my website under the “Parent Resources” tab. I have covered everything from homework to classroom policies, grades, and everything in between. I am looking forward to what I know will be a wonderful year in 4th grade! Also located on my website under the “Parent Resources” tab you will find the link to sign up for conferences if you have not done so already! 

Don’t forget to complete the “Tell-Me-About-Your-Child Questionnaire” (the pink paper) and send it back to school with your child! Also, don’t forget to return all items from the decorated “Test folder” once they are signed!! Feel free to share the graded assignments with your child but I kindly ask that you please return them! 

Have a wonderful weekend! Go Eagles! 

Mrs. Cox

Good Morning! 

I hope you had a wonderful week! If I am completely honest, it was a productive week but I am TIRED. HA! Getting back into the routine and swing of things is an adjustment for everyone, myself included. 

This past week students had their first official switch of the following content areas: Social Studies, Religion, and Science. This is something that they have had a bit of experience from last year (if here at OLM) as they switched for Social Studies and Science. For some of them it is new to them and we are taking it slow. I know that they are super eager to hit the ground running! HA! Working together we list on the Smartboard the items that we need for each class. Students then take out their materials and together we review by holding them up in the air. 

Students worked over the course of the week to complete an “All About Me” activity. This activity is a dodecahedron, or a 12 sided figure. These circles contained  some information about them such as their goals for the year and later in life, their favorites (color, food, book, hobby, etc.). They also create illustrations of their family as well as a self portrait. Next week, we will finish this activity and assemble it. Look for these to be hanging in the classroom on Back to School Night! 

Below is a quick little breakdown of what they did in each content area class: 

Social Studies- Students spent some time in class setting up their title page in their Social Studies copybook as well as joining their Social Studies Google Classroom. Ms. Crotty shared some information about herself as well as what Social Studies class will look like for them in 4th grade this year.  

Math - We began our math classes this week as a follow up to the book, “The Math Curse” which was read aloud last week in class. Students spent time thinking about some math problems in their life and wrote equations that were checked by Mrs. Cox. Students then worked to create a poster entitled “Figure Me Out” which is displayed in the hallway. We also began  learning about place value within Chapter 1. Students are learning about the place value (location) of a digit within a number, and the value of a number (how much is the digit worth). Lastly, students were able to log onto their digital math textbook.

Science- The students completed an interactive notebook which they glued into their Science copybook during their class this week. Make sure you ask your child what they completed in this interactive notebook activity as they will continue to work on it next week as well! 

Religion- Students spent time in class setting up their religion copybook.They were also introduced to the Bible this week during religion class. The Bible is our first unit of study in religion this year. Over the course of next week, students will participate in a listening activity where they will learn some interesting facts about the Bible. 

Writing- Students are currently working on writing ten sentences about two things that they did over the summer. Students have illustrated these things/events in the lens of sunglasses prior to writing. Rough drafts were completed and were then checked by Mrs. Cox. Students began to publish our paragraphs to be hung in the hall along with the sunglasses. Look for these to be in the hallway for Back to School Night! 

Reading- This week during our reading class we focused on main idea and details. Students read about September 11th and how it changed America as a result of the attacks. We created an anchor chart on the main idea as well as watched a video about main idea from BrainPop. Next week, students will wrap up the September 11th activity by working with a song entitled “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” by Alan Jackson. Students will annotate the lyrics of the song as well as we will spend some time working together to answer written response questions where we will restate the question in the answer.  

A Few Other Things:

Student Council Homeroom Representative - First, I want to congratulate all those students in the homeroom who had the courage to not only run for representative but craft a speech and present it to the class! I am so very proud of them! There were a total of 6 students in the class that ran! That is amazing! A big congratulations to Charlie who will be our representative for the 2025-2026 school year! 

Back to School Night is scheduled for this upcoming Wednesday, September 17th at 6:30 PM for grades PreK-5. I look forward to seeing and meeting many of you. If you are unable to attend, please do not worry! I will post my Back to School Night slides on my website for your viewing pleasure. Any additional paperwork that I have, I will send home with your child.

Parent/Teacher Conferences - I know that I included this in my email last week but there are still a few parents who have not signed up. If you are not available to meet with me on October 30th or 31st, that is not a problem at all. We can schedule a conference for a different time either in person or over the phone. If your child sees Mrs. Saxton, or works with one of our school counselors and you would like them at our meeting, please email me and let me know. We will work out a time that allows for all of us to meet together. I will try my best to make it on one of these two days, but I also want to provide you with the time it takes to conference with a second teacher or staff member.  You can find the link on my website.

A look ahead: 

9/17 - Back to School Night (pre-k - 5th) @ 6:30 PM- please meet in the gym “

9/23 - Mercy Day Prayer Service @ 10am

9/27- St. Catherine’s Confirmation

9/29- OLM Golf Outing

Thanks again and have a wonderful weekend!

   Mrs.  Cox 

Good Morning!

Well… we made it through the first week of school! Thank goodness! Students are becoming familiar with the routine of the school day and being in fourth grade. We are taking things a bit slow to allow the students time to adjust to not only being back to school but establishing a routine. Next week will begin formal instruction in all content areas! 

During this first week of school, we have accomplished quite a bit! Students have logged into Google Classroom. They have entered many class codes to join various classrooms within Google Classroom. If your child does mention difficulty using the touchpad on the Chromebook as the mouse, please feel free to get them their own mouse. That may make their life a bit easier when working with the Chromebooks and it is totally ok with me! I am all about making things easier! 

This week, the students completed a student interest survey so I can get to know them a bit better. Students listed their goals for the year, what they are looking forward to in fourth grade as well as what they will miss from 3rd grade. Another fun activity that the students did was a gallery walk in which they answered various questions on posters located around the room. Students then worked in small groups to take the data from the poster and create a bar graph. Look for these displayed in the classroom on Back to School Night. 

We also worked with the book “The Math Curse” by Jane Scieszka & Lane Smith. The book is about a little boy who has a “math curse” whereas everything that he thinks about becomes a math problem. This book is great to have the students not only thinking about math but also think about some math in the real world. Students worked to solve some problems that were presented in the book. Next week, students will complete an activity to make them think about some math problems that they have in their life such as their birthday, number of siblings, etc. This information will then be used to create a poster called “Figure Me Out”. Be on the lookout for this to also be displayed on Back to School Night! 

The students were also exposed to “I’m Done, Now What?” activities that are posted on Google Classroom. These are activities that the students can work on or through when they have completed a particular assignment for me. Some of the items include digital Boggle, and Dollar Words (each letter represents an amount of money and students need to add up the letters in a word to see if they equal $1.00). Students also joined several Google Classrooms for the year. They are eager to see what is posted and how to exactly navigate each classroom! 

I did want to thank you for labeling their copybooks and folders. Believe it or not, it does make things so much easier when transitioning from class to class. The students are eager to have everything organized and ready to go! If all of the copybooks and folders could be labeled by Monday, Sept 9th, that would be fantastic! Also, fourth grade does not require to have workbooks covered in contact paper. If you would like to do so, please feel free. 

This upcoming week, we will begin to fully transition for content areas. Students received a schedule of their classes and times for the year. It should be located in the front sleeve of their binder or in the front pocket of the binder. Specials for the year are also posted on my website as well. Students can also access their schedule on my Google Classroom.

Student Council- Student council homeroom representative applications were given out on Thursday. We spent time reviewing the expectations as well as the requirements to apply for a homeroom representative. These are due to Ms. Timlin on Tuesday, September 9th. Elections will be held on Friday, September 12th. 

Homeroom Parents - If you are interested in being a Homeroom Parent this year I ask that you please use this LINK to complete my interest form. Please complete this by Thursday, 9/11 if you are interested in helping me out. It is an auction year, so you might have a couple more things to do than normal. I will let you know Friday, 9/13 who our Homeroom Parents will be. I will then set up a time for us to meet with Mrs. Moore and her helpers to go over what being a 4th grade Homeroom Parent is all about. 

Clearances - Please remember that if you are interested in being a Homeroom Parent or a chaperone for any of our field trip/s this year, you MUST have up-to-date clearances. Information regarding how to get your clearances was sent in the most recent school communication. If you have any questions, please reach out to Mrs. Mullen in the front office.  

Birthdays - We LOVE celebrating birthdays in 4th grade! Students are welcome to bring in a treat to share with their classmates. There are 19 students in our class this year. All treats MUST be peanut free. We do have a few students with severe peanut and tree nut allergies in the room (including myself for tree nuts). It would be helpful if it is clearly labeled as such or send me an email if you are making a baked good at home. I also ask that treats are something that is easy for students to grab themselves or pass out. We usually do treats during our morning break time, so there is little to no time for me to cut or scoop anything. If your child has a summer birthday, we love to celebrate them on their half birthday. This way, the end of June, July and August friends never feel left out. We try and fit in our early June birthdays that first week in June before the craziness that is the last week of school. 

Parent/Teacher Conferences - I know that many teachers put out their conference sign-up during Back to School Night, however I know that things can be a bit hectic! I would rather put this out to you now giving you the time to take a look and see what works best for you. If you are not available to meet with me on October 24th or 25th that is not a problem at all. We can schedule a conference for a different time either in person or over the phone. If your child sees Mrs. Saxton, or works with one of our school counselors and you would like them at our meeting, please email me and let me know. We will work out a time that allows for all of us to meet together. I will try my best to make it on one of these two days, but I also want to provide you with the time it takes to conference with a second teacher or staff member.  LINK for conference sign-up

A look ahead: 

9/10- Band Demonstration Assembly for Grades 4 & 5

9/12- Student Council Homeroom elections

9/17 - Back to School Night (pre-k - 5th)

9/23 - Mercy Day Prayer Service @ 10am

Ok...I think that is it! I apologize for the lengthy update but wanted to keep an open line of communication. I hope that your child has enjoyed their first week of school and is looking forward to a wonderful year in fourth grade! 

Have a great weekend!

  Mrs. Cox  

Dear Parents & Students,

I wanted to take a few minutes to introduce myself and personally welcome you to my homeroom as well as  another great school year at OLM. For those of you that are new, we are so excited to have you join the OLM school community this year! My name is Mrs. Stephanie Cox, and I am beyond excited to be starting my 20th year of teaching with you and your child as part of my classroom family this September. I love being a teacher at OLM, and the mission of our school speaks to my heart.  It is hard to believe that our summer is beginning to wind down, and we are starting  to navigate our way towards the start of another school year. 

Fourth grade is such an amazing grade because  it is  filled with  so many milestones. For some  students, this is their first year to reside in the upstairs portion of the school. If your children haven’t already told you, moving upstairs, “is a very big deal!” HA! For many, this may be their first time getting to experience another teacher who is their teacher of record for a specific content area subject. This year in fourth grade, your child will have a different teacher of record for social studies, and as well as science. I will be the teacher of record of religion for the entire 4th grade class. Reading, grammar, writing, and math instruction will be taught by your child’s  homeroom teacher. One of my favorite parts of being a fourth grade teacher is helping your child to learn to become more accountable, independent, and responsible people and students. 

Housekeeping Items

We are going to ask for your help with a couple of items to complete before the start of school. 

• I would encourage you to visit & explore my  website. 

  •  Link  to Mrs. Cox’s website 

• We are asking that all students practice  logging  into Google Classroom from home. This can be done on any device. If you are new to OLM, no need to worry! They may not have their OLM issued Chromebook as of yet.  I will help your child to get set up on the first day of school with this. We will work together if they are not familiar with Google Classroom. 

Google Classroom Directions:

• Go to classroom.google.com 

• Sign in using their school email - 2030FirstnameLastname@olmrcs.com 

• Password: mercy1234 

• Please try joining my homeroom class in Google Classroom. The code is posted below:

  • e6bzfsm

• Summer Reading BINGO- I hope that your child enjoyed the summer reading bingo activity! I will be collecting the bingo boards as well as the reviews during the first week of school. As you know, the first day of school is a bit hectic! I will send an email during the first  week of school  to remind you as well as your child of when to bring this in. We will be doing a few follow up activities about one of the books that they read over the summer! 

  • Here is the link to the OLM website where you can get the summer reading information as well as the suggested math assignment. I believe it also contains the supply list!

• This year students will have a cubby which will house the vast majority of their books as well as copybooks. In the past we have noticed that it takes a bit of time for the students to go through the stack of copybooks to find the specific one needed for class. I  have found 2 very streamlined ways that allow students to quickly find the book they are looking for regardless if it is in their desk, their book box on the floor attached to their desk, or in a cubby. Their first option would be to use a certain pattern or color of tape such as Duck Tape or washi tape. This will create an easy visual for the students to find the copybook they are looking for by its color or pattern. The second option is to label the bottom of the book with the subject. We did this using a thin Sharpie. When the books are laid down flat in their desk or standing in their book box, it makes it easy to see which one to pull. 

We are also going to ask that you work with your child to help them label each of their  copybooks. Please write or  place a label with your child’s first name and last name, and subject area on each copybook. The label for your child’s name is to go in the top right hand corner. The label for the subject should be placed in the center of the copybook. Also, please make sure that you have a copybook for the following content areas: Grammar, Science, Math, Social Studies, Religion, Writing, Vocabulary,  and Reading. Here is the copy of the fourth grade supply list. 

I truly feel that the greatest key to a successful school year is communication between home and school. Your child is your greatest source of information about what is going on within the four walls of our classroom. I like to email a weekly classroom update on a regular basis. I also put these updates on my “Write On, Fourth Grade!”  blog page, found on our class website. If your child has a question about something we worked on during the school day, please have him or her ask me for clarification through their OLM  email, Google Classroom, or just have them wait until the next day when they get to class.  I am happy to answer any additional questions or concerns that you might have, but having your son or daughter stepping up first, starts them on the path of responsibility and independence. If they are feeling unsure or nervous about asking me, please feel free to give me a heads-up that they have a question for me, and I will check-in with them.  Feel free to contact me directly through email or a note to school through your child. I cannot wait to leap into fourth grade with your child!

Please enjoy these last few weeks of summer  with your child and family! I look forward to seeing everyone in September!

Sincerely,

   Mrs. Stephanie Cox

P.S.- If there is an email that you would like to include in my email mailings, please let me know. I will gladly add it to my email contacts!