9/5/25
Picture day for 4th grade is next week on Wednesday. Kids do not need to wear uniforms for pictures. Please send them in whatever you want them to wear for their pictures. You can also send in forms and money whenever and I can hang onto it until Wednesday.
We started a fun plant observation project with Ms. Kathy McNamara today. Ask your kiddo about their plant!
8/29/25
What an amazing first week! I have had such a blast getting to know your wonderful kiddos and cannot wait for what is to come this year!
First of all, thank you all so much for your donations from my classroom wishlist. I cannot tell you how appreciative we are!
Today I am sending home our first spelling list for our test next Friday. This year we are doing a different spelling program than you are used to from the past couple of years. There will be no sorts and no groups! This program is based on the most commonly used English words. The point of this being that the words they use the most, they most definitely need to be able to spell correctly. I really liked this program a lot last year when I first tried it for 4th grade because I felt like it really filled in any gaps kids have from the sorting/word pattern program they used in 2nd and 3rd grade. Since they are the most commonly used words, a lot of them will be very easy - which is perfectly okay! There are 25 words each week, which seems like a lot, but it is likely that they will really only need to focus on a few of them. Since the words are easy-ish, if anyone gets more than 2 wrong then they will have spelling homework for the following week. I explained this all to the kids today so we should all be on the same page, but reach out with any questions.
Since we have 2 classes, this year I will be teaching math to both sections and Ms. Crabtree will be teaching reading to both sections. Right now we are swapping our entire classes, but once we get to the know kids a bit better and see their NWEA scores we will split them into leveled groups so everyone is appropriately challenged. I did this a few years ago when I taught 3rd grade and we had two sections and it was really fruitful for the kids so I am thrilled to be able to do it again.
Today I am also sending home our first monthly reading log. Each month will have a new reading goal in minutes. Students will have one month to complete their goal and return their signed log. This is not required, but it is encouraged. Whoever returns their completed log, will get to receive/participate in a mystery reward on the first of the month. We had an absolute blast with the mystery rewards last year and it really motivated kids to meet their goals!
Have an amazing long weekend and reach out with any questions!