Today we honored our Veterans at our school assembly. Today, our school had the honor of hosting a Veterans Day assembly. We were privileged to welcome over 40 brave men and women who have served our country. It was a truly heartwarming and inspiring event, as we expressed our deepest gratitude for their sacrifices and dedication. The students were able to learn about the importance of Veterans Day and the significance of honoring those who have served. We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to all the veterans who attended the assembly. We are thrilled to share that during last night's Board of Education meeting, it was announced that the Green Meadow access road will now be known as "Veterans Way." This decision was made as a tribute to our veterans and to recognize their immense contributions. The new road name will serve as a daily reminder of the bravery and sacrifices made by the men and women who have served our country. Here is a look at what we are learning... Our class has been diving into the fascinating world of rocks, erosion, and weathering. Through hands-on activities and experiments, we have been learning about the different types of rocks, how erosion shapes our landscapes, and the various processes of weathering. It has been an exciting journey of discovery. We have successfully completed Topic 4, which focused on two-digit multiplication. Our students have shown tremendous growth and progress in their understanding of this important mathematical concept. I am proud of their hard work and determination. As we move forward, we will continue to build upon this foundation.. This week, we embarked on an exciting journey to discover the origins of our first names. Students conducted research and wrote essays about the history and meaning behind their names. It was a wonderful opportunity for them to learn more about their own identities and cultural backgrounds. I was impressed by the level of enthusiasm and effort they put into this project. Starting next week, our class will begin a special program called "Kindergarten Buddies." This initiative pairs our students with kindergarteners, allowing them to become mentors and role models for the younger students. This will not only foster a sense of responsibility and leadership in our students but also create a supportive learning environment for our kindergarteners. We are thrilled to embark on this inter-grade collaboration and look forward to the positive experiences it will bring. In honor of Veterans Day, there will be no school on Friday, November 10th. We hope everyone enjoys the long weekend and takes this opportunity to reflect on and appreciate the sacrifices made by our veterans. As the weather gets colder, please make sure your child is dressed appropriately for outdoor activities. We go outside every day!
Important Dates 11/10 - No School - Veterans Day 11/13 - Last day for the canned food drive! 11/14 - School Picture Retakes 11/14 - Green Meadow PTO Meeting @6:30 11/21 - End of Marking Period 11/22-11/24 - No School - Thanksgiving Break Dear Families, I hope this newsletter finds you well! We have had an amazing start to November, and I am excited to share a recap of our week with you. We had a fantastic Halloween breakfast and parade. The students enjoyed a wonderful morning filled with laughter and breakfast treats. Thank you to all the parents who contributed to making this event a success. Especially our party planners Mrs. Christakis, Mrs. Lehmann, and Mrs. Sharpe. The kids had a blast! This week the kids had a lot of fun putting the finishing touches on their spooky Halloween Roll-a-Stories. It was a chance to let their imaginations run wild. We worked on some public speaking at the podium by sharing our stories with the class.
Our students have been making great progress on their fact fluency. They have been practicing their math skills diligently, and it shows. I am impressed with their ability to recall facts quickly and accurately. Our next math quiz will be Thursday and will focus on skills from Topic 4. We have started reading the captivating book "I Survived: Attack of the Grizzlies". This story has captured the students' imaginations and sparked meaningful discussions about resilience and survival. I encourage you to ask your child about the book. In Language Arts, we are focusing on homophones and mastering the differences between "there," "their," and "they're". Grammar quiz grades are coming home today. Next week we will be working on a name research projects in writing. This project allows the students to explore the history and significance of their names.
Important Dates 11/9 Veterans Day Assembly at Green Meadow 9:45 11/10 - No School - Veterans Day 11/14 - School Picture Retakes 11/14 - Green Meadow PTO Meeting @6:30 11/21 - End of Marking Period 11/22-11/24 - No School - Thanksgiving Break Thank you for your continued support and partnership in your child's education. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Kusche Can you believe it's the end of October? We are already just a few weeks away from the end of our first marking period in 4th grade. This week we started our first science unit - Earth's Systems. We started off learning all about volcanos. We also worked to follow coordinates to locate volcanos found in North America. We studied patterns to determine that volcanos are usually found near other volcanos in a row and are located in coastal areas. Students worked with a partner to complete their maps. In Math, we focused on multiplication using standard algorithm. Many students found this way to be much easier with fewer steps! After our quiz on Thursday we did a multiplication challenge. Students were challenged by finding products using as many as 9 digit numbers! Next week we will begin working with 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication. This week in ELA we started a new book. "I Survived - The attack of the Grizzlies 1967". We started by doing some research about the tragic event that took place. We also learned lots of new facts about Grizzly Bears. Students are very excited about this book! In writing, we worked on spooky Halloween Roll-a-Stories. Students rolled dice to determine the character, plot, setting, and problem for their spooky stories. They were so creative! We plan to share these stories next week on Halloween. Important Dates
10/31 - Halloween Breakfast (9:30 - 10:30) Party Volunteers only please - 1:40 Parade - All are welcome to attend! 11/1 - No School - Staff Development 11/10 - No School - Veterans Day 11/14 - Picture Retake Day 11/21 - End of 1st Marking Period Reminders - Many students are coming to school without charging their Chromebooks. Please make charging part of your nightly routine - Please make sure Halloween costumes are labeled - Students go outside every day (weather permitting) please remember sneakers and dress for the weather! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! -Mrs. Kusche It was another wonderful week in 4th grade with the book fair, Apple Race, and other activities happening! We spent a big part of our week learning study skills. We organized our notes, prepared flashcards, and worked with study buddies. Their hard work paid off! Graded tests will be coming home soon! We had some fun on Wednesday playing Jeopardy to review for our geography test. Next week we will take a break from social studies and begin our first science unit for the year. Congratulations to our Apple Race runners! We had a beautiful fall day for the run. I was proud of the kids who gave it their all and cheered on their classmates too! What a special group of kids! This week we wrapped up Topic 3 in math. Next week we will be learning how to multiply in a more efficient way using standard algorithm. Keep practicing those math facts! Special thanks to our Halloween party planners for organizing a sign up for our Halloween breakfast. If you would like to volunteer to send something in for our party, please use the link below: Click here to sign up Important Dates
10/23 - Fire Prevention Day during Gym Class 10/31 - Halloween Breakfast (9:30 - 10:30) Party Volunteers only please - 1:40 Parade - All are welcome to attend! It was a busy short week in 4th grade. Students have been working hard on their personal narrative stories. This week we put the final touches on our writing and met in small groups to get feedback from classmates. Next week we will be ready to publish. We started our next book in ELA. Fourth Grade Rats by Jerry Spinelli. Many students remember reading Third Grade Angels last year. As we read we continue to focus on story elements. In small reading groups this week we practiced our reader responses using the RADD strategy. Students are doing a good job of practicing other reading comprehension strategies. Next week we will be wrapping up our first Social Studies unit. In your child's folder you will see an orange study guide. Students will be tested on this material on Thursday. We will discuss effective study strategies. Students also have been working on taking wonderful notes in class. Please encourage your child to use these when preparing for their test. NYS maps will also be coming home today. I'm proud of the effort I saw with this activity. Please check out the rubric attached to your child's map. I hope you received your child's Reflex report on Thursday. If you have any questions understanding the information on the progress sheet, please don't hesitate to reach out. Remember this is not a grade, just a way for us to monitor fact fluency. Keep practicing those facts! Students are VERY excited about the book fair next week. Our class will be going on Tuesday, October 17th. If you'd like to set up an e-wallet for your child please do so before Tuesday. Flyers will be coming home today in your child's take home folder. Any students who forgets money can create a wish list and can visit the book fair later in the week. Important Dates:10/17 - Book Fair
10/19 - GM Apple Race (4th grade runs at 10am) - Social Studies Test 10/20 - Topic 3 Math Test 10/23 - Fire Prevention Day during Gym Class 10/31 - Halloween Breakfast (9:30 - 10:30) Party Volunteers only please - 1:40 Parade - All are welcome to attend! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! - Mrs. Kusche It was a busy week in 4th grade! Congratulations to all 15 candidates who ran in our Student Council election. I was very proud of the posters, speeches, and good attitudes I saw from my students. Congratulations to our two representatives Charlotte & Olivia. I know they'll proudly represent our class this year! Students were excited to deliver speeches to their classmates. This week in ELA we started writing personal narratives. We spent a lot of time brainstorming, sharing our ideas with peer groups, and beginning our first draft. This is something we will continue working on next week. The students have done a great job working on public speaking skills at our class podium this week, too. We have kids who are challenging themselves to step out of their comfort zone to become risk-takers this year in 4th grade! This week we tested students Topic 2 in math. I have had many students earn prizes for doing Reflex each night. Some students have already earned trophies and a spot on our "Wall of Fame" for becoming 100% fluent with addition and subtraction and have already been promoted to multiplication and division. Keep up the hard work! Fact fluency means increased confidence with our math program! In social studies this week we continued working on map skills. We also created NYS flip books and learned many new facts about our state! Ask your child if they can remember our state flower or state animal! The class was so excited for the Color Run on Thursday. Here is our "before" picture. Thank you, parents for sending me these fun "after" pictures. It was a terrific afternoon with beautiful weather! Thank you for your continued support at home. Please remember that students should come to school with CHARGED Chromebooks each day. This is VERY important. Also, many students are coming to school without water bottles and snack. I appreciate your help with this. Please remember that if your plans for dismissal change, it is important to contact the main office as soon as possible. Thank you! Important Dates:
10/9 - No School 10/19 - Green Meadow Apple Race 10/23 - Fire Prevention Day 10/31 - Halloween breakfast (morning) & parade (afternoon) Have a wonderful long weekend! -Mrs. Kusche Dear Families, Thank you for coming to Open House Thursday night. I appreciate your support this year. If you have any questions regarding any of the material that was shared, please don't hesitate to reach out at any time. If you were unable to attend, a copy of my presentation will be in your child's backpack mail tonight. This week we had our first Character Education assembly and it was all about respect. Students learned ways they could be recognized for being kids of character this year! This week we worked on synonyms and antonyms as part of our ELA practice. We are learning about the importance of teamwork and collaboration. Student Council elections are next Wednesday. The halls look great with all of the wonderful Student Council posters. Remember to practice those speeches this weekend so you're ready for Wednesday! As part of our word work this week we studied the long i sound in words. Kids worked in teams to identify new words that follow these same rules. They had to race the clock to get as many of their team colors on the posters. They had a lot of fun! Next week is our next Topic math test. We will be testing on addition and subtraction - Topic 2. A review sheet will be coming home so students can practice. As a reminder, students should be practicing facts daily. Fact knowledge builds confidence! Next week we will be switching seats because it is a new month. We continue to work on first time listening, being respectful to classmates and teachers, and our behavior in special area classes. We will be working on a new goal setting project next week to help with these things! Important Dates:
10/5: Color Run 3:45 10/9: No School 10/19: Green Meadow Apple Race - Schedule coming soon! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! - Mrs. Kusche Here's the news for this week... We had some beautiful weather this week and it was such a treat to get at side during extra recess. In math this week we wrapped up our Topic 1. Next week we will begin Topic 2 : Addition and Subtraction. Keep practicing those facts. Many students have earned prizes this week by earning 10 punches on their punch cards for Reflex! Monday was a surprise DOUBLE punch night. The faster students learn their math facts, the more confident they will feel with our fast-paced math curriculum. We finished our book "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing" this week. The kids were sad for this funny book to end. We will continue our study of realistic fiction by reading Fourth Grade Rats starting next week. We will also continue to work on story elements. Reading groups will start next week. Our reading teachers will help address individual needs and service those who qualify for AIS. Communication will be coming home if your child qualifies. This week in social studies we focused on map skills. We also started a project called "Where in the World is Green Meadow". Students are working to locate where we live. We started with continents, countries, states, regions, and cities. We also worked on latitude and longitude. Next week we will focus on maps and symbols of New York State. Today, 4th graders learned all about Green Meadow Student Council. Please take a moment to read over the parent handout that will be coming home today to decide if this commitment is right for your child. This handout also includes some important deadlines to make note of. As one of the co-advisors for Student Council, I am happy to answer any questions you may have. Important Dates:
9/25 - No School 9/28 - Open House @6:30 9/29 - Picture Day - Student Council speeches due 10/4 - Student Council Election 10/5 - Color Run @3:45 10/9 - No School A hard copy of our classroom directory will be coming home today. You can also access our digital copy here. Have a wonderful long weekend! - Mrs. Kusche We had a GREAT first full week. GMTV is in full swing and I'm so proud of our 4th graders willingness to take a risk and step out of their comfort zone to benefit our morning news show. We continue to work on daily routines and class expectations. Students have been very responsible with homework this week. They've also done a great job recording assignments in their student agendas. Thank you for signing your child's agenda each night! ELA: We were busy reading, writing, and practicing spelling & grammar skills this week in 4th grade. We are currently reading “Tales of Fourth Grade Nothing” by Judy Blume. The kids are really enjoying this book and we’ve had lots of laugh out loud moments. Many students have even started to pick out other books by Judy Blume from our classroom library! I love it when students get hooked on a new author. We started a writing project this week. I’d love to tell you more, but we are saving the details as a surprise for Open House, which will be held on Thursday, September 28th at 6:30. Please report to the cafeteria. The fourth grade team will address the entire grade level before proceeding to the classroom. We will begin right at 6:30! This week we broke down all of the rules of proper punctuation. We will continue to practice these skills and apply them to our own writing this year. Spelling (word work) and grammar started week! This year, your child will study words with phonics skills while at school. Students will learn a new phonic skill every week. In our word study units, we are focusing on students learning an explicit phonics skill rather than memorizing a list of words. Students will practice these patterns in school each day and will have a SHORT grammar/spelling quiz on Fridays. Our first grammar/spelling quiz will be on Friday, September 22nd. Math: Math was all about place value this week. We worked on writing numbers in expanded form, word form, and practiced rounding skills. This is a very challenging concept for many students so we will continue to practice/review. Our first math test on Topic 1 will be next Wednesday. Look for a review sheet on Tuesday night. In fourth grade, Math fact knowledge is crucial. We have a variety of ways for your child to practice at home. Please encourage your child to log on to Reflex each night until they earn the green light. While this is not required nightly homework, students can earn incentives and prizes in class. Students who choose not to work on Reflex may be asked to stay in occasionally to work on facts if they are not making adequate progress. Knowing math facts helps to build confidence! When we tackle new concepts this year, knowing math facts will help navigate these new concepts more easily. To get a leg up on our fast-paced curriculum PLEASE encourage your child to memorize these facts! Their hard will pay off, I promise! Social Studies: Our focus for social studies this year is New York State. This week we brushed up on our geography and map skills. We will be working on this unit for 3 weeks. Next week we will be working on a project called "Where in the World is Green Meadow?" Reminders: Would you like to be included in our classroom directory? Please include your information HERE! Our directory will be printed next Friday! Homework club starts on Monday. Students are in the club at the start of every marking period until they do not hand in their homework. For the first marking period, I will give each student an “oops”, or one opportunity to miss homework without penalty. We are working on independence in 4th grade so if your child leaves their homework at home, PLEASE do not drive it to school for them. Mr. Perez ran his first chorus rehearsal with the entire 4th grade this week. Students have chorus every Tuesday from 2:35-3:15. They are excited for their multiple performance opportunities they will have this year! Important Dates:
9/20 - Topic 1 Math Test 9/25 - No School 9/28 - Open House @6:30 9/29 - Picture Day! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Mrs. Kusche Dear Families,
Welcome to 4th grade. The class did a wonderful job this week. I was amazed how quickly they adapted to our new procedures and routines in school. I am thrilled to be able to work with your child this year. The enthusiasm, kindness, and teamwork that I've seen from them this week tells me that it is going to be a terrific year! Each week, I will be sending the link to our newsletter via Parent Square. This is a great way for me to send announcements, reminders, photos, and other information to you instantly. You can also read our newsletter by going straight to our classroom website. While I do plan to send newsletters most Fridays, sometimes you may receive news on a day other than Friday. Thank you for your understanding and patience. Here is a quick recap of our first week! After a fun scavenger hunt around the room to sort our supplies, students got to work on classroom procedures and rules. The class were really excited to play our CHOOSE 3 game. Students were given different scenarios and had to decide which item would work best to get the job done. We really had some creative thinkers! We also familiarized ourselves with Google Classroom, our class website, and the GMTV site. Students were trained on how our TV studio works each morning. I'm excited to start our broadcast on Monday morning. We even started a special project for you to see at Open House. These first few days flew by so quickly! Attention Parents: Please read and sign your child's agenda each day. Students can expect to have math homework every night (except weekends). Also, you can read about special announcements, upcoming tests/projects, and reminders in the agenda each day. - Please make sure that your child comes to school each day with a charged Chromebook. - Students also need a healthy snack and a water bottle each day. I do purchase extras for the classroom just in case. I want to thank you all for being such a wonderful, supportive group of parents. It is my privilege to work with your children this year. Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. I hope you have a wonderful weekend! - Jaimee Kusche Important Dates: 9/8 - GM Welcome back ice cream social 5:30-7:00 9/25 - No School 9/28 - Open House @6:30 9/29 - Picture Day! |