Happy June! It's hard to believe that we are in the last few weeks of school. We had a wonderful time on our end of the year field trip to the Albany Visitor's Center and the Dutch Apple. The weather cooperated and we had a great time learning about early Albany. Thank you to Ms. Melino and Mr. Christakis for chaperoning this trip! On Friday, we completed our Envisions math program for the year. This week we will start our "Stepping up to 5th grade" lessons.
Now that we have completed our testing for science we will begin our next topic in social studies: The Civil War. The students have been working hard on persuasive writing pieces. Students have been focusing on interesting introductions and conclusions. They have also been using Google Slide presentations to share their writing with their classmates. Here is a look at the week ahead: Our NYS Science written test will be on Monday, June 3rd. The students are ready to complete their last day of state testing for the year. They've enjoyed preparing for the science test and did a wonderful job with the hands-on test last week. On Tuesday (6/4), students will be participating in a computer based field test for ELA. Green Meadow fourth graders were chosen to participate this year. This test will be given in the morning on our classroom Chromebooks and will provide data for New York State. Our relocation drill will take place this Wednesday morning following GMTV at around 9:30. Students will be leaving Green Meadow and relocating to Genet. The entire drill should conclude before 11:00. Important Dates: 6/3 - State Science Test 6/4 - ELA Computer-Based Field Test 6/5 - Relocation Drill 6/14 - 1/2 Day of School 6/21 - 1/2 Day of School - Talent Show 10am 6/24 - School Picnic Day! 6/26 - Last Day of School (1/2 Day) Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions! - Mrs. Kusche Here is a look at what's happening in room 22: It's hard to believe that we are now into our last marking period of the school year We celebrated our 100% Homework Club last week. Now that it is our last marking period I do not require a teacher or parent signatures in the agendas. The goal is to create independence with copying down homework assignments as we prepare for 5th grade. I still encourage parents to check agendas for important information. It is your choice whether to sign it or not. Report cards were sent home last Wednesday. If you have any questions or concerns about your child's progress, please don't hesitate to reach out. Please remember to periodically check PowerSchool for your child's test scores and attendance. We've wrapped up our study of the American Revolution. Folders were sent home. These projects were used as a test grade. I was really pleased the effort and thought that went in to these projects. I think they're all sad to see this unit come to a close. We've had a lot of fun learning about how the United States became free from British rule. Dear Parents, As you are aware, your child will be taking three New York State assessments in 4th grade. The first is ELA and will be administered on April 2nd and 3rd. The test will be given in the morning starting around 9:30. Please try to avoid being tardy on these days. Students will be given as much time as needed to complete the two testing sessions. This year the test will be administered over two testing days in. Students are very familiar with the format of the test. We have been working on review materials in class to familiarize students with the format. The format is as follows: Day 1, Session 1: Students will be given 4 reading passages and then asked to answer 24 multiple-choice questions using a bubble sheet. Day 2, Session 2: Students will generate written responses to various reading passages. Students will be given six short-response questions and one extended response. Students write answers directly in their test booklets. How to prepare your child: - A good night's rest and a healthy breakfast are the best ways to prepare for testing days. - Students should go to bed on time (not early) the night before. - Help your child approach the test in a relaxed, positive manner. If you have any questions about our upcoming state test this week, please let me know! Have a wonderful weekend!
- Mrs. Kusche It's been a busy few weeks in fourth grade. Today we celebrated our victory in the Soup-a-Bowl with a pizza party during lunch. We also had an extra PE class. The kids really enjoyed it! The kids had a lot of fun at our Valentine's Day party. Thank you to everyone who contributed. We enjoyed our ice cream sundaes while reading our valentines. Thank you, Ms. Melino for serving! Our trip to the NYS museum and Capitol was wonderful. It was a very busy day. We learned so much and had a great time! Check out some pictures from our trip!
As you may or may not be aware, our second marking period will be coming to a close on March 4th. Please make sure to check PowerSchool and reach out if you have any questions or concerns regarding grades. Also, parent conferences will be available as needed on the afternoon of March 14th.
When we return from break we will begin our test prep for the NYS ELA test which will take place the first week of April. The NYS math test is the first week of May. After break, we will begin topic 11 in math which covers line plots. The kids have done a PHENOMENAL job with fractions. I am so impressed. Thank you for your help and support at home with this topic. The kids are really enjoying our study of the American Revolution. We will not have a test on this topic. Students will be graded on their domino folders which holds all of their projects from this chapter. I hope you have a wonderful break! - Mrs. Kusche Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday recess. We are back in to our normal routine and we have been very productive! This week we continued our study of fractions. On Friday we tested Topic 8. We have worked on our general understanding of fractions, finding equivalent fractions, and common denominators. We have tested and continue on with Topic 9 (more fractions) after the three-day holiday weekend. The reading comprehension skill for ELA is compare and contrast. We have been doing a lot of reading and comparing character traits, books with movies, and have done some work with paired passages. The rubrics have really helped the children see what is lacking in some of their writing. The have shown some nice improvements with their RADD responses. During AIS we are reading "The One and Only Ivan". Many students have shown an interest in checking out other books written by Katherine Applegate. We started talking about Newbery Award winning authors. This is our seventh chapter book that we've read this school year. We've been learning about what life was life during the colonial times. The kids have enjoyed learning what it was like for colonial children in school. We've also been researching laws and the way of life of people in the colony. Our colonial life quiz will be coming up on Tuesday, January 29th. Today we attended a character education assembly. We learned about our new character trait for the month: citizenship. Students were also given awards for showing responsibility. Congratulations to Owen from our room! He was the recipient for 4th grade! Way to go! We also learned about our upcoming Soup-a-Bowl. There will be a competition to see which class can bring in the most cans. We also had a representative from the Ronald McDonald House talk to us about this month's reading challenge. Just a reminder: I hope you're tracking your minutes for the Six Flags Read to Succeed challenge. Once you've read your 6 hours, submit your reading log and you will receive a free ticket to Six Flags to use this summer! All papers must be handed in by Feb. 15th. Let me know if you have any questions. Have a wonderful weekend! Enjoy the snow! - Mrs. Kusche What a great holiday week we've had. Take a look at all we've done... On Monday we had our wonderful chorus concert in the after noon at Green Meadow and in the evening at Genet. Thank you all for coming! Tuesday was quite a busy day. The fourth graders had a great time putting together our Kindergarten holiday shop. The little ones had a great time picking out gifts for their parents. I was impressed with their wrapping skills! Santa even stopped by with candy canes for everyone!
The fun continued on Thursday with our colonial holiday crafts. Special thanks to our former librarian, Mrs. Leinung for coming in to help out with our tin ornaments! On Friday we enjoyed our hot cocoa and cookie party while watching Small Foot and the Polar Express.
Your kids have made this week truly enjoyable. Even with change in routine and extra activities planned your kids were hardworking, kind, considerate and respectful. I will miss them all over break.
I'd like to thank you all for your generosity, thoughtful gifts, kind words, and cards. I am so fortunate to be able to spend my days with your children. Have a wonderful holiday and I look forward to seeing you all in the new year! - Mrs. Kusche I enjoyed the opportunity to meet with all of you for parent-teacher conferences. Thank you for making time to meet with me. Please remember to reach out at any time if you have questions or concerns. My students are so fortunate to have such wonderful support at home. Our Random Acts of Kindness project began on Giving Tuesday. This project is in it's fourth year and it's a wonderful way to show how kindness can spread throughout our community. Kids love read our responses from community members. Please check it out! We received our first comment yesterday! Here is a look at what we did this week: We finished up our unit on Native Americans this week. Your child was given their chapter test today. Grades will be posted to PowerSchool and sent home next week. The kids have learned so much about Native Americans and especially loved all of the opportunities we had to "act out" history. Next week we will be taking a break from social studies for a few weeks as we focus on our next science topic: Matter. This will take us right up to our winter recess. In ELA, we began reading "Frindle" by Andrew Clements. I've noticed that many students have started picking up other titles by this author in our reading area. Remember that if you're looking for great book suggestions for your child, based on their interests try out GoodReads.com. It's a wonderful resource! In writing this week we worked on written responses to both fiction and non-fiction texts. The kids are doing a great job with our RADD responses. We will be taking our cause and effect quiz on Friday, December 7th. In math, we started long division. Our next math test will be Thursday, December 6th and will cover topic 5. Look for a review sheet on Tuesday night. Students will have two nights to complete this review assignment. We will also be reviewing concepts in class on Wednesday. Keep working on those math facts! Our STEM challenge this week required groups to build the largest free-standing tower from foil. These little engineers did a wonderful job of working together and communicating. Our largest tower was almost 30''tall! Take a look at the photos below! Now that December is here, there are many important upcoming events:
12/5: Topic 5 Math Test 12/17: 4th & 5th Grade Chorus Concert @ Genet. 7pm. (Students report at 6:40) 12/18: Kindergarten Holiday Shop 12/20: Colonial Holiday Crafts 12/21: Holiday Movie Party - Hot Cocoa & Cookies 12/24 - 1/1: Holiday Recess Have a wonderful weekend! Room 22 has been a busy place recently. I want to thank all of you who met with me last Thursday to discuss your child's progress. Our second round of parent teacher conferences will be next week after Thanksgiving. I appreciate you taking the time to fill out the pre-conference questionnaire to make sure we address all of your questions and concerns in our short 20 minute conference. If for any reason you need to cancel and reschedule, please let me know as soon as you can. Your child's first report card was sent home on Wednesday. Please sign and return the orange envelope if you haven't already done so. Our longhouse project was a hit! The kids worked so hard and had such wonderfully unique ideas. These projects will be on display in the library for the coming months. If you missed our slideshow from the day, see below. Student council is leading a canned food drive for Concerns U. The class that brings in the most non-perishable food items will win a pizza party. Please help if you can! Now that the snow has started to fall it's important that you child comes to school each day with boots, snow pants, and all of the necessary gear to go outside. They will go outside everyday! Students who are not properly equipped will need to stand on the sidewalk during lunch recess. Thank you for your help with this. Our rule of thumb is "Snow on the ground, boots on your feet!" This week in ELA we had a chance to do some turkey writing. (see pics below) Students were asked to design a costume for their turkey and come up with a plan to hide-out this Thanksgiving. The stories were very creative and entertaining. These will be on display in the hallway. They even got to share them with the class today at the podium. We also wrapped up our sequencing strategy in ELA. Tests will be coming home today for your review. Our next skill will be cause and effect. In math, we have moved on to division. This is a longer topic and our next test will be the first week of December. Keep practicing those math facts and please let me know if your child is struggling with homework. I appreciate your support. In Social Studies, we will be wrapping up our study of Native Americans. The kids have learned so much and are excited to talk about what they have learned. A study guide for our upcoming test on 11/30 was sent home yesterday. Please let me know if you have any questions. Important Dates: 11/21-11/23: Thanksgiving Recess 11/28: Half Day Parent Conferences 11/30: Social Studies Test I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! It's hard to believe the holidays are upon us already! Check out the pictures from our longhouse project this morning! Special thanks to Mr. Melino, Mrs. Otterbeck, and Mr. Baumeister for volunteering today! |