Last Full Week of September!

Hi all!

It is hard to believe that September is winding down, and we are now officially into autumn! Time is flying!

We have begun our Word Study for the year. The students are divided into S group and D group. S students are reviewing doubling the consonant, e-drop, and no change when adding -ed. This is a simple enough skill, but on our beginning of the year assessment the children missed an average of 3 our of 5 words with that feature. We will review this feature for the next two weeks and then move on to more challenging features.

Monday folders are in book bags. Please look over your child's work, sign the folder, and return it tomorrow.

Just a reminder that book orders are due Thursday. I will be placing our order on that day.

We have a case of chicken pox in our class. Regan will be out for the week. It is a much milder case since she was vaccinated, but I just wanted to let everyone know so you can keep an eye on your child....just in case. We all hope you're doing well, Regan!

Book project mini-goal #3 is due tomorrow and the final project is due next Wednesday. The children are doing a fantastic job keeping up with their goals!

There is a sign-up sheet outside our classroom for conferences on Friday, October 31. Please stop by and sign up for a time.

That's all for now!
Kim Bushman

Back to School Night is Coming!

Hi all!

We’re three weeks into the new school year and getting up to speed. Word study and our first novel study will begin next week.

Back to School Night is this Thursday from 7pm – 8:30pm. The evening begins in the Reed Theater with classrooms opening at approximately 7:30. I am attaching a copy of my Back to School information packet, and am sending a hard copy home with your child today. Please look over this prior to Thursday night and bring any procedural questions with you that night. Please remember I will not be able to speak with you about your individual child on that evening.

Monday folders will be coming home this afternoon. Please review the work with your child, sign the folder, and send the empty folder back tomorrow.

Book orders are also coming home today. I am sending orders for September, October, and an Accelerated Reader catalog with your child. These orders are due by Thursday, Sept. 25. I will submit the orders by computer on that day. Please make checks payable to Scholastic Book Clubs.

Important Upcoming Dates:

Thursday, Sept. 18: Wordly Wise Test
Back to School Night
Book Project Mini-Goal # 2 Due

Friday, Sept. 19: No School (Teacher Work Day)

Tuesday, Sept. 23: Book Project Mini-Goal # 3 Due

Thursday, Sept. 25: Book Orders Due

Friday, Sept. 26: First Word Study Tests

Monday, Sept. 29: I am deleting the Mini-Goal due on this day.

Wednesday, Oct. 1: Finished Book Project Due

Thursday, Oct. 2: Wordly Wise Test Lesson 2


That’s all for now!
Kim Bushman

Back to School!

Dear Families,

Thank you all for sending back your information forms with your email addresses last week. I’d like to save some trees this year and send home pertinent classroom information through emails. I will try to title these as “Class Information.” Please send back a quick reply so I can verify your email address. I will begin to contact those I do not hear from later this week to see if I’ve made a mistake with your information.

Your child placed the information concerning our first book project in their binders yesterday. I set a number of mini-goals for students to complete along the way. Hopefully this will help motivate any procrastinators we may have in our classJ. Please go over this information with your child sometime this week. We went over it fairly extensively in class, so they should be able to answer any questions you might have. This project will be due Wednesday, October 1.

A “Genres at a Glance” study guide is also in your child’s binder. We will have a test on this information on Friday, September 12. Your child should know the different genres listed and be able to match them to their definitions.

Any materials that are clipped in your child’s binder should remain there. Items that are to be given to you, or left at home, will be placed in your child’s Communication Folder.

Important Upcoming Dates:
Thursday, Sept. 11: Student picture day (information should come later this week or early next week)
Thursday, Sept. 18: Back to School night for parents
Friday, Sept. 19: No school for students (Work Day for teachers)

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday weekend! The children did a wonderful job getting back into the swing of things yesterday.

Thank you.
Kim Bushman

Two Months Since We've Blogged!

It has been a very long time since we blogged, but we've been extremely busy. (How is that for an excuse?) In January we worked on our "Pet Stories." Some of us will be entering these in a contest with the Freelance Star. Then we started our work on the Invention Convention. We've all decided on our inventions and are working on them. In history we've been studying laws and have started our own government from scratch. We even got to go see the State Capitol building in Richmond! Each member of our class made very creative and unique floats out of shoe boxes. This is how we tied together American history and Mardi Gras. In reading, we've been reading the book, Ben and Me. Amos reminds us of some of our classmates from time to time. As you can see, we actually have been a very busy, spectacular class!

The Class

Have We Been Busy?!?!

As you can tell, we have been incredibly busy in the fourth grade over the past month! We have begun our Voice Thread where we can share our ideas about books with children in schools from different countries. Our writing has included Adventure Stories and essays on "What We Are Thankful For." In morning meeting, we have also started to play a game called "The Minister's Cat" in which we must come up with adjectives to describe the cat. It really makes us think about all of the wonderful adjectives out there! Everyone worked very hard on the November Book Project which was our first real written book report. Our reading in December is focusing on poetry and the pure emotions that can be expressed in the genre. On Friday we listened to and talked about the song "Puff the Magic Dragon." Such a simple song, but such a sad story for that dragon, Puff. This week we are working on holiday cards to brighten the day for injured soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital. It is difficult to believe that our holiday break is just a week and a half away, but it is! Signed, The Class

WONDERFUL WEDENSDAY

Today we started the day with library and there was a substitute. Then we had snack. After that, we had music and sang Dona Nobis Pacem with the other class. Then we had math and in Mr. Evan's math group took a brake from our virtual business and did more graphs. For hot lunch we had ham calizone and milk. After lunch, we had word study, witch went very quickly. Then we science ,we started the electricity unit with some notes and stating an experiment. In history we read and answered questions.

WJP
ERS

Project Day

Today was an awesome day. After we checked our DLR, we played hop potato in morning meeting. Then we read are new book Remember Patience Whipple. After that we had snack and went to art. At art we worked on the skateboards we started with Gabriel Pons. Math, vocabulary, and lunch was next. After we went to recess for a friendly game of nation ball then had science and this is why the title is project day because we shared are science posters today. Then in history we found out we have a least one thing to be a good leader. Now we are reading our AR book and about to go home. To that end you know what happened in are day.

GJH and MVP