Week of Sept 28 - Oct 2

Busy exciting week coming up with Picture Day, Energy Day Assembly, Hot Lunch, Terry Fox Colour Run and (possibly) the start of Enrichment!  Don't forget to follow us on Twitter!

Curriculum:

• Math - We will be finishing graphing this week and beginning our first of many patterns units.  How to help at home: look for patterns around you (e.g. clothing, kitchen tiles, numbers, etc.)
• L.A.
• Spelling - Continuing Lesson 1.  There will be a spelling dictation assessment on Thursday.  How to help at home: have your child sort their words and explain the rule.  Challenge them to spell some of the words.
• Writing - Finishing up life maps this week.  We will start a suspense writing unit later in the week.
• Science - We are continuing to talk about how light travels (i.e. reflection and refraction).
• Social - We are completing the introduction to Alberta and eagerly awaiting our trip to the first region of Alberta: the Rocky Mountain Region.

Do you wish you would hear more than a quick "good" when you ask your child "How was school today?"  Children actually love to talk about their day and what they are doing, but sometimes it takes a little bit of prompting.  Here are some fun open-ended questions that typically encourage children to share the most about their day.  I will continue to share 4 or 5 every week.

1. What was your favourite part about school today?
2. What activity did you like the most today?  And the least?
3. What did you think of the first assignment you had to do today?
4. If you could do any moment at school over today, what would it look like?
5. What was the funniest thing that happened in your class today?

This Week's Schedule:
Monday:

• Library books due
• Friday letters due
• White t-shirts due (preferably)

Tuesday:

• Picture Day - wear your smile!
• Hot lunch day

Wednesday:

• Energy Day Assembly 12:30
• Terry Fox Assembly and Colour Run 2:00

Friday:

• Tentative start of Enrichment
• Frolicking Friday

Sept 21 - 28

I'm so excited to be into the routines of learning and school and that your child is settling in nicely.


Notes:

• White t-shirts for the colour run can come in any time - the colour run is Sept. 30.
• With the wet weather, our "two shoe rule" is in full effect.  Please make sure your child has a pair of runners to leave at school.

Curriculum:

• Math - This week we are continuing learning about bar graphs and pictographs.  
• L.A.
• Spelling - The first week of spelling starts this week!  You will see a set of words come home.  How to help: have your child cut out the words and show you how to sort them.
• Writing - This will be the last week to finish up our Life Maps.  Your child may be coming home and asking to look through photo albums, or asking you about events from their past (happy or sad/high or low).
• Science - We will be learning about how light can bend (be refracted).
• Social - This week we will be turning into paleontologists!  Ask your child about the very beginning of Alberta's history.  

Week at a glance:
Monday:

• library books due in
• Friday letters returned.  Please remember to write a letter back to your child.  

Tuesday:

• Library day
  

Thursday:

• Tone It Up Thursday - wear clothes that are good for working out in
  
  

Friday:

• Frolicking Friday

Week of Sept 14-18

Welcome to the first Monday of the 2015-2016 year (and first full week)!  Even though the weather is grey, I'm so happy that students came to school being proactive and choosing their colour despite the weather.  

Notes:

• Wow! Thanks parents for some amazing Friday Letter responses!  Your support from home with their writing skills is so important for success.  Awesome job!
• We now have a "Toonies for Terry" container in our classroom if students would like to donate to cancer research (it doesn't have to be a toonie!).
• Feel free to start sending in white t-shirts for the colour run.  It would be helpful if you could put students' names on them.
• If you forgot to send in a palm-sized rock, it's not too late!  We changed our plans last week and haven't written on them yet.  Please send them in ASAP.

Curriculum:

• Math: We are continuing with whole numbers and will start graphing.  How to help at home: show your child graphs in the real world and talk about them!  There are probably some graphs out there related to the upcoming election.  This would be a great way to not only promote numeracy but to spark interest in the leadership of our country.
• L.A:
• Spelling - We will finish up the preliminary spelling assessment this week and should be able to start with our formal program next week.
• Writing - The life maps are going ahead!
• Science: We will be learning about sources and reflectors of light including what objects make good reflectors and how to manipulate a beam of light using its reflection.  How to help at home: point out objects and ask if they are sources or reflectors of light.
• Social: We are learning about point of view and perspective and will begin to talk about how our province looked like before there were any people in it.  How to help at home: discuss your culture/belief's creation story.

This Week's Schedule:
Monday:

• Friday Letters due
• Library books due

Tuesday:

• Lethbridge Transit bus presentation and evacuation practice 9:30 a.m.

Wednesday:

• First Grade Level Assembly of the year with Ms. Scheldrup

Thursday:

• Hot lunch money due
• Our first workout class in PE - students may want to be dressed to move and should really have a water bottle.

Friday:

• Frolicking Friday - dress for the weather

Saturday:

• Pig and Pumpkin Festival at Broxburn Vegetables and Cafe

Week of Sept 8-11

This week is a short week but it's a busy one!  I have to say that I'm really enjoying getting to know your kids.  What a nice bunch of young people!  For the blog this week I am posting in the format that you can come to expect.  I will list any notes or reminders; the curriculum we're working on (usually just the four core subjects); and finally a schedule for the week.

Notes:

• Welcome Back BBQ and Meet the Teacher is happening already!  I really hope you can all come because I love putting parents together with students and meeting their families.  Plus, we have lots to show and share!
• Hot lunch went home yesterday and is due Sept. 17.
• Picture forms went home yesterday as well and picture day will be Sept. 29.
• We're gearing up for our Terry Fox Colour Run!  It's been a couple of years since we had a colour run and I'm so excited because they are the most fun!  Students are invited to bring a white t-shirt that can have powdered paint thrown at it.  The run will take place Sept. 30.  If students are able to, we will also be collecting toonies for Terry.  The school goal is $500.
• THANK YOU to parents who wrote back to their kids in their Friday Letters!  A new one will be coming home Friday, this time written by your child and not as a class.
• Don't forget to follow our class on Twitter!  @nelsonclassgr4

Curriculum:

• Math: We are looking at whole numbers up to 10 000.  How you can help at home: talk about numbers!  Where do you see them?  How do you use them in everyday life?
• L.A:
• Spelling: We are doing the Schonell assessment to determine what levels of spelling everyone is at so I can best help them this year.
• Writing: September's project for writing is a Life Map.  How you can help at home: Talk about your child's favourite memories, look at old photos.
• Science: To gear up for science we are learning about the scientific method and how to be good scientists.
• Social: The social curriculum for Grade Four is "Our Alberta" and we are getting acquainted with our province this week.

This Week's Schedule:
Monday:

• Labour Day - I hope you had a nice long weekend!

Tuesday:

• Library books came home and are due Monday
• Friday Letters due

Wednesday:

• 5:30-6:30 p.m. - Welcome Back BBQ
• 6:30-7:30 p.m. - Meet the Teacher

Thursday:

• A regular day!

Friday:

• Frolicking Friday - dress to walk and run outside!
• Watch for a new Friday Letter
• Palm-sized rock due

Sept 2 - 5, 2015 - WElCOME!

Welcome to Grade Four!!  I am so excited to start a new year and to get to know everyone.  I have lots of reasons to be excited about this year.  First of all, I joined Twitter!  Please follow me @nelsonclassgr4 for daily tweets about the goings-on of our class.  The students will help me post the day-to-day things that normally parents wouldn't get a chance to see.  Secondly, I had some new ideas over the summer that I'm looking forward to putting into action.  For example, check out our "What stuck with you today?" board that I'll post a picture of on Twitter.  Thirdly, our already amazing Grade 4 team has grown!  Miss Romanchuk has already shown Mrs. Samayoa and I that she's going to be a dynamite member of our team, and Ms. Rahim rejoins us as our resident Grade 4/5 teacher.  It's going to be a great year and I can't wait to get going!

A few things to get us started:

• Thank you for checking out this blog!  This is my main source of communication between school and home.  Please check every Monday for the latest update.  It will include curriculum information and events for the week.  If it helps, you can get email reminders by clicking the link and signing up to be notified when there is a new post. If there is an extra post in a week, there will be a note about it in the agenda.  Please take a minute to explore the blog to find out the tools and resources I have available. 
• Speaking of the agenda, this is another very important tool.  Your child will write to you every day with reminders and notes.  Please read and sign the agenda every single day and encourage your child to be responsible for having it at school every morning.  
• Your child has homework!  Sorry, I know that's just cruel handing out homework on the very first day, but this is cool!  Every student gets to have a leadership role in our classroom by being part of a team.  The homework is to read the information about the teams and fill out the application form.  These forms are due on Friday so that we can get going right away with our routines.
• Another little "assignment" we have for the kids is to please bring an empty toilet paper role to school for an activity preferably by tomorrow.
• We have a Welcome Back assembly on Friday at 10:15.  Parents are always very welcome to join us for these occasions.  
• Another date to put into your calendars right away is Sept. 9 - our Welcome Back BBQ and Meet the Teacher Night.  I can't wait to give you some more information about Grade 4 including homework expectations, home reading, incentives, field trips and more.  

I think that's probably enough information for now!  If you have any questions or would just like to introduce yourself, please email me at kristy.nelson@lethsd.ab.ca or phone me at the school at 403-327-3653.