Dear Fourth Grade Families,
It has been wonderful to meet with so many of you to talk about all of the wonderful successes your children are having in school. It is exciting to share all of the progress students are making in the classroom.
As a teacher, I am committed to creating a classroom environment where all students feel safe and accepted. It seems that there are some students who are having their feelings hurt during the day. During morning meeting we spoke about appropriate ways to treat other people. Ms. Nash came into the classroom and gave a great social skills lesson. She taught students another strategy that will allow students to advocate for themselves. She calls it an “I” statement. Students say, “I feel… when you…, because…. Can you please, stop? Next time, can you..”
Also, I gave students an invitation to come and speak to me if they feel that someone is being unkind to them. We talked about how it is often difficult to solve a problem with a friend without some help and that I am happy to assist. I gave students the option of coming to talk to me or writing me a note if they need some help with a friend or classmate.
In reading we have been working hard to learn the skill of summarizing non-fiction text. In order to summarize students need to determine the main idea, find the most important supporting details, and think about the structure of the article and use appropriate transition words. Summarizing is an important skill to help remember new information and to teach others about new learning.
In writing we have been working on developing evidence for our opinion essays. Students have been working to make sure that each piece of evidence is angled in a way that proves their reasons. Also, we practiced how to write an introduction for an opinion essay.
In math we have been reviewing concepts for the unit 2 post-test. Thank you for all of your hard work to help your student get ready for this assessment.
It has been wonderful to meet with so many of you to talk about all of the wonderful successes your children are having in school. It is exciting to share all of the progress students are making in the classroom.
As a teacher, I am committed to creating a classroom environment where all students feel safe and accepted. It seems that there are some students who are having their feelings hurt during the day. During morning meeting we spoke about appropriate ways to treat other people. Ms. Nash came into the classroom and gave a great social skills lesson. She taught students another strategy that will allow students to advocate for themselves. She calls it an “I” statement. Students say, “I feel… when you…, because…. Can you please, stop? Next time, can you..”
Also, I gave students an invitation to come and speak to me if they feel that someone is being unkind to them. We talked about how it is often difficult to solve a problem with a friend without some help and that I am happy to assist. I gave students the option of coming to talk to me or writing me a note if they need some help with a friend or classmate.
In reading we have been working hard to learn the skill of summarizing non-fiction text. In order to summarize students need to determine the main idea, find the most important supporting details, and think about the structure of the article and use appropriate transition words. Summarizing is an important skill to help remember new information and to teach others about new learning.
In writing we have been working on developing evidence for our opinion essays. Students have been working to make sure that each piece of evidence is angled in a way that proves their reasons. Also, we practiced how to write an introduction for an opinion essay.
In math we have been reviewing concepts for the unit 2 post-test. Thank you for all of your hard work to help your student get ready for this assessment.