Dear Third and Fourth Grade Families,
We had a great first week, with lots of fun activities to welcome students back and help everyone learn something new about their classmates. Every day began with a Morning Meeting, emphasizing the principles of a Responsive Classroom. Students greeted each other warmly, shared information, participated in activities and read the News and Announcements on the Morning Message board. The focus for the first weeks of school is building community, and helping all students feel safe and included. We began to introduce some rules and procedures, and participated in literacy and math activities, but the primary focus was on social skills. We read books that emphasized kindness, and celebrated thinking outside the box and pushing thinking beyond the obvious.
Each year we like to help your child build an increased sense of responsibility. One way of helping to support your child is to set up a consistent place and time for reading and doing homework. Research shows that fluency and comprehension increase through independent reading practice, using text that is at a child’s comfortable reading level. Deeper reading comprehension occurs when students make connections between themselves, the text, and the outside world. This year we will continue with our approach to weekly reading. As your child starts a book they should record the title and author in their colored folder; once done, they can indicate the finish date on the same line. There is no need to record the same book for multiple days. The folder will be kept in the Home/School folder and travel back and forth to school everyday. This folder will also hold notes, homework papers, and any other important information.
Inside this folder there is also a place for students to record how they practice their math facts. Third graders should focus on addition and subtraction facts, while fourth graders should be working on their multiplication and division facts. There are a variety of ways to practice math facts and your family should determine what works best. We believe both reading on a regular basis and mastering math facts are the keys to success in third and fourth grade. We hope that by having kids be responsible for this learning they will be growing these activities into a lifelong habit.
Parents are always welcome in the classroom. If you are here for Morning Meeting, please plan on joining our circle. We are working on building a classroom community and as part of this we want everyone to feel included. Additionally, if you are staying for academic subjects please reach out to us to see how you can best support your child or others in the classroom.
Please feel free to contact us with any comments or questions throughout the year. E-mail is often the fastest way to communicate, but voice mail is fine, too. ([email protected], [email protected], Ext. 7831 for Carla Lewis, Ext. 7830 for Erin Koch) This information is also on the Fayston School Website. Subscribe to our blog on the Third and Fourth Grade “News” page to automatically be notified when something new is posted. New information and pictures were added this weekend, so check them out with your child. In addition to providing information and letters on our website, we will also send emails to the address that you have provided the school. If you have an additional email address that you would like us to use, please let us know.
We look forward to learning more about your children and working together to provide the best educational experience possible. With your support and guidance, we know we will have a great year.
Sincerely,
Carla Lewis & Erin Koch