I hope everyone had a good week.

I wanted to let everyone know that Progress Book will be down until early next week.  They are updating the system.  I have not entered any second quarter grades, so that everyone was able to clearly see quarter 1.  I will have grades updated by next Friday and those will reflect the most current grade.

Enjoy your weekend and keep reading
~ Mrs. Marcotte

November Book Project and Book It Program

Dear Families,

Yesterday I passed out a packet that includes information on the November book project and information for our new Book It Program.

November Book Project

This is a fourth grade wide project.  Each project includes TWO parts: a written part and a project.  The project is due Friday, November 22, 2013.  We will present the projects on Monday and Tuesday the following week. I have asked the kids to make sure they return their rubrics to help control paper waste. Please help them keep track of the packet.  Students are not limited to the projects listed in the packet, these are suggestions.  If you'd like to visit the project site from our previous project and use one of those ideas, please feel free.

During the next three weeks, I will still be requiring the 20 minutes of reading and the written response.  The class agrees that this helps them to understand their books, so they also want to keep doing this.

Book It
Most of the Amelia Elementary teachers are going to be using the Pizza Hut Book It Program.  I passed out information on Friday. I have asked the students to write the total number of minutes read in the Parent Comment section of the planner.  Please initial the minutes so they can get credit.  Three times a week we will record our minutes read on the computer. At the end of the month, we will brag about our reading by posting our total minutes on our class door.  The kids seem very excited by this.  Every student is encouraged to read a minimum of 400 minutes for the month of November.  Students that meet this goal will get a free pan pizza coupon from Pizza Hut.  If all our students meet or exceed this goal, we will have read 8,000 minutes as a class.  How awesome is that??

If you would like to learn more, please visit the Book It website.

Thank you for continued encouragement and support.  The class is doing great and is very excited by the learning that is going on. Please contact me with any questions.

J Tammy Marcotte

Library

Good evening!

Remember that tomorrow is our library day.  Please remind your child to bring their library book.

Have a great night.

Class Update Email

Hi everyone,

I do not have everyone's email, so I wanted to post the email I sent to parents today.

Thank you to the parents that have signed into Progress Book to check their child's progress.  Correct user names and passwords went home Thursday, October 3.  Students were told to put it in their HW folder.  If you did not get this, please let me know and I will make sure you get your username and password. 

Also, thank you for adding your email to PB.  This allows for easy communication.  If you have not yet signed up for text messaging, or blog updates, be sure to check out my blog link below.  This will allow you the most up to date info.  I try to update the blog when major assignments are given, or I feel parents need to know something.  I will also do this with text messages.  The information for text messaging is in the blog.  

Since I have been in and out with my oldest. I wanted to touch base with everyone.  This past week was a bit of a struggle.  Next week, I will be addressing all of the missed instruction, book projects, writing assignment, and any needed intervention.  I will use our computer time (Wed) and library time (Thurs) as a way to touch base with any individual student that may need/want assistance with an assignment or subject.  I also have intervention time on Mondays at recess.  I use this time to help students improve their tests, clarify misconceptions, and improve writing responses.  Most days students are welcome to stay in from recess if they want help on an assignment, want to catch up on work, or get ahead on HW.  All students are aware of this and a few have taken me up on this opportunity.  They usually will work 15 minutes then go out for 15.  Sometimes, I may have them stay in to complete work they didn't do, or to correct an assignment.

If at any time you have questions, please email. This is usually the quickest way to get hold of me.  

Thanks again.

Book Projects

The students have been enjoying their Read and Respond assignments over the past few weeks.  There will be a culminating activity to bring the whole book together.  Each book - Misty of Chincoteague, Black Beauty, and Shetland in the Shed- will have a final project that will be due Thursday, October 10, 2013. Today, I suggested that students look online for creative ways to represent their book.  I am going to let the kids be creative.  They all did a fantastic job on their Social Studies projects, I know they will do great on the book projects.

Below is a link of creative book projects. The list is very overwhelming, but has a lot of great ideas.

http://teachnet.com/lessonplans/language-arts/more-ideas-than-ever-book-reports/

I am going to show them a quadrama using the blog, I'm Blog Hoppin', as an example of a creative project. They seemed very excited about the suggestion of a quadrama, so I wanted to let them see one.

Project expectations

On time                                 0          1          2

Presentation Included:

Title and Author                  0          1          2

Main Characters                0          1          2

Setting                                   0          1          2

Conflict/Problem               0          1          2

Resolution                            0          1          2

Opinion of the book         0          1          2

Clear/loud speaker          0          1          2

Eye Contact                        0          1          2

Knowledge (not read)     0          1          2

Project

Relationship to story          0          1          2

Creative                                0          1          2

Neat                                       0          1          2

Effort (not last minute)      0          1          2

Student work                       0`        1          2

Enjoy the rest of the book and I look forward to seeing their final projects.

~Mrs. Marcotte

Math Test

Just a reminder that tomorrow we will be having our first math test.  Students will be coming home tonight with practice problems, test example problems that were completed in class, their notebook and their extra credit work.   All of these can be used to study for the math test.

If you have any questions, please email.

Scholastic Book Order

Scholastic Book Orders are due September 20, 2013

Our online code  is J6PJD.  This will allow you to place orders online.

First Day

Only a few more days fourth graders before you officially start the school year.  I am very excited to see all of you.  Remember schools starts at 9:00AM on Monday, August 26, 2013.

Available via Text Messages

I am now accessible via text messaging. Please sign up if you are interested in receiving text message updates about homework changes, upcoming tests, project reminders, etc.

How to sign up?

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Open House.

J Mrs. Marcotte

Emergency Medical Forms

Families,

Remember Emergency Medical forms need to be filled out for each student.  The district office has made it even easier. You can now complete the form online and print it.  Wow, much easier than writing it all out.

Here is the link.
http://www.westcler.k12.oh.us/docs/emergency-med.pdf

14 Days

Who is excited?  I know I am. It is hard to believe that school starts in 14 days.  

Remember Open House is Thursday, August 22 from 5 - 7.  I hope everyone will be attending.  

Here is a copy of our supply list for fourth grade. 

4th Grade Supply List
 2 boxes of 12 count pencils (No mechanical pencils)
 2 glue sticks
 4 plastic folders
 3 composition note books
 1 Box of crayons
 1 pack of loose leaf notebook paper
 1 pair of scissors
 1 package of pencil top erasers
 1 package of dry erase markers
 1 pencil box or pouch
 1 box of Tissues
 Boys - 1 Roll of Paper Towels
 Girls - 1 Bottle of Hand Sanitizer

Enjoy the rest of your summer.  I look forward to meeting everyone on August 22.

J Mrs Marcotte

Getting Ready

Working hard at trying to make things look fresh.  I gave the back of our slates a fresh coat of paint to cover the years of wear and tear and doodles.  This weekend I plan on putting whiteboard paint on a few of the really worn fronts. I hope the paint works as well as some of the reviews say.

I plan on using the codes on the back of the slates as a way of forming collaborative groups. I hope it works as well as I hope.

This year I decided to go with a new color scheme. I love the bright colors that are in the classroom. Looking forward to finishing up everything so that it is ready for my fourth graders.

Popsicles with the Principal

I am looking forward to seeing everyone on Thursday, August 1, 2013. Mr. Riel is hosting "Popsicles with the Principal" as an opportunity to meet the Amelia Tigers Family.  Please visit the Amelia Elementary Facebook Page for more details.

Research Project

Many parents are asking about the research project.  Please ask your child for the letter that goes over the expectations and directions.  There are two parts involved (an at school part and a home part).  I have asked for parents to sign the letter so that I know you are informed.  Below I have copied and pasted part of the letter.  Unfortunately the rubric and grading sheet are not copying very nicely.

Please do not confuse this research with the Science Fair Project.  The Science Fair is separate from this research report.  If you have any questions, please post them here or email me.

LETTER SENT HOME WITH STUDENTS ON MONDAY.

Dear Families,

          Over the next several weeks, your child will be completing a two-part research project.  The first part will be the written paper and the second part will be a creative project.  Please review the expectations and time-line of important dates.  Parental support is needed for completing this project. 

Written Report

          Students will begin the written report at school following the writing process.  If they do not finish during the week of April 29, they will need to finish it at home. If students would like to type their report, they will have the opportunity to do this at home after May 3.  See the Informational Writing Rubric for expectations of the writing.

Project

          Students will complete a creative project that represents their topic.  They can create a diorama, poster board, dress up, build something, puppets, etc.  Please see the Scoring Guide for the project expectations. 

Written report, project, & rubric are due Monday, May 13, 2013.  We will begin presentations Monday 5/13 by random draw.

Responsibilities/Work for the week of April 22, 2013

          Mrs. Marcotte:

·         Teach the key points of a research project

·         Allow about 30  - 45 minutes of Internet research in class on the student’s  topic (Friday 4/26)

Students:

·         Decide on a topic – tell topic to Mrs. Marcotte

·         Share topic and project requirements with parents (signature due by Thursday 4/25)

·         Decide on at least 3 questions they want to answer about their topic.  Questions must be able to be expanded on for strong paragraphs.  For example if they choose zebras – What is the zebra’s habitat? What are the physical characteristics of a zebra? What are other interesting (or cool) facts about zebras?

·         Gather books from the public library about their topic – books will need to stay in their bookbag because they will be needed daily at school. BOOKS ARE DUE AT SCHOOL BY MONDAY 4/29

Parents:

·         Help students find books at the library.

·         Help students create meaningful questions.

·         Sign paper that you have seen the project requirements (due by Thursday 4/25).

Responsibilities/Work for the week of April 29, 2013

STUDENTS MUST HAVE BOOKS AT SCHOOL NO LATER THAN MONDAY 4/29

·         The written project will be started at school this week.  If students do not have books from the library, they will not be able to start the project.  Unfortunately, my classroom resources are too limited.

·         Mrs. Marcotte will guide students through their research and conference with students throughout the week.

·         At home project can be started.

Responsibilities for the week of May 6, 2013

          Students

·         Finish project this week

·         Finish writing this week

Parents

·         Help students with the project.

·         Make sure students have projects completed by May 13.