Welcome Division 11

I am so delighted to have the opportunity to teach your child this year. It has been great to have many of you pop by after school to say hello. A big thank you to those families who have sent a pencil case or pencil box to school already. This is such an effective way for students to keep their basic materials (pencils, erasers, scissors) organized. If you have not yet done so, not to worry! I have a few extras that I have loaned out in the interim.

A couple of important things to note:

• reusable lunch containers: it helps if students have a name written on these so that if one is forgotten in the lunch bin, it can easily be returned to its owner
• Grade 4 lunch time: it is play first, eat later! This means students are needing a larger recess snack. I will allow students to eat a quick snack during class time before lunch if they are finding they get too hungry waiting until 12:40pm.
• Planners: everyone remembered their planners on the second day of school! Please remember to check the pocket at the front for notices. Thank you to those who have initialed the date when they see the planner at home.
• Gym days: our designated gym times are Tuesday and Friday. Please ensure that students have proper footwear to participate. Off to a Running Start will be every Monday and Wednesday (occasional Thursdays). If you would like to keep a pair of running shoes at school, please make sure that they are labelled.
• Schedule: I am busy working out a timetable for our week. We do have library every Wednesday and computers on Thursdays.

We have been busy getting to know one another in class through various "getting to know you" activities. I have also placed students in table groups so that they are mixing with other students. One of the first routines that we have started learning about is DEAR (Drop Everything and Read). Along with discussing what a student's job and a teacher's job look like, we also talked about "good fit" books. I showed students several different kinds of shoes. We talked about choosing different shoes based on our needs or activity. Then I asked a student to try walking in my shoes! That was difficult. We also discussed whether trading shoes with a classmate would work. In the end, we decided that choosing a "good fit" book is like choosing individual shoes. So we have an acronym that we will use to help use decide if a book is a "good fit".
I: I get to choose the book
P: Purpose - why do I want to read it?
I: Interest - do I have an interest in this book/topic?
C: Comprehend - do I understand what I read?
K: Know - do I know most of the words?

The research on independent reading shows that students need to be reading books with 98% accuracy or higher. Otherwise, their fluency and comprehension can be compromised.

Another subject that we have jumped right into is math! I am giving the students a couple of pages every day of all different kinds of math (geometry, time, measurement, basic facts, graphing, etc.). They are asked to complete whichever questions they can. The questions range from easy to more challenging. This has been a great way to find out what students already can do in math. Another fun way we have been warming up our brains is with counting practice. I have found that students who have a strong ability to count up/down fluently from any given number will have greater success with math. So this week I have assigned "Brush your Teeth" homework. Students can practice counting forwards or backwards from a number they are comfortable with while they are brushing their teeth. If they are confident with counting by 1's, then try skip counting by 2's, 5's, 10's, or 100's.