Last week if you asked your child, "What did you do/learn in school today?" you may not have received a very strong response as we were just learning about one another and going over expectations and routines.
Questions I'd love for you to ask your child are:
1. What is the class pledge?
Answer: As a Pinebrook Puma, I promise to: respect myself, respect others, and respect property.
2. What is a prize puma?
Answer: Ms. Akbar picks a student each morning and keeps an eye on him or her all day to make sure he or she is doing exactly what is expected. At the end of the day, she shares with the class if he or she earned the title of "Prize Puma" and that student can pick either 7 Puma Paws, or 7 marbles for the class jar, or a combination of each.
3. What does it mean to snake around the room?
Answer: Instead of Ms. Akbar passing out papers to 22 students, she has them get in a snake formation and dance around the room to music and the students pick up one paper each, it's an example of being efficient!
4. What are Ms. Akbar's two favorite words and why are they her favorites?
Answer: "Efficient" and "because" She likes the word efficient because it's the best way to run the class. Another example of being efficient is instead of 22 kids asking, "what are we doing in science today?" and Ms. Akbar giving 22 answers, kids can wait until Ms. Akbar tells the class as a whole what we are doing in science today. She loves the word "because" BECAUSE it always means there is about to be an explanation to support an answer.
This week in...
Virginia studies: students are learning about the states that border Virginia, and the five regions of Virginia. Your child should be able to tell you the five states that border Virginia (Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and North Carolina). Students will be receiving their first issue of the Virginia Studies Weekly Newspaper!! I will go over the expectations of how this is assignment is to be completed, and will give students time during class to work on their newspapers. Students are expected to answer all the questions on the crossword puzzle on the back, and highlight where they found their answers in the newspaper. Students are also expected to complete the map assignment that is underneath the crossword puzzle. We will do the first newspaper as a class, and it is due on Friday. Students will also have an open-newspaper quiz on Friday where they will be expected to answer multiple choice questions. All the answers are in the newspaper!!!
Science: students began learning about natural resources and we will continue to learn about the natural resources of our state this week. I will send home a Natural Resources study guide this week, please review it with your child!
Reading: students and I reviewed reading expectations last week, such as picking a "just right book," expectations during independent reading, and how to treat the classroom library. We will continue to review some of the lessons they had last year, like the different genres and how to complete their reading log. I will be sending home the September reading log tomorrow. Directions are on the reading log, students should read twenty minutes on school nights, and record the amount of total minutes and pages read nightly. I recognize students have activities after school, if students need to read 40 minutes one night because they have extracurricular activities another night, that's fine - as long as students read at least one hour and 20 minutes a week.
Writing: Students will begin reviewing writing concepts this week including fundamentals like capital letters, when to use them, punctuation, and editing marks. Word study will start in a few weeks, I'll keep you posted.
Math: Students will have their first math class tomorrow with their assigned math teacher. As with previous grades, this allows students to be exposed to different teaching styles, different classmates, and receive the academic support they need. All teacher teach the same material, and all students take the same assessments. All students in fourth grade are expected to complete two sessions of Reflex Math per week.
REMINDERS:
If you have not already sent in your $13 (cash or check) for the Scholastic News Weekly Reader and Virginia Studies Weekly subscriptions, please do so this week!!! THANK YOU!
We are always collecting Box Tops and Labels for Education, if you have the form to collect either over the summer, please have your child bring them in!
Upcoming Dates:
Wednesday, September 7th: Walk to School Day
Friday, September 9th: Oddysey of the Mind Interest Forms Due
Friday, September 9th: 8:05 am Patriot Day Ceremony
Friday, September 9th: 8:35 am Volunteer and Room Parent Breakfast
Monday, September 12th: 6:30 pm - PTA Meeting
Thursday, September 15th: 6:30 - 8:30 pm. Back to School Night
Tuesday, September 20th: Oddysey of the Mind tryouts
Thursday, September 22nd: 6:30 pm BYOT (Bring your own technology) information night
Wednesday, September 29th: 6:30 pm - Watch DOGS Kickoff night
Saturday, October 1st: Fall Festival
Sunday, October 9th: Ms. Akbar gets married!
Monday, October 10th: Columbus Day - NO SCHOOL!
My email address is aakbar@lcps.org and my phone number is 703-307-1113. Please feel free to email me questions, concerns, and anything else you think I need to know!
No comments:
Post a Comment