Highlights from Week 12!

Happy Thanksgiving!! I wanted to say a sincere thank you to all the families who came out to parent-teacher conferences. It was so nice to see all of you and touch base on the progress of your child. This year, as you know, we had student-led conferences and it was such a powerful experience for me to watch each student take ownership of their learning! We prepared a lot for it, and the work paid off! Even for students who felt nervous at the beginning ended the conference confidently and I was so proud of each of them. I would love to get some feedback on how the experience was for you and your child - you can even leave a comment at the end of this post! :)

We had our Thanksgiving Potluck on Thursday, and it was so much fun! THANK YOU to families who were able to contribute to the potluck - the food was delicious! Friday, we went on a field trip to the Washington Park Arboretum. It was a cold, but sunny day and it was nice to get out and explore around the park. I have attached a couple pictures from the field trip at the end of this post.

Highlights:
-Almost everyone is finished with publishing their realistic fiction story. Many were able to take home their published copy in their conference folder, but for those continuing, the story will come home next week. Our next writing unit will be: non-fiction.
-We also wrapped up our Multiplication & Division unit in math and took our test on Thursday. The tests were graded and passed back - please look over it with your child. On Monday, we will take a pre-test on the next math unit: Multiplication for some and other will begin a Division unit.
-In reading, we are finishing up our book clubs and working on a Character Poster as a group. Groups will present their posters to the class and discussing their learning about the characters and their struggles.
-In addition to the book clubs for our reading time, we will begin our book clubs for the Global Reading Challenge. If you are curious about the 4th grade reading challenge, please check out this website to find out more information.
-Students have been really excited about beginning our Classroom Economy. A letter will come home the Monday we get back to school. It will explain how the economy will work, and many students who were in my class previously will know all about it. For those of you interested in how it works, please check out this website: www.myclassroomeconomy.org. I model my class economy system from this site, and it will give all the details.
-Last but not least: an exciting update! Starting in January, we will have a new student teacher joining our classroom! Ms. Froberg will come once a week for the first couple months and transition into a full-time role in the spring. Please welcome her to our class community when you see her around :)

In honor of Thanksgiving, I want to thank you all for reading this blog and for keeping up-to-date on your child's classroom events. It really makes a difference - Happy Thanksgiving!