November 2011 Update

Hello all of the awesome fourth graders and fourth grade families!

I have not updated my blog in some time, so I am going to try to cover quite a bit in this post.

In math the students are currently learning about decimals and their uses. We are going to learn how to add and subtract decimals this week too. Many students are already proficient at this task, therefore your child may work in a small group with me to extend their knowledge to multiplication and division of decimals. Your child is expected to be able to order decimals, know decimal place value, use decimals in measurement, and be able to add and subtract decimals. A great way to do this outside of school is to have the students take paper and pencil with them to the store and add up the prices of items being purchased or when you get home your child can check to make sure that your receipt is accurate.

In Social Studies the students are finishing up the Northeast region of the United States. We have so far done a five paragraph essay about a state, and now we are beginning PowerPoint Presentations (or something similar) to present even more information about their assigned state to the class. I have been very impressed with my students and their ability to pull good information out of research for these projects. These projects will be due shortly after the Thanksgiving Break. We will be working on the presentations at home and in school.

We will also start science again soon. We are going into our ecosystem unit next. This is a fun unit where the students get to observe animals in their habitats and draw conclusions.


Some other things that we need to make sure everyone is aware of are below:

Each year we as a community help out our neighboring school Smith Elementary School. A few days ago you were sent an email asking you to sign up to help some struggling families out if you are able. Here is a link to the slyreply for Miss Grant's Homeroom:

http://www.slyreply.com/Event/EventDetails.aspx?eid=s9GdBwqMGmg%3d

There are many different items that you can contribute that will help a family have a great Thanksgiving this year.

Here is a message from our school's Green Team:


Upcoming Dates to put on your calendar:

Next week we only have school Monday and Tuesday!
Thanksgiving Break- November 23-25

Homework:

Homework in my classroom is going to vary from day to day in the next few weeks because of our projects. Your child should have their homework written in their planners each night.

I would like to thank all of the fourth graders for being such awesome students! This year is just flying by, and the students are doing such a great job! :-)

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Miss Grant

Last call for silverware!
We have just a few more school days left before the silverware drive ends. Please help your classroom win the contest for donating the most metal forks and spoons for the goal of greening up the cafeteria. The last day of the contest is Tuesday, November 22nd, the last day before Thanksgiving break. Bring your donations to your classroom by that day to be counted in the contest.

Thanks,
Tracy Stevens
Green Team

Last but not least, please don't forget about the awesome fundraiser nights coming up. If you can make it come to Chipotle tonight from 4-9 and part of you purchase will come straight back to WCE!  I am definitely going there for dinner tonight! Hope to see you there!

It's Halloween Party Time!!!!

Our Halloween Party is just two days away!  Please help us out by signing up for something to bring on our slyreply.  You can click the link below:

We are also in need of a few volunteers to help out at our party. If you can help us out, come on by to one of our classrooms on Thursday afternoon. We need people to help us with stations, food, set up, and many more things! The more the merrier! Come have a fun Halloween Party with the AWESOME 4th graders!

Please remind your students that they bring their costumes to school and change later in the day, and that all costumes must be appropriate: no weapons, meeting the dress code, etc....

We will begin our fun afternoon changing into costumes after lunch. At 2:30 we will participate in a whole school parade, and then head back into our classrooms for fun times the remainder of the afternoon.

If you would like to bring things for the party, please know that we are having a joint party with both of our homerooms, so this means we have 43 students total. We also have a few allergies to keep in mind: wheat allergies and  nut and peanut allergies. If you bring something, please make sure that it has a label so we know what students can and cannot eat.

October 2011

Hello 4th Grade Families,

I have enjoyed discussing student progress in the parent teacher conferences that i have had so far. I look forward to seeing the rest of you in the upcoming days.

Tomorrow, Wednesday, October 19th we are going on our first field trip. We currently have all the volunteers that we need. Please make sure that your student has a lunch from home tomorrow if it is possible. We are going to DADs Landfill in Aurora. It is near Gun Club Road and Hampden Ave. We will be leaving the school around 11:00 and returning around 2:00.

The fourth graders are continuing to work hard and grow mathematically. We are making progress on our Mountain of Math Facts and working very hard on meeting the current math standards. This week we are continuing Unit 3. In this unit, we begin understanding algebra, division, and multiplication as well as we learn to solve number stories. 

In social studies, we have been learning about maps and the different types of maps that are available, how to read maps, and how to  find locations using latitude and longitude. We are now beginning to learn how different groups have contributed to the United States.

Homework:

Tuesday 10/18- Bring a lunch for tomorrow and S.L. 3.6

Wednesday 10/19- S.L. 3.7

Thursday 10/20- S.L. 3.8

Friday 10/21- Have a great weekend!

Upcoming Dates to remember:

Tomorrow Wednesday October 19th- Our first field trip

Thursday October 27- Halloween Party

Friday October 28- Monday October 31- No School

Miss Grant

Weekly Update September 26-30

Hello everyone!

In math we have been busy in my classroom. Last week in math we focused on multi-digit addition, and this week we are going to focus on multi-digit subtraction. Some students are still struggling with addition. I will be working with the struggling students in small groups this week. Overall the students in my classes have done great with Unit 2. We will be finishing up this unit on Friday. If your student is struggling with addition, I will be sending home some addition and subtraction fact triangles to practice with. Please practice these each night until your child has them memorized.

In social studies we learned all about the different types of privacy: behavior, observation, and information. The students answered these two questions to show proficiency: what is privacy? and why is privacy important? This allows students to understand why we have rights as well as understand that people have different opinions on when they want to be left alone. We also had conversations about when it is not okay to be private and keep secrets- when someone is in danger. Your child will be showing you his/her privacy papers at conferences next month.

This week in social studies, we are going to begin our new unit in which we learn all about the different social scientists.

Homework:

Monday, 9/26- Study Link 2.8
Tuesday, 9/27- Study Link 2.9 both sides
Wednesday, 9/28- Subtraction practice worksheet
Thursday, 9/30- Addition and Subtraction worksheet
Friday, 9/30- Study Link 2.10- This is a family letter that introduces our next unit.

Upcoming dates:
October 19- Our first field trip to a landfill
October - Conferences
October 27- Halloween Party

Have a great week!
Miss Grant

Weekly Update for September 12-15

Hello Everyone!

This week in math we will be learning about place value and how to organize data. I am adding links to my YouTube play lists. Feel free to watch some of the videos that we will be watching in class to make these lessons a little bit more fun.

In social studies this week, we are going to watch a short video about 9/11 and discuss things that have changed in our country. We are also going to talk about heroes and who we thin are heroes.

In science this week we are going to learn about volcanoes and create a model of a volcano. Fun, Fun, Fun!!! I am also adding a link to the Virtual Volcano that we used in class last week. The students liked this a lot.

Homework:

Monday: Study Link 2.2
Tuesday: Study Link 2.3
Wednesday: Study Link 2.4
Thursday: Study Link 2.5- Due Tuesday!

Important Dates:

We do not have school this Friday or Next Monday!!!
Friday, September 16- No School- Assessment Day
Monday, September 19- No School Teacher Work Day

I hope everyone has a great week!

Miss Grant

Weekly Update September 6-9

Hello! I hope everyone had a great three day weekend!

Math:

This week in math we are beginning our second unit, Unit 2- Using Numbers and Organizing Data. In this unit, we will be learning about equivalent numbers, different addition and subtraction methods, and how to collect, organize, display, and analyze data. We are also going to start working on math facts in our classroom. This week we will begin by taking our pre assessment. On Wednesday, we will be learning about the games we will play in unit 2, and on Thursday and Friday, we will be learning about equivalent names for numbers.

Science:

This week in science we are going to continue to learn about how the earth changes. Specifically this week we are going to learn how rocks change our planet.

New this week!!! Your child will be bringing home their assessment folder. This folder contains your child's Recognizing Student Achievement (RSA) scores (these are the things I grade them for each day) and their unit assessments. Each unit, we take a pre  test and a post test. Please look this over, discuss the contents with your child, sign the paper titled Unit 1 Assessment Data Sheet, and return it to school the following day.

Homework:

Tuesday- 9/6- No homework
Wednesday- 9/7- Study Link 1.9- Family Letter
Thursday- 9/8- Study Link 2.1
Friday- 9/9- Have a great weekend!

There is not much homework this week because we are starting a new unit. If you feel that your child needs more to do, please feel free to work on addition and subtraction facts.

Have a great week!

Miss Grant

Weekly Update for the week of August 29- September 2

Hello 4th Grade Families!!!

I hope everyone had a great weekend. It was great getting to meet many of you again on back to school night! Thank you for coming out.  The first whole week of school went great. The students in our classes learned their expectations for this year. I was very impressed with the 4th Grade Constitution that our students came up with. We have also created class flags and a class pledge.

On my blog each week, I will tell you what we will be learning each week, weekly homework, and up coming or important dates to remember.  If you or someone else in your family would like to receive emails when I update my blog at a different email address than I send this week, please let me know.

This week in math we will be learning about parallelograms, polygons, circles, hexagons and triangles as well as finishing up Unit 1: Naming and Constructing Geometric Figures. On Wednesday your child will be taking an online assessment that is the new Interim assessment.

This week in science we will be learning about the effects that water and sand have on the changing earth.

Specials This Week:

Monday- Art
Tuesday- Library
Wednesday- Gym- Wear tennis shoes!
Thursday- Music
Friday- Art


Homework:

Monday: August 29- Study Link 1.3
Tuesday, August 30- Study Link 1.4
Wednesday, August 31- Study Link 1.5
Thursday, September 1- Study Link 1.6
Friday, September 2- Have a great weekend!

Important Dates:

Monday September 5- Labor Day- NO SCHOOL
Friday September 16- Assessment Day- NO SCHOOL

I hope everyone has a great week!

Miss Grant

Welcome to room 151!!!

August 18, 2011

Dear Room 151 Families,

Hello, my name is Jennifer Grant, and I will be one of your child’s fourth grade teachers. This will be my second year teaching at Westerly Creek. Before coming to Westerly Creek Elementary School, I taught at Philips Elementary School for six years. Before teaching, I was a paraprofessional and a student at the University of Northern Colorado’s Center for Urban Education. Before I became a teacher, I was in a High School Internship program in which I worked in an elementary school each morning for a semester. I liked it so much that I began looking into a teaching career. I see myself as a lifelong learner, and I want to instill that into my students.  

I am originally from Hutchinson, KS. I moved to Colorado when I was ten years old, and have loved it ever since. I enjoy teaching, but on my spare time I love to read, draw, travel, go sightseeing, and spend time with my two nieces.

One thing that is important to me in my classroom is a sense of community. Each day we will start our day off with a quick community meeting to ensure that we are working in a good environment while respecting one another. I like to start our days off like this so we can say hello and talk about our day. During this time your child will have an opportunity to express his/ her thoughts about the fourth grade, and we will talk about how we are doing or about any issues we may be having. This gives the students a specific time for talking about things other than math, science, or social studies; which allows all students to be focused throughout the remaining time in my room.

Attendance is very important to student’s success in the classroom! For each day that your child is absent he/ she misses at least six hours of instruction. It is very hard for a student to complete all missed work as well as keep up with the current work. Please make sure your child is here everyday unless they are very ill. We are busy working from the time the bell rings at 8:55 a.m. until 3:45 p.m., so please, unless it is absolutely necessary, do not arrive late or pick your child up early.

If you ever have any questions, concerns, or would like to talk about your child with me please contact me by email at Jennifer_grant@dpsk12.org.  I will also be updating my blog every week to keep you informed about everything that we are learning in my classroom. My blog can be found at: http://www.msgrants4thgrade.blogspot.com/

Once again, welcome to my class, and I look forward to getting to know each of you and your students throughout the year.

Sincerely,

Ms. Grant

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hello All,

I hope everyone had fun at the sleepover. I know I certainly did.

Before I tell you what we are working on academically, I am going to tell you about the upcoming field trips that we have planned. At this point these are the trips we have planned:

• In April we are going to Adams Mystery Theater. This is an interactive theater in which the students get to help solve a mystery. This is scheduled for April 21, 2011.
• On May 4th, we are going to bike to Bluff Lake and have a guided tour to learn about the ecosystems in the area.
• On May 11th we are going to learn about geology at Roxborough State Park.

More information will be sent home as we come closer to each of the dates above.

In math, the 4th graders did a great job on our Standout Math test prep unit. We are currently finishing up our fraction unit. We are continuing to learn how to divide, so if you need extra things to do at home division is something to practice.

In science, we are beginning our last unit of the year, Changing Earth. In this unit we will be learning about geology as well as how the earth changes.

In social studies, we have started to learn about the southeast region of the United States: Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The students are going to research a specific state and create a presentation to share with the class about their findings. The Southeast Projects will be similar to the Northeast projects which were exceptional!

Upcoming Dates to remember:
March 28- April 1- Spring Break
April 4- Teacher Work day- No school for students

Have a great day!

Miss Grant

It has been awhile!

Hello 4th grade families!

The fourth graders have been working very hard these past couple of weeks. In my room, we just completed a Standout Math Unit. This allowed us to review many topics that we have not covered this year to date or that were taught at the beginning of the year. I am very proud of how hard your children have been working. I have appreciated how hard they have been working on everything from the CSAP to their Social Studies Northeast State Projects. I was so impressed with the level of work put into our very first state projects. From PowerPoints to movies, I was indeed impressed!

This Friday as you all know, we are having our first ever Westerly Creek Overnight. This night will be fun filled with teamwork activities, games, dinner, a movie, and much more. The students are very excited. The night will begin by students coming back to school at 6:00 p.m. and dropping their stuff off in our classrooms. The girls will be in my room, room 151, and the boys will be in Mr. Rabinowitz' classroom, room 147. Students will need to be picked up at 8:00 a.m. Saturday morning, so I can home home and sleep.:-) I plan on staying up throughout the night. We do have some parent volunteers coming in to join us. These volunteers will help us do many different things such as serve dinner and lead teamwork activities.

We hope this will be a very good experience for everyone involved. If you have any questions or concerns about the overnight, please contact Mr. Rabinowitz or me through email: noah_rabinowitz@dpsk12.org  and jennifer_grant@dpsk12.org .

I will begin giving students homework again next week, so please look for that to be written in their planners.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Miss Grant

Weekly Update for February 7-11, 2011

Hello and good day to everyone!

I hope everyone is staying healthy and warm through this snowy winter. This week we have a few happenings that are new, so please make sure you check out the upcoming events at the bottom of this post.

Recently in my classroom we have started watching CNN Student News. Each day we watch the news from CNN's website, www.cnn.com/studentnews . The students are enjoying the news casts as well as the great discussions that come after. Feel free to have discussions at home about the things we learn about on the news cast or in class. It amazes me to hear the thoughts of our fourth graders and to see how really aware they are with what is going on in the world.

In math we are currently working on fractions, uses of fractions, and probability. If you cook a lot at your house, please encourage your fourth grader to help you measure and use measuring cups and spoons to further their knowledge of fractions. In fact one of our homework assignments this week is to locate and write down a recipe that has fractions. If your 4th grader is unable to help you cook another way to incorporate the use of fractions at home is to have the kids help divide up food, snacks, or anything that you need equal amounts of for the people in your household. Any real life experience makes the learning much more meaningful.

In science this week we are finishing up our unit. To finish our unit the students get to come up with a mixture of powders. Next another group of students has to figure out the combination of powders the students put in the mystery mixture based on the physical and chemical properties. You can ask you child what they have learned about alum, salt, baking soda, cornstarch, and talc.

In social studies this week we are going to take an imaginary train tour of the Northeast United States. We are going to be learning about the Northeast Coast, the mountains of the Northeast, Plymouth, Massachusetts, Boston Massachusetts, the Erie Canal, and New York City.

Homework This Week:
Mon: 2/7- S.L. 7.2
Tues. 2/8- S.L. 7.3
Wed. 2/9- S.L. 7.4
Thurs. 2/10- Find a recipe that includes fractions and write it down
Fri. 2/11- Have a great weekend!

*In the future, if we ever have another snow day, the homework for the missed day will be reassigned for the day that we return.

Upcoming Events!!!!
Tomorrow-2/8- 6:30- Meeting about next year's budget in the library
Thursday- 2/10- P.J. Day- Students can wear pajamas to school and bring a dollar donation to help the homeless as well as bring a gently used stuffed animal to donate to an orphan. Your child should have brought home information about this today.

I hope everyone has a great week!

Miss Grant

Weekly Update 01/24/2011

Hello 4th grade families,

This week in room 151 we are learning many new things.

In math this week, we are learning more about measuring angles, division, and coordinate grids. The 4th graders will be bringing a half circle protractor home today, please help them remember to bring them back.

In science this week we are learning about the different reactions that vinegar, iodine, and red cabbage juice have with salt, alum, cornstarch, baking soda, and talc. The students are learning quickly that different liquids react differently with different powders.

In my classroom for this entire unit we have been watching youtube videos that teach us in a fun way about what we are learning- such as Mr. Duey's video about long division. You can check it out at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwa9YZzSj9c  Based on how much the students have been learning from these awesome videos we are beginning to create songs, poems, raps, stories, etc about the things  that we learn each week. These interactive activities are allowing the students to remember important information that we learn as well as have fun with it. Feel free to ask your child what they created to show what they have learned.

I will post some of the videos on my blog soon. I am amazed at how creative the students can be in such a short time.

Homework this week:

Mon. 1/24- Study Link 6.7
Tues. 1/25- Study Link 6.8
Wed. 1/26- Study Link 6.9
Thurs. 1/27- Studly Link 6.10

Upcoming Events:
Saturday January 29- Math Matters and the DPS District Science Fair
March 1, 2, 3, 8, and 9, 2011- 4th Grade CSAP

I hope everyone has a great week!

Miss Grant
:-)

Weekly Update- January 18-21

Hello,

I hope everyone had a nice long weekend.

This week, we are working on many new things. In Social Studies last week, your children wrote "I have a dream" speeches. I enjoyed reading them over the weekend, and today they are going to get to share their thoughts with their classmates. We are going to put the speeches together in a class book, so we can add our dreams to our classroom library.

In science this week, we are going to see what effect water has on certain powders. We are going to do a water drop test as well as see if we can discover a mystery powder.

In math this week, we are going to learn all about rotations and angles, how to measure angles, and this week in the Stock Market Game, we are going to purchase our pretend stock.

Homework:

Tuesday: 1/18- Study Link 6.4
Wednesday:- 1/19- Study Link 6.5
Thursday: 1/20- Study Link 6.6

Upcoming events
January 20, 2011- Menchie's Frozen Yogurt- WCE fundraiser- from 4 till 10 for more info text "Westerly Creek" to 466-622January 29, 2011- Math Matters- 10:00 am at Lotus School of Excellence
January 29, 2011- DPS District Science Fair at the Denver Zoo
February 14: Valentine's Day Tea Party- 1:30 pm in both classrooms

Weekly Update for January 3-7, 2011

Welcome back to school! I hope everyone had a wonderful relaxing winter break. I certainly did.  

This week we are beginning our new unit in math: Division, Map Reference Frames, and Measure of Angels and we are starting the Stock Market Game with Ms. Embry.

This week the only homework for my class is to complete Activity Sheet 1: Companies in My Closet. This is a worksheet that will help us in the Stock Market Game.

Science Fair: The science fair is tomorrow Friday, January 7th at 2:30 p.m. in the cafeteria. Many fourth graders signed up for the science fair. The remaining fourth graders are going to be judging the science fair projects.

In a few weeks, there is a math competition called Math Matters. The contest is at Lotus School for Excellence in Aurora, CO. Math Matters is on Saturday, January 29, 2011 at 10:00 a.m. This contest consists of a 30 minute math test as well as math activities. I will be our fourth graders coach, so I will meet all fourth graders that want to attend at Lotus School for Excellence on the day of the event at 9:45 a.m. If you are interested in having your child participate, please email me by January 12 so I can know how many students to register for. For more information, please visit the Math Matters website: http://mathmatters.accordeducation.org


Upcoming Dates:

Friday, January 7- Science Fair
Friday, January 14- No School Assessment Day
Monday, January 17- No School Martin Luther King Jr. Day