Mrs. Bosma

Weekly Updates January 26, 2012

Dear Parents-

Yes, we have declared our independence from England! Thank you for helping with the Declaration of Independence homework. The children have loved learning the cool facts about it and bringing their new found information home to test you. Thank you for your cooperation!

We are almost finished with our novel study of George Washington Socks. What a great historical fiction book for the kids to read. Please ask them about the book. Also, please continue to have your child read aloud. I'm finding that several kids are reading very softly or as short as possible of passages due to nervousness about reading in front of their peers. Remember, practice makes perfect!

Also, this week in Math we have been working of flip flopping decimals and fractions. Next week we will delve into fractions more. Its such a great 9 weeks of learning and teaching! So many new nuggets of learning!

In  Science, PLEASE make sure the moon sheet that they just received from Mrs. Schnyder stays in their binder each day. Please look for the moon each night and put a giant check on the appropriate day if your child sees the moon at night. In a month the sheet will be recollected and they should have written in the moon phases of at least 12 moons.The abbreviations are on the sheet that they have received. The purpose of this lesson is to be aware of the moon this month and learn the 7 phases. Moon watching is so much fun. Thank you for having your child aware of it this month. Makes learning about the moon A LOT more meaningful than just reading about it in a book!

Also, I need your help. This class is having MAJOR pencil drama! Please send in a couple of pencils with your child and please sharpen them before bringing them in. Also, please attach some masking tape on them with your child's name on it. Between that and white board markers we are challenged in the writing apparatus department. Thanks so much for your help.

Also, our treasure box is being depleted of treasures. If you have any "treasure boxy" items that you could donate, I would be very grateful! Also, our candy supply (mostly donated from Halloween) could be refreshed as well. Any donations in this area would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks again for all that you do to support your child. Please look through their binder each and every night. Please don't allow any bracelets, toys, large hats or anything that can be viewed as a distraction to your child or others to be brought to school. Some kids come with book bags full of distractions. A lunch, binder and school books is all they need.

Thanks for all of you do and for reading the blog!

Jennifer

Weekly Updates January 19, 2012

Dear Parents-

It's great to be back today!! Having the flu is a bad experience and I would highly recommend getting the flu shot yearly! I missed getting the vaccine this year.

Here are some quick updates.

The Spelling Test for Unit 12 will be on Monday. Also, the Spelling words are on Spelling City for extra practice. In addition, the Social Studies test for part 1 of the Revolution will also be on Monday. The children have a study guide which we are working on in class. This will be finished up, checked and re- explained, if necessary tomorrow. The test will also be on Monday instead of tomorrow (Friday the 20th).

The children won all the marbles from the jar as a class reward. This class reward will be tomorrow after lunch. The children voted on electronics/game hour. They are allowed to bring a small electronic in or a game to play during this 45 minutes time frame. I told them that they needed to be responsible for these items and keep them safe in their bookbags until after lunch. They are very excited about this time, so if they telling you they are allowed to bring in an electronic, they are correct.

Also, this quarter I will not be asking kids over and over for any re-do and returns. If it is written on their papers it is up to them to show you their paper that needs support and help and check with corrections. Please look through your child's backpack everynight to make sure these papers are found and re-done. It will help them understand the material better and provide a one on one reinforcement for a concept that they are struggling with.

Thank you for your support and please send me a quick email letting me know that you have read this blog.

Have a great night!

Jennifer

Weekly Updates January 12, 2012

Dear Parents-

It is great to be back in action with the kids. This 9 weeks is my absolute favorite in the 4th grade curriculum!! The children will be learning many new concepts in Math with decimals and fractions. Also, I will be really working on problem solving with the focus on multi-step problems. I noticed several of the kids really struggle with skipping steps in the solving process. In Social Studies we will be covering the entire pre and Revolutionary War and the Constitution. In Science,we will be studying space, constellations, moon and the solar sysytem. In reading we are reading my favorite book, George Washington Socks, a historical fiction novel study. In writing, we are focusing on Informational Writing skills, starting with the interview with you first. As you can see this 9 weeks in FULL to the brim with NEW learning! Please support your child this new year by looking through their binder everynight, re-doing and helping your child fix papers that have a low grade. Also, please help them keep up with independent reading and their Genre Passport. Thank you for all of your support!

Some more great news is Ms. Katherine Pettyjohn is back for her formal and final Student Teaching experience! This is wonderful because she has been here the whole year minus a couple of months in November and December. Attached to the email and this blog is her letter explaining her program and requirements to you. She is fantastic and the children love her. She has jumped right in again and there is no learning curve since she knows everyone and our classroom processes. Having two teachers in the classroom is a "win-win" for everyone!! We are thrilled to have her back!!

Today I will be sending a permission slip home for one of our favorite field trips of the year. We will be going to the Cobb Youth Museum and it is a fantastic field trip teaching and dramatizing the Revolutionary War to the kids. Please look for this today and send it back signed along with your donation tomorrow or ASAP.

I am looking for volunteers for the Science Lab for this month. We have two dates for a parent to volunteer help with our class in the Science Lab. The first day is tomorrow (Friday) from 1:30-2:15 and on January 24th at the same time. If you are interested in helping out with this, please email me and let me know.

Tomorrow we will be having a Spelling Test on the Unit 11 words. The Spelling City website is ready for extra practice with this. Also, make sure your child has interviewed someone in your family. We will be turing these into an informational paragraph tomorrow.

Report Cards will come home tomorrow (Friday). Please keep all the contents inside the manilla envelope but return the white signature card signed and envelope on Tuesday.

Remember, there is NO SCHOOL on Monday, January 16th due to Martin Luther King's Birthday. Enjoy a nice 3 day weekend with your children!

Thank you for reading this LONG blog! I appreciate all that you do!

Jennifer

 

Weekly Updates December 21, 2011

Dear Parents-

Thank you so much for the gift card contribution and the money! What a great gift idea and I promise I will spend it on something fun for myself and not my kids or for my new car transmission:) You all really blessed me and I appreciate you all so much!

The children were very excited about their auction "purchases". Thank you for helping your child find some treasures! Also, we had yummy ice cream sundaes. Thanks for those donations as well.

The holiday picture books will come back tomorrow, so holiday reading can continue at home too:)

Pajama day is tomorrow-so your kids don't need to get "ready" for school. Please just brush teeth, do hair and stick some feet coverings on and they will be good to go!

All RE-DO and RETURNS are due tomorrow!!

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy New Year!

GO SPARTANS!!

Blessings to All!

Jennifer

Updates December 15, 2011

Dear Parents-

Thank you for your support with the Colony Brochure. It needs to be 100% completed by tomorrow. Please make sure your child "proofs" their brochure with the rubric before turning it in. Many children just want to finish it and they never look at it again to edit it. Thank you for encouraging them to edit it carefully! Also, please have them bring the rubric back with the brochure so I can use it to grade it.

We will have our final Spelling Test tomorrow on Unit 10 words. Don't forget the Spelling City website to help out with studying. On Monday, the kids will also have their Sound #2 test. Please make sure they study for this assessment. It will be their final Science test. The Sound projects, along with the "owner's manual" will be due on Tuesday the 20th. We will have a 4th grade jam fest in the morning. The instruments will come back home with them on Tuesday.

Today I passed back many papers, including the Sound #1 Test and the 13 Colony Test. If your child has a re-do and return on them please take advantage of these added points and have them return it tomorrow, with your signature.

Next week there will be no homework!!

Tuesday will be our auction from 11:15-12:15 and class sundae party after lunch from 12:50-1:20. Thank you for sending in your auction items and contributions for the wrapping or sundae part of the party. The kids are very excited to buy an item for you!

School jammie day is on Thursday the 22nd:)

"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

Happy Almost weekend!!

Jennifer

Weekly Updates December 12, 2011

Dear Parents- We will have our last Spelling Test this week on Unit 10. We are in the lab now and I just posted our words on the Spelling City website. Please go to the link below to help your child study.

 

Also, next Monday the 19th, the children have been asked to bring in 2 of their favorite holiday picture books from home for our circle read and swap game. These books are just borrowed for this activity and your child will bring their book back home on Monday. This is considered "homework" so all kids need to bring in any holiday picture books OR their favorite regular picture books.

 

Instruments are due next Tuesday the 20th, Your child should be well on their way  on completing this project. Remember, they need a short write-up about their instrument too. Please refer to the initial sound project letter for more details. Mr. Eichler has this letter posted on his blog if your copy is missing.

 

Our class Holiday Party is next Tuesday the 20th at 11:15- for the auction and after lunch for the sundae party. Please contact the room moms with any questions.. Also, please be looking for the auction items that can be bought for adults and not kids. The children will buy these and give them as gifts to Mom, Dad, or Grandma or Grandpa. They are excited to spend their checkbook money!!

 

The children can wear their pajamas on the last day of school, December 22. Fun!

 

Looking forward to a great and busy week!!

Jennifer

 

http://www.spellingcity.com/MrsBosma/

 

Weekly Updates December 1, 2011

Dear Parents-

Thank you for your quick return of the progress reports that you requested. These last couple of weeks are academically packed with lots of learning and assessments. As a result, Mrs. Schnyder and I are doubling up on Social Studies and Science.I will teach Social Studies and Mrs. Schnyder will teach Science each day. Please look for an "in class project" informational letter, that requires your signature, to come home tomorrow. This is in regards to a colonial region project the children will be doing in class. There may be some support needed at home so this letter will explain all of this. Please sign and return this letter and I will check off that you have signed it and give it back to your child to keep in their binder.

Also, we have finished The Sign of the Beaver novel study and now we are doing several activities and written assignments in correlation with this book.

In Math we are working on Geometry concepts but please continue to practice long division and multiplication at home.

There is the Unit 9 Spelling Test tomorrow.

Our days are filled with learning and the times goes fast! Please have your child here as early as possible in the morning before the bell.

Have a great weekend! Go Spartans!

Jennifer

Announcements- November 28, 2011

Hi Parents!

I hope you all had a fabulous Thanksgiving break! I did, and the week flew by!!

We have a jammed packed 4 weeks of learning coming up so we want to give you as much heads-up as possible!

1. Spelling Test on Unit 9 is this Friday. The Spelling City website is up and ready for practice!

2. Sound project (build an instrument) information is in your child's binder. The entire power point that the kids saw today is printed for you. This project is due on Tuesday, December 20th and it is a big portion of their Science grade. Please read this information and get started on it ASAP. These weeks are going to get busier so the sooner the better, is the best way to get it done. Yes, I am expecting a BRIEF Owner's Manual to go with the instrument.  The important component is, your child has to do this whole project all by themselves and no money is to be spent. You may supervise, guide and critique but we want the child to DO the whole project.

3.  As per your requests, I will be sending progress reports home tomorrow. This will be your child's current grades up to now. Please know the marking period ends on Thursday, December 22nd.

4. Please be on the look out for a gently used item for this year's auction. Our end of semester auction will be on Wednesday, December 21. This item should be a gift that a child can "buy" with their checkbook money for a family member. It is not meant to be for themselves. Our room parents will be here wrapping the item for holiday gift giving.

Thanks for reading!

Jennifer

Weekly Updates November 15, 2011

Dear Parents-

I want to thank you all for the birthday surprises yesterday! That was very sweet of you to think of me to make it extra special. I gave a couple of individual thank you notes out today, so please look in your child's binder.

Tonight, there is a Thanksgiving  problem solving sheet in their binder that involves multiple step problem solving. Some of the children had many problems completing it. Please make sure to check over this sheet prior to returning it to school tomorrow. The children are making many careless errors on it. Thanks for your support with this. Also, if your child is not in Target tomorrow, they have their current event article due along with the Balanced Equation packet from last week.

Also, in regard to math, several of the children are still having problems with long divsion with 2 digit divisors and 3 digit dividends and 3 digit times 2 digit multiplication. Please support these concepts at home giving random problems over the holiday break. I will not assign anything "formal" but please give them problems nightly. Also, when your child comes home with a re-do and return PLEASE make sure you check over their corrections. You should be correcting it and then explaining to them any errors. This one on one help with help your child with their confidence in this tough Math and any other subject. We will be starting Geometry after Thanksgiving.

After Thanksgiving break, I will be sending home progress reports as you requested at conferences. Please be on the look out for these.

I will not be here Thursday and Friday of this week. I will be heading to the University of Tennessee to see my daughter and the Texas A&M swim team compete so close to home. This is a blessing because usually her meets are quite far away. As a result, I won't be checking email. Please save any messages for me after break or if its something immediate, please call the school. Mrs. Garvey is my sub and the days will be full, as if I was here.

Thank you for all of your support and it is my wish you all have a blessed Thanksgiving and a wonderful week off school next week.

I am thankful for all of you!!

Jennifer

Weekly Updates November 10, 2011

Dear Parents-

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving and the break is right around the corner. Here are the quick updates.

Please make sure to send in a healthy snack  with your child. Several of the children come in without any snack and I don't have any to give them. I will give them whatever I have in my drawer but it is hit or miss if I have anything or not.  Thank you for your help with this because it is a long time to wait for lunch at 12:17.

Also, Science Olympiad will be going on again this year. I have "cut and pasted" a blurb from the Target Teachers (Angela Wilson, Tamera Neal, Christy Goss) regarding the process. Please read.."Students may obtain information and a permission form from one of us, or their parents may download it from the Science Olympiad page of our blogs; it's already up on Angela's.  Just FYI - Students should return those forms to us by Monday, Nov. 28.  If you have any questions, please let one of us know"

Also, Mrs. Gentry will be doing a "fill a stocking" drive. If your child would like to fill a holiday stocking for a less fortunate child, please email me back and I will get the stocking and the information sheet for your child. This is an optional activity.

Also, with the colder weather, please make sure your child has a coat and appropriate clothing for the playground.

Spelling test for Unit 8 is tomorrow, Spelling City is functional:)

Long division with 2 digit divisors contines as does our novel study The Sign of the Beaver.

Have a great weekend!

Jennifer

 

Simple Machine test is on Tuesday.