A Guide to Fourth Grade with Heather Smith, Room 46

Fourth Grade

with Ms. Smith

A Guide to Fourth Grade with Heather Smith, Room 46

2016-2017

Colina Contacts

Colina Office480-541-2600

Colina Absence/Attendance Line 480-541-2601

Cafeteria (Ms. Nahar) 480-783-2696

Library (Mrs. Spake) 480-541-2686/2687 (voice messaging)

Music (Mrs. McCleve) 480-541-2639 (voice messaging)

PE (Mr. Moser) 480-541-2694 (voice messaging)

Art (Ms. Larrimore) 480-541-2631 (voice messaging)

Heather’s Direct Line480-541-2746

Heather’s e-mail:

Website:

IMPORTANT

This handbook is three-hole punched and fastened with only one ring in order to facilitate adding or exchanging pages.

It is recommended that the handbook be placed in a three-ring binder for convenient reference. Please do not place it inside your child’s notebook, as you may need to access information while your child is at school. We also want to reinforce organization of your child’s notebook.

FOURTH GRADE

A guide to Fourth Grade with Ms. Smith, room 46

CONTENTS(index style)

Behavior Management 21-23

Cafeteria 25

Class Meetings 22

Class Rules23

Class Schedule5

Class Spreadsheet23

Classroom Communication6-7

Colina Contacts2, 7

Classroom Phone & Student Phone Use6

Daily CAFÉ 8

Daily 58

Dismissal Plans 7, 28-29

Donation Items27

Homework16-20

Homework Support18-20

Homework Support Websites20

IXL15

Junior Great Books8

Language Arts8-14

Learn Zillion15 & 20

Love & Logic21

Mad Minute15

Mathematics15

Personal Time Lines25

Phone Numbers 2, 7

Remind.com7

Six Traits of Writing10

Snacks24

Spelling9, 11-14

Supply List26

Time Line Presentations25

Volunteering30

Water Bottles24

CLASS SCHEDULE

This is a generic representation of our daily schedule. The schedule for enrichment classes (Art, Computer, Library, Music, PE) is below.

7:40LINE UP (We line up near the “intermediate” basketball court.)

7:45Attendance, Daily Review

8:00Extended Learning Experiences: Science, Social Studies, Health

8:15 English Language Arts: Writing

8:45Enrichment Classes

9:30Reading Instructional Focus Groups

10:00English Language Arts Block

11:05 Lunch Recess

11:25Lunch (Eating)

12:05 English Language Arts Block (continued)

12:45 Drink & Bathroom Break

1:00 Math

2:00Math Instructional Focus Groups

2:25Jobs, Homework Chat

2:35Dismissal

WEDNESDAY DISMISSSAL TIME IS 12:35.

ENRICHMENT CLASS SCHEDULE

CLASSROOM COMMUNICATION

CLASS FOLDERS

Each student is asked to bring a 1½ inch 3-ring binder/notebook and a set of 5-tab subject dividers. The students will be given two folders to place inside of the binder/notebook:a red folder with pockets labeled “IMPORTANT PAPERS TO TAKE HOME” and “IMPORTANT PAPERS TO BRING TO SCHOOL” and abluefolder with pockets labeled “COMPLETED WORK” and “SCHOOL & PTO NEWS.”

Students are directed to check their notebooks each morning for “Important Papers to Bring to School” (homework, notes to the teacher, lunch checks, etc.). PLEASE CHECK YOUR CHILD’S NOTEBOOK EVERYDAY for “Important Papers to Bring Home.”

EMAIL

We receive frequent requests from the Colina office to forward information to parents. PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO ME AT WITH YOUR NAME AND YOUR CHILD’S NAME in the body, so that I can add you to my “contacts.” (District guidelines prohibit use of student names in the subject line.) Please also indicate whether or not you are able to print at home and which information you would like included in a classroom directory distributed via email.

THE CLASSROOM PHONE & STUDENT USE

Our direct classroom line is 480.541.2746. The direct line into our classroom is answered by a voice messaging system. Although I check for messages throughout the day, if you need to get an immediate message to your child during school hours, it is best to call the office line (480.541.2600).

The students are permitted to use the classroom phone to verify after-school plans and lunch arrangements (not to make new plans or arrangements). Students also occasionally call from the classroom when they are feeling ill. Their calls for PE attire or forgotten objects (library books, homework, lunches) are limited. (ColinaSchool has adopted a “no call” policy for these issues and I try to abide by it.) Please let me know if you prefer that your child not be permitted to contact you during the school day.

CLASSROOM COMMUNICATION

REMIND.COM

Receive class reminders via text by texting to 81010 with the message @kfaag. Visit remind.com to learn more.

DISMISSAL PLANS

It is important that I have written confirmation of your child’s dismissal plans. If you haven’t already done so, please complete the“Dismissal Plans” form. (This was sent home on “Meet Your Teacher” night. There is also a copy in handbook on page 28.)This facilitates getting each child to the proper location at the close of the school day.

If your child’s dismissal/after school care plans change weekly, I will provide you with extra dismissal planning sheets or you can send me a schedule of your own. As the year progresses, there will be changes in many dismissal routines to accommodate Cub Scouts, Brownies, Chess Club, etc. You can send me an email or write me note as these changes occur, rather than filling out a whole new sheet.

If your child’s dismissal plans change for an irregular occurrence (such as a play date, a birthday party, or a visit from a relative), PLEASE contact me to let me know! It can be a message on my voice mail, a message at the front office, an email – even a note on a paper towel! District policy requires that I send students home in the manner that parents have previously written, unless I receive some other form of notification. Many students don’t remember there’s been a change until we are walking out the door – it is very difficult to dismiss the class and call a parent to verify a change in plans at the same time. Please help me with this. 

COLINA CONTACTS

Colina Office480-541-2600

Colina Absence/Attendance Line 480-541-2601

Cafeteria (Ms. Nahar) 480-783-2696

Library (Mrs. Spake) 480-541-2686/2687 (voice messaging)

Music (Mrs. McCleve) 480-541-2639 (voice messaging)

PE (Mr. Moser) 480-541-2694 (voice messaging)

Art (Ms. Larrimore) 480-541-2631 (voice messaging)

Heather’s Direct Line480-541-2725

Heather’s e-mail:

Website: (Currently under construction)

LANGUAGE ARTS

The Arizona Career and College Readiness Standards include Literature and Informational Text, Foundational Skills, Writing Standards, Speaking Listening Standards, and Language Standards. A term that is now frequently used is “Text Complexity.” This refers not only to the level of vocabulary included in a selection, but also the complexity of ideas contained within a given text. Colina is using Engage NY materials to address language arts standards.
Lexile.com provides incredible information about the use of “Lexiles” to identify students’ reading abilities. It indicates that Lexile levels 630L to 910L are appropriate for fourth grade students.

The fourth grade team works together to meet the individual needs of the students. Students are evaluated throughout the school year using a variety of assessments. Kyrene uses Dynamic Measurement Groups: DIBELS Next®. While results are typically reported to us as “Benchmark” (On grade level), “Strategic” (Some intervention needed), or “Intensive” (Much intervention needed); Lexile.com states that Dynamic Measurement Group: DIBELS Next® can assess a student’s Lexile level. I have contacted our Curriculum & Development Department to instruct me on how to use this in our classroom. Students are placed with a reading instructor (One of the fourth grade teachers) based on his/her instructional needs as determined by these assessments, as well as teacher input.

Reading Group activities may include phonics activities, phonemic awareness activities, reading aloud, discussing material that was read independently, and occasionally editing writing.

OTHER LANGUAGE ARTS METHODS

DAILY CAFÉ – The Daily CAFÉ is a method of involving students in tracking individual progress with comprehension, accuracy, fluency, and expanding vocabulary (

DAILY 5–The Daily 5 structure allows students to be meaningfully engaged with Language Arts skills while the teacher is working with small groups of children (

JUNIOR GREAT BOOKS – Junior Great Books uses Shared Inquiry (A distinctive method of learning in which participants search for answers to fundamental questions raised by a text.) to increase students’ interaction with texts of complexity.

LANGUAGE ARTS

SPELLING

The Colina fourth grade teachers have purchased a spelling program that places emphasis on spelling patterns and sight words. We will begin the year focusing on the most commonly misspelled fourth grade words. A list of these is found on pages 11.

More information about the fourth grade homework structure will be discussed at Curriculum Night. There is NO FORMAL SPELLING HOMEWORK. It is recommended that your child do the following, although it is not collected:

Monday (Due Tuesday): Write each spelling word correctly three times. Write four sentences, using at least one spelling word in each sentence. Use correct capitalization, spelling, and punctuation.

Tuesday (Due Wednesday): Write the spelling words in alphabetical order. Write four sentences, using at least one spelling word (Different than those used on Monday) in each sentence. Use correct capitalization, spelling, and punctuation.
Wednesday (Due Thursday): Make a tree map organizing the spelling words into nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and other. Write four sentences, using at least one spelling word (Different than those used on Monday and Tuesday) in each sentence. Use correct capitalization, spelling, and punctuation.

Thursday (Due Friday): Take a practice spelling test and have a great speller check it for you. Rewrite any misspelled words correctly three times each. Write four sentences, using at least one spelling word (Different than those used on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) in each sentence. Use correct capitalization, spelling, and punctuation.

“Invented spelling” is appropriate for parts of homework (Except for the actual spelling words!), although accurate spelling is desired outcome. Sometimes children become frustrated when trying to complete a writing assignment and spell everything correctly, as well. If your child asks for spelling assistance during the completion of a homework assignment, I recommend that you “sound out” applicable words with your child and have him/her record the sounds. This will provide you with valuable information regarding your child’s logical or illogical choice for letter sounds. If your child requests assistance with a sight word/word that can’t be sounded out, ask, “What do you have so far?” or “What do you have for the first letter? Then what?” Many times, it turns out a child can actually spell the word.  After a homework assignment is completed, I recommend that you encourage your child to circle or underline words that s/he would like checked for spelling, so that you can give the correct spelling for those specific words. Please do not demand that your child correct all spelling in a writing assignment. Exact spelling is only necessary for specific spelling homework.

The spelling grade appears as part of “Conventions” in the Writing area of the Progress Report.

LANGUAGE ARTS

THE SIX TRAITS OF WRITING

These Six Traits of Writing and brief descriptions are listed below. Instructing and scoring with the Six Traits allows teacher to focus on specific aspects of an individual student’s writing to increase improvement. We will often score papers for one specific trait to heighten awareness of each trait.

The Six Traits

Ideas & Content: A message that makes sense, more than one statement on the same topic, details, new information, a strong main idea.

Organization: Use of an introductory device (such as a title), use of words to suggest a beginning (once, one day, yesterday, etc.), use of words that connect ideas (meanwhile, however, then, next, etc.), use of words that show a sense of conclusion (at last, finally, when it was all over, etc.), more than one sentence about the same idea.

Voice: Text that makes the reader feel like laughing or crying, text that makes a connection to a personal memory, text the reader wants to share with others, text that makes it easy to identify the author.

Word Choice: Words the reader can read and make sense of, words that replace old standards (something other than “good,” “nice,” “fun,” “cool,” “neat,” “really,” “very,” etc.), strong verbs, words that paint a picture, sensory words (to help the audience hear, smell, feel, or touch the moment), a stretch to use a new or unusual word, the right word at the right moment.

Sentence Fluency: Use of varied sentence beginnings, a mix of statements and questions, a mix of long and short sentences, a complex or compound sentence mixed in with simple sentences, use of connecting words (however, then) that link sentence together,

Conventions: Phonetic spelling on more difficult words, correct spelling of simple words and high frequency words, end punctuation that is correct or mostly correct, capital letters for names, capital letters to begin sentences, correct use of periods and question marks, use of exclamation points, use of commas in a series, experimentation with more sophisticated punctuation marks (parentheses, semicolons, colons, dashes, ellipses, etc.).

LANGUAGE ARTS

The 200 Most Commonly Misspelled and Misused Words

/ careful / equipped / immediately / naturally / possible / secretary
category / exaggerate / incidentally / necessary / practical / separate
ceiling / excellent / independent / neighbor / prefer / shining
cemetery / except / intelligent / neither / prejudice / similar
certain / exercise / interesting / noticeable / presence / sincerely
absence / chief / existence / interfere / occasion / privilege / soldier
accommodate / citizen / expect / interpretation / occurred / probably / speech
achieve / coming / experience / interruption / official / professional / stopping
acquire / competition / experiment / invitation / often / promise / strength
across / convenience / explanation / irrelevant / omission / proof / studying
address / criticize / familiar / irritable / operate / psychology / succeed
advertise / decide / fascinating / island / optimism / quantity / successful
advice / definite / finally / jealous / original / quarter / surely
among / deposit / foreign / judgment / ought / quiet / surprise
apparent / describe / forty / knowledge / paid / quit / temperature
argument / desperate / forward / laboratory / parallel / quite / temporary
athlete / develop / friend / length / particularly / realize / thorough
awful / difference / fundamental / lesson / peculiar / receive / through
balance / dilemma / generally / library / perform / recognize / toward
basically / disappear / government / license / permanent / recommend / tries
becoming / disappoint / grammar / loneliness / persevere / reference / truly
before / discipline / guarantee / losing / personally / religious / twelfth
beginning / does / guidance / lying / persuade / repetition / until
believe / during / happiness / marriage / picture / restaurant / unusual
benefit / easily / heroes / mathematics / piece / rhythm / using
breathe / eight / humorous / medicine / planning / ridiculous / unusually
brilliant / either / identity / miniature / pleasant / sacrifice / village
business / embarrass / imaginary / minute / political / safety / weird
calendar / environment / imitation / mysterious / possess / scissors

LANGUAGE ARTS

High Frequency Words

Students entering third grade are expected to read/recognize (not “sound out”) the first 200 words. Students exiting third grade are expected to read/recognize the first 350 words.

Words 1-25 / Words 26-50 / Words 51-75 / Words 76-100 / Words 101-125
Read by end of kindergarten / Read by middle of 1st grade / Read by end of 1st grade / Read by end of 1st quarter of 2nd grade / Read by middle of 2nd quarter of 2nd grade
the / or / will / number / new
of / one / up / no / sound
and / had / other / way / take
a / by / about / could / only
to / word / out / people / little
in / but / many / my / work
is / not / then / than / know
you / what / them / first / place
that / all / these / water / year
it / were / so / been / live
he / we / some / call / me
was / when / her / who / back
for / your / would / oil / give
on / can / make / now / most
are / said / like / find / very
as / there / him / long / after
with / use / into / down / thing
his / an / time / day / our
they / each / has / did / just
I / which / look / get / name
at / she / two / come / good
be / do / more / made / sentence
this / how / write / may / man
have / their / go / part / think
from / if / see / over / say

LANGUAGE ARTS

High Frequency Words – continued

Words 126-150 / Words 151-175 / Words 176-200 / Words 201-225 / Words 226-250
Read by end of 2nd quarter of 2nd grade / Read by end of 3rd quarter of 2nd grade / Read by end of 2nd grade / Read by middle of 1st quarter of 3rd grade / Read by end of 1st quarter of 3rd grade
great / put / kind / every / left
where / end / hand / near / don't
help / does / picture / add / few
through / another / again / food / while
much / well / change / between / along
before / large / off / own / might
line / must / play / below / close
right / big / spell / country / something
too / even / air / plant / seem
mean / such / away / last / next
old / because / animal / school / hard
any / turn / house / father / open
same / here / point / keep / example
tell / why / page / tree / begin
boy / ask / letter / never / life
follow / went / mother / start / always
came / men / answer / city / those
want / read / found / earth / both
show / need / study / eye / paper
also / land / still / light / together
around / different / learn / thought / got
form / home / should / head / group
three / us / America / under / often
small / move / world / story / run
set / try / high / saw / important

LANGUAGE ARTS

High Frequency Words – continued

Words 251-275 / Words 276-300 / Words 301-325 / Words 326-350
Read by middle of 2nd quarter of 3rd grade / Read by end of 2nd quarter of 3rd grade / Read by middle of 3rd quarter of 3rd grade / Read by end of 3rd grade
until / idea / stand / sure
children / enough / sun / become
side / eat / questions / top
feet / face / fish / ship
car / watch / area / across
mile / far / mark / today
night / Indian / dog / during
walk / real / horse / short
white / almost / birds / better
sea / let / problem / best
began / above / complete / however
grow / girl / room / low
took / sometimes / knew / hours
river / mountain / since / black
four / cut / ever / products
carry / young / piece / happened
state / talk / told / whole
once / soon / usually / measure
book / list / didn't / remember
hear / long / friends / early
stop / leave / easy / waves
without / family / heard / reached
second / body / order / listen
late / music / red / wind
miss / color / door / rock

MATHEMATICS