Pizza, pizza, pizza

The wonderful parents are providing pizza for lunch tomorrow before Early Release. No lunches are necessary unless your child chooses to not eat pizza. Thank you, PTA!!!

Shirts

Please have students wear their Green Lantern grade level shirts tomorrow (Friday). Luckily, they are festive green!

Intervention and Enrichment Folders

Folders are coming home today with your child. We have provided a parent letter and work to review over the holiday and/or week of return, as they are not due back to us until Friday, January 10th.

Blessing

We hope you enjoy your holiday break and catch up on time with family. Please know that you and your child are blessings to us! Stay safe and we look forward to seeing you next year!

Holiday Party and Early Dismissal Friday

Our holiday party will take place on Friday at 11:00AM.
**Early dismissal will be at 12:30.
Please bring a sack lunch or let us know you need to order a sack lunch from the cafeteria.
We know that some students may choose to eat at home after dismissal, however, we are providing a lunch time to ensure all students have an opportunity to be fed. Thank you!

Homework and Testing

This week we are administering our Writing Benchmark. These tests will guide our instruction as we move into the winter term. Today, we completed Day 1 and we will wrap up with Day 2 tomorrow. Please make sure your child gets plenty of rest and a sensible breakfast. Thank you!
Due to this testing and our short week, we will not be handing out homework.

Holiday Store

Due to our campus being closed yesterday, the Holiday Store schedule needed to be adjusted. Please note our times below:

Christian homeroom- Thursday- 10:30-11:00AM
Milot homeroom- Friday- 11:15AM- 11:45AM

Coyote Call-Out- Friday

This week hosts our next Coyote Call-Out. Please join us at 2:00PM.
Students are encouraged to bring/ wear holiday hats and maracas (or other shakers) if you have them.

Texas Revolution Project

Your kiddo will be bringing home a paper that outlines a home project they will be working on during the week before the holiday break. Please look for this paper in their folders tomorrow. There will be three projects from which to choose. Please read all directions and choose the one that best fits your child's learning style.

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like.....Ice !!!

Yikes! I have to say that I am beginning to think this field trip to the museum is NOT supposed to happen. LOL  After having to be rescheduled in 3rd Grade, a hassle to iron out details this year, and now possible ice in the forecast for Friday... one can't help but wonder.

At this point, everything is still on schedule. Unfortunately, we will not know anything for sure until Friday morning. With temperatures dropping so suddenly and weather patterns constantly changing, we will have to see whether we have just a cold rain or a sleet/ice when we are ready to go and what the weather will do while we are there. Dr. Truncale is watching everything closely, as are we.
**I will be updating the blog and emailing to keep you informed. Please check before contacting us.
A sound/safe judgment will be made and we are prepared to stay here, if needed. Thank you for your patience, as we are in the same holding position. The good thing is that this trip should only take 2 hours. Short and sweet.
Please check back for updates.

MOCK STAAR TESTING NEXT WEEK

The district is giving a "mock" STAAR WRITING test next Monday and Tuesday to all 4th Grade students. These two days will run just as the actual STAAR test in April. We will test each day from 8AM- 12PM- (Less if everyone finishes early).
Each day will consist of writing one paper addressing expository or narrative text, as well as, multiple choice questions focused on revising and editing.
**If at all possible, please make sure that your child is present for these two days. This benchmark is very important, as scores will be used to guide future instruction. Thank you!

 Did Someone Say...Santa??

Holiday shopping is right around the corner for us! The Holiday Store will be open next week. Our scheduled time to visit is Wednesday 10:30-11:00. Please feel free to join us or send money for your child to shop for gifts.

Grades, Grades, Grades

Yes, the expected and feared "Drop" has hit 4th Grade. At this time in the year, we start to allow students to become more responsible for their learning. During this transition process, it is not uncommon for grades to fall slightly. Reading directions effectively and following through appropriately until the end is imperative. Many times, it is not the skill that is weak, but the amount of effort put into the assignment without the teacher guiding them through it several times. Our goal is to help each student become a successful, independent learner.

Cox Coyote Jingle Run 5K

Please join Mrs. Milot and I in our "jingly" shoes as we take part in our Cox fundraiser on Saturday, December 14th at 5:00PM. We hope to see you!

Holiday Joy and Supplies!

Happy (early) Thanksgiving! 

While you are traveling (or just lounging around the house J) this break please have your kiddo study for their Social Studies test that will be on the Tuesday we get back. They brought home the study guide today. I have emailed it to you as well for those study guides that have “wondered off.” The more they know this material, the better they will do! This test will end our unit on Colonization and guide us to our unit on the Revolution in the coming weeks.

                                                                             

In science, we are continuing our study of soil when we return. One of the experiments we will do involves a need for knee-high nylon hose. We will use this item in our exploration of soils capacity to retain water. In order to do this experiment I will need 16 pairs of knee-high nylon hose. I would like to do this experiment on Thursday. If you happen upon some inexpensive nylon hose in the next week or so, please contribute to our exploration. 

When we return, math will have us begin our studies of combinations. This is a fun concept and can easily be applied to everyday life. How many different combinations of Thanksgiving food can you create on your plate?

Thank you for all of your support. I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday!

Mrs. Milot

Wax Museum

Can anyone say "Awesome"? We want to congratulate all of our stars. The amount of work that was put into this project sure paid off, as they were fantastic presenters. Students and visitors were excited to meet historical figures such as Abe Lincoln and Benjamin Franklin, as well as, movie stars and athletes. They did a wonderful job and we are so proud! Way to go!

Field Trip- Friday December 6th

Our trip to the Dallas Children's Theater is quickly approaching. We will be leaving the school at approximately 8:30. Please know that we have no control over the buses and flexibility is always a must for us. The show begins at 10:00 and lasts 90 minutes. We will be back in time for lunch.
As previously stated, parents that paid for this trip last year ARE INVITED to join us, as planned. We apologize for limitations on additional parents joining and thank you for understanding this unusual circumstance. Parents attending may follow the bus or meet us there.
**Please know that we will have another "official 4th Grade" field trip in May and all parents are welcome!

The following are students who  previously paid ( in 3rd grade) FOR A PARENT to attend: 
(from Milot and Christian)
Lexi Joseph
Harmony Armstrong
Triniti McBride
Grace Christner
Josh Watson
Emily Williams
Maddie Hatch
Jose  Molina
Travis Goodnight
Cooper Limes
Talissa Smalley
Savannah Taylor
Kayleigh Contreras
Brandan Nurse
Joseph Turcios


Thank you for your support!

Long Division!!!

We are fully into our unit on long division. We are learning a couple of methods, but our main focus is on the big seven method. Here is a link that will walk you through the big seven method:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7xSGYBpaUw

Below is the image that we use to describe big seven including a way to check your answer.

 

Big seven keeps place value in division and allows kiddos to solve division problems when they don't have a great grasp of multiplication facts. This makes long division seem easier for the kiddos!

Below are a couple of more methods that we could use to solve long division problems.

 

You are all familiar with the standard method, but it can really make division difficult because of the removal of place value. Expanded division is more similar to standard, but it is looking at the dividend in chunks and tries to keep place value in division.

As you know, I do not have one way that I require kiddos to solve problems. I want them to do the method that works the best FOR THEM. So far, big seven is the preferred method in class. Have your kiddo show you what method they like the best!

Please let me know if you have any questions about this. I am more than willing to help in any way that I can! Thank you for your support!!!

Mrs. Milot