Grade 4

Monday, August 26, 2013

August 26, The Week Ahead


Last week was our first full week, and it was full of fun and learning. We started to get into our normal routines for the year, and enjoyed some great activities while starting to get into our curriculum. 

The Open House last Friday was great for me to meet many of you. I am very glad that so many of you were able to come join us on Friday. 

This week in math, we will continue with place value and reading and writing whole numbers in standard form. We will also begin to talk about the value of numbers. For example the value of the 6 in 4,602 is 600. We want students to not only be able to read the numbers, but also to be able to explain their value. Students will also take the numbers and break them into expanded form. 4,000 + 600 + 2. We will continue to keep the Maths Mate homework at school this week, completing it with support to help students understand the new worksheet and what they may need to do to complete it in a week independently beginning next week. 

Our reading and writing lessons continue with an emphasis on “thinking about reading”, choosing “just right” books, and making “lists of people, places, and things” to write about so that they will never again have to look at a blank page and wonder where to start. Everyone has received their Reader’s Notebook and will begin to use this daily at school. Students will be assigned a day of the week to write a letter about the book(s) they are reading. We will continue to do this throughout the year, with an emphasis on sharing our thoughts while reading, instead of just re-telling what is happening in the books we read.

How we organize ourselves, our first unit of inquiry begins this weekStudents will explore the central idea:  People can create systems and protocols to support the decision making process. We plan to have guest speakers from our school community come and talk to the students about decision making, roles, and organization of groups.  Students will gain insights into the importance of formulating and documenting their own ideas, and understanding why discussions with a group and agreeing on a common set of ideas is important when collaborating with others to make decisions.


Have a wonderful week ahead!
-Martin Reinsmoen

Dates and Reminders

  • Sept. 2 - E3 Activities Begin
  • Sept. 13 - No School for Students - PD Day for all teachers.
  • Sept. 18 - Early Dismissal at 11:00 for ES students - Ganesha Immersion


  • Please remember to call the help desk at 022-61313600 if your child's regular dismissal plan changes. 
  • We really want to stay away from using paper cups on our floor to show our awareness of the impact of using so many. Please send a water bottle every day to help us accomplish this. 
  • If you have not yet completed the Google Form about your student please do this to help me get to know them.

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