Thursday, February 2, 2012

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Monday, January 30, 2012

January 30, 2012

Dear Parents,

Happy Catholic Schools’ Week!  Your children have been working really hard to make our classroom “SPARCCL.”  Drop by this week to check out all their hard work.  Your children’s SJC paragraphs show how much they love their school and how lucky they feel to be here. Their paragraphs made me feel very happy and lucky to work with such a wonderful group of kids and families.

This month in Religion, your children have been working hard to translate and illustrate the Ten Commandments into actions that they can follow as fourth graders.  Their work will be displayed in front of our classroom tomorrow. Your children show a deep understanding of what these Commandments mean to them.  Your child’s Ten Commandments test is in this packet.  Please review it with him or her.

Today in Math your children learned how to calculate averages. The chapter 13 Math test will be tomorrow.  You can use the practice test and pages 294 to 296 to help your child study for this test.  In the latter part of the week, we will learn about factors and how to identify prime and composite numbers.  This chapter on Number Theory can be difficult for kids, and your child may need some extra support at home.  Your child’s chapter 12 Math test is in this packet.  Please review it with your child.

This week in Reading we will read a story called Scene Two.  Your children will practice drawing conclusions by using what they have read and their own experiences.  They will also learn how understanding a word’s origin might help them understand the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

In Science last week, your children learned about bar graphs and line graphs and constructed their own graphs and charts to display their results.  This week your children will begin writing up their results.  Over the next few weeks we will revise and proofread our results, write our conclusions and prepare all our display copies for our Science Fair display boards.

In Social Studies last week we learned about California’s Constitution.  The upcoming lessons in Social Studies will assure that your children will be prepared for our visit to our State Capitol in March.

Earlier this month in Social Studies your children learned about the Mexican Independence from Spain and how this affected California.  On Friday, February 24 we will be going to Peralta Adobe in downtown San Jose to partake in a special program called Adobe Days.  During this fieldtrip, your children will rotate though stations to participate in activities that San Jose inhabitants from over 100 years ago undertook in order to survive in California.  Your child has his or her permission slip in their homework folder.  We will need drivers and parent chaperones to lead five activity stations where children will do activities such as making adobe bricks, cornhusk dolls and tortillas.  We will leave school at 9:30 and will return at 1:15.  Your children will have free dress and should wear comfortable, warm play clothes.  They should also bring a bag lunch.

Now that we are halfway through the school year, I would again like your feedback regarding the amount of homework.  Your child should be spending about an hour of concentrated study each night on homework.  I greatly appreciate any comments that you wish to write.  Fill it out and return the bottom part of this letter to school with your child by Friday.  Thank you for your feedback.

If you haven’t already found time to sit with your child to discuss his or her report card and fill out the green At Home Conference sheet, please do so this week and return the report card and green sheet by Friday.  I would like to thank you again for all your support.  If you have any questions or concerns please drop by, or e-mail me at triciaheis@sjcschool.org.

Sincerely,   Tricia Heissenbuttel

Please place and X on the line across the continuum indicating how you feel regarding the amount of homework that your child receives in fourth grade.

TOO LITTLE                        JUST RIGHT                           TOO MUCH

If you have any comments, please write them below:

___________________________________                                                               Name (Optional)

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Monday, January 23, 2012

January 23, 2012

Dear Parents,

Last week in Religion your children learned about the 7^th, 8^th, 9^th and 10^th Commandments and explored how they can live out these Commandments in their lives. This month in Religion, your children have been working hard to translate and illustrate The Ten Commandments into actions that they can follow as fourth graders.  Their work will be displayed in front of our classroom for Open House. Your children show a deep understanding of what these Commandments mean to them.  This week your children will be working in class to memorize the Ten Commandments and will be tested on them on Thursday.  Your child will be expected to write all the Commandments in order but will not be expected to spell all the words correctly.  Use the study card and booklet in the homework folders to help your child study.

Your children will have their report cards in their backpacks on Friday. They will look at their report cards in class, and will reflect on their progress and on the goal that they set with you at the beginning of the second quarter.  Please take some time over weekend to sit with your child so that he or she can talk about his or her progress and choose a new goal.  Try to focus on their strengths and on only one thing to improve.  If your child has not returned her or his yellow goal card, please send it to school with him or her tomorrow as they will need it in order to conduct this “mini conference.”  Please return the report cards and 3^rd quarter goals to school by next Friday, February 3.

In Math, we are finishing Chapter 12 in which your children are learning how to divide larger numbers, and tomorrow will be our Math test on this chapter. Tonight I’m sending home math books and a practice test so that you can help your child study. You can use pages 274 to 276 and the practice test to help your child study for the test.

This week in reading we will read a story called Coyote School News.  Your children will practice drawing conclusions by using what they have read and their own experiences.  They will also learn how understanding a word’s origin might help them understand the meaning of an unfamiliar word.

This week in Science your children will learn about bar and line graphs and begin constructing their own graphs to display their results.  Over the next month we will be working hard to write up our results and conclusions and to make display copies of our charts and graphs for our Science Fair Projects.  All of the words that will go on your child’s display board will be sent home in a folder at the end of February.  That will give you about a week to help your children put these pieces on their display boards, create a title, and add decorations.  More details will be sent home in the folders with all of the Science Project pieces.

Thank you very much to all of your who attended our fourth grade BINGO night on January 14.   We are very grateful that you came out to support our class!  If you have any questions or concerns, please drop by or e-mail me at triciaheis@sjcschool.org.

Sincerely,  Tricia Heissenbuttel