Remind 101 Parents, if you want to sign up for VRB message notifications to your phone, simply text @vrbbears to (850)307-5212.
Open House Mark your calendars! Open House for 2nd-4th grades will be September 18th from 5-6:30. Hope to see you then!
Snack Thank you for being so aware of our peanut allergies and not sending in peanut products for snack! I really appreciate you! I also ask that sugar or high-fructose corn syrup not be the first 2-3 ingredients and that the snack be DRY—no yogurt or fruit cups—since it is a WORKING snack in 4th grade. We have several students who never seem to have a snack. If anyone would like to donate snack for me to give to those who don’t have, I would appreciate it!
Multiplication Parents, we have some students that still don’t know their multiplication facts. Please work with them nightly on them—they were a 3rd grade standard and 4th grade math moves quickly and they need to know their basic facts!
We are taking a quiz every day over facts. On Friday, we are taking a mixed review over all the facts. Every week I record their score over the previous week’s grade. Their grade should go up as the 9 weeks progresses.
We will have a touchdown celebration when students master each group of facts (Monday-Thursday quizzes). Hopefully this will encourage them to learn their facts! More info on the celebration as it gets closer.
Biophilia Fourth and seventh grade students go to Biophilia outdoor learning classrooms for wonderful hands-on biology activities. Our class will be going on October 3rd, 13th, 14th, and 15th. On these days, students need to come to school with:
· sunscreen/bug spray already applied · closed-toe and closed-back shoes · long pants · bottled water ( the center encourages reusable bottles)
Students can bring their lunch that day, just keep in mind it will not necessarily be kept in a cool classroom but may be outside until lunch. I have a rolling cooler for labeled drinks to go in if needed. Students may bring cameras if they want, but it is their responsibility to keep up with it.
I do need chaperones to help, but please keep in mind that siblings cannot attend. Just let me know if you are available to help.
Class T-shirts We will be ordering t-shirts for our class to wear to Biophilia and field trips. Forms will be coming very soon!
Corrections to Quizzes/Tests/Assignments I allow students to make corrections to work they don’t make an A on. I do this because my primary purpose is to make sure students know the standards and are ready for 5th grade. I require more than a simple correct answer, though. Students must write either why the correct answer is correct, citing where it is found in the text or putting it into their own words, or tell how they messed up (where their thinking was wrong). This way I know they know the material. If they have fulfilled the requirement, they get half the points for that answer back again.
Homework I believe that homework should not take more than 40 minutes in 4th grade for written work plus 20 minutes reading time. If it is taking longer, please let me know. If it isn’t taking that long, please supplement with math facts practice. There are lots of great apps and websites available to help.