Week 13

Good morning!  I don't know if this week could possibly be any busier, so let's just jump right into it.  

Here's what you need to know:

1) It’s time for Student Led Conferences! I am eager to sit down with you and your child so we can all celebrate your child’s progress and set goals for the rest of fourth grade. On December 2nd, someone will be covering my class, and I will be scheduling conferences to meet throughout this day. Monday I will be sending home the list of times available, or you can click here to view it now. Rather than sending this letter back to me with marked times, I am going to accept “conference requests” via email. As of 8:30 a.m. Tuesday, November 16th, you may send me an email requesting your top 3 times. I will schedule conferences on a first-come, first-serve basis. After I receive your email requests, I will send a reply email a.s.a.p. letting you know if I was able to schedule one of your requested times or if I need you to choose another available time. Please note that emails received before 8:30 will be considered after all other requests have come in. 

2) This week's homework menu simply requires your child to pack for our trip. These kids are definitely old enough to actively participate in the packing process, so please allow them to use the checklist provided to get their bags ready. 

3) Tuesday is our Math Checkpoint test for the district. We will take care of this first thing Tuesday morning and will spend the rest of the day preparing for the trip. I will communicate the results of all 3 Checkpoint tests (reading, science, and math) at your child's conference on Dec. 2nd.

4) We will load buses Wednesday at 5:15 in front of the Academy. Please do not get on the bus until all of the teachers arrive. Your child should be wearing his/her pink Run for the Rings shirt and Academy bottoms, jeans, or finger-tip length jean shorts. We will be pulling out of the school by 5:45, so please don't be late. Click here to review the Trip Information form again and to see the latest Itinerary. 

5) One thing I want to remind all of the parents before we leave is that this trip is a learning experience for the kids. The students will be required to work on their journals throughout the trip. It is important to remember that the kids, not the adults, should be writing in the journals. Also, the Itinerary clearly explains which pages of the journal the kids should be working on at each point of the trip. Please help make sure your child has completed these requirements before finding recreational activities to fill his/her time.

6) Your child must bring some type of camera to use on the trip (regular or disposable). The pictures he/she takes will go into the final journals the students will be completing in class. Over the Thanksgiving Break, you need to develop or print off the pictures your child wants to include in his/her journal. We will be using these as soon as we return from the Break, so it is important to find time during the week off to take care of this task.

7) Friday is Turkey Bowl! The festivities should kick off at 1:30 in the back of the school on the Circle. This ridiculous event should be a blast! Thank you to each of the families who have sent canned goods for this.


8) Thanksgiving Break is next week! Enjoy the well-deserved week off! If your child is behind with his/her reading, this week is a great opportunity to catch up!


9) Your child should have posted his/her 11th book on the wikispace this week.


10) Your child should have posted a response to the Week 12 question on the blog this week. We will not have a blog question for this week.

Finally, I want to thank Mrs. Miller who helped sort the new t-shirts for the trip. She spent an afternoon dividing the shirts up among the classes, and her time and efforts are so appreciated!

Week 12

Can you believe our Austin/San Antonio trip is now just a week and a half away? I am so excited, and I know the kids are pumped as well! We are working on preparing our journals now and will continue to do so over the next 2 weeks. Click here to see the revised Trip Information Form with details about what you and your child will need to pack and wear. Please note that we will be leaving from the Academy, not the high school as previously stated.

I want to thank the parents who have sent dry-erase markers this week for our class! What a blessing! Your generosity and kindness is much appreciated!

Also, I want to thank Mrs. Downs for coming and working with the kids to make the class project for the carnival. I can't wait to see how everything turns out!

What's going on this week?

1)  Club Pictures are Monday. The office will be calling different groups throughout the day to take care of this.

2)  The School Carnival is Saturday from 11:00 - 2:00! (Yippee!) At 2:30, they will have the Snoopy Dance and auction. This event should be a blast, and I really hope that you and your family can make it. Just so you know, one of the auction items you can bid on is a movie night for your child and me. (Actually, there are 3 different ones you can try for since Mrs. Smalley, Mrs. Brannum, and I are going together and each taking a winning bidder.) I did this last year, and it was super fun! 

3)  This week's homework menu has 2 spelling options that are due Friday. Kids who are starting on these assignments early in the week (or on the weekend) are finding themselves much less stressed throughout the week. Thank you for all that you are doing to help your child set aside time and make this a priority. Please remember, if your child is going to come to the Homework Hotline Tuesday afternoon, please print off, fill out, and send back the permission slip by Tuesday.

4)  Kids should have 10 books on the wikispace by now. I am so proud of some of the detailed paragraphs I am seeing from some of the kids. Thank you again for helping your child learn to set aside time for this regularly to meet this goal.

5)  The new blog question will be ready sometime this weekend. Almost all kids have posted for Week 11 now. If your child did not finish posting for last week yet, please make sure he/she does so by Sunday.

6)  We still have a few students who have not yet met the 5-minute goals for addition and subtraction facts. All of the kids are improving, and I am so proud of their continued effort to reach these goals. Please remember, all 4th graders should be able to complete 100 addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts in 5 minutes by the end of this Nine Weeks. Your child should be practicing flash cards daily or printing off and practicing sample tests from the link on my website.

Week 11

This week was so much fun with the kids! Their Idiom Day costumes were incredibly creative and absolutely hilarious. Our class photographers got some good pictures of the day, so hopefully I'll be able to share those with you soon.

I just wanted to remind everyone that our Austin/San Antonio trip is coming up soon (November 17-18). We will begin preparing for this in class, but I wanted to make sure you had this important event on your calendar.

Here's what's happening this week:

1) This week's homework menu has 4 items on it: 2 spelling options and 2 math options. The kids are only required to complete 1 of each type, but they can complete a 3rd or 4th activity if they wish to extend their learning. All activities are due Friday. The spelling assignment should go faster this week since the students have already found and recorded 10 words in their agendas that can be used in their assignment. Remember, if your child is going to stay after school on Tuesday for the Homework Hotline, you must fill out the Homework Hotline pass which can be found at the top of the Homework Menu page on my website.

2) Wednesday is a district early release day. Please make arrangements to pick up your child at 11:45 that day.

3) This week we will be taking 2 different district tests. These help us know your child's areas of strength/weakness to help direct our instruction in the classroom. Wednesday is the Reading Checkpoint and Thursday is the Science Checkpoint. Please make sure your child is well-rested and on time both of these days.

4) If you still haven't returned your child's report card, please do so by Monday.

5) Most kids are doing an outstanding job of keeping up with their reading! As a class, we have read over 28,000 pages! I am proud of the kids for working so hard and for taking such personal responsibility to meet our goals. Your child should have posted his/her 9th book on the wikispace by this weekend. If your child is having trouble getting online or finding access to a computer, have him/her write everything up on paper and we'll update the wiki in class. Remember, the Homework Hotline time on Tuesdays is always a great time for kids to finish tasks such as this!

6) Your child needs to post on the blog by Sunday. Next week's question should be up sometime this weekend.

Week 10

The kids wrote an AMAZING mission statement this week that really shows their desire to better themselves this year.  Yes, it's a little long, but it has contributions from everyone and includes all of the things they truly value.  Here is what they came up with:

We the responsible students of Mrs. Bennett’s rockin’ 4^th grade class promise to go above and beyond to learn new things.  We will be true Olympians, supporting each other and showing the rings.  We promise to have fun and to learn from our mistakes.  We will never give up because failure is not an option for us.  Not only will we meet our goals, but we will extend our learning and only be satisfied with our personal best.  This is our promise to ourselves and to each other.

You'll have to stop by and see the amazing way we have displayed it in the room!

Here are this week's events:

1)  Report cards go home Monday.  You will need to sign your child's card and return it in the provided envelope.  Feel free to make copies of the report card for your own records, but remember to send back the original.  Please click here if you need to review the information I gave you last week about what will be included and what you should expect.

2)  This week's homework menu has just one item.  The students need to create their Idiom Day costumes so they can wear them to school on Thursday.  We will learn a spelling pattern in class this week, but the kids will do the homework for this pattern next week.  (Hopefully this will make homework go faster next week since they will have all of this week to collect their words.)

3)  This week is Red Ribbon Week.  Each day there is a theme to help the kids remember to stay off of drugs.  Here is what your child should wear each day:

• Monday: Tie Out Drugs - Kids wear a crazy tie.
• Tuesday: Give Drugs the Blues - Kids wear all Academy blue clothing.
• Wednesday: Put a Cap on Drugs - Kids wear their favorite cap.
• Thursday: Sock It to Drugs - Kids wear crazy socks.
• Friday: Shade Out Drugs - Kids wear sunglasses.

4)  If you haven't sent $10 for our class project yet, please do so as soon as possible.  Your child should have brought home a flyer about this last week.

5)  Most kids are doing a terrific job of keeping up with their reading and posting.  Please make sure your child has posted on the class blog this week.  The new question will be up sometime on Sunday.

6)  Your child should have finished his/her 8th book this week.  He/she needs to post each book on the wikispace to receive credit.

7)  There is an Awards Assembly on Friday at 8:00.  If you child is going to receive an award, I will email you Monday to let you know.

Week 9

Can you believe we're already finished with the First Nine Weeks?  It's crazy for me to think that we're already one-fourth of the way through the year.  As you will see on the report cards that come home next week, the kids have already learned and mastered a ton of content.  I am extremely proud of their constant hard work and positive attitudes.

Speaking of report cards, I want to remind you that Academy report cards will look incredibly different this year than last.  On the front page, you will see a narrative section similar to what you are are used to seeing.  Unlike last year, there will be only one narrative area.  You should expect to see information here about your child's strengths, weaknesses, and work ethic.

On the following three pages of the report card, you will see lists of the objectives your child is expected to learn this year.  In the first column, (the one showing information for the First Nine Weeks), you will see one of the following things:

• E = This means that your child has extended far beyond the requirements for the particular objective.
• M = This means that on the final assessment, your child met the expectations for the particular objective.
• S = An S means that your child has not yet mastered the objective but is showing progress toward reaching that goal.
• T = This means that on the final assessment, your child showed little understanding and/or application of the particular objective and needs more time to master this skill.  
• A gray square = This means that the objective was not assessed this Quarter.

Please note that there will be no pluses or minuses on any score this year (ie: S+, S-, etc.).

On the final page of the report card, you will see your child's reading level and overall scores for each subject area.  In order for your child to receive an overall grade of an M in any subject, he/she must have Ms in at least 90% of the assessed objectives to that point.  If he/she received a T for an individual objective, the highest overall grade he/she can receive is an S.  (Clear as mud, right?)

One of the great things about this new format is that you can see very specifically where your child needs help and where he/she is already going strong.  Please note that an S in an individual objective or two is probably not reason to stress out.  This just lets you know that your child needs to focus his/her attention on certain skills a little bit more.  While sooner is always better than later, our ultimate goal is for your child to be meeting all objectives by the end of year.

My final note on the report card is that it is a cumulative report. This means that each Nine Weeks, your child is held accountable for all of the information learned that Quarter as well as the information from each of the previous Nine Weeks. The overall grades for each subject on the last report card of the year will cover every objective from the entire year.

I expect that you will have questions still, but I am hoping that the information above will give you a good idea of what to expect.  As always, please let me know if you need clarification.

What's happening this week:

1.  Horizontal schedule resumes this week.

2.  On this week's Homework Menu, you will find information about one of the most memorable and fun days of 4th grade.  Idiom Day is tentatively scheduled for next Thursday (October 28th)!  This is a day where the children dress up as the literal meaning of an idiom and then do activities all day to help them learn to use figurative language in their writing.  Please do not let your child tell/convince you that you need to spend a lot of money for his/her costume.  The award-winning costume from my class last year was a giant piece of paper painted green and folded into a big cylindrical pickle.  (The child was "In a pickle," if you haven't guessed yet.)

3.  I have to turn in grades by Wednesday.  By this time, your child should have 7 books posted on the wikispace.  If your child needs help reaching this goal, please consider sending him/her to the Homework Hotline on Tuesdays to get caught up.  (Remember to fill out the Homework Hotline permission slip and send it with your child so we know where to focus our attention.)  By next weekend, your child needs to post an 8th book on the wiki.


4.  Report cards will go home Monday, the 25th.  Please look over your child's card, write comments on the back, and send it back.

5.  In addition to the addition and subtraction timed drills, your child is responsible for multiplication and division during the Second Nine Weeks.  There are a ton of fun games on my website your child can use to help develop these skills.  We will continue to assess all 4 operations each Friday.

6.  The new blog question will be posted on Sunday.  Please make sure your child has posted for each week to this point.

Week 8

Aren't these kids just amazing? I am so proud of them for working so hard on their reading projects over the last couple of weeks. I love how the number one question I received today has been, "When can I show mine to the whole class?" They have such pride in their work and are dying to share it with others.  (A teacher's dream-come-true!) Tuesday we will be sharing them from 1:45 - 2:30 if you have time and want to join us. It should be fun!

This week's main attractions:

1.  Tomorrow is early voting for the Tax Ratification Election at the Academy. If you haven't heard or read information about this yet, click here. This is such an important issue for all of BISD, and your vote is extremely vital to our students, teachers, and our district as a whole.


2.  There is no school Monday! I don't know about you, but I plan on waking up late, taking a nap or two in the afternoon, and then going to bed early. (Yep, it's going to be a big day!)  : )

3.  Class pictures and picture retakes will happen Wednesday.

4.  The final trip payment was due today. If you haven't paid yet (and haven't talked to me), please send your money Tuesday. Remember, unless I contacted you the final payment for a parent-student pair is $80 and the final payment for an individual student is $35.

5.  We have spent a lot of time talking about the expectations for homework over the course of the week. Here are the highlights of our conversations:

• Spelling assignments should take around 30 minutes max to complete. 
• Other assignments (not projects) should take a similar amount of time.
• Blogging and posting on the wikispace should take around 15 minutes each.  (Most kids are at the point now where they can do these in less time.)  
• Until this last week, technology has never been a required means for a product.  If the technology is making your child's assignments stretch out for hours at a time, he/she probably shouldn't be using that form of technology for that assignment.  
• Students should set up a routine for completing homework to lessen the stress at home.  A sample routine might be: spelling assignment on Saturday, other assignment on Monday, post on the wiki on Tuesday, and blog on Thursday.
• If your child is stuck or has a question, please shoot me an email.  I have a few email buddies who write me each week for clarification.  These wonderful parents always seem worried that they are bothering me, but that couldn't be farther from the truth!  I love that they are asking before their child gets to the stressed-out point. Please let me help you if I can!

6.  Speaking of homework, we started the Homework Hotline last week. The 3 kids who came got a ton of work done in that hour. In fact, 2 of them got their entire projects done or almost done! The Homework Hotline will meet this Tuesday from 3:00 - 4:00. Please remember that in order for your child to attend, you must fill out and turn in the Homework Hotline pass so we know what your child's top priorities should be.

7.  This week's Homework Menu is now posted. All activities on the menu are due this Friday.

8.  Your child should post his/her 7th book this week on the wikispace. Most kids are doing a tremendous job of keeping up with (or surpassing) this expectation. If your child is behind, remember that the Homework Hotline time could be spent for this task.

9.  Most kids are caught up with their blogs. Please check with your child and make sure he/she has blogged a response for each week to this point. I will post this week's question on Sunday.

10.  Report cards will be coming soon. On the first report card, 4th graders are held responsible for being able to complete 100 addition problems in 5 minutes and 100 subtraction problems in 5 minutes. Please check with your child to see if he/she has met this requirement yet. If he/she hasn't, remember that flash cards are extremely helpful for developing this skill. Also, there are printable drills on my website you can use at any time. Our final drill for the first Nine Weeks grades will be this Friday.

Week 7

If you haven't heard from your child yet, my husband and I are expecting our first child! I'm currently 8 weeks along and absolutely thrilled! I don't think I knew that it was possible to feel so much love and joy for someone I've never even held or met. We are blessed beyond measure!! Here's a pic of our little jelly bean:

I want to make sure to thank all of the parents who worked so hard to make our Movie Night such a success! The turnout was so much greater than we anticipated, and the kids had an amazing time. Thanks for your involvement and your time! 


Here are this week's main events:


1.  The final payment for the Austin/San Antonio field trip is due Friday.  If you are going with your child, your final payment is $80.  If your child is going alone, your final payment is $35.  If you helped with Movie Night, your cost will be less; I will email you your final amount on Monday.


2.  This week's Homework Menu is posted and ready for your viewing pleasure. We started the first activity today in the computer lab, and your child should have the brainstorming sheet in his/her Take-Home Folder. Your child should have started the second activity last week. Both activities are due Friday. (We will do a spelling activity in class this week instead of including it as a homework assignment.)


3.  Please take time to go over your child's portfolio with your child, fill out the reflection form, and send everything back on Monday.


4.  Your child should be finishing his/her fifth book this weekend. Remember, all books must be posted on the wikispace for your child to receive credit. 

HELPFUL HINT: Some parents are having their kids type their information in a Word document first. They are then copying and pasting the information on the wiki and/or the blog so that there is less chance of losing what they have written.

5.  If your child has not posted on the blog yet, he/she needs to do so by Sunday.  Next week's question will be up by Sunday.


6.  Clubs begin this week!  (I really have no more information than that, but I thought it was worth mentioning!)  : )