Mrs. Alabakoff's 4th/5th GradeDearborn Public Schools

Sep 5th Reminders

Thank you so much for sending your children with all the great supplies!  It has really made for a smooth beginning of the year.

Open House will be September 13th, 6-7:30.  I am looking forward to meeting everyone!  For those who are interested in sending their child to camp, there will be a meeting at 6:45-7:15 in Ms. Courtright’s room to answer any quick questions.

One last thing—if you are interested in chaperoning any field trips this year, please update your ICHAT and copy your driver’s license and insurance in the office as soon as you can.  Doing it ahead of time, will save time so you are set for the year.  These things need to be updated every year.  Please let me know if you have any questions!

Thank you 🙂

Sep 5th Eureka Math

Tonight students are bringing home their Math homework book.  They have several Math books, but the homework book has the word SUCCEED in the corner.  When the students have homework, it is a practice of what we have done in class.  There are a couple pages before the homework that explains how we did it in class.  Hopefully this will be helpful to you as parents, since this is a little different than may have been done in the past.  For some, this is an adjustment, but the students will catch on quickly.

It has been a hot couple of days, but tomorrow should be better!

Sep 4th Welcome to Fourth Grade

Welcome Back to School!   I am very excited to get to know all the students and families.  I am glad that many people have subscribed to the blog to receive regular updates.  I will generally post each week and also post reminders for upcoming events!

This week has started out very hot, so we are doing our best to get through it!  The students have been such troopers!  I am so proud of them and I am already seeing great behavior.

Please make sure you check the planner and sign it nightly.  It is a great communication tool.  You may write me notes or ask questions and I will check it each afternoon.  I will also stamp or initial it as well.

This week we are learning:

Spelling–Our focus this week is short vowels.  The students write the words in their planner every Monday and they will have a test on Friday.  They will have 10 words with the spelling pattern, along with 4 content words and a word of the week.  The word of the week is a new vocabulary word and students will need to know the meaning as well as the spelling for the test.  This is a great way for them to “grow” their vocabulary.  Students love to learn these new challenging words.

Writer’s Workshop–We are working a short descriptive piece for writing.  It will give me an opportunity to get to know the students as writers.  We are working on identifying and adding descriptive language to our piece of writing.

Daily 5/CAFE–The students have retained a lot of the Daily 5 from last year!  So far, we have reviewed Read to Self and practiced our Stamina, talked about choosing books with the I PICK and also practice the strategy of compare and contrast.  We did text to text connections with a partner.    It is always helpful if you ask your child about the things they are learning in Daily 5/CAFE and of course your child should spend time reading each night.

We will also begin our NWEA Reading testing this week.

Math–In the next couple weeks, you will become more familiar with our new Math—Eureka Math.  Students will generally have a bit of homework in Math.  This week we are working on comparisons of multiplication with powers of 10.

Social Studies–We will begin Social Studies with the five themes of geography.  We will focus on maps and globes and identifying continents, hemispheres and learn about absolute and relative location.

Looking forward  to a great year!

Stay Cool!

Jun 5th Picnic Signup!

Hi All –

May 31st Camp for Next Year!

As of today, May 30, we only have 16 students attending camp in the fall. We need a minimum of 45 campers to go. Please return your pink/purple permission slip by Friday! If you plan to send your child to camp, also include the $100 deposit.

May 30th Tiger Game

May 24th Please Support!

May 23rd 5th Grade promotion — Help Needed

Volunteers are needed to help with 5th grade promotion.  4th grade parents usually volunteer to help because it is helpful to see what to expect for next year.

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080445a9ad28a02-setupand

May 17th Parent Workshop

Upcoming Parent Workshop at DuVall – 10 Ways to Stop Defiance, Disrespect & Yelling Workshop  1 FREE Workshop. No Need to Register.

Thursday, May 17    6:30pm – 8:00pm
DuVall Elementary School / 22561 Beech Street / Dearborn, MI 48124

Celebrate Calm Founder Kirk Martin, and his son, Casey, will provide parents and teachers with a dozen strategies that will eliminate defiance, disrespect, yelling, bullying, sibling fights and more at home and in school. Kirk provides concrete, practical strategies that work with kids ages 2-22 in everyday situations to:

• Get your kids to listen the first time.
• Stop defiance, disrespect, and yelling.
• Stop whining, tantrums and sibling fights.
• Get kids off video games/screens without a fight.
• Create stress-free mornings, homework time and bedtime.

Visit https://CelebrateCalm.com/attend-live-events for a sneak peak of what you will experience. Arrive early for the special Q&A with Kirk (that begins 10 minutes prior to the workshop beginning).

May 17th Veterans Project

Below is a link to the Sign-Up Genius for the Ice Cream Social! If you’re interested in helping out please sign up! This is our final event of the school year!! Let’s make it a great one!