Mrs.Whitford's 4th grade

A few important notes about Reading activities going on at Maples:

Bike For Books)

1. We will begin this Saturday! Students received a flyer a few days ago. The event ends April 30th.
2. Tickets will be given to students for completing their reading log. Each day’s worth a work counts as 1 ticket.
3. A “Boys” and “Girls” bucket is in the main office and we will turn in tickets at the end of the school week until the event ends.
4. After April 30th, there will be a raffle using the tickets turned in and 2 students will win a new bicycle (1 boy and 1 girl)

Next week we are having Spirit Week. Each day is a different theme!
Monday 26: Mismatch/backward day

Tuesday 27: Maples colors/spirit day (wear maples T shirts or red and white)

Wednesday 28: Crazy Hair Day

Thursday 29: Pajama Day

I will send home information about work to do over break next week. Thanks and have a good weekend!

Good morning!
March is off to a great start so far! This month is National Reading Month. Students brought home a calendar of activities to complete at home for the month. Students who return there sheet on Monday, April 9th with a parent signature will receive a prize from the Literacy committee. We are also hosting Literacy Night on Wednesday, March 28th here at Maples from 4:30-6PM.

Happy Reading!

Hello!

I hope you had a good winter break. Can you believe February is just about over?

Maples has begun a new online program to help students in Math, Reading, and Language Arts. It is called Exact Path.
This morning, students had a chance to login and try it out! Overall, it seems like something they enjoyed doing and are excited to continue using it for the remainder of the school year. I also believe students will have access to their accounts during Summer break, so they can be more prepared for Middle School!

Below is a link to a helpful parent letter I found. I will also send you a link to any other resources that may be helpful with this.
Please remind your child that while this is fun and exciting, it is not just a game. Exact Path will begin at your child’s level and will work on skills they need the most help with. Some students are working on 2nd grade reading skills while others are on 8th grade reading skills. Each student has their own path, but some assignments may be given to the whole group.

Try it out this week with your child and if you have any questions about it please let me know. This is new for everyone so I will try my best to assist you.

Thanks!
-Mrs. Whitford

What is Exact Path?

Hello!

Winter break will be all next week, no school for all Dearborn Public Schools.

Students will be given a packet based on the novel their group is reading to complete over break. Students will also be able to log into Prodigy for math practice.

Prodigy is a free site that we have been trying out this week in class. Each student has their own account linked to their Google logins.

There is an option to create a paid account, but please do not feel you have to. The main difference is the students can personalize their character and change the color and theme of the website, the paid account has no impact on the material or what they can practice in math.

The link is: https://www.prodigygame.com/Play/

Thanks to all who donated items for our class’ Valentine’s day celebration! Enjoy your break!

Hello,
Many of our class work assignments are done using online tools. We use Google Classroom, ReadWorks, and aaaspell.com to help cut down on the paper usage and to keep students aware of technology. We are heading into a time where most jobs will done using a computer of some form and it is very beneficial that students develop a basic understanding of computers to help them in their future lives as middle, high school, and college students as well as into their careers.

We currently have articles in ReadWorks with comprehension questions, writing pieces (monthly writing menu and hyperbole/alliteration slides), and spelling activities assigned to every student. These are all in class assignments, not homework. We have about 1 hour of time each day where students are able to work on these assignments, averaging to 5 hours a week, and about 20 hours per month to complete this work. Students are told ahead of time when they are due, we go over directions and examples, and students are reminded daily of what needs to be done. Our board displays what is to be done while students are in class so if they do forget and need a reminder, they can look at the board or ask.

In the event that school is cancelled, students may access any of these tools and work at home if they have computer access.

If you have any questions, please let me know.
Thanks and stay warm and safe!

-Mrs. Whitford

Good morning!

We are just about done with testing for Winter (there are a few students who were absent or did not finish in time. They will have time this coming week).

Just an update for all our subject areas on what we’re focusing on as we go into February.

Math) Fractions!! Adding, subtracting, multiplying and dividing fractions! We will have a few in class activities and homework sent home a few days these next few weeks all about fractions. Please remind your student to use the Fractions Flipbook we created in class. It will be very helpful for all the homework.

Social Studies) We are heading back to Colonial America. We have studied the first unsuccessful colony of Roanoke and will be going more in depth with Jamestown starting this coming week. A quiz on Jamestown will be given Friday. We will check it in class and students will be able to use it as a resource when we take the unit test in March.

ELA) We will continue our reading groups. The goal for all groups is to have our novel studies before we have our February winter break. No matter which book your child has, we have activities and assignments due for our novel study groups. We will also continue spelling and learning more about grammar and writing structures.

TDA) Ask your child about TDA! Text Dependent Analysis. Mrs. Jaber is joining our class 4 days a week in helping us analyze texts and answer questions using the TDA format in order to help us on our up coming M-Step testing. We will begin M-Step right after spring break! I know it sounds far away, but it will be here before we know it!

As always, if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please feel free to message me on Dojo or email.

Have a great weekend!
– Mrs.Whitford

This week we will be NWEA testing Tuesday and Thursday. Language testing will be Tuesday, Thursday will be Science. Friday we will have some time for make ups and for students to finish if they have not completed any test.

Friday is also a half day, dismissal at 11:45. No lunches are served so make sure your student brings a snack to class.

Thanks and have a great week!
– Mrs. Whitford

I hope you enjoyed your day off!

Tomorrow we will be getting back to Social Studies. We will also get new spelling words and start a new Opinion piece for writing.

Wednesday students will begin their Math NWEA testing and have time to finish Thursday and Friday.

Wednesday is also a late start day so hopefully students get plenty of rest and a good breakfast before testing!

We will have the Language and Science tests next week with a final make up day next Friday.

Thanks so much and hope your 2018 is off to a great start!

~ Mrs. Whitford

We will begin NWEA testing tomorrow morning. Please make sure your child gets a good nights sleep and has breakfast! We are starting with reading this week!

Next week we will be testing Math and Science.

Hello and happy 2018!

Here are some updates about this week:
– Science test Friday (review notes and handouts)
– Spelling test Friday (new words and Tic Tac Toe sheets sent home Monday)
– Math homework 3 nights this week

We will be going back to Social Studies next week and picking up where we left off in Early America.

Hope you had a good break!
– Mrs.Whitford