WELCOME TO OUR CLASSROOM Please sign in at

• • • WELCOME TO OUR CLASSROOM Please sign in at the back table next to your child’s name. Find your child’s seat. Please write a special note for your child and leave it on the desk. I know this will make him/her smile! The other paper is for notes. Check out your child’s DATA BINDER.

Thanks for sharing your child with me this year!

All About Me ~ Born in Wyoming ~ High School in Holland ~ Graduated from the University of Wyoming ~ Married for 10 years ~ 2 kids- Hannah & Ross ~ This is my 12 th year of teaching ( 8 yrs in Texas, 4 th year in AZ) ~ 2 nd Grade-7 years ~ 3 rd Grade-2 years ~ 6 th Grade-1 year ~ 4 th Grade- 2 nd year

This year we get the opportunity to have two Teacher Candidates… Miss Li. Brandi (1 st Semester) & Mrs. Banghart (2 nd Semester) CO-TEACHING

All About Miss Li. Brandi -Born in Long Beach, California -Twin brother Joe -AZ Native for 17 yrs -Graduated from Mountain Ridge High School -Attending NAU and graduating in December!

Fourth Grade Expectations

Overview of Reading

Weekly Harcourt Story Organized into themes • 1 st theme is “You Can Do It!” • Focus of this year for reading: • • Strategies • Individual/small group needs • Finding root causes for gaps in learning, and filling those gaps. • Stretching students into more mature, confident readers • State is moving to Common Core Standards • More rigorous • Focus on language development as a whole – reading, writing, speaking, and listening…across the curriculum.

Weekly Skills • Fluency – Students will work towards reading smoothly with accuracy and expression. • Comprehension – Students will use strategies to help them understand what they read. – Harcourt to introduce skills – Literature studies and Expository Text studies to practice. • Vocabulary – Students will use knowledge of root words and affixes to determine the meaning of unknown words. • Remediation/Enrichment

Overview of Math

Math state standards can be found at… • Common Core Math Standards as well • http: //www. ade. state. az. us/ • https: //www. pearsonsuccessnet. com • User name: MRGrade 4 student • Password: MRGRADE 4

State Standards • 4 th Year of Adoption • Lessons based on Arizona State Standards • Hands-on activities to build foundational skills • Real-world problem solving skills

Math Goals • Last year, 83% of the students met or exceeded in Math. • NCLB mandates that 100% of students meet or exceed by 2014. • In order to meet goal, this years students must gain at least 6%. • Our goal is for 89% or more to meet or exceed. • Of course we are shooting for 100%

Flex Grouping • Purpose – to group students who have common readiness to tackle a skill or set of skills. • Mr. Lyons, Mrs. Orr, Mrs. Copenhaver will contact you by email. • Teach according to needs • Pre-test/Post-test • Regroup as necessary

Timed Fact Tests • Purpose: Students need to be fluent in their facts so that when they get to multi-step multiplication, division, and fractions, it is easier for them and they can focus on the process rather than the facts. • Fact fluency makes math easier and more fun. • Goal • Multiplication: Facts 1’s though 12’s; 50 facts in 2 minutes • Division: Facts 1’s through 12’s; 100 facts in 5 minutes • Please help at home • Study in the car • At dinner • Free time • Flash cards

Overview of Writing

Writing For 4 th Grade Across the Curriculum

4 th Grade Students will be assessed using the Six Traits’ Rubric • Clearly communicate ideas • Organize ideas in a logical manner • Choose words appropriately to communicate ideas and paint mental pictures (Word Choice) • Demonstrate Voice • Use well written sentence structure to support sentence fluency • Use appropriate grammar, punctuation and spelling (Conventions)

4 th Grade Writing Portfolio Evidence Expressive – Personal narrative, story, poetry, skit Expository – Expository paragraphs, essay, summary, Newspaper, article, reflective, paper, log, journal Functional - letters, invitations, messages, thank you notes, directions, recipes, procedures, rubrics, labels, graphs/tables Persuasive - advertisement, paragraph Literary Response - reflection to a Literature selection; journal entry, book review, response to a literature selection Research – Informational report

Overview of Social Studies

Field Trips are an important part of experiencing Social Studies!

What materials will we use to teach social studies? ok o b t x Te Internet Simula tions

Types of Instruction? • Reading instruction • Hands-on activities • Project based • Integrated writing

Overview of Science

STEM • • S – Science T – Technology E – Engineering M - Mathematics

Weather! • Weather is our school wide focus. • Weather Bug- Gathering info. every morning. • The Common Core Standards for Language Arts pushes more speaking and writing standards into content areas such as science. • “Science Talk”

FOSS SCIENCE • Water • Landforms • Electricity & Magnetism • Environments

Water Watchers • Glendale Water Department • Focus is on principles conservation of water in Arizona • Related to Project Wet

Overview of Spelling

Sitton Spelling • Focus is learning spelling strategies and skills • Word lists of 20 words not given out. • Students can differentiate their challenge level by bumping up to using multisyllabic words for their conceptual assignments.

Weekly Spelling • Spelling test on THURSDAY – Friday- We will go over the skills and concepts of the week. – Students have the weekend, plus Monday – Wednesday to complete the activities. – Thursday is an oral test. – The next unit is given out on Friday and the cycle repeats.

Fun Stuff • Birthdays…Please let me know if you are bringing treats so I can plan accordingly. • Bring plates/napkins/plastic knife to cut it etc. • ROOM PARENT for parties!!! • Volunteers…Make sure you are trained. Next class is Volunteer Basic Training • 2011 -2012 Open Volunteer Training Dates AUGUST 30 - 9: 30 MEDIA CENTER

TICKETS • Students are given tickets for coming to school, participating in class, doing homework, doing what is right without being asked, helping others, etc. • Owe me tickets if they don’t do homework, don’t follow our school/classroom rules, etc. • Auction: candy, popcorn, free homework pass, sit at Viper Desk, sit by friend, sit in rolling chair, have lunch with me, character counts slips, mystery box. • They have earned this!!! Good motivation to work hard and do what is right! • Donate items/toys…THANK YOU!

Peanut Free/Snack Time • Please make sure to not bring snacks that contain peanuts. • Lunch: It’s okay if you have a peanut butter sandwich, just make sure it is in a ziplock bag. • SNACK TIME & WATER BOTTLE- Students are allowed to bring a HEALTHY (peanut free) snack to class. Please make sure your child brings a water bottle, it is so hot outside and they need to stay hydrated.

WWP/Grades • WWP=Wednesday Work Packets – ALL graded work will come home on Wednesdays. Papers will be stapled together with a half sheet on the front. Tells how many papers are attached. – REDOS= If you child scored below a 70% it is considered a REDO. Student needs to correct and return paper. Grade will stay the same, but correcting paper will clear up misconceptions. – SIGNATURE= Parents need to sign WWP, due on Friday.

Retake Contract • What is the retake contract? • Allows students the opportunity to demonstrate mastery. If your child doesn’t do well on an assignment, they can fill out the contract, do all the steps expected, and return with your signature. A different test will be given. • Not about the grades, it’s about the understanding!!!

Homework BE RESPONSIBLE!!!! • Every night your child will have homework. • Math WS/Facts-turned in next day • Spelling-turned in on Thursday • Read 20 min. & record main idea each night. Journal/notebook paper, etc. -turn in Friday • Tuesday Newsday-turned in Tuesday • Study Vocab words-test Friday • WWP- turned in Friday • It is imperative that homework is completed and turned in on time. • Notes, calling a friend, rewriting, etc.

My Website • Please check my website every Sunday night. • I put a lot of time and energy into updating this site so let’s use it! • http: //mrscopenhaver. weebly. com

Power School • You are able to access your child’s attendance and grades online. • Go to http: //ps. dvusd. org • There is a new system for logging in. • If you go to the page, you can download detailed instructions of what to do.

Questions

Thank you for coming to curriculum night! It’s going to be an amazing year! Keep in touch. We are a team working together to help your child! YES!