Christmas! December 15-19

Dearest Families,

I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you a few things. First, I am so thankful for this wonderful job. As you know, teaching is a lot of work but it is SO worth it! How can I not be happy when I get to serve and love children all day? What a blessing it is that I get to be your child's teacher. Thank you so much for sharing them with me. I love each one of them. Truly! They are all so special to me. 

Secondly, Christmas might just be my favorite time of year. I am not sure though I have lots of favorites. I love that for a little bit we all take time to be kinder, sweeter,and just open our eyes to each other! That alone makes this time of year magical. Last but not least, I love the Christmas music on the radio. Does it make you as happy a it makes me? Your children have had a large dose of it at school. One of my favorite stations on Pandora is Variations of Pachabel's Cannon in D. It is just LOVELY. It is all instrumental music and very calming. If you love music as much as I do check it out! I hope you have a beautiful break from school. Enjoy those little munchkins of yours! I will miss them for sure. School will resume on Monday, January 5, 2015. 

Love and Merry Christmas,

Ms. T

This week:

NO SPELLING (Merry Christmas Mom's and Dad's!! :)) I swear sometimes spelling homework is more work for us. It's like pulling teeth at my house! Enjoy the little break. There will be homework in the form of worksheets. They will be review and they should still read 20 minutes each night. Monday night there will be no math homework. We are taking a math test in class. 

-Friday is a half day and Crazy Christmas outfit day- No pajamas please

-Canned Food Drive ends Friday..thanks to all who have supported this!

-Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Class Party Friday!

The kids did a WONDERFUL job at Marketplace. We all had a lot of fun and learned a lot too! Thank you for all of your help. Also, thank you so much for all the donations that have been sent in! I really appreciate you!!!

December 8-12

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The children did such a wonderful job on Galileo I saw a lot of growth! I am so happy! What smart little people they are. Thank you so much for your help in feeding them breakfast and getting a good rest each night. 

This week we will begin our literature study of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I have so many fun projects planned for this unit! Who doesn't love chocolate week!! We will be doing all kinds of writing, science, reading, and math that correlate with candy. I think the students are going to really enjoy it and learn a lot in the process. 

Our class Christmas party will be Friday, December 19th. It is a half day. We will be having a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Party. Here is the link to the items we still need for our class.

We're using VolunteerSpot (the leading online signup and reminder tool) to organize our upcoming signups.

Here's how it works in 3 easy steps:

1) Click this link to see our Sign-Up on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/RTrxL6
2) Review the options listed and choose the spot(s) you like.
3) Sign up! It's Easy - you will NOT need to register an account or keep a password on VolunteerSpot.

Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.

Upcoming Events:

Wednesday: Half Day 11:30 dismissal Gingerbread Day 

Thursday: 12/11- Christmas Concert-Students arrive to my classroom at 6:40

Friday: Market Place! I am excited to see all the fun things students bring!

Spelling List:(short due to the half day and market place) 

1. journey
2. journal
3. courage
4. laid
5. lay
6. package
7. pack
8. physical
9. praise
10. properly
11. searched
12. smooth
13. thirteen
14. throat
15. touch
16. towel
17. umbrella
18. weapon
19. lose
20. loose

Greatness Projects! A flier with information about the Leader in Me Greatness projects were sent home Friday. Please check those out!

Don't forget to send in your canned food for our canned food drive. We are hoping to get 5 cans per student or more! Thank you to all who have helped! 

A few fun things.....we have been learning all about flowers and seeds. We dissected flowers yesterday and the kids had so much fun getting up close and personal with flowers. 

December 1-5

In my humble opinion....one of the best Christmas movies ever. 

Merry Christmas Families,

I hope everyone had a lovely Thanksgiving break filled with family, fun, and turkey! Our Christmas Break is right around the corner, only three weeks of school until then! This upcoming week we will be taking our second official Galileo test. We have been focusing on the Science standards in class. I hope the kids feel confident. I am confident in them and their abilities. Please help your child be ready to focus for this test by getting a good nights sleep and eating a healthy breakfast. We will be reviewing Monday and taking the test Tuesday-Thursday. I am hoping we finish Pollyanna our Core Knowledge Literature book this week. If so then we can watch Pollyanna and compare the book and the movie for the last part of the day on Friday as a reward for testing. 

Galileo will be taking a lot of my class time this week because of this we will not have spelling homework or a test. I will also be testing each child's reading abilities one on one for the next few weeks. You will see the results of these tests with the next report card your child receives.

I love to incorporate academics and holiday fun at this time of year. I will need some donations to do this. If you are a soda drinker like me and frequent QT I need 24 large dome shaped lids. (The ones they use for slurpees) If you could grab a few when you go in and send them in to me that would be AWESOME. I like to use these for a writing project this time of year! THANK YOU! Here is a list of donations our class needs. If you could send them in this week by Friday that would be WONDERFUL!

Science:
THESE BOTH NEED TO BE Original BUBBLE GUM FLAVOR***
Bubble Yum- Sugar free gum 24 pieces AND Bubble Yum regular gum 24 pieces
- 2 boxes of Gobstoppers
1 pkg. Reeses, M&M's, Kit Kat

Writing:
Slurpee dome lids - 24 large

Reading:
Various candies for gingerbread house decorating ex. red-hots, m&m's, peppermints..etc
5 tubs vanilla frosting

General: Clorox Wipes

Healthy Note:
There have been some REALLY bad germs going around, we will be cloroxing the room at least twice a week to keep these germs at bay.


Reminder: The holiday market is two weeks away. Please make sure your student has their goods to sell! :)

Have a wonderful week! We will be working hard in class.

Love,

Ms. T

November 17-21

Dear Treasures,

I just want all of you to know...children and parents how thankful I am for YOU! I love being a teacher at ALA Gilbert. I truly believe it is the best school filled with the best students, parents, teachers, and staff. It is a wonderful thing to love your job. Thank you for being involved and supporting your students and ME! I know I can always count on you for help in the classroom and sending in donations. It means a lot to have parents invested in their child's education. I love coming to school each day and seeing all of my cute students happy and ready to learn. I love them so much! 

With that said...we have a lot of kids absent :( It is cold and flu season. I am doing my best to keep germs at bay sanitizing the classroom and washing hands. If your child has a fever please keep them home. It is much better for them to get rest. 

This year we are switching it up a bit in 4th grade and having a Pilgrim Pie Party! Please bring in a pie of your choice, ready to serve. (If you could cut the pie slices into it that would be SUPER helpful..then we can just serve the pie.) Any pie is perfect! We will be having our pie party with the other fourth grade classes just like the Pilgrims and Indians all brought food to share with each other on Thanksgiving. I will be sending a sign up via Volunteer Spot for plates, napkins, utensils, water bottles, parent helpers and pies! All are invited to celebrate with us. 

We're using VolunteerSpot (the leading online signup and reminder tool) to organize our upcoming activity.

Please sign up for Pilgrim Pie Party!

Here's how it works in 3 easy steps: 
1. Click this link to go to our invitation page on VolunteerSpot: http://vols.pt/y8xqeL
2. Enter your email address: (You will NOT need to register an account on VolunteerSpot)
3. Sign up! Choose your spots - VolunteerSpot will send you an automated confirmation and reminders. Easy!

Note: VolunteerSpot does not share your email address with anyone. If you prefer not to use your email address, please contact me and I can sign you up manually.

Spelling Words:

1. statement
2. state
3. perhaps
4. their
5. they
6. imprison
7. written
8. writ
9. arrange
10. ankle
11. appears
12. bracelet
13. brace
14. breathe
15. breath
16. calm
17. circus
18. consented
19. continued
20. continue
21. dangerous
22. debt
23. dried
24. dry
25. exhaust
26. exercise
27. explosion
28. grammar
29. Indian

FIELD TRIP PERMISSION SLIPS DUE! Friday we will be taking a walking science field trip to the park. We will be observing plant and animal life.

November 10-14

Happy Veterans Day! 

Veteran's Day is Tuesday, November 11th. Remember there is No School that day! Enjoy! 

Monday, November 10th we will be celebrating Veterans at our school. A lunch for all first responders and Veterans will be held from 12:00-2:00. Every student is welcome to attend the special lunch with the Veteran or first responder they invite. We will have a special program that day for the students and visitors. All boy scouts are invited to wear their uniforms Monday. 

Thank you to all who serve our country!

No School- Tuesday November 11th

Progress Reports will be sent home Monday, November 11th. Please sign and return the reports Wednesday. This will be a leadership grade to have the reports returned on time.

Thanksgiving Break- November 26-28

Class Thanksgiving Feast Tuesday, November 25. Look for a sign up email coming soon!

Spelling List (Short because of Tuesday no school)

1. themselves
2. self
3. calves
4. halves
5. half
6. special
7. present
8. present
9. action
10. act
11. justice
12. just
13. gentleman
14. gentle
15. enclose
16. await
17. suppose
18. wonderful
19. forward
20. backward
21. toward
22. although
23. prompt
24. attempt
25. whose
26. who

November 3-7

Hello Awesome Families,

Thank you for all of your help for the Halloween Party! It was a HIT. A big shout out to the Cobb family for planning the party and supplying much of the goods/games for the shindig. Thank you!! Everyone had so much fun.

There will not be a book report for November and December, due to the holiday breaks. I want each student to be working on their market place items instead. Most of the ideas have come in and been approved. *** If I do not have your child's permission slip for market place please help them get it finished. Thank you parents for your help and supervision of this activity. I believe it will be a great learning experience for the students.


Thank you for all of your help!

Love,  Ms. T

Important Dates:

11/5- 11:30 dismissal (Half Day)

11/7-Friday 9:45 am- Mile Run at the park
Progress Reports will be sent home

11/10-Veteran's Day Program

11/11- NO SCHOOL Veteran's Day

Spelling Words:

1. relative
2. relate
3. progress
4. progress
5. entire
6. president
7. preside
8. famous
9. fame
10. serve
11. estate
12. remember
13. either
14. effort
15. due
16. dew
17. include
18. allow
19. position
20. ledge
21. claim
22. primary
23. result
24. appoint
25. information
26. whom
27. who
28. arrest

Classroom Fun

Fractions: Fraction Kit Fun!

Halloween Party

October 27-31

Hooray for Halloween!

Hello All,

We completed Galileo testing! The kids were spectacular. This week we will be writing a lot. We will be writing some poetry and a For Sale advertisement for a Haunted House. It should be fun! 

The Halloween party will start at 12:30 on Friday. The students may change into their costumes during lunch. They may not wear face paint OR masks to school. Please make sure that your child's costume is school appropriate or they will be asked to change back into regular clothes. (Basically, no scary costumes. I trust your judgement on that.) The school parade will begin promptly at 2pm, all are invited! Please come. You may take your child home after the parade. I hope everyone has a fun and SAFE Halloween. 

Holiday Marketplace....The fourth grade team uses class money as a reward and discipline tool. Every week each child is paid for their class job and rewarded money for good behavior. At the end of the quarter we want to give them an opportunity to "spend" their hard earned money. We have decided to hold a holiday marketplace. This will allow each student to practice using their leadership skills and take pride in themselves. I have talked to the class and handed out permission slips this week. They were to talk to you  (they will need your help) to decide what they could make to sell at the Holiday Market. The goal is for them to make inexpensive crafts to sell and buy. It will be a great little lesson in business. I would like as many students to make a craft as possible. They have to come up with the supplies for the craft and make the craft at home. All items MUST be hand made. Pinterest is a great site that I like to use personally for craft ideas. There are lots of fun ideas there. Here are a few:

The kids are so excited and I think this will be fun for them. I will not be assigning a book report for December so they can work on their market place goods instead. They will get to shop ALL 3 classrooms, set the price for their items to be sold, plan their "shop", and be in charge of selling their goods and handling incoming money. A great learning experience and fun for ALL! I can't wait to see what they think up. The permission slips are due Monday. I may hand back slips for kids to re-think their ideas. We talked about demand the other day and what a consumer would actually like to buy. A lot of students wanted to draw pictures and although that is a good idea, I asked them if they would want to spend their money on a picture? Or would they want to buy a treat or a gift for their family members or themselves instead? I asked them to think about what they would want to buy and then think of an item to sell that would be similar to that. Their goods are to sell for the entire fourth grade so they should provide at least 30-40 items as a team or 15-20 per person. 

Market place permission slips are due Monday.

Market place will be Friday December 12, 2014

12:15-12:45- set up shops

12:45-2:30- shop and sell

Thank you for your help and support!

Ms. Tidwell 

Spelling Words:

1. trial
2. voyage
3. whisper
4. wrong
5. sometimes
6. engage
7. final
8. terrible
9. surprise
10. period
11. addition
12. employ
13. property
14. select
15. connection
16. connect
17. firm
18. region
19. religion
20. convict
21. private
22. command
23. debate
24. crowd
25. factory
26. publish
27. represent
28. term
29. section

October 20-October 24

Dear Fourth Grade Families,

Oh my Goodness! The class did such an amazing job at the assembly Friday! It was a lot of hard work but it sure paid off. They were so proud of themselves! I was so proud of them. I don't have any pictures or video YET of the performance. If any of you have video or pictures I would love it if you would send them to me so I can share them with everyone. What an awesome class! We did Hershey bar fractions on Friday for Math. We also created our own lunar eclipse. Ask your student about it! 

Love, Ms. T

Important Events:

October 30- Biography Book Report Due. Please include how the person you have picked exhibits one of the seven habits in the contributions section of the book report. ( There are extra book report forms in class if your student needs one)

October 31: Halloween Party- ( EEEE!!! I love Halloween so much!!!) Our class mom will be contacting you soon for help if you filled out a class volunteer sheet. 

Halloween Parade 2PM- Please come and watch us in our costumes. You may also take your child home with you after the parade. 

If you have any questions please email me anytime my email is dtidwell@alaschools.org

Spelling:

1. button
2. cabbage
3. careful
4. cough
5. cousin
6. dollars
7. excuse
8. excuse
9. island
10. grief
11. guard
12. guilty
13. hungry
14. language
15. laughter
16. laugh
17. lining
18. line
19. ocean
20. nephew
21. nineteen
22. noticed
23. notice
24. passengers
25. remained
26. retreating
27. style
28. subtract
29. tailor
30. thumb

October 13-17th

Happy October

Good Morning and Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a fun and safe October Break! I am looking forward to this next quarter and all of the exciting things we have to learn and do. 

Our performance is THIS FRIDAY! All parents are invited to come. The kids have been working SO hard. I am excited for you to see their hard work. I would like every child to memorize their parts. I sent a copy of the whole production home before break. (Especially IF they have a singing solo/duet.)

Every child needs to bring a black cape and a flashlight or glow stick of some sort by Wednesday. We will have a dress rehearsal Thursday. 

Important Dates: 

Friday, October 17th 8am- Friday Assembly Production

Friday, October 31- Halloween Party and School Costume Parade (Time TBD)

Happy Birthday Wishes October Birthdays!

Elle-October 17th

Rustin- October 29th

BOOK REPORT

Our next book report is a biography. Book Report Due October 30th. Book Report forms were handed out before break. They may choose ANYONE they want to do the book report on as long as it is an appropriate person for school. :) Please list in the book report how that person has used one of the 7 habits effectively in their lives. 

Spelling Words:

1. writing
2. writer
3. write
4. auto
5. vacation
6. beautiful
7. beauty
8. flight
9. travel
10. rapid
11. repair
12. troubling
13. trouble
14. entrance
15. importance
16. important
17. carried
18. carry
19. loss
20. fortune
21. empire
22. mayor
23. wait
24. degree
25. prison
26. sail
27. sale
28. cities
29. city
30. known 
31. know

Have a great week! I sure missed these sweet students of mine and am so glad to be back to school. 

Love,

Ms. Tidwell

September 29-October 3

Dear Families,

I can't believe it is only one more week until October Break! I have a lot of fun things planned for this week. We will be building bridges, doing some fun things with fractions, and celebrating reaching our class goal of 10,000 pages read so far this year! The kids have decided to watch a movie Friday. We haven't decided which one yet, we will vote today.  Also, a huge thank you to everyone who supported the Nacho stand at the carnival. We could not have done it with out your generous contributions to our class! A big thanks to the parents who helped work the stand it was so fun to get to talk with you for a few moments and get to know you! I think you are ALL wonderful parents, I can tell because I work with your lovely children each day.  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!!! I hope everyone has a fun and safe October Break. I will miss the chiddlers. 

**We have nachos and chips left over so Friday our class will enjoy nachos with our movie! 

With Love,

Ms. Tidwell

FRIDAY ASSEMBLY: October 17th Getting down to the wire!! 

Our class Friday presentation is October 17th. The week after October Break. I will be holding solo auditions Thursday. The kids will get a copy of the song to take home Tuesday with the parts they can audition for. It would be BEST if they have the part they want to sing memorized. Here is the link to the song and lyrics. We will also need props for this song. At the end the lights will go out and the kids will shine flash lights into the crowd. I'd like each child to bring a flashlight or glow stick to use. I will not collect these until the week after break. 

Owl City Lyrics :SHINE YOUR WAY"

For our introduction for the play (since it is Halloween time) we are going to do a tiny piece to The Phantom of the Opera. I will also need a PHANTOM to pretend to play the piano VERY THEATRICALLY. There will be auditions for this part as well. This child will need to provide a phantom MASK and cape. 

Question: Does anyone have those cheap masquerade masks lying around? I just thought I would ask, if not I am going to order some from Oriental Trading company. 

ARE THERE ANY THEATER OR MUSICAL PARENTS THAT WOULD LIKE TO HELP ME WITH PRACTICES????? 

This is going to be SO fun!! I can't wait. 

Spelling Words: 

1. explain
2. floated
3. ghost
4. holiday
5. holy
6. knee
7. lemon
8. lying
9. lie
10. nails
11. needle
12. nobody
13. oar
14. palace
15. penny
16. regular
17. repeats
18. sailor
19. sentence
20. shining
21. shine
22. surface
23. sweeping
24. sweeps
25. thief
26. waist
27. waste
28. waiting
29. weary

BOOK REPORT

Our next book report is a biography. I will be handing out the forms today just in case you want to get a head start over break. Book Report Due October 30th.

September 22-26

Oh my...I love this little guy. 

Hello Wonderful Families,

It has been a very busy week. I was so happy to meet with everyone who came to parent teacher conferences. Thank you for signing up. The class is working hard and we are learning a lot of new things. The carnival is this week, if you signed up for donations please send them in this week. We are still in need of paper bowls and a few other things. Your help is greatly appreciated! 

Have a great week!

Ms. Tidwell

Carnival Helper Time Slots:

4:00-4:30 (Need a Helper)

4:30-5:00 (Need a Helper)

5:00-5:30(Need a Helper)

5:30-6:00- Brooke Webb

6:00-6:30- Lisa Broadbent

6:30-7:00 Donna Miller

7:00-7:30 Clean Up/ Drew and Abby Leavitt

Costco Size or Sam's Size Chips 

1. Abby Leavitt
2. Lisa Broadbent
3. Carrie Anders
4. Karina Leon
5. (Spot Available)
6. (Spot Available)

Nacho Cheese (Giant size from Costco or Sams)

1. Gerken Family
2. (Spot Available)
3. (Spot Available)

Paper Bowls

1. (Spot Available)
2. (Spot Available)
3. (Spot Available)
4. (Spot Available)

Important News:

Friday, Sept. 26- 1st Quarter Book Report Due
Fall Carnival- 4:30-7:00 Come and Eat some Ooohey, Gooey Nachos!

Spelling Words:

1. hole
2. address
3. request
4. raise
5. August
6. struck
7. getting
8. get
9. don't= do not
10. Thursday
11. Saturday
12. admission
13. canoe
14. captain
15. cautious
16. caution
17. cellar
18. covered
19. creature
20. curtain
21. declared
22. declare
23. distance
24. distant
25. spend
26. enjoy
27. awful
28. awe 
29. usual
30. complaint

Our class Friday assembly is October 17th. The thing song I have chosen for our program is Shine Your Way by Owl City and Yuna. It is from the Croods soundtrack. There will be opportunities for solo parts I told the kids I am going to hold auditions. There will be more info to come. For now I would just like everybody to be practicing the song so they know the lyrics. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7zSFKn7-LU

Have a great week!

Ms. Tidwell

September 15-19

Hello,

Oh my goodness. Was that rain Monday terrifying and glorious all at the same time or what? I have never in my life missed a day of school due to weather, including growing up! I grew up in Mesa. The kids are doing so well. They are enjoying school and learning. This makes me happy. I am looking forward to seeing all of you this week at conferences. 

Ms. T

Important News:

Wednesday: Parent Teacher Conferences and Half Day

Monday-Friday: Book Fair and open during conferences

Friday September 26: Quarter Book Report Due, School Pictures, School Carnival

Happy September Birthdays- Tristen 9/19 and Jackson 9/30

I need HELP! School Carnival:)

Fourth grade is going to team up for a booth. We are doing Nachos. Each classroom needs to provide shift help during the carnival for the booth, Costco size bags of tortilla chips, Costco size nacho cheese sauce, paper bowls and napkins. I would greatly appreciate anything you could help with. 

I am also thinking about other booths I could provide, if anyone has any ideas or could run one for me that would be great. I have a lot of fun ideas for our class but of course they all cost money. So this is a way I could earn the money to provide those experiences but  I need helpers. 

Thank you! 

Spelling Words: (A short list for the half day) 

1. none
2. knew
3. know
4. remain
5. direction
6. direct
7. appear
8. liberty
9. enough
10. fact
11. board
12. September
13. station
14. attend
15. public
16. music
17. picnic
18. friends
19. friend
20. during
21. police
22. until
23. truly
24. true
25. whole

Science Shenanigans

September 8-12

It might be a little early for this but I LOVE Autumn! 

Hello Families,

We have been working hard on mapping in History. We have been learning about hemispheres, longitude and latitude, map keys and scale. Along with that we have been enjoying Treasure Island and will be making our own treasure map today. It will be fun! I told the kids if they read 2,000 pages by Sept. 17th we can watch Treasure Island for Fun Friday (or split it up for two). They have almost reached their goal! I am so proud of them. 

In Math we are starting a new goal! I have challenged the class to learn and know their math facts through 12's by October 30. If they ALL reach this goal they can earn a "soda fountain" party for the Halloween party. I have yummy flavorings for soda's. I think this will be super fun! 

I NEED HELP!!! I need to quiz each student in all of their math facts. Would any of you wonderful parents be available to come help me for an hour here and there until October 30th? All the help I could get would be SO appreciated! 

We had our first Math test this week. My policy is that if your child gets a 70% or lower they have to get a parent signature on the test. If they do not bring their test back signed the next day they will owe me recess. I also expect them to re-work each missed problem with your help for extra tutoring. I will then give them half credit for every problem re-worked that has the correct answer. This will help to bring up their test score AND give them a little extra help in the areas they need. I do expect them to be leaders and ONLY give them ONE night to do this, otherwise they lose the chance to get the extra credit. You will only see Math tests with a 70% or lower at home, I am keeping the others for parent teacher conferences. 

Donations needed this week for Science: 

15 large washers

15 small washers

5 large boxes of Popsicle sticks

masking tape

Scholastic News Friendly Reminder: I need $5 from each child to order this publication for our class. I as a single Mom do not have enough extra money to pay for this. I have received money from 7 students. If I do not get the money from each child I will not be able to order this magazine, which will help them with informational text reading for Standardized Tests. Money Due ASAP. This money will count as one hour of your 40 service hours you have agreed to. Thank You!!

Upcoming Events:

9/10- Half Day

9/11-We will be having an assembly September 11 to remember that sad day and celebrate America. Just a heads up if you want to take a minute to talk to your child about September 11 and why it is important in our countries history. 

9/17- 1/2 Day Parent Teacher Conferences ( I will be sending a sign up THIS week for conference times. Make sure to sign up, I can't wait to meet with you!) 

9/26- Fall Carnival

September Birthday Celebrations:

9/19- Tristen 

9/30- Jackson

Homework this week will be Math, unless they finish the whole book assignment in class. Spelling every night and a mixture of other subjects in the form or worksheets. 

Spelling Words:

1. navy
2. forty
3. fourteen
4. fourth
5. four
6. population
7. proper
8. judge
9. weather
10. whether
11. worth
12. contain
13. figure
14. sudden
15. instead
16. throw
17. threw
18. personal
19. everything
20. rate
21. chief
22. perfect
23. second
24. slide
25. farther
26. duty
27. intend
28. company
29. quite
30. quit
31. quiet

September 1-5

Hello Wonderful Families,

Oh. My. Goodness. Thank you to all my little munchkins (and their parents) who made me feel SO very special on my Birthday Friday. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I feel so loved. We played a mean game of musical chairs for FUN Friday....sometimes you just have to sharpen the saw, right?! It was super fun. 

We are doing very well in class thus far. The kids are getting used to all of the tricky things in fourth grade like...taking notes, organizing notebooks, and keeping their desks clean. It is slow going but everyone has a great attitude and is working very hard. There are lots of sick bugs going around. PLEASE do not send your child to school sick. We do not want to spread these germs. I am doing my best to do my part to keep germs at bay. We are sanitizing desks every Friday and all the students in my class are required to wash their hands BEFORE eating lunch. I hope this helps we have a lot of runny noses, poor kiddos! This is a short week remember NO SCHOOL Monday. We will have our first spelling list this week but it will only be 20 words to get us started. There will be Math homework every night, unless they finish the lesson in class. These are such wonderful children, I love each and every one of them. 

Ms. T

If you did not send in $5 for Scholastic News please do so by Tuesday. Thank you! 

September Happy Birthdays: Tristen 9/19 and Jackson 9/30

Important Dates:

9/1- NO SCHOOL Labor Day enjoy and be safe!

9/5- School Outdoor Movie Night

Spelling Homework:

Tuesday: Write the first 10 words in a complete sentence, one spelling word per sentence. Please highlight the spelling word in each sentence, circle the subject of the sentence and underline the predicate of the sentence. 

Wednesday: Write the second 10 words in a complete sentence, one spelling word per sentence. Please highlight the spelling word in each sentence, circle the subject of the sentence and underline the predicate of the sentence. 

Thursday: Take a practice spelling test and write the words missed 3X each to get ready for the test Friday. 

Spelling Words: 

1. eight
2. ate
3. afraid
4. uncle
5. rather
6. comfort
7. election
8. elect
9. aboard
10. jail
11. shed
12. refuse
13. district
14. restrain
15. royal
16. objection
17. object
18. pleasure
19. measure
20. treasure

August 25-29

Classroom News:

Congratulations to Jackson Rohn! He is our first student of the week. 

Birthdays: Thursday, Aug. 28th Chloe Gerkin, Aug. 29th Ms. T

Scholastic Book Orders are a great way to get books for your student. They are very reasonably priced AND when you order I get points that help me buy books for our classroom library. It is a WIN-WIN! You will be getting a catalogue this week. Book orders are due back August 29th. If we have over $50 in book orders we can earn a free book coupon for everyone in our class! That is an exciting promotion from Scholastic for the beginning of the year. I have attached a copy of our class code for you to order online. It is so much easier that way however, you may also send in cash or a check made out to Scholastic Book Orders and I am happy to put the order in for you!

 Ms. Tidwell's Class One-Time Class Activation Code: M3NJM 

Scholastic Book Clubs

Scholastic News
I have ordered a trial run of Scholastic news. It is an educational age appropriate newspaper. It focuses on informational text which is what our students are going to be tested on in the future. It is very important for them to be able to read and understand these types of articles. My son was in fourth grade last year and his teacher ordered them; he LOVED it! He is STILL telling me about things he learned from reading the Scholastic News. The kids learn about current events in a way that interests them. I feel it will be very beneficial to our class to order these newspapers. The cost for the whole year is ONLY $5.00 per child. This money will be due August 29th, the same date as the book orders. If I do not get the $5.00 per child I will not be able to order them. (You may also count this $5 donation towards one hour of the forty you have agreed to donate during the year.) Thank you for supporting our class with this! The lessons that come with the Scholastic News will enrich our classroom. Please make checks out to Scholastic News.

Homework:

No Spelling we are working on cursive
Math and other assignments will be coming home this week. Please check the agenda for that days homework.

Note From the Teacher:

Thank you so much for all of the help you have given me. I truly appreciate it! The kids have done so well this week taking those DIBELS and Galileo tests. You should be very proud of them. I can't wait to get into our regular schedule this week! Ask them about my rainy day policy, what happens when it rains. Also, a shout out to Mrs. Cobb for the adorable treats she brought in as an incentive for Galileo. The kids LOVED the sucker and mustache pencil. I have an amazing group of students this year, they sure make my job fun. We played the starburst game before I DIBLED each of them this week. It was so nice for me to just sit down and talk to each of them one on one. Thank you for your help with end of the day parent pick-up. I know it can be kind of a nightmare but we as teachers are working so hard to make it go more smoothly! It will get better and better as the weeks go on. Thanks for being patient.


With Love,

Ms. T

Week of August 17th-23rd

I am Capable. 

Good Morning, 

I hope everyone is resting up this weekend! We had a FUN and busy week last week. We learned new procedures, how to get around the new campus and A LOT about each other. I am working hard to help your child make friends and partnering them with different children for activities each day. We have talked a lot about what makes a good friend. How to introduce yourself and how to BE a good friend.

 This week we will be diving headfirst into our curriculum. We have Galileo testing all week, this is to get baseline scores on where each child is academically. It will tell me exactly what each child excels at and where we need to work. Please help your child by making sure they are in bed early and eat a healthy breakfast each day. Boy oh boy, was that transition from staying up late to being back on a schedule hard for anyone else last week????? I literally took a four hour nap yesterday and slept a full night. FEELIN' GOOD today!

I will introduce positive affirmations from time to time. Since we have Galileo testing this week our affirmation is: I am capable. We will be talking a lot about what it means to be capable. 

What's Up this week:

HOMEWORK: 

20 minutes of reading each night

Choose a book for the book report it needs to be a book they HAVE NOT read before :) 

There will be MATH homework every day this week. This will be in the form of book work which is about 15 problems or a worksheet. We will be practicing writing all the info in the agenda so you know exactly what the homework is for that night. The students will not be dismissed from class unless the agenda is filled out. 

 There will NOT be any spelling this week. Due to Galileo testing. We are also really working on our cursive in class this week. I will expect everyone to be writing everything in cursive by Halloween. (Except for spelling tests) This will be our focus for the next two weeks instead of spelling. 

Quarterly Book Report

Due September 26th

Please help your child choose a book to read from home this week. It needs to be a book they can bring back and forth to school each day. I will give them 10 minutes in class each day to read silently. I expect everyone to have a book by Friday. 

******I will send book report forms home next week. 

Help! I need some supplies. If you happen to be at the store this week I could really use gumdrops. I need a total of 5 bags. If I could have help with that I would GEATLY appreciate it. I need them by Thursday. If you can help out with that please send me an email. Thank you!!

I can't wait for week two. I have a class of amazing children. 

Love,

Ms. Tidwell