May 18-22

Class News! 

Happy Mother's Day to all my students wonderful Mom's! I hope you enjoyed your biographies. The children worked very hard on them. We love you! 

Thank you so much for all of the kind cards, treats, and surprises for teacher appreciation week! I felt so special and appreciated! I love all of you. Thank you for the lovely surprises. Also, Thank you so much for the donations for the waffle party. It was a lot of work making 30 waffles! Ha! The kids loved it and that made it worthwhile. Thank you! 

The $1000 party has been scheduled for Wednesday, (1/2 day) May 20, 2015 if your child has earned $1000 class cash they are invited to the pool party and have been given the information for the party. It will be at my community pool from 3-4:30. I hope everyone makes it! This is not a drop your child off type of party a parent must be in attendance for safety reasons. Also, everyone is invited to come swim! Please bring a snack to share and drinks for your family. I will bring a whole bunch of Popsicles.  I won't provide drinks, there is a drinking fountain outside of the pool area. The address for the party is on the invitation. Thanks! I hope to see everyone there to celebrate a great 4th grade year! Please let me know if you are coming so I can get a head count for Popsicles. 

Important Dates:

Thursday, May 14- 6:00 pm Spring Sing all students are required to come in Sunday dress or uniform. No Jeans. We are going for a dressy casual look! :) A quick note: PLEASE pick up your children right after the performance. Mrs. Broby is helping me as my daughters performance is at the exact same time as ours. I will be here to line up the class and take them into the Spring Sing. Mrs. Broby is going to help me as they are dismissed to you. 

Wednesday, May 20th- Half Day-early release and $1000 party

$1000 party 3-4:30pm ( Please let me know if you are coming and roughly how many so I can get a head count) *** The flyer says Saturday the 23rd but I had SO many people that are going out of town for Memorial Day I thought the half day would be better.

Monday, May 25th- NO SCHOOL- MEMORIAL DAY

****** DATE CHANGE*******This was due the 18th but with Galileo testing and trying to get the Mother's Day biographies done I decided we needed more time in class to work on this. 

Wednesday, May 26th-Research projects and visual aid due. We will complete the rough drafts in class. The students will have ample time in class to finish their work. If they have not finished they will have to complete their research paper at home.  The visual aid is to be completed at home. The information is outlined in the research packet your child has. I also emailed it to you. It is number 11 on the second page. 

Friday, May 29th- Last Day of school-early release

We will be having a short spelling test this week due to the Spring Concert. Also, because of the concert I will be giving the pre-test on Wednesday and the final test Friday. I don't like assigning homework on concert nights. It is just too much! 

Spelling List:

1. tear
2. tear
3. telephone
4. throughout
5. traffic
6. United States
7. unite
8. unit
9. valuable
10. value
11. wore
12. worn
13. circular
14. circle
15. argument
16. argue
17. volume
18. organize
19. summon
20. official
21. officer
22. office

May 4-May 8

Happy May 4th!

NEWS!

This week we will be Galileo testing beginning Tuesday. It is our last bunch of tests, hooray! Please help your children be ready by getting a good nights sleep and having a good breakfast. There are a lot of tests the next few weeks including monthly spelling and phonogram tests. I will also be administering the Dibels reading test this week and next. So, with all of this testing going on I am not going to give a spelling test or list this week. We will be concentrating on learning vocabulary words and spelling for our research projects. Speaking of research projects.......

We had so much fun at the library! Thank you to my chaperons who were a HUGE help! Trust me I know sitting in the library helping kids find resource books and fill out note cards is less than fun. I appreciate you SO much! Plus, I know how tricky it is because I had a group of students too. The kids were SO well behaved and I was beaming with pride. I would say it was a success!

There will be homework this week it will mostly be research report and math related. Please note each student is assigned a visual aid for their research paper. They can work on this in class if it is a poster or picture. However, other than that it will need to be completed at home. I would like them to be working on their visual aid this week for homework. We will be completing most of the writing in class, I will be modeling how to write the essay. We will be writing a portion each day. The only other part they will need your help with is editing the rough draft. I sort of despise "projects" for homework so I want most of the work to be completed in school. I know you have a lot of things to accomplish at home as well!! :) 

Friday is our WAFFLE PARTY and Princess Bride movie. The movie is rated PG. A permission slip was sent home last week with a waffle topping/paper product sign up. I only assigned items to students who volunteered to bring something in. If you have a topping your family loves please bring it! If not we have plenty! Students will not be permitted to eat waffles or watch the movie if they do not have permission from you. I handed out extra permission slips today. They are due no later than Thursday. This is a party to celebrate the END of state and Galileo testing! What an amazing, smart, hard working group of kids we have! I just love them. 

Have a wonderful week! 

Ms. Tidwell

April 27th-May 1st

Let's Be Sparky!

Important Dates:

Library Field Trip: Thursday- Tomorrow is the very last day I will accept field trip permission slips and money. I am also short on chaperons and need two parents that can stay for the whole day. If you are available I would love your help. Or, if you can help with the research portion of the field trip at the library let me know. The research portion will be between 12pm and 2pm. I will be emailing a copy of the report requirements via email. I will also be giving each child a copy. 

I will be conducting monthly spelling and phonogram tests this week so our spelling list will be short.

Galileo testing is next week. It is the last one of the year! Yay! We will be having our waffle party next Friday May 8th to celebrate the end of testing. I will provide the waffles and will be sending out assignments to each child to bring items for toppings. I will hand these out Friday so you have the weekend and week after to get them. We have not decided on a movie but if it is PG I will need you to sign a permission slip as well that will be included on the assignment sheets. So keep your eyes peeled. 

Several Students have earned $1000 for the $1000 swim party!! YAY!! More info to come on this event. 

Spelling List:

1. pressure
2. produce
3. product
4. purchased
5. purchase
6. quarrel
7. radio
8. recess
9. saucer
10. secret
11. similar
12. sleigh
13. society
14. social
15. solution
16. source
17. speech
18. steak
19. successful
20. tails
21. tales

April 20-24

Love it. 

WOW! What a week last week! The children did such an amazing job. I am so proud of them. Also, thank you for all the donations and snacks. They were a highly anticipated part of our morning. 

We have a lot to do still this year. We will be completing a biography essay by next week. The biographical interview was due last Friday. Please check with your student to make sure it is completed there are quite a few missing. They need to interview a person who is special to them first, that is the homework portion. The students will be missing a recess each day it is not completed. 

We are going to go to the library to do research for our end of the year research project. The children are very excited about this because they can pick ANY topic they are interested in and want to learn about. I told them that this project is JUST like college because you get to study what you are interested in. We will walk around and explore the Riparian Preserve for the morning. Then eat our lunches together at the park area and head to the library for a couple of hours to learn how to use the resources there.  The field trip is Thursday April, 30th and all parents are invited. I do need chaperons but even if you wanted to meet us there for all or part of the field trip would be awesome! Permission slips will be sent home today and are due Thursday this week. The cost of the field trip is $4. 

YEARBOOKS- Yearbook orders will be completed online this year. The school nor I will be handling any money. If you would like to order one the link is www.treering.com/validate?PassCode=1014285297091457

You can even customize a page for your child! Orders are due April 26th

$1,000 party

You may have heard about our $1,000 party. This will be a culminating activity for our class and class money system. To attend the party each student must have $1,000 class money cash. It is a special party that I will have at my community pool in Agritopia. There are BBQ's there and I was hoping to make it a family fun event/potluck. It will be one of the last two weeks of school I haven't nailed a date down just yet. If your student has earned his/her way to the party you will be notified with your dinner assignment. I think it will be super fun! The kids are excited about it. 

Important Dates:

Wednesday: Earth Day wear green accessories

Spelling

1. elephant
2. everybody
3. frightened
4. frighten
5. grocery
6. group
7. health
8. listened
9. listen
10. nickel
11. niece
12. northern
13. southern
14. eastern
15. western
16. poet
17. poetic
18. poetry
19. poem
20. potatoes
21. potato

Short Spelling Test this week! 

Have a wonderful day!

Ms. T

AZ Merit Week April 13th-17th

Have Courage and Be Kind

Dear Fourth Grade Families,

This next week is AZ Merit testing. There are a lot of things I have implemented to make this week go as smoothly as possible. Please prepare your child by helping them get a lot of sleep. I would like everyone going to bed EARLY if possible; with a book to read to keep their mind sharp and working but resting. Also, children need a full tummy for their brains to work correctly. Please make sure they have a yummy breakfast each morning a few good ideas are: oatmeal, yogurt and granola with fruit, eggs and toast etc. This will help them feel ready to do their best each day. I have asked for snack donations via last weeks email. Thank you to those of you who have already signed up! That helps me so much. 

I have some fun things up my sleeve for testing besides snacks to make the week go smoothly. I am excited for the kids to show us how much they have learned and how smart they are. I just know they are going to do great! We have all been working very hard! 

One of the fun things we will be doing is having a fairy tale week next week. We will studying different fairy tales, reading, writing and even doing some art! 

HOMEWORK

*No homework this week or spelling. HOWEVER, I expect the kids to go to bed early with a book to read so they can relax but keep their brain active! :)

INCENTIVE

I know it can be hard to get here on time some days! We will be starting the AZ Merit promptly right after announcements. I will have a morning "on-time" treat for every student that gets to school before 8:03! Those who get here late will not get the special treat.

PARENT LETTER

I sent a letter and envelope home last week. I will have these on the students desks on Monday morning. PLEASE return these by Monday 4/13. It would be so sad if someone didn't get one. Please talk about how special your child is and give them a pep talk of encouragement for the test. The kids LOVE this! 

It is going to be a great week! Let's all work together to help these kids be AWESOME!

Love,

Ms. T

March 30-April 3

Good Morning!

We had such a fun time at Boyce Thompson Arboretum last week. Thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who made sack lunches, made sure your child had enough H2O, and especially my chaperone's! It would not have been a successful field trip without all of your help. Thank you! 

There will be no Spelling tests or lists until after AZ Merit. We are working in our ELA workbooks, Math workbooks, and Science workbooks for the next several weeks. We are down to the last few weeks to prepare and will really be cracking down. 

Please make sure your children are here and prepared to test during that week. We are hoping to not have any absences. 

Oration Contest permission slips are due. This years topic is American Poets. 

Permission slips to have your child tested for the gifted program are also due today. The testing will take place this spring. 

Important Dates: 

Wednesday: Half Day- Teacher Training

Thursday: Picture Day!! 

Friday: No School-Good Friday 

Have a great week,

Ms. T

March 2-6

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss! 

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday, one of America's prolific artist's and children's book authors we will have Spirit Week at school. 

Monday- Wear Red Day

Tuesday- "Fox in Sox" Day wear Wacky Socks/Leadership Day all parents are invited to attend we will have a leadership lesson beginning at 10:15. 

Wednesday- Wear a wacky outfit...while still wearing your uniform...so get creative.. :)

Thursday- Cat in Hat day--wear a hat 

Friday-Dress up as your favorite Dr. Seuss Character..In our class we are going to celebrate Dr. Seuss' Birthday by having a read-a-thon during Friday Fun Time. Students may bring a blanket and pillow to get comfy somewhere in the room. Don't forget your favorite book to read or two! Children may also bring in a snack for that time. 

Then end of quarter 3 is coming up fast! Check grades in IC so there are no surprises. I add new grades weekly. So they change often. 

Our class showed TONS of growth on our last Galileo test! I bought the kids Popsicles last week since they did such an outstanding job! Way to go! Thank you for all of your help.

A heads up that we are hoping to have 100% attendance for the AzMerit test. We do not want to have to have kids make up the test during instruction time. Please plan ahead now to have your students here. Thank you! 

Spring Break is March 16-20 No School that week. 

We are studying weather and we are going to have some rain this week! YAY! As your student about what we are learning!

Thank you parents for all you do. This is an exceptional bunch of students and I don't have to look very far to see why! You are wonderful. I love these munchkins and am doing my best every day to plan, prepare, and execute engaging lessons. We are working very hard in class. These kids are amazing! 

Love,

Ms. T

Spelling:

1. piece
2. peace
3. certainly
4. certain
5. witness
6. investigate
7. therefore
8. before
9. pleasant
10. ability
11. appearance
12. atmospheric
13. atmosphere
14. autumn
15. canvas
16. ceiling
17. celery
18. salary
19. college
20. communities
21. community
22. creation
23. creative
24. created
25. create
26. concert
27. decided
28. decide
29. design
30. dictionary

February 23-27

Hello There! 

The class did such a great job on Galileo testing last week. WHEW! They all worked so hard and I was very proud of them. We had so much fun celebrating Chinese New Year last week. We will wrap up our study of Chinese Dynasties this week. We are getting closer to taking the AzMerit test. We will continue to work in our Common Core workbooks for ELA ( English Language Arts) and Math. We are starting a Science unit on Weather this week. I will be asking the children to watch and record the weather for homework on Tuesday night, Heads up! This will be an enjoyable unit. The mile run is this Friday. 

It is now the time for re-enrollment for the 2015-2016 school year. Attached below is a link to fill out for re-enrollment. You'll want to fill this out to secure your spot for next year. In addition, in order to honor teacher request forms that have been sent in, your student must be re-enrolled.

 If you could also let me know in an email what your plans are for next year, I'd appreciate it. The office has asked me to highlight students who are re-enrolling, transferring to another ALA, or withdrawing from ALA. 

ALA Re-Enrollment Link

Have a great week! 

Love,  Ms. T

Tuesday- Homework: Students will watch a weather report on the news and record tomorrow's weather prediction. 

Friday- Mile Run for PE-wear tennis shoes! 

Spelling Words: 

1. assist
2. difference
3. examination
4. examine
5. particular
6. affair
7. course
8. coarse
9. neither
10. local
11. marriage
12. marry
13. carriage
14. carry
15. further
16. serious
17. doubt
18. condition
19. government
20. govern
21. opinion
22. onion
23. union
24. companion
25. million
26. behavior
27. believe
28. system
29. possibly
30. possible

February 17-20

Hello! 

I hope everyone had a wonderful long weekend. Thank you so much for all of the darling Valentine's Day treats and notes! I loved it and felt so loved. This week we will be taking our next set of Galileo tests. Please help your children get a good nights rest and eat a healthy breakfast. I know you will. :) We will also be celebrating Chinese New Year this week as it falls on the 19th this year. I like to make long noodles for a long and happy life for the kids. 

If you could do me a favor.......

The class has been very chatty as of late. There have been consequences such as losing their morning snack break but it hasn't seemed to help. I moved every one's desks to change it up a bit and am hoping this quells the talking. It is beginning to disrupt the learning in our classroom. If you could please just have a little talk with your student about classroom behavior, following the class rules, and being respectful of other learners and me that would help so much. Thank you! 

Due to the short week, Galileo and monthly spelling and phonogram testing, we will not have a spelling test this week. Enjoy! 

Ms. T

February 9-13

Happy Valentine's Day!

A big thank you to all who came in for parent teacher conferences. It was wonderful to meet with each of you. If you did not make it into a conference your child's progress report will be coming home on Monday. If you would like to conference with me please know my door is always open and I would be happy to schedule a time.

AZ Merit Test....A heads up you will be seeing a lot of the common core workbooks coming home! We are working on them in class and there will be homework from the ELA (English Language Arts) book and the Math book.

Valentines Day Party...We will be making Valentine "Mailboxes" in class. I have a white bag and decorations for the students to make one this week. So you don't have to worry about making a mailbox! Students are encouraged to bring valentines to share with the class. Please make sure they have a valentine for everyone in the class, it is no fun to be left out. We have 25 students in our class. Our party will be for the last hour of the day on Friday and the children can pass out their Valentines and share treats they have brought in. Treats are welcome, I am not making any assignments. An easy peasy party. Please just have your student sign their name in cursive on the Valentines. (Please don't send in Valentine's or treats until Friday) Thank you!

WEDNESDAY IS EARLY RELEASE 11:30
NO SCHOOL MONDAY- President's Day

Our field trip was a success! We had so much fun at the World Wildlife Zoo. I love spending time with my class outside of the classroom. It is fun to see their personalities! What an awesome group of kids I have. Here are a few pictures.

The fourth grade team is THE BEST TEAM!! Log ride! 

I'm sorry...love my wack-o hair in this one!

For Fun: In class today we read an Asian/Indian Folktale called, One Grain of Rice. The heroin in the story makes a deal with the Raja to double one grain of rice each day for thirty days. We did the math today, doubling all the way from 1-30. It was a lot of math! However, the kids were totally engaged and loved it! I have given them the option if they are done with their work in class to use the computer to play educational games on FreeRice.com. They also have to pay me $20.00 of class money for computer time. Free Rice is AWESOME! They donate ten grains of rice to children in third world staving countries for each correct answer! I am going to assign math fact practice on FreeRice for homework tonight (Monday) that way the kids get a chance to check it out and help other kids in the process. I hope they end up loving it and will use this site often. I am making it mandatory at my own home that my kids use Free Rice for 10 minutes after homework and before any TV or video games. Enjoy!! Here is the link to the site. ( This all ties into our study of China/Asia)

http://freerice.com/#/english-vocabulary/1442

Spelling Words:

1. paragraph
2. patient
3. patience
4. pianist
5. pianos
6. piano
7. pickles
8. pickle
9. prisoner
10. release
11. resign
12. reveal
13. sleeve
14. soldier
15. summary
16. sum
17. sword
18. tomatoes
19. tomato
20. often
21. motion
22. theater
23. improvement
24. improve
25. century
26. cent
27. total
28. mention
29. arrive
30. supply

February 2-6

Good Morning,

It has been a wonderful week at school, we are working very hard. We have just begun our common core test review. You will see books coming home and there will be homework assigned in these books for the next month or so until the new AZ Merit test. I am excited to help get the kids ready and I know the kids will do their very best. 

Field Trip this Friday! We are going to the World Wildlife Zoo in conjunction with our study of animals in Science. If you have not paid it is $12.00 per student. I have not received money from all the chaperons yet and it is first come first serve for those spots. I will let you know if you are a chaperon by Wednesday. 

Parent Teacher Conferences are this week please sign up at Volunteer Spot. Here is the link and information. 

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/5Dotcn

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.

Wednesday is a half day 11:30 dismissal for conferences. 

Next week is Valentines Day we will be exchanging Valentines on Friday. I will have a list of class names next week on the blog. It is going to be a low key party for the last hour of the day. If you would like to send in treats that would be great! 

Thank you! Have a great week! I adore these kids. 

Love,

Ms. T

Spelling List ( short list due to the half day and field trip)

1. enemy
2. example
3. excitement
4. exciting
5. excite
6. fierce
7. flew
8. flies
9. fly
10. forgotten
11. forgot
12. gigantic
13. giant
14. guide
15. hurrying
16. hurried
17. hurry
18. knowledge
19. know
20. lawyer

January 26-30

Hello. 

What a great week we have had. We have been busy learning about the life cycle of the butterfly and sketching our caterpillars everyday. We love to see how much they have grown in such a short time. Isn't mother nature amazing! Have a Wonderful week!

Important Information:

Each child should have a book or printed information from the internet about their animal for their animal report. If they do not have it please have them do it tonight! :) 

Parent Teacher Conferences are February 4. I will be sending out a sign up via Volunteer Spot. We can also phone conference if you are unable to make it in. (Here is the link to sign up) 

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/5Dotcn

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.

Please check IC for grades so there are no surprises. Some subjects have only a few grades and will be changing as the quarter progresses. Please just keep in mind there are only about two weeks of grades in there. So if your student is missing one assignment it will greatly affect the grade. 

If you have a teacher request for next year it must be submitted to the office. Each teacher is given 10-14 spots for requests only. So if you have a preference I would make your request soon. 

Mis-Match Day is Wednesday. Students must wear their uniforms as usual but may mismatch socks, shoes and hair accessories. 

Spelling Words: 

1. tomorrow
2. consider
3. against
4. again
5. complete
6. search 
7. treasure
8. popular
9. Christmas
10. Christ
11. interest
12. advice
13. advise
14. American 
15. America
16. bargain
17. beneath
18. beyond
19. broken
20. broke
21. break
22. cocoa
23. collar
24. comparison
25. compare
26. controlled
27. control
28. debts
29. disaster
30. eager

January 19-23

Isn't that the truth?!?!??

Hello Wonderful Families,

We have live butterflies! We will be learning about life cycles in conjunction with our Science unit. The class is very excited. 

Our new WIG goal for this quarter is 100% mastery on math facts. I can see that many of the kids need to really work on their facts. Please practice them at home. They will be quizzed periodically through the week. 

Congratulations to Rustin who was a finalist in the School Spelling Bee and will be competing in the District Spelling Bee this week. We are all cheering for you! 

Each student has been assigned a desert animal for our next writing project. The class will be writing a report on an desert animal. Most of the work will be done in class. They may need to do a few finishing touches at home but the bulk will be completed here. I need each child to have a book or two about their animal so they can complete the research for the project. Each child needs their books by Friday. I will print one source from the Internet for each of them to use and they will have some access to the class computer. (Thank you!!!) 

Important Dates:

Monday 1/19- Martin Luther King Day*** No School***

Thursday 1/22- District Spelling Bee

Friday 1/23- Book Due for desert animal report

The kids are learning and growing. I love each and every one of them. 

Have a lovely week, 

Ms. T

Spelling Words: (Short List due to Monday off)

1. provision
2. provide
3. according
4. already
5. attention
6. education
7. director
8. direct
9. purpose
10. common
11. diamond
12. together
13. convention
14. increase
15. manner
16. feature
17. article
18. service
19. serve
20. injury
21. injure

January 12-16

Hello!

Congratulations to Rustin for winning the class spelling bee and Lucas for being our runner up! We had a lot of fun learning new words last week. We are enjoying science, learning about animal adaptations. One of my favorite stories in our Jr. Great Books series is Beauty and the Beast. It is so fun to read the original version and compare it to the Disney version we all know and love. We are focusing on Math facts and the children are being quizzed on 7's and 8's. There are a lot of fun apps to quiz math facts on! It is a great thing to pass the time in the car. I make my kids do it all the time! I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Love,

Ms. T

Important:

Wednesday, Jan 14- Half Day
Thursday, Jan 15-School Spelling Bee details TBA
Monday, January 19- MLK Day No School

The students are expected to read for 20 minutes every day. There will be Math homework as usual unless they finish it in class. We have a regular spelling list this week.

Spelling:

1. combination
2. combine
3. avenue
4. neighbor
5. weight
6. weigh
7. wear
8. entertain
9. salary
10. visitor
11. visit
12. publication
13. machine
14. toward
15. success
16. drown
17. adopt
18. secure
19. honor
20. promise
21. wreck
22. prepare
23. vessel
24. busy
25. preference
26. prefer
27. illustration
28. illustrate
29. different
30. differ

Happy New Year January 5-9

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a wonderful break! I missed my darling class and am happy to be back in a regular routine. This week we will be doing a lot of review. We will be getting back into the swing of things. There is not the usual spelling homework this week. There is still spelling however. We will be focusing on the Spelling Bee list. Our class Spelling Bee will be held Thursday and the winner will go on to the school Spelling Bee. I will have the class defining words this week and focusing on vocabulary skills. There will be math and reading homework as usual.

Report Cards will be sent home this week. I require the class to have them reviewed by a parent, signed and sent back the next day. A note in the agenda that you have seen the report card is also sufficient.


Thank you!

Have a wonderful week!

Ms. T