Mr. Fletcher’s Fourth Grade Blog for News & Info!

The boys and girls in 4FL are thankful for many things. Please read their comments to find out more…….

The class has written their instructions to their favorite holiday treats. I hope you enjoy. – Mr. Fletcher

Hello boys and girls! We’ve been talking about cell phone usage on our blog. That had me thinking more about how you use computers and technologies at home. Please take a moment to take the survey. The survey is completely anonymous so please be honest. After you take the survey, leave a comment about your technology usage! Thanks! – Mr. Fletcher

It is a busy time of year. I hope all is going well for you. I wanted to leave you some information for you.

Reading – We have been working on many wonderful things recently and the class has responded well. We have now spent a couple of months on a daily reading fluency progrom called 6MS. Ask your child how he/she has been doing.
Small Group – We are currently studying the current Science unit on the Ecosystem. Whole group - This week we started a story about a boy in the girls bathroom. All I know, the class keeps getting mad at me when it is time to stop reading for the day. They must be enjoying the story. Independant reading – The class reads independantly each day. The children are working on using their thinking stems and summarizing each story they are reading. I have also seen an increase in ARP points this quarter. (Ask your child how many they have.) We continue to work on predicting, fiction summarizing, and non-fiction summarizing.

Writing - We are currently finishing our first expository essay of the year. The children wrote on the topic of greatness – and who was great to them. They will be fun to read. Promise!

Spelling – It looks like we will be finishing unit 6 on Monday and will take our unit 6 assessment on Wednesday.

Math - We are finishing up a unit on geometry. We will be taking our test tomorrow. This unit has been a challege to several students. I have tried to explain to the class that once we get to the holidays, Math will begin to be much tougher. I encourage you to spend time with your child reviewing their assignments each evening before they turn them in in the morning.

Science – We are working on a unit covering the Ecosystem. The class has been learning about it mainly in small groups during reading time. We will likely finish the unit and test on it some time the week after Thanksgiving. Also, our owl pellet projects are due next Wednesday. The project is not very structured. I just asked the class to display their bones some way on a piece of paper creatively. I told them to have fun with it and make something nice to hang in the hall.

Social Studies – The children have been working on a several research topics in the computer labs to learn more about the state of Illinois. We have also started a unit on the civial war.

Skyward – I hope you have had time to check your childs grade out online.

Canned food drive - Thank you for sending in food for the food drive. The class has done well in collecting for charity.

Box Tops – WOW!!!! Thank you for helping us collect so many box tops recently. I believe we are over a thousand for the year. Please continue to send them in.

Blogging – Thank you for taking your time to visit the blog and leave comments. The recent post about the cell phones and children their age has been a huge hit. Thank you very much for providing your opinions. Please continue to visit and leave posts. The children love to see comments from their families.

The entire fourth grade here at GIS is learning about owl pellets this quarter. Our class has just began the breakdown process of the pellets and they are very excited to learn what creature had been eaten by the owl. We are using pellets from a barn owl. We are still determining what the creatures are by looking at the bone, but some of the discoveries have been: a couple of small birds, mice, shrews, and moles. Here are some pictures of the class and the owl pellets.

Mr. Rembusch sent us a video that shows how owl pellets are expelled from an owl. The students and several teachers have really enjoyed this video. You may not want to watch this if you are getting ready to eat.

As a parent, I often wonder when it is appropriate for a child to get a cell phone. My son Will is wanting his own cell phone, but is only in the 3rd grade. I am hoping I can get some feedback from students, parents, teachers…etc. Please provide your opinion on when children should be given a cell phone, and why. Give details to explain your opinions. Thank you for your time. – Mr. Fletcher

After a wonderful beginning to the school year, the kids were rewarded by our wonderful parents with a fall celebration. The children were treated with several games and many snacks. Thank you to the parents who gave their time to help the class celebrate. I hope you enjoy the photograghs.

The school came together to find the theif of the golden ticket barrels. It was an exciting night of quality detective work to clear the name of myself and 3 other staff members. We wish Ms. Zippity good luck!!

Enjoy these pictures from our recent ARP awards. The children reach certain milestones to qualify for the award. Our good friend Moggley was misssing from the awards as he was home ill.

                                                                      Edit -  I would like to thank Mrs. Hurley for volunteering to get the fall party organized. I sent her the names and numbers of the people who volunteered. If you would like help or send in items to support, let me know and I can forward your info to Mrs. Hurley. We will also need a parent to lead the remaining 2 parties. Thanks again to those who share their time for the benefit to the children in class.

 Dear parents, The class and I have a huge problem. This Friday is our fall party, and many of you signed up to help. However, we never had a parent ofrfamily step up to be the parent liason. All this means is that we don’t have anyone to organize this party or the other 2 parties. Please let me know if you can help organize this fun activity. I have the names, numbers and/or e-mails of others who were interested in helping. You can e-mail me if you are interested or leave me a note here on the blog. Thanks – Mr. Fletcher