Party today and pajamas tomorrow!

Thank you to all those that donated supplies, food, extras, etc. Room 211 had quite the breakfast feast this morning! Thank you to Mrs. Heldman, Mrs. Klein (and her son, Lucas), and Ms. Gerda for attending the party to help with serving food and keeping the students entertained while I flipped pancakes. :)

I am attaching photos from this morning, below. We loved that Mrs. Klein (our student teacher) and Ms. Gerda Martin (our afternoon volunteer) were able to join us for the party. They were such a great help and the students enjoyed being able to visit with them.

Tomorrow is PAJAMA DAY for fourth graders. We will be watching our "reward" movie for hitting 450 points as a grade level and reading 12+ points each to help our team hit that goal. Way to go WEBB Fourth!

Devices, Balance Balls, and Coats, OH MY!

I wanted to send out a few notes to parents to let you know about a few options your kiddos have here at school. If you have any questions, please contact us at any time. Thanks!

Devices-- Your child is allowed to bring a device to school, but it is definitely not a requirement. It can be a phone, tablet, or Chromebook. We use a few different apps and sites during the day that they can access on a device with our school wifi, rather than using one of our Chromebooks, which we only have a limited amount to share. We often use Kahoot! (quiz game to introduce and review information), Google Drive, and Google Classroom. Whatever they bring, it must stay in their bookbag until they are given permission to use it. We also will not be responsible for lost, stolen, or broken devices. 

Balance Balls-- If they choose to bring in their own balance ball, they are more than welcome. This will be used in place of a traditional chair. 65 cm seems to work best, if you shop around for them. We've discovered that as the 55 cm lose air, they become a little too short for the desks.You can find them at just about any store, but you can also sometimes find used ones at a reasonable price at Goodwill. You can deflate them and we will air them back up here at school.

Coats-- We have a district-wide cold weather recess policy that states that students can go outside if the temperature is at least above 25 degrees. If the temperature hits 25 or below, we will stay inside. This is the time of year when the weather shifts, and students aren't bringing a warm enough (winter) coat to school with them, preventing them from going outside for recess. We go to recess at 11:45. Often, the temps are still low enough at that time of day that winter coats are needed, even if the high of the day is predicted to be above 49. If you need assistance in getting a coat for your child, please let us know. We completely understand and would love to help. Today was only 37 when we went out and we had several kiddos with only a sweatshirt. Thanks for all of your help! :)

Fourth Grade Updates

Happy Thanksgiving Week, families!

We cannot believe how quickly this school year is zipping  by us. We've been working so hard in language arts to expand our skills and apply what we already know.

In language arts, we've been working to build our comprehension skills and metacognitive strategies. We've focused on visualizing, making inferences, making connections, determining important information, asking questions as we read, sequencing, and expanding our vocabulary by making sense of the words as we read them. We've been focused on becoming stronger writers, with a major focus on conventions (punctuation, capitalization, etc.) and organization. We are expecting students to annotate as they read, show evidence of finding their answers in the texts that we read, and answering open response questions COMPLETELY with details/evidence from the text.
We will not have a new word study list until after Thanksgiving. New lists will be sent home on Monday, November 28th, and the test will be on December 9th.

NWEA testing will be held the week after Thanksgiving Break. We will be testing on Tuesday and Thursday, in the morning and will analyze the data from that testing to drive our instruction next semester. We will also be kicking off a Chris Van Allsburg author study the week we return from Thanksgiving, during FIT. We just finished up working intensively on computation (either addition or multiplication, depending on your child's needs). We will focus on problem/solution, setting, and character traits/development during the three week author study. Chris Van Allsburg has written many books, the most popular ones being Polar Express, Zathura, and Jumanji. He is one of our favorite picture book authors!

READING COUNTS CHALLENGE-- We've challenged the fourth grade to earn 450 Reading Counts points, as a grade level, by December 20th. Each student would need to earn approximately 12 points over a period of three weeks to make this happen. This is doable and EXPECTED for every student to complete. If they do not earn their 12, but the grade level is still able to hit 450 points, they will not get to participate in the reward party at the end of the challenge. WE are thinking jammies, a movie, and a special treat. We hope everyone tries their best and hits those goals!

Thanks for all of your support at home. We appreciate all that you do for your kiddos!

Language Arts Updates

It's been a busy few weeks in the Webb. In fourth grade language arts we just wrapped up chapter 3 of our vocabulary (word study) unit. We tested over the words on Friday, October 28th. I have several students who have been given the option to correct and return. I placed the word study assessments in their data binders and graphed their score. Please make sure your child shows you their data binder weekly. If they choose, they may correct their assessment and return it for an averaged grade. Our new list includes the roots anim, san, and spir.  We will also focus on the prefix in- and the suffix -ary.

We are wrapping up Unit 2 of Benchmarks, and will begin Unit 4 soon. Our focus in Unit 4 will be making inferences and visualizing as we read and/or listen to new text. This is one of my favorite units to teach! 

Just a reminder-- if you haven't filled out the heart with your child's name on it, please do so as soon as possible and send it back into school. We are creating a project using the heart as the center. If you lost your paper heart, please make a new one and send it in as soon as possible. It should have messages from the family, to your child, written on it. Thanks!

Language Arts Update

We hope everyone had a wonderful Fall Break, but your kiddos were missed and we are so grateful to have them back at school.

In language arts, we have been heavily focused and working on persuasive writing this week. Prior to Fall Break, we closely read about Marian Wright Edelman (first African American woman to become a lawyer) and Cesar Chavez (workers' rights activist). This week we have been focused on Marian Wright Edelman's father's quote, "Don't ever let anything get in the way of your education," and formed an opinion about this quote. Students wrote five paragraph opinion papers, giving three reasons why they agree or disagree with the above quote. We focused on conventions (punctuation, capitalization) and organization (strong beginning, three reasons in the middle, and a strong closing). Next week we will continue this genre of writing.

TWO SPECIAL NOTES:

*The library computers used for checkout have not been working this week. The technology department has been working on a fix, but we are still unable to check-in/check-out books. The students are so bummed! This has given them more time to read and stick with the books they already checked out and for those that passed their quizzes, they've been able to borrow from my classroom library.

*The vocabulary test has been moved to NEXT FRIDAY (October 28th) since we've not had as much time this week to practice our vocabulary words.

Language Arts Updates

We are wrapping up Unit 1 in language arts where we identified main idea and details, learned how to focus on asking and answering questions as we read, and analyzed biographies.

We've started a new Greek and Latin roots list. The test will not be until the Friday AFTER Fall Break, so Friday, October 21st. Students received their study guides on Monday and should have them on the outside back clear pocket of their yellow take home folder. The roots this unit are loc, poli, and urb. The words we will focus on are: urban, suburban, police, policy, political, metropolis, location, relocate, local, locale, and dislocate. We have taken the last two vocab assessments using Google Forms (which the students loved) but I am having difficulty finding a way to print the tests afterwards for you to see without using TONS of paper, which defeats the purpose of taking it online. So, I think I am going to revert to the paper/pencil format to make it easier for parents/guardians to SEE how their child answered questions and did on the assessment. If your child has internet access they can show you Google Classroom and their vocabulary assessment that way, as well.

We will begin Unit 2 after Fall Break and will be focused on sequence of events, making connections with what we read, and visualizing to help better comprehend what we read and hear.

Don't forget about STUDENT-LED parent teacher conferences tomorrow night (Thursday) from 3:00-8:00. Your child will need to attend and will be walking you through their data binder, showing you some things on the computer, and sharing goals with you. Mrs. David and I will be checking in during each conference and answering questions. We hope to see you all there! Thanks for all of your support.

OVERNIGHT FIELD TRIP INFORMATION

We are looking forward to a wonderful trip to Southern Indiana this Thursday and Friday with our fourth graders. We wanted to send a few reminders out about the trip so that you can be prepared for packing and drop-off/pick-up times. Please see below for some brief notes and a photo of the packing list we sent home in the packet several weeks ago.

• DROP-OFF on Thursday morning is at 6:00 a.m. Parents/Guardians will need to bring them to school. We will have a light breakfast and load the buses. The goal is to pull out of Webb by 6:15-6:30. If your child is not here by 6:30,

Fourth Grade Updates

#1-- Don't forget permission forms and money are due this Friday for our overnight field trip next Thursday and Friday.

#2-- Please visit the links below if you'd like to see what our tour of southern Indiana might include as we travel through the area. The "Destination Indiana" site has many links for our state, but you can specifically search for Harrison County, Vanderburgh County, Squire Boone Caverns, and/or  Angel Mounds. The other links are some information and videos we found while preparing for the trip.

• Squire Boone Caverns - America's Most Spectacular Underground Adventure, Cave Tours, Grist Mill, Rock Shop, Cave Facts, Indiana Bats White-Nose Syndrome

• Squire Boone Caverns | Louisville Life | KET - YouTube

• Zimmerman Art Glass Business (Facebook Page)

• Destination Indiana (tons of historical information about Indiana)

• Angel Mounds State Historic Site | Evansville, IN

• Aerial Tour of Angel Mounds State Historic Site - YouTube

• Angel Mounds | The Friday Zone | PBS - YouTube

#3-- We are sending home Student-Led Parent Teacher Conference Forms TODAY. Please fill these out and send them back to us as soon as possible. We'd like to give you first choice for times and will be meeting on Monday with the entire staff to try to coordinate sibling schedules with other teachers. 

#4-- Don't forget to look through, discuss data, and sign your child's data binder each week. Reading information will be updated every Monday/Tuesday (depending on how individual conferencing goes) and Math information will be sent home intermittently, depending on the Unit dates. Please let us know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Have a wonderful rest of your week! 

Language Arts

Unfortunately I was out for several days the week before Labor Day, helping care for my

Fourth Grade UPDATES

We wanted to send a brief list of announcements and updates from fourth grade:

#1- OVERNIGHT FIELD TRIP INFO- Don't forget to get your permission forms turned in ASAP for the 4th grade overnight field trip. We are sending home extra packets tomorrow, along with "Roommate Wanted" sheets for your

Vocabulary Test THIS FRIDAY, September 9th

This is just a reminder that we will have our vocabulary test over Chapter 1 in Growing Your Own Vocabulary (Book B)

Vocabulary Update from Mrs. Taylor

I have great news! With testing issues leading to inconsistent class schedules and a broken air conditioner leading to teaching from a cart in the library for two days, I have decided to move this Friday's vocabulary test to next Friday, September 9th. This will give us more in-class time to work on our study guides and packets. Students should definitely be studying at home, as well. Whether they use Quizlet to create their own digital flash cards, make their own paper flash cards, or just study the foldable I sent home, they should try to study a few nights a week.

I hope this helps those that are feeling overwhelmed by this first list and allows me more time to fully introduce the words at school. I am including a Quizlet link below that has all of our "Growing Your Vocabulary" chapters (lists) already created for the year. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

https://quizlet.com/Carla_Taylor/folders/growing-your-vocabulary

OVERNIGHT FIELD TRIP PARENT MEETING REMINDER

This is just a reminder about our parent meeting tonight, to be held in the Webb cafeteria at 6:00 p.m. We will be sharing more details about the historical field trip we will be taking to Southern Indiana. We will have paperwork for you, as well.

Thanks, and we hope to see you tonight!

Fourth Grade Reading "POWER UP!" Pokemon Challenge

Fourth grade is kicking off a Pokemon themed reading challenge. Students each made a Pokeball (out of paper plates), will be selecting a character tomorrow, and will earn points to "power up" as they pass Reading Counts quizzes throughout the year. For every 25 Reading Counts points they earn, students may choose to "power up" their character to the next level or select a new one. We will still be rewarding students with the Webb Reading Counts awards/rewards, but thought this might be a fun way to get them READING more confidently and independently!

The kiddos were thrilled today when I announced the challenge and the rules. I'm hoping this motivates them to read more this year! Not only will this help build their reading endurance and stamina, but it will grow their vocabulary, comprehension, and fluency along the way. We have been working on selecting GOOD FIT books that are interesting, just the right level, and will help build our endurance and stamina for reading longer texts.

I cannot wait until they see the bulletin board in the morning that we just finished. If you get a chance, ask them about the challenge and see how they are progressing! Happy reading!

Girls on the Run Johnson County

If you are interested in your daughter participating in the Girls on the Run Johnson County team at Webb, please contact Mrs. Clendening or Mrs. Taylor. This is a wonderful organization, for third through fifth grade girls, and this is our first year having a team here at Webb. The cost is $125, but there are reduced-fee scholarships available if you are interested, but concerned about cost.

We will have practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2:20-4:00 p.m. beginning August 30th and running until the GOTR Johnson County 5K race on Saturday, November 5th. During the practices, we will not only be exercising and preparing for the 5K but also focusing on the following skills, just to name a few: self-worth and value, decision making, making connections with peers, embracing differences, standing up for ourselves, leadership, etc.

Please let us know if you are interested! We have several spots left, but they will fill up quickly and we can only have 15 students enrolled per team. Needham, Northwood, and CBIS will all have teams this year. Go Webb!!

For more information, please visit:

http://www.girlsontherunjohnsoncountyin.org/ (you can register online- choose Webb as the team)

https://www.girlsontherun.org/ (national website about the program itself)

NWEA Update

Technology has not been our friend this week when it comes to NWEA testing. 

Fourth grade had to postpone both Monday and Wednesday testing due to separate technology issues across the district. We are rescheduled to take the reading test on Friday morning (tomorrow), but are not sure yet when we will be taking the math portion. We are planning for early next week. Once testing is complete, across the district, we will be sending home reports with your child's progress and beginning of the year data. NWEA data is a major tool for us in determining your child's individual needs and instructional level. We look forward to exploring this data and working to help your child meet their fullest potential. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. Thank you! 

Updates and New Information

Hello, parents and families! We have truly enjoyed getting to know your kiddos this past week. We are continuing our work on learning routines, establishing expectations, and introducing the curriculum. This week will be somewhat "normal" as far as daily routines, with the exception of NWEA testing. Please see the notes below for updated information.

• NWEA-- Fourth grade was to start NWEA computer testing this morning, but technology did not cooperate. NWEA ironed out the problems by late morning, but we missed our testing window. We will still be testing on Wednesday morning, but have not received the rescheduled testing date to make up for today. We will let you know when we hear something.

• SNACKS-- We are going to allow students to bring in INDIVIDUAL snacks if they choose. These need to be healthy and SUPER EASY snacks. Crackers, string cheese, bananas, apples, granola bars, etc. Nothing too messy, sugary, or requiring utensils, please. We will be eating these as we work in the morning, so if they choose to bring something please just follow the guidelines above. If you have any questions, please let us know. If you are wanting to donate snacks for your child and any that might not have their own, you are more than welcome to still do so. 

• DATA BINDERS-- We set up data binders late last week and will start using those within the next week or two. Students should bring these home at least once a week and have an adult look through added tests, information, graphs, etc., and then sign the "parent signature page" at the front of the binder. This also provides a place for comments, if you wish to praise your child, set goals, or ask questions. You can also contact us directly if you have any questions. Some weeks several pieces will be added, other weeks maybe only one or two things. A weekly signature is required. In language arts, most data will come home on Mondays, but math will depend on the unit schedule since those vary in length and timing. When they take math unit assessments, those test will be added to the binder. Please let us know if the binder is not making it home to you at all. 

We look forward to a wonderful year with a wonderful group of students! Thank you so much for sharing your kiddos with us. We appreciate you!

Welcome to Meet the Teacher Night!

If you are reading this post, then you have reached our 4th grade blog site either on your own or by scanning our QR code. We will use this blog as our form of a newsletter, with weekly updates on curriculum, field trips, celebrations, special events, testing information, etc. Please add your email to the "email address" box near the top of this page to receive an update anytime new posts are added. Also, if you would prefer a printed copy of the newsletter/updates, we can include you on our list of paper copies to be sent home. Just let one of us know, and we'd be glad to include you. Let Mrs. Taylor (site admin) know if you have any questions or have any problems accessing our blog. Mrs. Taylor can be reached at taylorca@franklinschools.org or call the front office and they can forward your call to my room. Mrs. David's email is davide@franklinschools.org and she can also be reached by phone, via the front office.

Again, welcome to 4th grade! We are looking forward to an amazing year!

Welcome to Fourth Grade!

We are so very excited to kick off a wonderful year with your kiddos! We've been working to get our classrooms and materials ready for the school year, and are looking forward to meeting you on Webb's official "meet the teacher" night, TUESDAY, AUGUST 9th from 6:30-7:00 OR 7:00-7:30. Each session will be held in your child's homeroom teacher's classroom. We look forward to meeting everyone. Please feel free to have your child bring their supplies that evening and place them in their desk or cubby. You may contact Mrs. Taylor at taylorca@franklinschools.org or Mrs. David at davide@franklinschools.org if you have any questions or concerns. Here's to an amazing year in fourth grade!

Fourth Grade Awards and Party (2015-2016)

Just a reminder

World Water Monitoring Challenge- SO COOL!

This morning our 4th graders were able to participate in The World Water Monitoring Challenge,

Field Trip THURSDAY-- UPDATE

    Unfortunately, our Indiana Spring weather is

McTeacher Night at McDonalds on THURSDAY, APRIL 21st, 5:00-8:00

Please plan on joining Webb Elementary

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Field Trip

Don't forget, tomorrow is our field trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indianapolis 500 Educational Program. Today, we are spending some time reading about and prepping for our field trip tomorrow. Please make sure your child has comfortable shoes (lots of walking) and appropriate layers for the weather tomorrow (cooler in the morning, warmer in the afternoon). If you are chaperoning, please be at Webb by at least 7:45 so we can prep you for the day and get boxes of lunches loaded and ready. It is going to be a wonderful day!

Report Cards Coming Home TODAY

REPORT CARD ALERT:

Please watch for your child's report card and NWEA reports coming home in their data binder. (The NWEA reports are from December's testing, but we just received the district data that is included on it, so we are just now sending it home. We take NWEA again in early May.) They are bringing them home today and we would love a signature on their data binder parent signature page by Wednesday, if possible.

The report cards and NWEA reports can stay in their data binders, as we are going to be working on goal setting with them over the next few weeks. We talked A LOT about effort and attention to detail when working and completing assignments, studying, taking tests, writing pieces, reading books, etc. We are hoping that students see this report card as an opportunity to set goals for improvement and growth in ALL areas, academically and behaviorally. We are also hoping they have something to celebrate! :)

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Thanks,
Mrs. Taylor and Mrs. David

Ag Day on Monday!

We have the annual 4th grade field trip to the Johnson County Fairgrounds

Ms. Walters Reading- The Westing Game

I gave each child a copy of our new book that we will be reading today, The Westing Game.  They seem to be very excited to read this intricate mystery.  Here are the

Wander Indiana Projects

Most of our 4th graders submitted their Wander Indiana "Project Proposal" and "Parent Awareness" sheets on Friday, March 4th, when they were due. However, we still

Language Arts UNIT 8 (Mrs. Taylor)

     With ISTEP+ wrapping up last week, we are able to get back into our normal routines here at school. We are in Unit 8 of our Benchmark Reading Series. Our main objectives (goals) are to evaluate author's purpose, summarize, and synthesize new information as we read. Synthesizing is using our schema (prior knowledge) and combining that with new text information to come up with new ideas and thoughts about what we are reading and/or what is happening. We will be using photographs, posters, short passages, picture books, and novels to work on these skills and strategies. Our genre focus is "tall tales" and we will be comparing and contrasting those over the next three weeks.

     Our vocabulary test will be next Friday, March 18th. We will be testing over the "assessment" vocabulary words I gave students three weeks ago. I only tested them on the commonly misspelled words last week and wanted to give them a few more weeks with the vocabulary portion. I will attach a picture of the list below. Please let me know if you have any questions. 

Read Across America Goals

Please help your child reach their 25 mile (point) goal for Read Across America by reminding

ISTEP+ Testing NEXT WEEK

ISTEP+ testing begins next week, believe it or not. We are confident that our students

Sleep Guidelines

Sometimes we underestimate the amount of sleep our little spiders need.  I thought

Ms. Walters Reading

The children began working on their study guides for lesson 15 today.  We will be working on these slowly over this week and part of next.  The study guides are not due until

Important items!

Your child should've brought home two important items today: mobile dentist and  Webbfest information packets. Please have them share these with you.

Ms. Walters Reading

This week we will be wrapping the reading of Elijah of Buxton.  Each child has a conflict paper that they need to complete along with the reading of the book by Friday.  Tomorrow I will be introducing a "Get Creative" project, this will not be due until February 22.  The children will have a choice of which creative project they would like to complete.  Each project has very specific requirements.  Please review the list carefully with your child.  

Our next vocabulary test over lesson 14 will be on Friday, February 12.  Here is the link for Quizlet if you wish to have your child practice that way.  

https://quizlet.com/102945550/ceasars-english-lesson-1-14-flash-cards/

Read Across America and Riley Dance Marathon Month of FUN!

February brings us: Valentine's Day Parties, Read Across America, and Riley Dance Marathon fundraising events! What a busy month! We will be having

Greek and Latin Roots- geo, hydr, terr, aqua

This week, we are working on the Greek and Latin roots geo, hydr, terr, and aqua. We are studying "chapter 5" in our Growing

Unit 7 Benchmarks- Inferencing, Drawing Conclusions, Fairy Tales, and Fluency

   We just kicked off Unit 7 of Benchmarks this week. We are focused on the skill of "drawing conclusions", the metacognitive strategy of "making inferences",

Walters Reading- Elijah of Buxton

We are embarking on a new adventure in my reading group... literature circles.  We have started reading Elijah of Buxton this week.  Each child has a special job that they need to complete before their literature circle meets.  The jobs include

Google Cardboard Expeditions-- WE TRAVELED THE WORLD!

If we could've bundled up the excitement and energy this morning during our Google Cardboard Expeditions,

REPORT CARDS

Report Cards are being sent home today in DATA BINDERS. Please check over the report card with your child, discuss positives/successes, discuss goals for weaknesses/continued growth, and let us know if you have any questions or concerns. NWEA Reports will be coming home later this week, once all district data has been added to the reports. Please sign the signature page in your child's data binder and return to school as soon as possible so we know they have shown you their report card and then again later this week when they show you their NWEA report. Thanks and please let us know if you have any questions. We appreciate all that you do!