HAPPY THANKSGIVING - Week of 11/25

This week we are only in school for two days!  On Monday we will be starting the next part of our lesson on prime factorization.  On Tuesday we will be completing an investigation of factors and primes.

This week we will not be in school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday due to the Thanksgiving Holiday.  Since we will not be in school for five days, students with missing assignments will receive a letter home with their current grade and a packet of all of the assignments they are missing so far for second quarter.   This packet must be returned by December 3rd to receive credit.  Progress report grades will be finalized by December 6th and reports will be sent home on December 11th.

As a reminder - students need to make up work they missed when they are absent or suspended.  That work is available for them to pick up at my door in the red hanging file holder.

Homework:
Monday - NTN Page 131: Prime Factorization
Tuesday - Thanksgiving Packet for students with missing work

Important Reminders:
School resumes  - December 2nd  (students in attendance will have a free out of uniform day)
Progress Reports - December 11th

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Break and remember to give thanks, cherish the moments we spend with friends and family, and be thankful of all that we have.

Week of 11/18

This week in math we will finish our lesson on least common multiple and start learning about great common factors, prime numbers, and composite numbers.  These topics may be very difficult for students so here are some links for extra help at home!  (Least Common Multiple (LCM) and Greatest Common Factor (GCF))

Homework (may change during the week):

Monday - Least Common Multiple Worksheet
Tuesday - NTN Page S122 - Finding the LCM
Wednesday - Finding the Greatest Common Factor Worksheet
Thursday - NTN Page S131-132 - Finding the GCF
Friday - No homework!

Important Dates:

Monday (11/18) - Out of Uniform for honor roll and principal honor roll students!

Tuesday (11/19) - SciNight - Come out for a night of Science! (5pm-7pm)
Monday (11/25) - Students with perfect attendance and no more than 3 tardys will receive a special movie day!

In other news... as many may have heard, there was a devastating tornado in Washington, IL on Sunday, November 17th.  After spending a brief time discussing the events with the class today, many students asked how they can help.  Seeing as to how eager our children were to assist others in need, I spent some time searching for ways we can help.  Until the end of the week (11/22), I will be collecting donation items and will be dropping them off at the Tornado Relief Donation Collection Sites.  

The items that they are accepting are: 

-Non-perishable food items

-Fruit

-Bags of Chips

-Bottled water

-Rubbermaid Totes

-Cardboard boxes

-Files with closeable tops for documents

-Toys

-Large Garbage Bags

-Toiletries

-Work Gloves

-Bleach

-Buckets

-Sponges

-Mops

-Towels

-Baby Formula

-Infant care items

-Diapers

-Bedding

-Flashlights

-Batteries

-Manual can openers

-Aspirin

-Brown lunch bags

-Sharpies

-Dog and Cat Food

-Disposable coffee cups with lids

-Duct Tape

-Tarps

-Scissors

-Toilet Paper

-Paper Towels

2013-2014 A Brand New School Year!

It was wonderful meeting all the families that came out to Parent Teacher Conferences yesterday!  As promised, I will be starting up the classroom blog again with information on what we are learning in class!

The first quarter has gone by really fast and we have already had a chance to cover word problems, multiplication, place value, and rounding.  Although the lessons for these topics may be over, these are all things that we will continue to see throughout the school year - so keep practicing these skills!

With a brand new school year, there are always a few minor changes here and there.  One thing that I will be implementing in my classroom this year is ClassDojo.  This is a website and an app that allows classroom behavior to be tracked throughout.  Students earn positive points for demonstrating any of the ten IB profile traits (caring, principled, communicator, thinker, knowledgeable, risk taker, balanced, open minded, inquirer, and reflective) and negative points for negative behavior (off task, shouting out, bullying, and disrespect).  During parent teacher conferences, a parent code was given to each student to access that information.  If you did not see me during parent teacher conferences or did not attend, that code will be sent home with your child today.  Simply following the directions on the page to start seeing how your child is doing! 

Also during conferences each family was given a pin number to be used to access the Parent Portal.  Parent Portal allows parents to log in and view student's grades at any time!  The link to access Parent Portal and sign up is HERE. 

This week in math we will be starting a new unit on Number Sense.  Topics in this unit include, multiples, least common multiple, factors, prime numbers, composite numbers, and numeric patterns.  This unit will last ten days and end as we enter Thanksgiving break.

Special reminders for this week:
Monday - No School - Veteran's Day - Thank You to all those who have served and continue to serve our country!
Tuesday - No School - Parent Teacher Conferences & Report Card Pick-Up
Wednesday - Special Movie Presentation for all students who are in attendance!
Thursday - CPS Benchmark Assessment

This weeks homework:
Wednesday - No Homework (since this is the first day of the new lesson, there will not be homework!)
Thursday -Finish Centers Worksheet
Friday - No Homework

If you have any questions and concerns please feel free to contact me by e-mail at jlchan2@cps.edu or by leaving me a voice mail on my Google Voice at (872) 216-2840.

Winter Intersession!

I hope everyone enjoys their winter break!!

See you back on January 7th!

Don't forget to complete your homework packets for math, science, reading, and writing!

Almost Time for Break!

Sorry I have not updated in a few weeks, we have been very busy preparing for the upcoming NWEA test and learning all that we can before our three weeks off!

This week we will be reviewing arrays as we continue to look at factors.  We will be completing daily workshops to practice the skills we have learned.

To keep our minds rolling and thinking, each student will receive a homework packet (5 pages front and back) of review materials for the three week break.

On Friday, we will have our winter celebration assembly.  Each 4th grade class will be performing!  Parents, look out for the invitations which will be sent out later this week!

Homework this week:
Monday - Solving word problems with arrays
Tuesday - Finding factors using arrays
Wednesday - Finding factors in word problems
Thursday -Cycle 4 Test Corrections
Friday - Winter Break Packet

Wow! Time moves fast!

I hope everyone had a great Veteran's Day and enjoyed the three day weekend.  As we spend time off with our friends and family, don't forget to thank those who have served and are still serving our country!

This week in math we will be finishing off Cycle 3 which focused on place value, bar graphs, and averages.  On Tuesday, we will cover the last type of average:  the range.  On Wednesday, we will review the cycle and take our test.

Starting Thursday we will be moving into workshops.  With our workshops, we will be able to fit in a lot more learning in our day!!  On Friday, we will dive into our full day of workshops as we start cycle 4 and learn about line graphs.

Homework for the week:
Tuesday: Three practice problems on minimum, maximum, and range
Wednesday: Multiplication Practice (x6)
Thursday: Multiplication Practice (x7)
Friday: Parts of a line graph

Week of 11/5-11/9

It's the start of a new week which means a start to a lot more learning!

This Monday, I am sorry to announce I will not be at Marquette.  I will be attending a math meeting to learn of more strategies to maximize our scholar's learning!  Although you will have a substitute teacher, you will continue working and reviewing place value, bar graphs, and mode.

Remember, we represent Marquette School no matter where we go and who we are with, so I expect excellence in behavior and good choices being made!

Throughout this week we will continue learning about different types of averages and will be talking about median, minimum, maximum, and range.

On Thursday we will be diving into Compass Learning!

Since Friday is a half-day, we will be staying in our homeroom classes where we will continue working on our enlargement measurement projects!

**Don't forget, school is out at 11:30 on Friday and we are off Monday, 11/12 for Veteran's Day.

Homework this week:
Monday - Tally Chart and Multiplication
Tuesday - Median Worksheet (Example Problem #1 and #2 only!)
Wednesday - Family Size worksheet  Median Worksheet
Thursday - Family Size Worksheet and Line Plots Compass Learning Assignment
Friday - Compass Learning Assignment Family Size Worksheet and Line Plots