Week of September 27th

I can't believe it's already the last week of September - this month has flown by!

Your child came home with a bright green permission slip to attend our field trip to Kettle Moraine on October 8th, please turn those forms in with the money and lunch decision as soon as possible!

Please send your child a mouse and headphones to keep here at school if you have not done so already. 

Spread the Love Food Drive

September 27-October 1st

The first service project for the 2021-2022 school year will be the Spread the Love Food Drive for St. Joseph Food Pantry in Menasha. 

St. Joseph’s Pantry is in high need of  peanut butter and jelly.  We will be collecting plastic jars of peanut butter and jelly the week of September 27-October 1st.   Students can bring items to their classroom for donation.  The class that brings in the most items will win a prize for the class!

Upcoming Events:

Monday, September 27th: Pajama Day!

Tuesday, September 28th: Wear Silly Socks!

Wednesday, September 29th: Kaukauna Homecoming Parade & School Color Day - WEAR PURPLE

Thursday, September 30th: Disney and/or Superhero Day!

Friday, October 1st: Kaukauna Spirit Day!

Friday, October 1st: Unit 1 Math Test

October 14th: Family Night (More information to come!)

Curriculum Updates:

Reading: We are continuing to work hard in understanding the characters in our fiction books as well as grounding our ideas about our books. Jotting is very important to the work we do in class, so we've spent some time discussing the importance of it and how it helps us think deeply and grow as readers. We all planted post-its in our books this week and decided what our focus of jotting will be on those post-its. We also talked about how important and helpful the anchor charts are in the classroom...so we must use them! We are currently reading Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo as a class. The kiddos are really enjoying it! We are also weaving in some vocabulary work alongside our reading lessons to help all students level up their vocabulary knowledge. The words we are working on pop up in the Tiger Rising, so students are able to learn them, practice using them, and hear them in context. 

Writing: We've finished our troubled stories and are making our way to begin writing a fiction series. We celebrated finishing our troubled stories by identifying our favorite part, and recording us reading it on Seesaw. Go check them out! If you don't have access to your child's seesaw, please let me know. I can get you the parent code and information. We are now working on realistic fiction series. Students are working hard to plan their stories in order to successfully write!

Word Study: We've spent a week working on Unit 1 of Fundations (word study). We've learned about blends, consonants, trigraphs, digraphs, closed syllables and so much more. I am really proud of the kiddos for working through all of this tricky word work! This group has also really shown an interest in writing in cursive! We are practicing writing some letters in cursive (h, l, and e)

Math: This week your child came home with the Unit 1 Math Review for the test. This review is optional, but I give it a week before so students can slowly complete it and use it to study/practice. This unit focuses on place value, rounding, estimation, and adding and subtracting larger numbers. I have been pulling students in "seminars" (small groups) and really working on supporting students as they grasp the content in this unit. We've taken two quick quizzes in this unit as well. I grade them and give them back to kiddos to make corrections on. You'll see these corrections are on post-its. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Enjoy your weekend! 😃

Carly Burris

Week of September 20th

 Hello!

It has been another great week! Students took their first set of iReady tests this week. They did awesome! This baseline data really helps me understand your child better and know what supports they need to keep them growing! 

If possible, please send your child with their own set of headphones and mouse to keep here at school.  

Spread the Love Food Drive

September 27-October 1st

The first service project for the 2021-2022 school year will be the Spread the Love Food Drive for St. Joseph Food Pantry in Menasha. 

St. Joseph’s Pantry is in high need of  peanut butter and jelly.  We will be collecting plastic jars of peanut butter and jelly the week of September 27-October 1st.   Students can bring items to their classroom for donation.  The class that brings in the most items will win a prize for the class!

Upcoming Events:

September 20th: Wear Packer gear! 🏈

September 24th: No School

September 29th: Kaukauna Homecoming Parade

Curriculum Updates:

Reading: Reading has been going wonderfully! I am really impressed by how much this group of kiddos values their independent reading time! They are all really great at finding a cozy spot in the classroom and diving into their books. I am working through gathering data on students reading to better understand which aspects they need more support with. Students also got their Reading partners this week, they've done awesome working together and having meaningful conversations about reading.

Writing: We are still working through writing true stories. Revising and editing seem to not be a fan favorite - we will work on that. Students are continuing to work toward improving their writing's structure, development, and language conventions.

all working hard on improving our writing's structure, development, and language conventions.

Word Study: We will begin Unit 1 this week!

Math: We are making our way through Unit 1! You may notice that your child came home with their Unit 1 Quick Quiz today. Majority of the class still struggles with place value and rounding so we will continue to work on that in small groups as we continue to progress through the unit. We've begun practicing addition with larger numbers (in the thousands). I am encouraging students to find a way to add that works best for them. I will be demonstrating common methods as I teach whole class so those students who are unsure of which way is the 'easiest' for them, may find a way.

Enjoy the weekend! 😎 Please reach out if you have any questions. 

Carly Burris

Week of September 13th

 Hello! Happy Friday!

We've still been getting into the swing of things here in fourth grade. Your fourth graders have really began to open up and I've loved getting to know them better each day.

If you haven't already, I'd like to invite you to fill out this survey. It has been insanely helpful for me to understand your child better. https://forms.gle/SBvmHqLmbMnGXTDb8

Spread the Love Food Drive

September 27-October 1st

The first service project for the 2021-2022 school year will be the Spread the Love Food Drive for St. Joseph Food Pantry in Menasha. 

St. Joseph’s Pantry is in high need of  peanut butter and jelly.  We will be collecting plastic jars of peanut butter and jelly the week of September 27-October 1st.   Students can bring items to their classroom for donation.  The class that brings in the most items will win a prize for the class!

Upcoming Events:

September 13th: Fire Drill

September 14th: Evacuation Drill

September 15th: iReady Reading Test

September 15th: Severe Weather Drill 

September 16th: iReady Math Test

September 24th: No School

Curriculum Updates:

Reading: Students are working on identifying books that are "just right" for them. As a class we are engaging in converstaions about how to identify if a book is too easy, too hard, or just right. 

Writing: We are currently working on planning true stories that will be revised, edited, and eventually published. We are all working hard on improving our writing's structure, development, and language conventions.

Word Study: The optional word study packet was sent home earlier this week. Students are not required to compelte it, but we did talk as a class about how it is super helpful to get more practice. 

Math: We have begun Unit 1! This unit revolves around place value. We are working to remember what we know about place value by practicing saying, writing, and drawing different numbers.

I hope you have a great weekend! Go Pack Go!🏈

Carly Burris

Welcome 2021-2022 4th Graders!

Hi Families! 👋

Your kiddo completed their first "week" of fourth grade - woo hoo! I have loved spending the few days together and am already so excited to navigate through the year with them! 

We took a class photo together on the first day, here it is!

If you haven't signed up to get reminders and messages from me via the Remind app, please follow this link to join the text list: http://remind.com/join/msburris4t

I would love if you could fill out this parent questionaire so I can get more information about your child!  https://forms.gle/N63CyVF5c4wf9kyK7

Upcoming Events:

September 6th - No School

September 24th - No School

Curriculum Updates:

Reading: This week we began talking about the mind work and heart work we do as readers. The mind work includes all the components we think about when reading. For example: understanding characters, plot, etc. The heart work includes us looking at the books we read and identifying if they are like "windows" or "mirrors". Books that feel like windows are those that we can't fully relate to. It's like looking out a window to a different life, thought, idea, perspective, or action. On the other hand, when a book feels like a mirror, we can see ourselves in the book. We understand a situation, position, feeling, or identify of a character. These conversations have been great to have with the students and I love hearing them share if they feel that their book is a window or mirror and why.

Writing: We took a Narrative On-Demand on the first day of school. On-Demands are a 45 minute time period where students are instructed to follow the writing process to write anything they'd like as long as it fits within the genre we will begin studying. It's been so exciting to read the stories your children have written and get a strong understanding on how I can help them grow to be even better writers!

Math: This year we are integrating a new math work called Number Corner. Number Corner is in addition to our normal math curriculum, is about 20 minutes in length, and focuses on the practicing of different math skills all in relation to the monthly calendar. Through different activities, questions, and discussions students are able to broaden their mathematical ideas!

Leader in Me: This week we've spent a lot of time discussing how to be a leader and all the places we can show leadership. The first habit of being a leader that we really emphasized this week was being proactive. Be proactive, I'm in charge of me! We've done a lot of whole class conversations, small group discussions, and self reflection about how we are and can continue to be proactive in our own lives. Here's some pictures from class time when we were working hard to identify how to handle things in and out of our circle of control.

Please feel free to reach out with any questions you may have! I hope you and your family have a wonderful Labor Day weekend! 😊

Carly Burris