Mrs. Marshall’s 4th Grade Memos

We are SO excited that we have made it to March with very few snow days to make up! Maybe the “luck of the Irish” will be with us and we won’t see any of the white flakes until next winter.
We will be celebrating Dr. Seuss’s birthday on March 2nd. He would be 108 years old!

SPRING PICTURES will be taken on March 9th.

Our students have been doing a lot of assessments in order to help us determine their areas of strengths and weaknesses as we prepare for the countdown to KCAS testing.
Our reading curriculum for the next several weeks will include: attacking unknown words, review of structure and strategies, and the Reconstruction Era.
Remember – there will be a READING TERM quiz each Friday for the next 4 weeks.

Our valentines party will be held on Friday, February 10th. Make sure you have your cards and decorated boxes in the classroom so we can deliver our special messages!

Our current curriculum includes: Slavery & the Civil War, Author’s Purpose & Perspective, Text Structure, and Prepositions.

We are beginning the second half of the school year with a strong emphasis on READING.  We are learning the strategies that good readers use every time they read for any purpose.  Here are the COMPREHENSION STRATEGIES that we have been practicing and tested on:  MAKE CONNECTIONS, QUESTION, DETERMINE THE IMPORTANCE, INFER, PREDICT, ANALYZE, SYNTHESIZE,  and FIX-IT-UP.

Below is a helpful website that you can use at home:

our_reading_and_writcfm.html

Students should be reading for at least 15 minutes each night and keeping a chart of the strategies they use on the Tracker Sheet.  This will help them learn the strategies and make a habit of applying them whenever they read. 

We are currently reviewing comparing/contrasting as we read about Colonial America and the Revolutionary War.

REMINDER:  There will be no school on Monday, January 16th in observance of Martin Luther King, Jr.

  READERS ARE LEADERS !!!

School Will Resume on Monday, January 2nd.  SEE YOU THEN ! 

Here are the upcoming events that are scheduled for the month of December:

December 5 – NO SCHOOL (staff work day).  Watch WTVQ Channel 36 at 5:00 for Eastside Tech Buddies!

December 7 – Eastside's music program.  Primary begins at 5:30. Intermediate begins at 7:00.  The Book Fair is open from the 7th – 9th of December.

December 12 – PTC Meeting at 6:00.  Mrs. Wilson's and Mrs. Phillip's class will be featured on WTVQ Channel 36 at 5:00!

December 13 – Market Day pick-up

December 14 -  SBDM Council meeting at 4:30.

December 15 – Pajama Day 

December 16 – Begins Christmas Break!  CHRISTMAS PARTY at 9:30. Students dismissed at 11:30.

January 2 – Return to school 

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     Election Day is November 8th.  There will be no school on this day. 

This week we will begin reading a novel called Mary on Horseback.  It is about Mary Breckinridge and the Frontier Nursing Service that she began in the Eastern Mountains of Kentucky.  There is very seldom any homework in reading; however, I have asked our students to read something of interest to them each night.

 Tutoring will begin next week for those who signed up.  More information will be sent home this week.

If you were not able to attend Parent-Teacher Conference but would like to meet with me, please send a note or call the school to set up an appointment.  I was very pleased with the number of parents who attended this year.  

We are "sailing" right along and have almost completed our first nine weeks of school.  I am pleased with the way the students have adjusted to our routines, and I'm happy with their progress. If you have any concerns, please let me know so that we can take care of them as quickly and effectively as possible.

New Information:

Friday, Oct. 7th – Field Trip to the Elks Grounds for the Native American Pow-Wow.  The cost is $2.00.

Monday, Oct. 10-14th – Fall Break

Tuesday, Oct. 18th – Report Cards go home

Monday, Oct. 24th – No School ( staff work day)

UPCOMING EVENTS TO REMEMBER:

September 23 – Grandparent's Day for 3rd-5th grades & 4-H meeting

Sept.  30 – Safety Day at the 4-H Fairgrounds

October 1 – Fall Festival —– We need workers in our booth for 1/2 hour

CURRENT UNITS OF STUDY:         

Reading: Summarizing nonfiction text, main idea & supporting details

Language Arts / English: using commas, combining sentences

Spelling: writing, math, & science core content words

Writing: personal narratives

SUCCESSFULLY EDUCATING ALL STUDENTS – that is what we are all about at Eastside this year. Our mission is to provide instruction to each student that will advance their learning AND to meet their individual needs. I am excited about the Reading / Social Studies curriculum that I will be teaching. This year we are combining these two subjects as we strive to meet the new standards in literature as well as prepare the students for 5th grade Social Studies.  Currently, we are continuing our reading on the local history of Harrison County. This week we will read about such places as Monticello Mansion, The Oaks, The Handy House, and Battle Grove Cemetery.  Historic citizens such as Death Valley Scotty, Margaret Goudy, and David Sheely will also be topics of interest.

Please encourage your child to read for pleasure each night.  The more they read, the faster they can make up for "lost ground" over summer vacation.  Thank you, in advance, for all your help in making this upcoming year a success.  "SEA"  you soon!!!