WELCOME TO FOURTH GRADE!

Upcoming Tests & Quizzes

Summer Reading Presentations
(1-minute poster speech)
Tuesday, August 31st

Math Quiz
Lessons 1-1 & 1-2
Wednesday, September 1

Religion Test
Chapter 1
Thursday, September 2

Summer Reading Writing
(Paragraph on 2nd book)
Thursday, September 2

Language Arts*
Unit 1, Lesson 1
Friday, September 3

*Language Arts tests are every Friday and consist of questions for that week’s comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, and spelling.

What We're Learning in Room 4 This Week ...

We’re always learning in room 4. This is where you can see what your child should be able to do by the end of the current week. Please ask your children what they learned each day. You might learn something new yourself! =)

Language Arts
• Understand the concepts of base words, comparatives, synonyms, and the suffix –ous (ELA: Reading: Vocabulary and Concept Development 1.2).
• Use the skill Author’s Point of View to better comprehend the story “Island of the Blue Dolphins” (ELA: Comprehension and Analysis 2.2).
• Understand the spelling patterns of comparative and base words (ELA: English Language Conventions: Spelling 1.7)
• Categorize common, proper, concrete, and abstract nouns as well as understand the capitalization of proper nouns (ELA: English Language Conventions: Capitalization 1.6).

Writing
• Give a one-minute presentation on the summer reading assignment (ELA: Listening and Speaking: Speaking Applications 2.3).
• Use the writing process to write a paragraph about the risks and consequences in the story “Granite” by Susan Butcher (ELA: Writing Applications: 2.2).

Religion
• Discover ways God reveals himself to us.
• Highlight how God most fully reveals himself in Jesus.
• Understand why God gives us the gift of faith.
• Describe how the Catholic Church professes its faith in words and actions.

Math
• Read and write whole numbers through the millions (Math: Number Sense 1.1).
• Solve problems using the four step plan (Math: Mathematical Reasoning 1.1).
• Compare and order whole numbers through the millions (Math: Number Sense 1.2).

Science
• View scenic places (National Parks) and discuss how the land is shaped (Science: Earth Science 5a, 5c).
• Understand how erosion and weathering shape Earth’s land (Science: Earth Sciences 5a, 5c).

Social Studies
• Explain and use the coordinate grid system of latitude and longitude to determine the absolute locations of places in California and on Earth (History & Social Sciences 4.1.1)
• Distinguish between the North and South poles; the equator and the prime meridian; the tropics; and the hemispheres (History & Social Sciences 4.1.2)
• Identify and know the characteristics of various regions of California (History & Social Sciences 4.1.3).
• Identify locations of the Pacific Ocean, rivers, valleys, and mountain passes and explain their effects on the growth of towns (History & Social Sciences 4.1.4).

New Photos Added!

Please visit our online class memory album at: www.mshernandez.shutterfly.com to see some pictures from the first few days of school. The password is rwcolmcpadres.

A Note from Ms. H.

Dear families,

Welcome back to school! I am delighted to be your child’s teacher this year and I am sure we will have a fantastic year together. I am honored to be teaching at a wonderful school known for excellence in all areas. This is my second year at Our Lady of Mount Carmel and I am so proud to be part of such an amazing community of students, teachers, staff, and parents.

A little about me … I graduated with honors from Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology where I received a Master of Arts in Education. I am fully equipped with the latest and greatest strategies for teaching as well as a wonderful staff to work with. I look forward to working with you to make this year at OLMC absolutely wonderful for your child. My teaching career includes one year at the fourth grade level, two years at the fifth grade level, and three years at the college level (teaching alcohol and drug education courses). The teaching strategies I have learned from these different areas are beneficial to your children as they grow up and become responsible scholars and citizens.

Your child will receive the recommended amount of homework each day in accordance with the OLMC policy. Please think of this as “home learning” time during which you may converse with your child about what he or she learned at school and help them with their studies. It is imperative that your child read every day for at least twenty minutes. Please encourage reading as much as possible.

There will be many forms of assessment given to your children (quizzes, tests, projects, observations, etc.). I assess students often, so that I may find out sooner than later if a student or the class is not getting a particular concept. I will always let students know when there will be an assessment. Dates are posted on our “What’s Happening Today?” board on and on our classroom website at the beginning of each week. I want all students in my class to perform their very best!

All OLMC students are expected to follow the codes of student conduct, which are outlined in the parent handbook. Students are to treat others with courtesy and respect; come to school on time and ready to learn; and keep our school safe and clean. We will be developing a specialized behavior plan for room 4 which will be sent home tomorrow. Please review the plan with your child and discuss it extensively.

Our classroom will not reach its full potential without your participation. Please let me know if you are available to volunteer your time. Together, we can make this a great year for our kids. I know that the parent involvement at OLMC is among the best and I hope to get to know all of you as the year progresses.

If you have any questions, please feel free to stop by after dismissal so as not to disrupt the daily learning process during instruction hours. If you would like to leave me a message at OLMC, please feel free to do so at (650) 366-6127. I will do my best to get back to you in a timely manner. Since we do not have local phone lines in our room, the best way to contact me is through e-mail. I check my e-mail many times a day. Please send me an e-mail at jhernandez@mountcarmel.org to open a line of communication.

May this year bring you and your child many great successes.

Sincerely,

Ms. Janelle Hernandez, M.Ed.
“Ms. H.”

Subject Area Links

Religion
http://faithfirst.com/html/kidsOnly/kidsOnly.html

Math
http://www.macmillanmh.com/math/2009/ca/student/grade4/index.html
Access code: FE5B80D43E

Science
http://www.eduplace.com/science/dw/4/ca/index.html

Social Studies
http://www.ca-hss.com/sf/client/login/login.html

Language Arts
http://www.readwritethink.org/student_mat/index.asp

Summer Mathletics Assignment

All students going into grades 1-8 have 2 assignments on www.mathletics.com over the summer: (1)Complete 10 Focus Activities with a score of 80% or higher (you’re allowed to do it over if you don’t get 80% right away); (2)Play Live Mathletics: 50 times for incoming 1st and 2nd graders; 100 times for incoming 3rd and 4th graders; 200 times for incoming 5th–8th graders.

Because this is all done online with each student having his or her own password, there is nothing to bring to school in the fall to show that you’ve done your work. Teachers can access each student’s report online. However, you may want to use the chart from the June 9th Blue Envelope to track your progress. If you lost the chart, it’s okay. Just create a chart of your own. You don’t have to turn the chart in to your teacher. It’s just to help you keep track of your progress throughout the summer.

Even though you may already be familiar with Mathletics, ALL STUDENTS should check out the student guide from the website. Go to www.mathletics.com. Click on “home” at the top of the screen, and then click on “guides” at the bottom of the screen. Then click on “Mathletics for Students.”

If you have trouble accessing the website, call 1-866-727-0840. The Mathletics customer service number is 1-866-387-9139. If you have any questions, or if you lose your username or password, you may contact Miss Patterson at ppatterson@mountcarmel.org. She will check her e-mail every few days over the summer.

For those of you who were so excited about this assignment (yippee!) that you started working on it before Friday, June 11 . . . you may notice that some of your Activity choices have changed, or that some of your results seem to have been erased. Don’t worry; everything’s okay. You’ll still get credit for what you’ve done. Your work will still appear on the online report that your teachers see, even if it’s disappeared from what the students see. On Thursday, June 10, all students were transferred into the next grade, which caused these issues.

One last thing . . . a few students asked if they may do the Test at the end of each Practice Unit and have that count as 2 Activities (since the Activities are 10 questions, but the Tests are usually about 20 questions). YES, you may!

Have a great summer . . . Your teachers can’t wait to see how much you’ll have accomplished by the fall!