Attention Parents!!!!!

The PTA Holiday Shoppe will be open during the school day on Friday,  December 16.  This is a wonderful opportunity for your child to experience the joy of giving during the holiday season while selecting holiday gifts for the entire family.  This program offers a safe, educational, and fun experience while supporting your PTA. 

Your child’s joy and excitement will shine through when you open your gift that they selected just for you! 

Parent volunteers will assist students as they shop.  They will help each child budget their money and make gift selections.  You can be a part of the fun and learning by giving your child ideas on selecting gifts and suggesting ways for your child to earn extra holiday dollars.  Gift items range between $1 - $8 with the majority of items between $2-6.

If you would like your child to participate, please send money with them to school in a sealed envelope by FRIDAY, DECEMBER 16.  Please include your child’s name, amount enclosed, and a list of people they can buy gifts for on the outside of the envelope. 

PARENT VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED.  The Holiday Shoppe will be open from 9 am – 3 pm.  If you would like to volunteer please contact Kelly Cline by phone at 913-208-6955 or email kellcline1@gmail.com. 

12/12 - 12/18

Sorry about not posting last week! Time just slipped right by me!

This week, we will be doing lots of stuff!

Reading: Identifying Fact/Opinion in text
Math: Finish graphing unit, Test on Thursday.
Science: Finish up Plants unit, Test on Wednesday. Thurs/Fri start Social Studies.
Writing: Review Capitalization, How to write a letter

I'm so proud of the kids! I know that they are getting tired and ready for the break, but they are still trying very hard and focusing! I am one happy teacher! :)

11/28 - 12/2

Hope everyone enjoyed their break! We're going to be very busy these next 3 1/2 weeks!

Reading: Finish "Drawing Conclusions"
Math: Test over Division, start pre-testing for Graphing
Science: Ch 2 - Plants, Quick mini-study about plants & plant reproduction
Writing: Narrative Writing

Reminders!!!

**Our field trip is on Thursday, December 1st! Please send a sack lunch! :)

**Gift Basket for Breakfast with Santa!

Hello! It’s time again for our annual Breakfast with Santa. The class baskets were a huge hit last year, so we are bringing them back! This year, both Mrs. Beahan and Mrs. Lynn’s class are teaming up to create a “Gifting for All Occasions” basket – filled with items that can be used to gift special occasion presents. We would love to have students donate items to be included in our basket.

Some possible items for donation include:

·        Wrapping paper (seasonal, birthdays, baby, wedding, etc.)

·        Bows

·        Ribbon

·        Scissors

·        Tape

·        Labels/Gift tags

·        Gift bags

·        Tissue paper

·        Gift card boxes

·        Thank You cards

All items are due by Thursday, December 8^th. Baskets will be up for auction at Breakfast with Santa on Saturday, December 10^th. The class basket that brings in the most money will receive a party! All donations are greatly appreciated!                            

-Mrs. Beahan & Mrs. Lynn

11/21 - 11/22

It's a short week! Someone pointed out to me that the kids and I are going to have Monday, then the next day get to jump straight to Friday. I guess they are right! The perks of school! :)

This (short short) week, we will be working on:

Reading: Homophones (words that sound the same but have different meanings)
Math: Division - more practice with remainders
Social Studies: Background to Thanksgiving - Mini Lesson on Pilgrims & Thankfulness
Writing: Gobble Gobble Turkey Poems

Field Trip permission slips and money is due Tuesday, November 22nd! Thank you to all who have sent in your forms already!

Rocket Math Ice Cream Party will be held on Tuesday, November 22nd! The kids have been working really hard on their multiplication facts. Their progress is evident with their Rocket Math tests and their recent Multiplication Test! I am one proud and happy teacher! Thanks for all the work you (the parents) have been giving at home.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! I know all 23 of my little turkey's are excited for the break - as am I!!

11/14 - 11/18

Here's what we're up to in 4th grade this week!

Reading: Drawing Conclusions, Reading Fire Storm
Math: Division - Long division with and without remainders
Science: Finish up Plants & Animals (Test on Friday)
Writing: Millionaire Prompts

Exciting News!
*We won a pizza party! We will be eating our pizza on Tuesday, November 22nd. We will also be having our ice cream party for Rocket Math on Tuesday! Delicious. :)

Field Trip
*Please be sure to send your child's permission slip and $3 to school so they can attend the "Wizard of Oz" play at St. Mary's College.

11/7 - 11/10

Rain, Rain, Go Away!!

With the weather so dreary, all of the kids are getting cabin fever! Please help me in reminding the kids to continue following the rules and making positive decisions. It has been a rough start to the week, and as a class, we have not been making wise choices.

This week, we will be learning...

Reading: Cause/Effect, Reading "Mountains"
Math: Finishing up multiplication, Test on Thursday
Science: Classifying Plants & Animals, Cell lab with microscopes
Writing: Creating cause/effect books similar to "If You Give a Pig a Pancake"

***No School on Friday due to Veteran's Day***

Possible Visitors this week:
*We may be visited by members of the Leavenworth Post #23 American Legion Riders (ALR) this Thursday in honor of Veteran's Day. If they can make it, the kids will get to speak with veteran's about their time served, as well as check out their motorcycles and flags! This is a very special and cool experience for the kids to learn a bit more about Veteran's Day!

Field Trip
*On December 1st, we will be taking a grade level field trip to St. Mary's College to see the play "The Wizard of Oz." Permission slips went home on Monday (11/7) and are due Tuesday, November 22nd. We are asking each child bring $3 to pay for their tickets. Unfortunately due to limited seating, we cannot take any parent volunteers. Thank you for understanding!

Here's to hoping the rain goes away so we can have outside recess this week!!!!!

10/31 - 11/4

Our Halloween Party was AMAZING! Thank you to all for sending pizza money, candy, and additional supplies to make it a terrific afternoon! The kids had a lot of fun! :)

This week we will be learning:

Reading: Cause & Effect, Text Features
Math: Multiplication - muliplying 1 and 2 digit numbers
Science: Plants & Animals - cells & classification
Writing: Spelling practice

Please keep encouraging your child to practice their multiplication facts at home! It is crucial that they have their basic facts memorized to be successful with their math work. I think the students are starting to realize how easy the current math could be if they knew their facts!

Announcement:
I've decided to move the ice cream party to give the kids more time to learn their facts! Instead of this Friday, we will aim for Thursday, November 10th.

10/24-10/28

It's the beginning of Quarter 2!!!

We are learning lots of new stuff this week!

Reading: Finishing Author's Purpose, Text Features
Math: Finishing Transformations, Multiplication with 1 and 2 digit numbers
Science: Plants & Animals
Writing: Spelling practice

Halloween Party reminder!!!!!
Our Halloween Party is coming up soon. Our fabulous room parent - Jennifer Phipps - is planning a great Halloween Party! We are asking each child bring in $2 for a class pizza party for lunch and a bag of pre-wrapped candy for the party. We will also be making spooky houses and need the following supplies. Any help would be greatly appreciated!
We still need the following:

• frosting (11 tubs)
• gummy spiders (1 bag)
• ghost peeps (3 packages)
• black licorice (1 bag)
• small paper plates (1 package)

If you are willing to help, please contact Jennifer at armsup75@gmail.com or 765-437-0909 ASAP!

Costumes:
The students are encouraged to wear costumes, however, NO weapons or facepaint! The kids are to bring their costumes in bags and we will change after lunch!

10/17-10/21

**NO School on Thursday or Friday** Parent-Teacher Conferences!!!!

Hello! We officially ended 1st quarter. We are 1/4 through the school year!

This (short) week, we will be studying:

Reading: Author's Purpose - Reading "Emerald's Eggs"
Math: Transformations - Rotations, Line symmetry
Social Studies: Finish landform projects! Lots of painting!
Writing: Autumn writing

AR Party on Tuesday, October 18th for those who made their goal. 14 of the 23 made their goal! We are going to work really hard to have 100% of our class make the Quarter 2 goal!

Also, our Halloween Party is coming up soon. Our fabulous room parent - Jennifer Phipps - is planning a great Halloween Party! We are asking each child bring in $2 for a class pizza party for lunch and a bag of pre-wrapped candy for the party. We will also be making spooky houses and need the following supplies. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

• graham crackers (5 boxes)
• frosting (12 tubs)
• candy corn (2 bags)
• candy pumpkins (2 bags)
• gummy spiders (1 bag)
• ghost peeps (3 packages)
• black licorice (1 bag)
• mini hersey chocolate bars (2 bags)
• small paper plates (1 package)

If you are willing to help, please contact Jennifer at armsup75@gmail.com or 765-437-0909 ASAP! 

Multiplication Facts
*Please keep encouraging your kids to study their facts! Our ice cream party is coming up on November 4th! Thanks!!!!!!!!!

10/11-10/14

Remember - No School on Monday, Oct. 10th!

This week we will be studying:

Reading: Determining Author's Purpose
Math: Finishing up Addition/Subtraction, Starting Transformations
Social Studies: Landform Project
Writing: Addresses/Dates

This is the kids last week to reach their AR goal! They have until 3pm on Friday, Oct. 14th! Next week we will be having an AR party for those who met their goal. Some of the AR Party rooms will have movies, games, and snacks! Those who do not meet their AR goal will go to a reading classroom and start working towards their next goal!

Conferences are coming up! Each student has your conference time stapled in their agenda book. Please send back the form to let me know if the time designated works for you. I have lots of Thursday morning openings!

10/3-10/7

Sorry this is out so late! It has been a super busy week for both my personal and career life!

This week we have been studying:

Reading: Finishing up conflict/resolution! They are doing a great job with this!!!
Math: Addition and Subtraction - Estimating and Solutions
Social Studies: U.S. landforms - finishing up on this! Test on Friday, Oct. 7th
Writing: Creative Writing

U.S. Landforms Project
The students will be creating their own landforms next week. Please send a shoebox lid (4 sides to prevent messes), 2 cups of flour, and 1 cup of salt! I know it seems silly to send cups of flour or salt, but it will be easier than everyone purchasing huge bags! (By all means, if you'd rather send a box or bag you may... we'll just have plenty leftover!) In addition to the landforms, the kids will be researching and writing about their landforms.

Accelerated Reader
Many kids still need AR points to meet their goal! They have until next Friday, October 14th at 3pm to meet their goal to be able to join the AR Party and receive a coupon for a pizza from Pizza Hut!

9/26-9/30

This week we will be learning about...

Reading: Problem/Solution & Conflict/Resolution
Math: Place value with decimals
Social Studies: U.S. geography - rivers, landforms, and map skills
Writing: Creative writing using spelling words

Important announcements:

**Picture day is Wednesday!!! Please send all orders to school ASAP. I can't wait to see all their smiling faces all dressed up!

**Multiplication: I will be sending home a list with circled facts they need to practice. I found that most kids struggle with 4 times and/or 3 times 6,7,8, & 9. More news to come about the ice cream party the kids are working hard towards. So far, we are working towards all students knowing their multiplication facts 0-12 by November 1st. Our party will be Friday, November 4th.

**We will be creating landforms for our U.S. geography unit in a couple of weeks. Students will need to bring a shoe box lid for their landform. I will be sending a more detailed note home about the project later explaining the requirements and supplies needed. The kids will be creating the projects at school!

**We will be collecting box tops and Campbell's soup labels to earn money for our school. If you can, please send these with your child to school as you use these products!

Here's to another great week!

9/19 - 9/23

Hello!

Last week we finished up Topic 2 for math! I will be sending home their chapter tests this week. When you see them, please do not be alarmed. This test was out of 13 questions, therefore, every missed question will cause the overall percentage to drop. The percentages may look scary, but overall, I am so proud of my students! The kids took the same test for their pre-test and trust me, they have made huge gains! We will continue to work on the pattern skills we learned in Topic 2 throughout the year.

This week:

Reading: Finish up compare/contrast
Math: Topic 3 = Place Value
Social Studies: U.S. Geography
Writing: Practice writing short paragraphs

We will be doing an awesome geography project at the end of next week. I may send home a letter that describes what your child will be doing, as well as any additional materials they will need.

Reminder: Encourage your child to practice their multiplication facts at home. It really needs to be practiced at home in order for success in the classroom!!! Also, the kids need to be reading their AR books. Their goals and reading level are stapled in the front of their agenda. They also have received (today) an updated AR report letting them know how many more points they need to meet their goal!

We are ready for another exciting week!

9/12-9/16

Monday marks our 17th day of school! Oddly enough, it feels like it has been much longer than 17 days! I'm sure all the kids would agree with me!

What to expect this week:

Reading: Compare & Contrast
Math: Finishing up patterns, Test on Friday
Social Studies: Geography & Map Skills
Writing: Main Idea & Detail, More grammar practice

I am so proud of the kids! I have been receiving most of their homework each day, and I can tell that they are putting in the effort at home. They have been doing a great job with behavior at school. Last Friday (9/2), our class was rewarded with 10 extra minutes of recess from Principal Kelly for being the best behaved class (out of 23) in the gym before school!

We will be working on memorizing our multiplication facts this next week. I am working on providing an incentive - ice cream party - for those who learn their facts!! The more facts they know, the more toppings they will have to choose from. I'm hoping to introduce this to the kids this week, and hopefully, have the ice cream party the first week of November! I will be testing the students individually this week and be sending home a list of facts they need to practice! If you want to have your kid practice using the computer, I highly recommend www.arcademicskillbuilders.com! There are tons of multiplication games that are interactive and fun!

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me!

9/7-9/9

I hope everyone is enjoying their 3 or 4 day weekend!

This week will fly by really fast. To recap last week, we completed our first reading, math, and science unit! It's safe to say that we are officially into 'school' mode and have been working hard to learn new exciting things!

This week, we will be learning ...

Reading: Compare/Contrast
Math: Patterns
Social Studies: Civics & Freedom
Writing: Writing a paragraph, Grammar

We have had 1 lesson on Patterns already and I observed that there was some confusion. It would be great if you discussed number patterns with your child at home and point out examples in everyday life! Much of the problems involve using a math computation, like addition or multiplication, to find the missing number in a table or series. For example, a tricky problem on our pretest was:

• What rule can be used to find the number of wheels on 7 tricycles?
• # of tricycles:  3      5     7     9
• # of wheels:    9     15    ?     27 

Possible answers: A: add 6,   B: Subtract 2,    C: Multiply by 3,   D: Divide by 3

• Correct answer: C - Multiply by 3

There will be no spelling this week. I did notice that last week was a bit more difficult for the kids! Please encourage your child to review their spelling list daily. They will be given time during the school day to work on spellingcity.com for review, however to completely master the words they should study at home too.

Accelerated Reader - Your child has been given their range and should be checking out books at their personal level. AR is worth 10% of their reading grade, therefore, students should work toward their goal daily. I allow a maximum of 30 minutes of classtime for students to read independently while I am working with small groups. Most students have been taking advantage of this time and have already taken an AR test. Please encourage your child to read at home and work toward their quarterly goal. (Personal goals will be given out this week and listed in their agenda books.)

Looking forward to another great week!

8/29-9/2

Wow! We survived our 1st week of school! The kids have been working so hard this week on analyzing characters and using multiplication. I am so proud at their effort thus far and cannot wait to see how they do this week on their tests!

This week we will be working on ....

Reading - Analyzing character's actions and motivations
Math - Division (not as scary as it sounds!! simple factor family division problems)
Science - the Scientific Method
Writing - Writing a paragraph

Friday will be a big test day! The kids will be taking a spelling, math, and science test. I promise there will be fun games and activites between these tests! So far, all of the kids have been doing great on their math and spelling. I will send home a study guide this week for their science test. Please have your child review the scientific method at home using the study guide. The kids will need to know the steps, what each step includes, and identify from a "mock" experiment what step is being described.

On to week 2 ... and the 4 day weekend to follow! :)

Week of 8/22-8/26

We have a very busy week coming up! Here's what your child will be learning this week!

Reading: Character Traits - Physical, Personality, Relationships, Actions

Math: Multiplication: Arrays, Commutative Property, Problem Solving
Science: the Scientific Method
MTSS reading: character
MTSS math: multiplication
Writing: bio poems, character prompts

Homework:

Students should be practicing their spelling words nightly. I have sent home a list of activities they can do to practice, as well as access to SpellingCity. If they use SpellingCity to play games/review, they need to search for my name: Beahan or click the link below. The list is Theme 1 - Lesson 1.

http://www.spellingcity.com/janae25/

All work not completed in class is considered homework and must be returned the next day to receive full points!

Monday: Spelling list

Tuesday: Math
Wednesday: Reading
Thursday: Math
Friday: No homework (unless they did not finish something in class)

MTSS

Hello parents!

I wanted to post a letter from the 3-5 Principal, Vickie Kelly, about MTSS (Multi-tiered System of Supports). MTSS is being pushed from the state of Kansas to provide additional support for our students to succeed in reading and mathematics. We have integrated 50 minutes into our schedule of additional math and reading instruction to really give students the extra boost they need to do great on the state assessments! Please click on the image below to read the letter from our amazing Principal!

Give away books by reading at home!

I just found a great website and resource that I had to share! If you are interested in reading books with your child, then look no further than WE GIVE BOOKS (a Pearson Foundation Initiative - http://www.wegivebooks.org). This website has tons of children's books online that you can read. By reading these books, you are also donating a book for every one you read to someone who does not have books! You also can choose the campaign you want to have your books donated to. (Tinga Tinga Tales, America's Children's Museum on Wheels: StoryBus, LEAP Into a Great Story - LCPBC, Read for Chicago Public Schools, & Jumpstart for Young Children)

I encourage you and your child to sit down and read some of these classic children books. If you click on the "books" section, and then select the tab "all books," you can then browse by age. For 4th grade, I suggest the age range between 8-10. If you have younger children, it would be great to have your 4th grader read some of the easier picture books to them!

Again - visit http://www.wegivebooks.org!

 

Happy Reading! : )

Upcoming Events for August

15 - Kids visit classroom between 1:00-3:00pm

17 - First day of School

23 - PTA Meeting

24 - 4th Grade Open House 6:00-7:00

17 Days away!

Hello all! The first day of school is almost here. I cannot wait to meet all of my wonderful students!