1. Welcome to Class 4-411! Please sign in with a computer. Please pick up the chaperone consent form.

2. Arrival and Dismissal Policy ●Academic instruction begins at 8:50 Monday-Friday ●Dismissal will be in the schoolyard at 3:10 daily. ●Students can only be dismissed to adults listed on their blue card. ●If your child has permission to walk home alone or to leave with someone else, please send in a handwritten note. ●Children on the bus list will always remain on the bus list. ●If your child attends an outside after school program, we will always dismiss them to that program.

3. Weekly Schedule ● Monday - Swimming* ● Tuesday - Science ● Wednesday - Computers ● Thursday - Dance ● Friday – Science

4. Reading Workshop ●Students will be advised to read texts with great depth, thoughtfulness, and attentiveness to details ●This year you will see an increased emphasis on the skills of author’s craft, interpretation, growing and revising ideas, and thinking across texts and genres ●Increase of emphasis on writing about our reading (evidence based) ●Students, as a general rule of thumb, should read approximately ¾ page a minute ●Students will be encouraged to read more nonfiction texts ●Make sure your child has books he/she loves and are reading books that they can understand. Kids who are holding books they adore get a lot of reading done!

5. Reading Expectations ● Students should be reading at least 30 minutes every night ● Students should be jotting post-its or writing in their reader’s notebooks nightly- coming home today!

6. Reading Units of Study 1. Interpreting Characters: The Heart of the Story 2. Reading the Weather, Reading the World: Purposeful Reading of Nonfiction 3. Historical Fiction Book Clubs 4. Reading History: The American Revolution 5. Interpretation Book Clubs 6. Little Things are Big: Making Meaning from Poems and Poetic Craft in Literature/Test Prep 7. Nonfiction Book Clubs: Author Studies 8. Solving the Mystery Before the Detective: Inference, Close Reading, Synthesis, Prediction

7. Word Study Students have taken an assessment to determine their level Students will have class work and quizzes This will strengthen vocabulary development along with studying spelling rules and patterns

8. Writing Workshop ● Continued emphasis on the writing process while learning how to become sophisticated writers (more intentional author’s craft) ● Increased emphasis on revision and editing ● Students should always edit their writing each time they write. *Please encourage this at home

9. Writing Units of Study 1. The Arc of Story: Realistic Fiction 2. The Personal and Persuasive Essay 3. Historical Fiction 4. Bringing History to Life 5. Literary Essay 6. Test Prep 7. Journalism 8. Revision

10. Mathematics ●Emphasis on building solid conceptual foundation before moving towards algorithms and other short-cuts. ●Students should be fluent with their basic addition, subtraction, multiplication and division facts. ●Students should keep their notebooks neat, organized, show all their work and thoroughly explain how they determined an answer ●Inquiry & Project-based instruction will take place in both grade level and accelerated groups.

11. Mathematics Units of Study 1. Place Value, Rounding, Algorithms for Addition and Subtraction 2. Multiplication and Division 3. Measurement Conversions 4. Addition and Subtraction of Angles and Geometry 5. Order and Operations with Fractions 6. Decimals and Fractions

12. Social Studies ●In 4 th grade we study New York State History from Native American Civilizations through Industrialization. ●Students will complete projects in school and at home. We would like them to work with partners on these projects. We will send more information about partner projects as the time gets closer. ●There will be an emphasis on learning how to take research notes and how to use technology to present findings.

13. Homework ●Students will fill in a homework plan book to promote independence ●Students should read for 30-40min. each night or 3 ½ - 4 ½ hrs per week at home in a book at their level ●Writing should take about 10 minutes when assigned- free writes, reading responses, social studies, self-reflections ●Math assignments should take 10-15 minutes when assigned ●Other homework assignments will include Word Work, Vocabulary, Social Studies, and special projects. ●Please check homework folders for notices regularly. ●Please check the email address you provided us for updates regarding our class.

14. NYS Testing Information 2016 ● English Language Arts (ELA): April 5-7 ● Mathematics: April 13-15 ● Science: Performance Test: May 25-June 3 Written Section: June 6

15. Kind & Gentle ● Students will engage in weekly character education lessons ● We will have weekly meetings as a class to discuss ways we can be K & G with each other

16. Special Programs ● Hip-Hop Dance- (September-October) -Performance October 30th ● Juilliard Partnership ● Nutcracker Project (November-December) ● Various educational field trips ● “Field Trip Policy” form (white sheet) ● Lunch Leaders ● Camping (May 5-6)

17. Reminders ●Lunch Forms ●We must collect one from every student ●Schools Supplies were donated by the PTA ●No outside pens, please! ●Class Parent ●If you are interested, please email us ●E-mail Address ●Please provide an accurate e-mail address that we can use to contact you throughout the year ●If you do not have an e-mail address please provide a current phone number ●If you contact us, please allow 48 hours for us to reply ●Please feel free to contact us at any time: ps11class411@gmail.com