1. Spend A Day with Us in Room 52
Welcome to Open House
September 26, 2013

2. The Responsive Classroom
Classroom Philosophy
Ways we want our classroom to be!
The Responsive Classroom
The focus of the social curriculum for the first six weeks is ethical behavior, classroom management and group building.
In respectful and proactive ways, the children are taught expectations for behavior, care for themselves, each other, their materials, and the skills necessary to be independent and motivated learners.
Caring
Kind
Respect and Responsibility!

3. Authentic Assessment Student Portfolios
Portfolios are developmental pictures of students’ progress. They allow students, parents, teachers and administrators to understand progress in ways not possible with other types of assessment. Portfolios are a vehicle for engaging students in the process of self-evaluation and goal setting.

4. A Typical Day… 7:50-8:10 Settling in activities
Students have responsibilities such as checking in homework, doing morning activities, classroom jobs, and reading the morning board upon arrival. They also begin a morning assignment.
8:20-8:30 Morning Meeting
Students gather in a large group for opening activities such as a greeting, activity, and sharing. This time is used to get to know each other and bond as a group. Often an academic concept is reviewed in a game format.

5. Mathematics 8:35-9:30
The students work in a variety of settings from whole class to small group. Hands on manipulatives, smart board lessons, as well as paper/pencil experiences will occur daily because students have many different learning styles. The math curriculum for NYS has shifted to reflect the new Common Core Curriculum standards. We will be spending a lot of time this year on multiplication, division and fraction concepts, involving problem solving. Be prepared to dig deeper and use critical thinking skills! It is a much more rigorous curriculum. Perseverance is a MUST. Many of the concepts taught this year will be based on prior math experiences (i.e. long division-based on multiplication concepts and facts). Concepts taught in class need to be reinforced at home by doing a thorough job with homework every night. The NYS Mathematics Assessment will take place in April/May 2014.

6. Specials 9:38-10:19 PE Every other Monday, Every Wed. & Thurs. Library
Wednesday or Monday
Music
Friday
Specials
Art
Tuesday

7. 10:20-10:55 Science!
Our science curriculum begins this year with a unit on classification of various animals. Students in fourth grade have the opportunity this year to raise crayfish and to be able to observe and meet the needs of these living creatures on a daily basis! We also enjoyed a presentation from Mr. Romack this week all about classification. Our science this year will include many hands on labs provided through ESP Kits (Elementary Science Program). Students will learn about scientific concepts not only by reading about them-but experiencing them! We will work with wood and saws using a unit called Design Technology, circuits and wires while studying electricity, and powders & crystals during Mystery Matter!

8. 10:55-11:25 Lunch
LUNCH

9. Reading
11:30-12
This block of time is spent expanding our reading skills. Students may leave for AIS reading during this time. Students may be reading individually, in pairs or in small groups. The reading materials used may be independently selected novels, current events materials such as Time For Kids and other non-fiction reading, or historical fiction. Students work on skills and strategies such as comprehension, vocabulary building, experiencing various genres, making connections with characters and texts, predicting, making inferences, visualizing and writing about books.

10. 12:05-1:35 Uninterrupted Reading & Writing Block
Our “URB” consists of the students learning new skills and strategies to improve their reading, writing, and grammar skills . Many different types of reading will take place during this block-including curriculum based reading such as science & social studies. Students will work hard to fine tune each piece of writing they create. Students will have opportunities to create imaginative pieces of writing independently, journal write, and create teacher directed pieces of writing throughout the school year. Some writing projects will be completed in teams or partners. Presentation of their writing is one of the most creative outlets for students. We have already completed a personal narrative about a summer 2013 memory, and have begun another piece sharing some of Cambridge’s local history. A goal is for all of the students to become expert writers prepared to tackle the NYS English Language Arts assessment in April 2014, as well as develop a love for authoring stories. The students will use the computer lab and portable labs to word process their stories and to complete research for many pieces of writing.

11. During URB Social Studies
We are completing a unit on mapping skills that primarily focuses on NYS.
Students are learning many interesting facts about our beautiful region of New York State.
Ken Gottry presented to the fourth grade and increased our historical knowledge of Cambridge. We also had the privilege of taking a walking tour with Mr. Gottry as a culmination. We will continue our study of NYS to learn about historical events and people of this area. Our trip to the Knickerbocker Mansion was another wonderful opportunity to learn some local history firsthand.

12. Celebrations!!!
We will hold a monthly classroom party/celebration in our classroom. This will be to honor birthdays and holidays in a given month. I have found this to be much more enjoyable for everyone, rather than a few small birthday cupcake celebrations each month. It takes away from instructional time and it doesn’t allow enough time to really enjoy ourselves. During our monthly celebration we will have treats, and a craft or game may be involved. Your child may be asked to provide the treats during their birth-month. If you would like to help organize these celebrations or even just volunteer to help or organize for a particular month-please let me know. I’d love the help!

13. Homework Policy
Homework is given Monday through Thursday evenings. It is intended to take your child minutes to complete. The purpose of homework is to promote responsibility and for practice and reinforcement of already learned skills/concepts. Homework for most nights is divided into three sections: Reading/Writing, Spelling, and Math. Some nights your child may have Science or Social Studies.
Homework Support Room is available M-Th.