1. Welcome to 4HA Haddy Allen hallen@uasdubai.ae

2. Welcome to Grade 4 at UAS!  Building Partnerships  I truly believe that strong parent-teacher communication is essential and I look forward to building a positive partnership with both you and your child!

3. About Me….  Toronto, Canada.  5t h year of teaching.  Taught in both private and public Canadian Boards.

5. Communication  I will be posting weekly updates and any important information, along with extra resources for home learning on my EDUBLOG. It can be found at sites.uas.edublogs/hallen  You can also send me an email or come into the school to see me once you have made an appointment via email or phone call to the school.

6. Attendance and Punctuality  Please ensure that your child arrives at school on time and prepared for learning. Students go inside at 7:35am. We do mental mathematics reflexes at this time and it is really important that your child does not miss this.  If students arrive before this time, they may enter the building to place their belongings in their cubby; they must then return to the supervised playground.

7. Homework and Assignments  Home Learning Quilts will be sent home every two weeks. Students are expected to complete 10 tasks before turning the signed paper into their teacher.  Additional resources will soon be available on my blog.

8. PYP Higher level thinking skills are developed as students learn how to begin to ask questions that lead to their own inquiry.  Promotes life-long learning  Focuses on the whole child  Teaches students how to formulate questions independently  Involves problem solving in a variety of contexts.

9. PYP Units of Inquiry  Let’s Write!  Changing Earth  Tolerance  Ecosystems  Global Trade  Past and Present Roles

10. Math  We will be studying a variety of units  We began with Geometry –While we are studying a specific unit, we review and preview other units. This gives your child a much bigger chance of retaining his/her learning.  Although students are not required to complete them, we have Studylinks available on Edublogs that coincide with each Math lesson.

11. Every Day Math  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR =1&v=H8XUrh7TWGs http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR =1&v=H8XUrh7TWGs  Children will also take part in inquiry based activities into the nature of mathematics.  They will do projects as part of some of the units.  They take part in a round the world tour.

12. Great Math Websites  www.coolmath4kids.com – awesome website with games, lessons and activities covering many areas of maths. www.coolmath4kids.com  www.aaamath.com – sorted by grade level; covers many areas of the math curriculum. Lots of good, interactive activities. www.aaamath.com  www.math-drills.com – a good range of drills for basic facts practice  www.mathixl.com

13. www.mathletics.com

14. Parental login  Parents visit www.mathletics.com/parentwww.mathletics.com/parent

15. Language Arts  Spelling: Word Frequency  The students will also have a range of Spelling activities to complete each week. These are designed according to Gardener’s Multiple Intelligences and allow the children an opportunity to learn in a way that best meets their needs, whilst also allowing them to extend their skills and abilities.  Children will also use the Look, Say, Cover, Write and Check method to help them with their spellings.  These Spelling activities will be completed in class.

16. Spelling activities - examples  Grade 4 Spelling – Multiple Intelligences  Write down words and look up their meanings and histories.  Discover how to change a word to mean the opposite.  Spell your words out loud.  Say them - Look - Say - Cover - Write – Check  Make - crosswords - wonderwords - jumbled words Dictionary work - alphabetical order

17. Reading:  Each student has been issued with a Reading Log that will remain in class.  It is the expectation that each student reads for approximately 25 minutes each night.  We are using Reader’s Workshop during classroom instruction.

18. Reading Resources  -PM Benchmark Leveled Readers  -Rigby Literacy Leveled Readers  -A-Z Leveled Readers  -Classroom Library  -School Library  -Science/Social Studies text books  -Internet  Raz-kids.com

19. What are the PM Benchmarks?  The PM series was developed to ensure that children would have positive experiences and enjoy reading from the first moment they are exposed to books  Over 700 different titles covering fantasy, history, fiction, folktales, verse, song, and informational text  Sentence structure, choice of words, and introduction of high frequency words have been carefully chosen  I am in the process of assessing each child's individual reading levels. With this testing, I can then match books to students, to ensure that your child is reading at an optimal challenge level.

20. Science in the PYP  - In the PYP, science is viewed as the exploration of the biological, chemical and physical aspects of the natural world, and the relationships between them.  -Science within the PYP leads learners to an appreciation and awareness of the world as it is viewed from a scientific perspective. It encourages curiosity and ingenuity and enables the student to develop an understanding of the world. The science focus is also used for the basis of the literacy lessons.  - In Grade 4, our science units are:  Our Changing Earth  Ecosystems

21. Classroom Management  Dojo  Points towards golden time.  Star of the Week.  Table groups.  Assemblies.  Positive encouragement and praise.

22. Nutrition and Health  Please avoid sending your child to school with foods that contain peanuts.  Please ensure that your child eats a healthy snack and lunch each day.  Aim for a litterless lunch!

23. What can you do at home?  Assist with organization (Agendas, and homework)  Listen to your child read  Assist them with their Math  Assist them with finding additional material for our PYP units.  Communicate with them! Communicate with me!

24.  Thank you very much!  Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions  hallen@uasdubai.ae