welcome to our classroom

WELCOME TO OUR WELCOME TO OUR CLASSROOMCLASSROOM

• Please sign in at the back table next to your child’s name.

• Find your child’s seat.• Please write a special note

for your child and leave it on the desk. I know this will make him/her smile!

• The other paper is for notes.

• Check out your child’s DATA BINDER.

Thanks for sharing your child with me

this year!

All About Me

~ Born in Wyoming~ High School in Holland

~ Graduated from the University of Wyoming

~ Married for 10 years~ 2 kids- Hannah & Ross

~ This is my 12th year of teaching( 8 yrs in Texas, 4th year in AZ)

~ 2nd Grade-7 years~ 3rd Grade-2 years~ 6th Grade-1 year

~ 4th Grade- 2nd year

This year we get the opportunity to have

two Teacher Candidates…Miss LiBrandi (1st Semester)

& Mrs. Banghart (2nd Semester)CO-TEACHING

All About Miss LiBrandi

-Born in Long Beach, California

-Twin brother Joe -AZ Native for 17yrs

-Graduated from Mountain Ridge High School

-Attending NAU and graduating in December!

Fourth Grade Expectations

Overview of Overview of ReadingReading

Weekly Harcourt Weekly Harcourt StoryStory

• Organized into themes•1st theme is “You Can Do It!”

•Focus of this year for reading:•Strategies•Individual/small group needs•Finding root causes for gaps in learning, and filling those gaps.•Stretching students into more mature, confident readers

•State is moving to Common Core Standards•More rigorous•Focus on language development as a whole – reading, writing, speaking, and listening…across the curriculum.

Weekly SkillsWeekly Skills• Fluency

– Students will work towards reading smoothly with accuracy and expression.

• Comprehension– Students will use strategies to help them understand

what they read.– Harcourt to introduce skills– Literature studies and Expository Text studies to

practice. • Vocabulary

– Students will use knowledge of root words and affixes to determine the meaning of unknown words.

• Remediation/Enrichment

Overview of Overview of MathMath

Math state standards Math state standards can be found at…can be found at…

• Common Core Math Standards as well

• http://www.ade.state.az.us/

• https://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com• User name: MRGrade4student• Password: MRGRADE4

State Standards

• 4th Year of Adoption

• Lessons based on Arizona State Standards

• Hands-on activities to build foundational skills

• Real-world problem solving skills

Math GoalsMath Goals

• Last year, 83% of the students met or exceeded in Math.

• NCLB mandates that 100% of students meet or exceed by 2014.

• In order to meet goal, this years students must gain at least 6%.

• Our goal is for 89% or more to meet or exceed.

• Of course we are shooting for 100%

Flex GroupingFlex Grouping

• Purpose – to group students who have common readiness to tackle a skill or set of skills.

• Mr. Lyons, Mrs. Orr, Mrs. Copenhaver will contact you by email.

• Teach according to needs• Pre-test/Post-test• Regroup as necessary

Timed Fact Tests

•Purpose: Students need to be fluent in their facts so that when they get to multi-step multiplication, division, and fractions, it is easier for them and they can focus on the process rather than the facts.

•Fact fluency makes math easier and more fun.

•Goal•Multiplication: Facts 1’s though 12’s; 50 facts in 2 minutes•Division: Facts 1’s through 12’s; 100 facts in 5 minutes

•Please help at home•Study in the car•At dinner•Free time•Flash cards

Overview of Overview of WritingWriting

Writing For 4Writing For 4thth Grade Grade

Across the CurriculumAcross the Curriculum

4th Grade Students 4th Grade Students will be assessed will be assessed

using the Six Traits’ using the Six Traits’ RubricRubric

• Clearly communicate ideas

• Organize ideas in a logical manner

• Choose words appropriately to communicate ideas and paint mental pictures (Word Choice)

• Demonstrate Voice • Use well written

sentence structure to support sentence fluency

• Use appropriate grammar, punctuation and spelling (Conventions)

4th Grade Writing 4th Grade Writing Portfolio EvidencePortfolio Evidence

Expressive – Personal narrative, story, poetry, skit

Expository – Expository paragraphs, essay, summary, Newspaper, article, reflective, paper, log, journal

Functional - letters, invitations, messages, thank you notes, directions, recipes, procedures, rubrics, labels, graphs/tables

Persuasive - advertisement, paragraphLiterary Response - reflection to a Literature

selection; journal entry, book review, response to a literature selection

Research – Informational report

Overview of Overview of Social StudiesSocial Studies

Field Trips

Field Trips are an important part of experiencing Social Studies!

What materials will we What materials will we use to teach social use to teach social

studies?studies?

Text book Internet Simulations

Types of Instruction?Types of Instruction?

•Reading Reading

instructioninstruction

•Hands-on Hands-on

activitiesactivities

•Project basedProject based

•Integrated Integrated

writingwriting

Overview of Overview of ScienceScience

STEMSTEM

• S – ScienceS – Science• T – TechnologyT – Technology• E – EngineeringE – Engineering• M - MathematicsM - Mathematics

Weather!Weather!• Weather is our school wide Weather is our school wide

focus. focus.

• Weather Bug- Gathering Weather Bug- Gathering info. every morning. info. every morning.

• The Common Core The Common Core Standards for Language Standards for Language Arts pushes more speaking Arts pushes more speaking and writing standards into and writing standards into content areas such as content areas such as science. science.

• ““Science Talk”Science Talk”

FOSS SCIENCEFOSS SCIENCE

• WaterWater

• LandformsLandforms

• Electricity & Electricity & MagnetismMagnetism

• EnvironmentsEnvironments

Water Water WatchersWatchers

• Glendale Water Glendale Water DepartmentDepartment

• Focus is on principles Focus is on principles conservation of water conservation of water in Arizonain Arizona

• Related to Project Related to Project WetWet

Overview of Overview of SpellingSpelling

Sitton SpellingSitton Spelling

•Focus is learning spelling strategies and skills

•Word lists of 20 words not given out.

• Students can differentiate their challenge level by bumping up to using multisyllabic words for their conceptual assignments.

Weekly SpellingWeekly Spelling•Spelling test on THURSDAY

– Friday- We will go over the skills and concepts of the week.

– Students have the weekend, plus Monday – Wednesday to complete the activities.

– Thursday is an oral test. – The next unit is given out on

Friday and the cycle repeats.

Fun Stuff• Birthdays…Please let me know if you

are bringing treats so I can plan accordingly.

• Bring plates/napkins/plastic knife to cut it etc.

• ROOM PARENT for parties!!! • Volunteers…Make sure you are trained.

Next class is Volunteer Basic Training • 2011-2012 Open Volunteer Training Dates

AUGUST 30- 9:30 MEDIA CENTER

TICKETS• Students are given tickets for coming to

school, participating in class, doing homework, doing what is right without being asked, helping others, etc.

• Owe me tickets if they don’t do homework, don’t follow our school/classroom rules, etc.

• Auction: candy, popcorn, free homework pass, sit at Viper Desk, sit by friend, sit in rolling chair, have lunch with me, character counts slips, mystery box.

• They have earned this!!! Good motivation to work hard and do what is right!

• Donate items/toys…THANK YOU!

Peanut Free/Snack Time

• Please make sure to not bring snacks that contain peanuts.

• Lunch: It’s okay if you have a peanut butter sandwich, just make sure it is in a ziplock bag.

• SNACK TIME & WATER BOTTLE- Students are allowed to bring a HEALTHY (peanut free) snack to class. Please make sure your child brings a water bottle, it is so hot outside and they need to stay hydrated.

WWP/Grades• WWP=Wednesday Work Packets

– ALL graded work will come home on Wednesdays. Papers will be stapled together with a half sheet on the front. Tells how many papers are attached.

– REDOS= If you child scored below a 70% it is considered a REDO. Student needs to correct and return paper. Grade will stay the same, but correcting paper will clear up misconceptions.

– SIGNATURE= Parents need to sign WWP, due on Friday.

Retake Contract

• What is the retake contract?

• Allows students the opportunity to demonstrate mastery. If your child doesn’t do well on an assignment, they can fill out the contract, do all the steps expected, and return with your signature. A different test will be given.

• Not about the grades, it’s about the understanding!!!

HomeworkBE RESPONSIBLE!!!!

• Every night your child will have homework.

• Math WS/Facts-turned in next day• Spelling-turned in on Thursday• Read 20 min. & record main idea each

night. Journal/notebook paper, etc.-turn in Friday

• Tuesday Newsday-turned in Tuesday• Study Vocab words-test Friday• WWP- turned in Friday

• It is imperative that homework is completed and turned in on time.

• Notes, calling a friend, rewriting, etc.

My Website• Please check my website every Sunday

night.

• I put a lot of time and energy into updating this site so let’s use it!

• http://mrscopenhaver.weebly.com

Power School

• You are able to access your child’s attendance and grades online.

• Go to http://ps.dvusd.org• There is a new system for

logging in. • If you go to the page, you can

download detailed instructions of what to do.

QuestionsQuestions

Thank you for coming to Thank you for coming to curriculum night! It’s curriculum night! It’s

going to be an amazing going to be an amazing year! Keep in touch. We year! Keep in touch. We

are a team working are a team working together to help your together to help your

child! YES!child! YES!