Dear Parents,

In our final week before Winter Break I have a few updates to give.

Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are all half days.

Thursday is the read-a-thon, and if your child wishes to dress up, they must have their purple sheets signed by Wednesday for my approval. Students are allowed to bring a blanket, a stuffed animal, a flashlight, and their favorite book for their personal reading pleasure. Please make sure the book is 4th grade appropriate.

Friday is our Robin Hood Party. Links to the sign up genius are below on the previous post. All help is greatly appreciated.

The students will have a final math assessment as well as a science assessment on Thursday.

The students will have their Spalding and Robin Hood Final on Friday.

Please continue to practice the Paul Revere's Ride Poem each night. We recommend going through the poem three times, once with the paper in front of them, once where you give the necessary cues, and once more without any assistance. They should have the entire poem memorized by the start of the 3rd quarter during project week (the week after we get back)

Grades will be posted December 30th. I will request Parent Teacher conferences as needed. Parent Teacher Conferences are by invitation only.

Thank you,

Mr Leonard

Hello Parents,

 

In order to celebrate all that our students have learned about the Middle Ages this term, the fourth grade classes will be having a Robin Hood Feast (party) on Friday, December 18 from 10:00-12:30 p.m. (set-up will begin at 9:15). Activities will include crafts and games, as well as foods that were eaten during that time. We will need a number of volunteers to make this event a success. 

 

Please have a look at the Sign-Up Genius--we are looking for parents to help set-up/clean-up, help out in the classrooms during the party, donate game and craft materials, and provide food. Let's work together to make this a memorable and enjoyable morning for our students! 

 

(Please note: the quantities are for all 3 classes, about 90 children).

 

To view your sign up page, go to:

www.SignUpGenius.com/go/4090948ADAC2C7-robin

During the 4th Grade MIDDLE AGES/ROBIN HOOD festivities this Friday,12/18, the students will be participating in a few themed activities.Attached is an ADDITIONAL SIGN-UP for the activities portion of the event. The sign-up includes supplies needed as well as volunteer opportunities. 

 

We need your donations to make it AWESOME!!!

 

Thank you in advance for your participation! 

 

To view your sign up page, go to:
http://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090948adac2c7-activities

Thank you in advance for all your help and a special thanks to Sheridan Chumley for coordinating with the other 4th grade PSO mom's. 

Dear Parents,

I hope you're all looking forward to the upcoming winter break. Your students have been working extremely hard and deserve a nice break from their academic challenges.

A few reminders for this week.

The only test this week will be Spalding on Friday. They will continue to practice their "Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" poems. Make sure that they can recite the poem from memory, without having to look at the poem. We have studied the first 5 stanzas and will continue to add on until Winter Break. We recommend practicing a new Stanza a day.

If you have any questions regarding "Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" feel free to email me or Miss Kelly.

In addition, we will be having our Robin Hood Party Next Week on Friday. We will have multiple activities planned as well as a "Middle Ages" feast. If you are interested in volunteering to assist, please email me or Miss Kelly. You will not need fingerprint clearance to volunteer for this activity.

Thank you,

Mr. Leonard

Dear Families,

I hope everyone had an enjoyable Thanksgiving break. I realize we're into the final stretch.

We will have a Science Test this Tuesday on Earthquakes and Tsunamis. Volcanoes will be sometime next week.

Students should continue to practice their memorization of Paul Revere's Ride. We will be handing out rubrics for those who missed last week Wednesday.

I have pushed our Robin Hood test until next week Monday per the request of the students.

In math we will have an assessment on adding and subtracting mixed numbers and fractions on Thursday. Continue to build on their practice skills at home.

On Friday we will have a history test on the people of the Middle Ages. Please refer to the study guide.

This is a heavy week but they have proven themselves to be up for the task.

Sincerely,

Mr. Leonard

Dear Parents,

Your students have done an exceptional job of conducting themselves in a scholarly way in our classroom. They have earned a "No Homework" night tonight. This means we will postpone any quizzes or tests until after Thanksgiving Break. Thanksgiving is also an R&R Weekend. I hope your children enjoy their break, because they certainly have earned it.

Mr. Leonard

I look forward to seeing all of your children in the concert tonight. They can be dropped off as early as 6:35 and will stay in Room 210 until the concert begins. They will return to Room 210 after their performance and you will be able to pick them up after the show.

Because of the concert there will be NO HOMEWORK due TONIGHT!

The materials you see in their Agenda's are items that are due by Monday.

Because of this policy there will be NO SPALDING QUIZ tomorrow.

Please make sure that your child wears a white collared shirt to the concert, with either black pants or skirt. Their white Archway Lincoln shirt is fine.

Also they are running a food drive tonight and we as 4th grade are assigned to bring stuffing. Feel free to bring that along to the concert.

I will be away from the school tomorrow on personal matters, but Ms. Kelly will be more than capable to teach your students in my absence.

Once again I look forward to the performance and I think you will greatly enjoy it. If you need more information, feel free to check in on Ms. Blasi's Blog.

Sincerely,

Mr. Leonard

My Apologies for a lack of a blog post this week,

Sparknote Version:

Spalding Test on Friday.

In history we are continuing to learn about the Middle Ages and this week we are focusing on Castles and Knights.

In Math we have finished basic operation function and moved onto operations with fractions.

In English we are continuing to read Robin Hood.

In Science we are working on Earthquakes and Tsunami's in our Geology unit.

I hope your children are enjoying their day off but please take a moment to remember those who have served our country, helping make this country a wonderful place to learn and grow.

Mr. Leonard

Science Test has been moved to Thursday. Please plan accordingly.

Mr. Leonard
jleonard@archwaylincoln.org

Hello Again!

Updates on this Week!

We will have our first Literature Quiz tomorrow on Robin Hood, we had a review session today, and just make sure your students review their vocabulary words on the review sheet. We've found the definitions as a class.

We will have our Science quiz in Geology on Wednesday, but this will more than likely be pushed to Thursday. Very short, mostly on the layers of the earth and tectonic plates.

On Friday we will have our Math test on multiplying 2 digit numbers by other 2/3 digit numbers, as well as a review for the whole Math unit.

We will as always have our Spalding quiz on Friday. Please review the phonogram cards each night as well.

Let please make sure not to include any kind of Nuts in our student's snacks/lunch unless they are Almonds. We are trying to be considerate of needs of others in our classroom.

The book fair is Monday November 9th/10th, next week.

Until Next Time,

Mr. Leonard

Dear Parents,

A few updates:

Our first Music Concert will be Thursday, November 19th, from 7:30-8:30pm for 3rd-5th grade. If you have younger students (K-2nd) their concert will be from 5:30-6:30pm.

This week, will be continuing with Robin Hood, and you can expect our first assessment for next Tuesday. The vocabulary words should be in a packet and remain in their Yellow Folders to study from each night.

They will have a History Assessment this Friday about the fall of the Roman Empire to the leadership of Charlemagne. We will continue to review the materials as a class and they received their review packets today as well.

They have a short Math Quiz on Wednesday on division and multiplication. They will receive the review packet tomorrow.

Tomorrow they will have a short quiz on the "ear" sentences. They need to memorize the following two sentences and be able to write them down.

"The earl yearns for an earnest search in the hearse for the pearl."

"I heard you learned about the early rehearsal to earn money for the earth's dearth of food."

Finally, another Spalding quiz on Friday. I was very impressed with the improvement in their cursive over fall break, so lets keep up the good work!

If you have any questions do not hesitate to email.

Yours Truly,

Mr. Leonard
jleonard@archwaylincoln.org

And I knew I would forget something. One final reminder:

Please remind your children to bring Robin Hood tomorrow. If you have yet to pick up a copy, the ISBN is 978-1890517168.

I also have link to Amazon where you can buy the book as well. 
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=978-1890517168

Cheers!

 

Welcome Back!

I hope everyone had a very nice break. I was able to spend time recruiting at my alma mater and hopefully I convinced a few future graduates to join the Great Hearts team. I brought in work from our class, and college seniors were blown away by the amazing job our class is doing. I was so proud to share stories of our progress, and the high character students that I get to work with everyday. For that, I am extremely grateful.

I also want to thank all the parents who helped organize the Birthday Celebration for my birthday the week before break. It was very touching and I think the kids had a really good time.

Thank you to all of those who have made it to parent-teacher conferences and those who will be coming later today (Wednesday). If you were unable to make it during the times provided, please email me, or else I will be emailing you later this week to find a time to meet.

With the shorter week I have very few announcements, just a friendly reminder that we will still have a Spalding quiz on Friday, but it will only have 10 words on it, not the typical 30. We are also starting Rocket Math this week. The kids had their pretest today, to see how fast they can complete basic math operations. We will continue to do this throughout the year, as a way for the students to work on their math fluency, but there will not be any responsibilities for you at home.

Thank you and expect another post come Monday!

Mr. Leonard

Hello Again!

This should be final post before Fall Break. Please remember to sign up for Parent Teacher Conferences between the 19th-21st of October. Your students will not have school on the 19th or 20th, and the second half of the day on Wednesday afternoon.

We will discuss your student's performance to date, discuss areas of improvement, and areas where we have seen substantial growth. Please keep in mind, grades this quarter will include a letter grade, but no comments. We would rather have that conversation face to face. You will also receive your student's most recent test scores and writing samples. I am sure they will want to have these back.

Please remember that these meetings are mandatory. Students are not allowed to attend Parent-Teacher conferences. If none of the available times work with your current schedule, feel free to email me at jleonard@archwaylincoln.org and we will discuss another available time to meet.

Grades are for parents to understand their child's performance and development in the classroom. I leave it to your discretion to share or not share grades with your child.

You may sign up for a spot in the link below: 

http://vols.pt/1FtAYk

I look forward to speaking with all of you. Enjoy your Fall Break,

Mr. Leonard

Hi Everyone!

It is amazing that is this our last week before the first quarter is complete. A few updates on the week.

Spalding practice improved dramatically over the week. I hope to continue to see that this week. We will have a spelling test this Friday.

In history, we have been learning the countries of Europe and your students will have a quiz on Thursday. Everyday they will be bringing in their maps and they should be reviewing the locations of each country every night. We expect to have 30 countries and bodies of water by Thursday. They will also have a mini-quiz on the middle ages and have some free response questions. 

In Literature, they will have their second and final assessment on Pollyanna. Make sure they are studying their vocabulary every night. I saw significant improvement last week. 

In math they are learning about division and longer multiplication problems. We'll wait to assess until after fall break. 

We are taking a grade wide reassessment of the science test today on Monday because of how overwhelmed the entire grade was with all of their assessments last week. That being said 4C did a very nice job with a B average throughout the class. I do not want your students to be too concerned. I will give them the higher of the two grades. 

If your child would like to retake their pictures we will have an available retake on Tuesday. Please make sure they bring their photos back with them.

At this time there should be no homework during Fall Break, and I do not expect that to change. 

I will post a link later in the week where you will be able to signup for a parent teacher conference after fall break between 19-21 of October. Parent teacher conferences are mandatory. 

I look forward to seeing all of you then.

Further Clarification for this week!

I should not have attempted to double side a Spalding document that looks extremely similar on both sides. Going forward... They will receive 10 new words everyday, Monday-Wednesday, and take those 10 words home to study. The parent will dictate the word to the child, and the child will write the word on a separate piece of paper, markings and rules included. They will then fold the paper in half, and write on the second half of the paper for a second time. Finally, they will flip the paper over, and the parent will dictate the words for a third time. This should not take more than 10-15 minutes. On Thursday, they will receive a sheet of paper with all 30 words on it, and these will be their words for the weekly spelling test. The test will not be graded on markings, but they will help the student write the word come test time. On Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning, I do not need the piece of paper back with the directs and spelling words on them. All I need back is a piece of line paper that shows they practiced each word, 3 times, with markings. This will determine their homework grade for spalding going forward. If you do not have wide rule paper at home, or lack the means of acquiring wide rule paper, we can send paper home with the student.

Also I would like to thank our parents who have volunteered thus far, I promise there is always work to be done to help our classroom. Parent involvement is always greatly appreciated.

For anyone concerned about the Pollyanna assessment tomorrow, if you think you're missing Vocabulary chapters 7 and 9, I promise you're not. We only have chapters 1-6, 8, 10-15.

Happy Studying!

Mr. Leonard

Hello Again!

This week is very busy. We have Galileo testing Thursday and Friday afternoon, which is nothing your students have to study for, but just something that provides us with baseline information about where they need to improve and where they are already excelling.

In other news...

In Science we will be having a test on Wednesday on our Meteorology unit. This is our longest science unit of the year, and has taken us nearly the entire quarter. I promise we will have science tests more frequently going forward, so there is less information to study for each test. That being said, the study guide has a lot of information that we have reviewed the previous 3 days in class, and the test will reflect the materials that we have covered.

We will have a Pollyanna assessment this Thursday. Make sure they study their vocabulary words from chapters 1-15.

We have a Spalding quiz on Friday with only 30 words and 15 phonograms. We will be sending new sheets this week that have clear directions of how we want spelling words to work going forward.

In History we are continuing to learn about the Middle Ages and the split of the Roman Empire. Expect a quiz next week.

In Math we will have a test on Friday over order of operation, word problems, addition, subtraction, and multiplication. We will send review questions home that will be similarly formatted as the test itself.

I had a teacher come in to observe and she was amazed at how well behaved and orderly our class was. They really are an exceptional group of students and I consider myself blessed to have such a wonderful class.

Sincerely,

Mr. Leonard

Hello Again!

It seems as though our first quarter is already flying by. The students wrapped up their Wizard of Oz assessment last week Thursday, and now that they have finished the book, we will begin our unit on Pollyanna. Please make sure they have the book on Monday. I know that Amazon, Barnes and Nobles, and Common Core are low on copies, so if you can find one with different pagination that will be acceptable.

In math they have been working on Order of Operation, and now we will begin addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division of 4 digit numbers this week. They will be learning multiple methods to solve these problems, so even if you are familiar with the vertical  algorithm that everyone learns in school, feel free to let your child break up and dissect their math problems in new ways this week. We will have a test on this next week Wednesday.

We are continuing to make progress with Spalding, and the students will be sent a new set of spelling words this week. We will be doing much of our writing in cursive this year, so make sure your students are working on their letter formation. The manuscript was very good at the start of the year, lets make sure they are diligent about practicing cursive as well. Moving forward, spelling tests will only be graded on proper spelling, not markings. I hope this is a relief to you, because it certainly is for me.

History we are beginning our unit on Medieval Europe. This is a fascinating time in World History and I can already tell your students are enjoying it very much. If we have time, we will get to read from the Old English version of Beowulf (Either Friday, or next week Monday).

In science we have continued with our Meteorology Unit, and have engaged in numerous fruitful conversations about weather, climate change, our responsibilities as thoughtful citizens, and reflecting on Mother Nature's most destructive storms. We will have our first assessment next Tuesday, with time to review over the weekend.

Until Next Time,

Mr. Leonard

Wizard of Oz

Our first book will be the Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. We ask that you purchase the Barnes and Nobles Classics edition so that we will remain consistent in our pagination. Thank you!

  

This photo was taken at Oz Park in Chicago, IL. 

Some Helpful Links!

Birthday Policy

http://archwaylincoln.org/downloads/Birthday Book Club.pdf

Spalding Resources

http://www.mychandlerschools.org/Page/36159

Phonogram Videos

http://archwayveritas.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=168&Itemid=212

E-Books for Young Kids

http://www.tumblebooklibrary.com/

Free Audio Books

http://www.loyalbooks.com/genre/Children

Tips for Reading With Your Primary Age Child

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BxSuyHM9YtLNdTlCa3BnTC1jRFU/edit

Singapore Math Bar Model Strategy

http://www.thedailyriff.com/WordProblems.pdf

http://www.thesingaporemaths.com/

Singapore Math Supplementals Resource

http://singaporemathsource.com/resources/online-programs/

Math Games Online

http://gregtangmath.com/index

http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/

Developing Study Habits

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2c0MAp2HRMCUW1LVkhSR2hmeG8/view

                               

Classic Book Recommendations for Children

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2c0MAp2HRMCV1ozTUZNeE9GSms/edit

Suggested Reading for 5^th grade-middle school

http://www.archwaychandler.org/images/academics/5th%20grade%20reaidng%20list.pdf

Leveled Readers Book Lists

http://www.archwaychandler.org/academics/reading-stages

Homework Policies

Fourth Grade at Arete

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2c0MAp2HRMCQ3o1TWxDNVd6ZXc/edit

States and Capitals Review Game

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/web_games.htm

Children’s Online Dictionary

http://www.wordcentral.com/

About Me

I am originally from Michigan, growing up on the shores of Lake Michigan in a small town called Holland. I was educated at the University of Notre Dame where I majored in Liberal Studies and received a minor in Energy Studies. This is my first year within the Great Hearts network. Prior to joining Great Hearts I worked as the Citizen Outreach Director for a national nonprofit organization and managed the Chicago offices. I enjoy hiking, golfing, and yoga. The picture above was taken at the Lily Ponds of Lincoln Park, one of my favorite places to read on a summery Sunday evening.

First Blog Posting!

Dear Fourth Grade Families,

Welcome to Room 210! As we launch into a great year here at Archway Lincoln, we also launch or blogs to keep you informed and up to date on everything going on in your student's classroom.

Here on this blog you will find our weekly newsletter, pictures of class activities from all 4th grade classes, and remain informed on your student's experience. We'll also provide links to helpful tools that you and your child can use at home. Although this blog will have weekly reminders for study guides, tests, vocabulary words, and other essentials, I will not be posting the weekly homework assignments. Those will be recorded daily in your child's agenda so that they can be accountable and begin to develop those habits which will serve them later in life. I will occasionally post about classroom wish list items, and volunteer opportunities as well. Because this is the first year of our school we know that mistakes will be made and best practices developed. We ask for your patience in this process, as everything we do is in the best interest of your child. We have a phenomenal leadership team and a staff dedicated to giving your child the best education possible. I promise your child will have an amazing year!

If you want to follow this blog via email, please click the subscribe button below. If you do not receive this post in your email, please make sure to check your email/spam for the subscription verification email. You will need to click on the link in the email to start getting blog posts sent regularly to your inbox.

Thank you!