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appleWow!  What a great start to the school year!!

First, a big shout out of “THANKS” to our parents for sending in all the great school supplies!  You really make a difference!  Thanks for the support.

Next, what a FANTASTIC bunch of fourth graders I have!  Thank you for sending me such neat kids. Already I can tell these guys are great thinkers filled with great ideas!  It is going to be a fun year of learning and growing together.

Homework and Math

This week, we begin full throttle into our fourth grade curriculum.  Your student should be bringing home a nightly folder that has daily mail in it.  This year we are going to try something new for homework.  On Monday, a sheet will come home for the week that’s entitled “Weekly Homework Sheet“.  On this sheet, you will see each day of the week on a grid.  Under each day will be 3 math problems.  These will be problems that relate to the current day’s math lesson.  It will be important for your student to practice what we’ve learned at home.  Please have a daily conversation with your student to see if they understand the math for the day and check over their problems with them.  Sometimes, hearing a concept explained to them by more than one person, can help them learn the skill at a deeper level.  Thanks in advance, for helping me out with this.  If your child is struggling with a concept, jot a note on the grid and we will tackle it in the classroom again one on one. Another resource you can use to help your child understand a concept are some of the videos I have posted by math operation under “Classroom Tutoring” at the bottom of the blog. These may be helpful in explaining a concept that is hard to get.  You can also email me if you have questions or need further explanations.

Homework and Reading

On the Weekly Homework Sheet mentioned above, there is also a square on the grid to have your student write the title of the book they are reading at home and the number of minutes that they have read per night.  This will count as their Reading Log.  Fourth graders are expected to read at least 20-30 minutes per night in a chapter book at their guided reading level. Research has proven that children become better readers when reading at least 90 minutes per day. We are working on increasing our reading minutes here at school, as well as, reading nightly at home.

Homework and MobyMax

Finally, there will be one last square on the grid to check off for fluency math practice on MobyMax.  Your 4th grader will be expected to be fluent in addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts.  One great way to practice this is online with MobyMax.  Your student will have a log in and password and should be practicing at least 5 minutes nightly.

So altogether, your student should really only have 30-40 minutes of homework a night.  He or she should be keeping track of it him/herself as we are promoting responsibility and independence strongly in 4th grade. I hope this explanation helps to know what’s expected and let me know if you have any questions!  Thanks!

-Mrs. Q

Nut Free Snacks and Birthday Treats

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nutfree2Hi Parents and Students!  This is just a friendly reminder to look on the left side of our classroom blog for the page on acceptable nut free snacks and birthday treats to send into school. We do have a student with nut allergies in our classroom.  In order to protect this student, I am asking all students to choose snacks from the list on the “nut free snack suggestions” blog page to eat during snack break. Please be mindful of this and do not send anything for snack that has nuts or peanut butter.  We may NOT have home-made birthday treats either. If you would like to send a treat for your child’s birthday, please carefully read the labels on pre-packaged treats and if they are nut-free or not processed on equipment that may have had nuts, then they are acceptable. You may also send non-food items for birthday surprises like pencils, erasers, or small toy items. Thank you so much for cooperating with us on this matter!

*However, you may still send your “nutty” 4th grade children to school.  I will definitely accept them!!  LOL

 

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

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raincloudsWe, the staff of Georgetown, are very excited to welcome your children back to school tomorrow!
If our first day is cloudy, and NO RAIN between 8:30 and 9:00, children will get off the bus and go to their playgrounds.  All students who are Car Riders will must go to their playgrounds and line up for classrooms at 8:45 when the bell rings/whistle’s blow.
If our first day is rainy day, please follow these procedures:
CAR RIDERS:  ARRIVE BETWEEN 8:30 and 8:45 am.  
NO SOONER THAN 8:30 am.
  • Former students (not new to Georgetown):   Parents can pull up in the circle drive, let your children out of the car.  Children will walk in the front door where they will be greeted by a staff member and walked to their classrooms.
  • FOR NEW STUDENTS who are car riders: Parents can park in the lot.  Walk your child to the front door — enter the front lobby.  A staff member will greet your child and walk your child to their classroom.  Parents are not allowed to go to the classrooms with their child.  Goodbye hugs will take place in the front lobby.  Parents cannot walk children to the classroom.
  • Kindergarten Parents:  On rainy days, children enter through the front door –not their classroom doors.  If you drive your child to school on the first day, park and walk to the front door.  You will be able to say goodbye to your child in the front lobby.  A staff member will walk your child to the classroom.
BUS RIDERS:  Busses arrive between 8:30 and 8:45 am.
Children who are riding the bus will be met at the BUS LOOP (rear of building) by staff who will let them into school.  Staff members will then walk them to their classrooms to meet their teachers.
 
Parents:  If it is raining and your child can ride the bus, I recommend putting your child on the bus.  It will be a smoother transition into the classroom when all children are walking in with their peers.
 
If you do decide to drive your child to school, park in the lot; walk to the front door; say goodbye to your child in the front lobby; staff will walk your child to the classroom.  Due to congestion in the hallway, the staff needs to focus on getting all the children to their rooms — so parents will be kept in the front lobby.  This is the protocol for safe/secure hallways. 
To help you identify staff members, every staff member in the school will be wearing t-shirts that celebrate our school and our community.  Photos of the staff shirt are below.
We are looking forward to the first day of 2015-16…RAIN OR SHINE!
Mrs. Reagan and the Georgetown Staff
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Friendly Reminder – Background Checks!

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appleHi Parents,

This is just a friendly reminder to get your background check information filled out online and sent in to our office. At the following link, you can simply enter your information and submit it. Background Checks Our district staff will take care of everything from there. Please remember background checks must be completed to join us for field trips, volunteering, and party attendance.

Thanks!

4th Grade Teachers

Shopping for School Supplies?!

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backtoschoolHi Parents and Fourth Graders!  Just wanted to make a mention that if you have not checked out the “School Supplies 2015/16” page at the left side of our blog, you are going to want to, now that all the school supplies sales are beginning at our local stores!  So just click on over there and you will see all of the things we will be needing for our school year.  Happy shopping and see you all soon in the last week of August for Open House!

Welcome Fall 2015 Fourth Graders!!!

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IMG_4342Welcome new Fourth Graders!!  I am so excited to be your 4th grade teacher!  Some of you I have had in the past, and some of you will be new.  It’s going to be a great year in fourth grade!  We do LOTS of fun and exciting stuff!

Keep your eye on this blog throughout the summer.  In July, I will post a list of school supplies that you will want to get.  We post this in July when most of the stores start putting their school supplies on sale so you can get the good deals.  I hope to have a few other postings as well! The blog is also a great place to leave comments and let us know how you are doing!

Two more reminders: 1) don’t forget to get on Mobymax over the summer to practice all areas of our curriculum and 2) don’t forget to read!!  Feel free to check out all of the sites listed on my sidebar as well.  I have lots of cool stuff to check out!!

AND I hope to see you up here in the library over the summer on Tuesdays from 10 – 12:00 noon!!

Happy Summer!!   Love, Mrs. Quigley

 

Great First Week!

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IMG_0262Wow!  What a great start to the school year!!  First, a big shout out of “THANKS” to you parents for sending in all the great school supplies!  You really make a difference!  Thanks for the support.

Next, I want to say what a FANTASTIC bunch of fourth graders I have!  Thank you for sending me such neat kids. Already I can tell these guys are great thinkers filled with great ideas!  It is going to be a fun year of learning and growing together.

This week we begin into the full throttle of our fourth grade curriculum.  Homework will be coming home in math towards the end of the week.  Your student should be bringing home a blue or black folder that has daily work and homework in it.  Please have a daily conversation with your student to see if they have homework and check over their papers with them that they have completed in class.  Occasionally, I will write a note at the top of a paper to you, parents, if I think your child may need extra reinforcement of a concept at home.  Sometimes, hearing a concept explained to them by more than one person can help them learn the idea at a deeper level.  Thanks in advance, for helping me out with this.

Our library day is Wednesday.  Your child is being asked to read every night for a minimum of 20-30 minutes.  We know that children should be reading at least 90 minutes of every day to continue to grow at becoming a good reader.  We are trying to get in 60 minutes of reading here at school (of course, we will building up to this every day).  So if you could encourage your reader to get in the habit of reading nightly, this will help us reach the goal of 90 minutes per day.  Your child will be bringing a reading log back and forth to school to help track these minutes in their reading folders.  Please help your child to remember that it should be brought back to school every day.

Ok!  I guess that’s enough info to digest for now!  Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great week!

-Mrs. Q

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Welcome Back!!!

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We are very excited to start the new school year!  Please remember to join us for one of our Open Houses this week.  The schedule is as follows:

  • PK Monday, August 25 @ 6:30 pm
  • K  Tuesday, August 26 @ 6:30 pm
  • Grades 1-5  Wednesday, August 27 @ 6:30 pm

popcornAt all three open houses, we will be collecting donations for POPCORN DAYS.  Each month, parent volunteers provide popcorn to all our students as a special treat.  Popcorn Fridays (one per month) are FAVORITE DAYS in our building.  Popcorn parents are ROCKSTARs!   Your OPEN HOUSE donations allow us to offer popcorn free of charge to ALL students.    Please DONATE.  The container will be in the rotunda.

We would love to have more support for the many activities we offer for students and families during the year.  Please show your support by completing this survey:  PTC SURVEY 2014

Please Excuse the Interruption, Fourth Graders . . .

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campfireHi there Fourth Graders!

I know that you are probably out there camping, swimming, sleeping in, watching cartoons, going to camps, or hanging out doing cool stuff at daycare, but I’d like to ask you a favor for just one second!  Ok, maybe a minute or ten!  Would you please take a minute and fill out my survey attached to this post?  I have been thinking about ways that I can make our fourth grade year together spectacular!  And I got to thinking, what am I missing?  And you know what?  I realized that I was missing your input!  It’s true!  I need to know more about you so that I can design our lessons to be valuable to you as a learner!  So if you could take just a few minutes and type in some answers for me, I would appreciate it!  Just click on the word “survey” in any one of these places.  Ok!  Thanks!  Now go back to what you were doing (after the survey, of course)!

Love – Mrs. Q          Survey

2013 Walkathon!!

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walkathon

 

September 26th is date for the Walk-a-thon, RAIN or SHINE!! Georgetown Elementary School is trying to raise money for new school technology. We are trying to buy more iPads, and iPods for student use, as well as more books for the library.  Our school wide goal is to raise $15,000.

Prizes

  • The Top Earners May Pool Party at Mrs. Reagan’s
  •  Top teacher gets to attend Mrs. Reagan’s pool party also.
  •  Top Winning Classroom: Limo Ride and Lunch at Pizza Ranch.
  •  Top winners from each grade get a pizza and desert lunch with Mrs. Reagan.
  • Every walker who earns $25, receives a BLUE COW BELL.

AND… If and only if we reach the $15,000 goal will Mr. Rob sumo wrestle another male teacher.

Please help us with our fundraising goal!

 

 

 

 

2nd Grade Summary!

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apple treeHi Parents and Students!

This is my first post for the year!  I want to say THANK YOU for all of the wonderful supplies you have sent in to support our classroom!  We really appreciate it.  They will be well-used throughout the upcoming weeks and months.

We are off to a really great start.  The children have been doing a great job creating a caring community of learners.  We are learning about our brains and how to calm them.  We are getting back into routines and firing up those brain cells!  We have even starting reading level assessments to make sure we are picking “Just Right” books.

In approximately 2 more weeks, we will be starting library.  Students will be allowed to check out 2 books.  One book will have to be a Reading Counts book, and the other book can be anything they are interested in.  Reading Counts starts this year.  This program takes the place of  the WEB reading your child did in 1st grade.  Every night they will come home with a library book to read in a baggy.  Your student will read their book at home that evening, and then come to school and sign up for a Reading Counts test on the computer.  This test will consist of 10 questions, checking your student’s comprehension of the book.  If your child passes the quiz, they return it to the library and get another one.  If they don’t pass the quiz, they have an opportunity to read the book again the next night, and then try again the next day.  More information will be coming home about this in the future.  Keep your eye out for a gallon size baggy and directions coming home.

Finally, we had fun making this I-Pick video for you below.  Be sure you check it out!

Have a great rest of the week and don’t forget school pictures are this Monday, Sept. 16th!!!      -Mrs. Q