Welcome to the4th Grade@ KCSMA

Mrs. Agresta Ms. Abraham Mrs. McMasters Mrs. Harris Mrs. Sims Mrs. Jones

Mr. Page

 Welcome to 4th grade at KCSMA! We are thrilled to be back at KCSMA for the 2015-2016 school year. We are excited about the opportunity to work with you and your child, and are looking forward to a happy and productive school year. We have set up access to information on our 4th grade class web site. You and your child will be expected to check this web site for assignment and activity information. As always, posted information is subject to change. You will find announcements and helpful course work information there. Please take advantage of this valuable resource. Once there, you will be able to view and print any of the information. To access the information:

Go to http://www.kcsma4thgrade.weebly.com ◦ There is a main page with general information◦ Each page may contain attachments for documents that are used on a regular basis or contain information

you may find helpful. The 4th grade is a very busy year. We will be working extremely hard this year. There are only 180 days for

your child to prepare for 5th grade! You are being provided with a list of expectations for your 4th grader. Please take time to review and discuss all expectations with your child before the first day of school.

This year there will two separate 4th grade rotations. Mr.Page and Ms. Jones will rotate with Mrs. Harris and Ms. Abraham. Mr. Page will teach Reading and Social

Studies, Mrs. Harris will teach Math and Ms. Abraham will teach Science and ELA. Mrs Jones will rotate with Mr. Page’s homeroom and assist teaching all subjects. The students on this team will have 3 academic rotations each day in addition to specials, lunch, and recess. This team will have homerooms upstairs with 5 th grade.

Mrs. Agresta will rotate with Mrs. McMasters, and Mrs. Sims. Mrs. Agresta will teach Reading/ELA. Mrs. McMasters will teach Math. Mrs. Sims will teach Science and Social Studies. The students on this team

will have 3 academic rotations each day in addition to specials, lunch, and recess. This team will have homerooms downstairs on the 3rd and 4th grade hallway.

If you have any questions or concerns or if you would like to schedule a conference, or volunteer to help out, you can contact us by email at lagresta@kcsma.net, tharris@kcsma.net, jjones@kcsma.net, ksims@kcsma.net, mmcmasters@kcsma.net, labraham@kcsma.net, and jpage@kcsma.net. Phones are reserved for emergency use only during the school day, as any phone call interrupts the lesson and results in a loss of valuable instructional time. Please make sure your child knows if they are carpool or ASP each school day. Once again, welcome to the 4th grade at KCSMA.

Let’s work together to make this the best year ever!

Welcome to 4th Grade!

All fourth graders must have internet access at home for assignments.

Fourth Graders are expected to demonstrate independence and self-reliance. They are required to be responsible for recording all homework and assignments, and turning in all completed work ON TIME. They will have exactly 180 days to become competent in all the subject areas. To that end, we expect the following things each and every day:  Come to school on time, in proper uniform, and ready to learn. This includes having homework, materials, and supplies ready. Sloppy, crumpled, ripped,

and/or incomplete assignments will not be accepted. All homework is due the school day after it has been assigned, unless otherwise noted in the agenda.

  Agendas are to be updated accurately by the students and signed by parents every day. Please check our blog, www.kcsma4thgrade.weebly.com, to keep up to date on assignments, test dates, and other academic information.  Binders are to be brought to school every day, and are to be kept in good order. This means planning on replacing binders when they become torn or rings

don’t work. Graded work, vocabulary, handouts, class work, and homework are to be FILED . This means securely placed in the rings, in the proper section of the binder and kept for review and reinforcement until the end of the grading period. At the end of each of the four grading periods, the work should be removed and placed in an “At Home” binder for Milestones Review. Check each teachers blog for specific items to keep or remove.

  Classroom phones are to be utilized only in the case of an emergency. Items left at home or forgotten do not constitute an emergency. Any incoming calls

to the classroom phones are a disruption to the teacher and students. Please reserve these phones for emergency calls only during our regular school hours of 7:00 am to 3:00 pm.

  Please send only healthy snacks – NO candy, chips or “junk food”. Water bottles are recommended. However, water bottles may contain unfrozen

water only; no powdered add-ins will be allowed. Drinks other than water will not be allowed, except at lunch.  All classes will use a community restroom. Proper restroom etiquette is expected from all students using any restroom. Each student is expected to leave

the restroom clean! Fourth grade students have the opportunity to use the restrooms between each class period. If your child has a medical condition requiring the need for additional bathroom breaks, please provide a doctor’s note to your child’s homeroom teacher.

  Toys are not allowed at school! Any toys brought to school will be collected by the teacher and will only be returned, in person, to a parent. Toys not

picked up after 1 week will be donated to a local charity. Any item causing a distraction to a student is considered a toy, including water bottles.  If your child requires prescription glasses, hearing aids, etc., please be sure they are in good repair and are brought and worn to school every day.  Birthdays: You may send a small individual treat for each student, but please check with your child’s teacher to accommodate student food allergies. All treats will be passed out during lunch in the cafeteria to your child’s homeroom only. We do not have “birthday parties” at school. Private party

invitations may not be given out at school.  Naturally, by fourth grade, we expect appropriate school behavior and compliance with all of KCSMA procedures every day! Courtesy and respect are a must!

4th Grade Expectations

Homeroom Supplies (donated to homeroom teacher for use by all students): All homeroom supply items available from

Perimeter Office Products 2 large boxes 2-ply Kleenex (pop up kind) 1 large roll of Paper Towels 2 large containers of disinfectant wipes 2 large packs of wide ruled paper 2 500 page reams of copy paper 20/lb/84

brightness Girls: 2 narrow expo markers/6 glue sticks Boys: 2 highlighters/2 rolls of Scotch Tape

Personal Supplies (brought to and from school each day): Needed daily starting from Day 1: Backpack that fits into a 15x15 cubby/locker (no

wheels; lunch bag and coat must also fit into the same cubby/locker)

Unbreakable water bottle with your name on it. Uniform sweater/sweatshirt with your name in/on

it.

Total fees: $35.00 Includes workbooks for Math, Science, and Social Studies, and a journal for each subject.

The following must be assembled and ready to use on Day 1(and replaced when necessary): One 2” Heavy Duty 3-Ring Binder with 8 labeled

plastic tabs Also in the binder, one three ring vinyl/cloth pencil

pouch Pencils, pens, glue stick, eraser, and tape go in

the pencil pouch◦ Labels should read:

Reading Skills Reading Vocabulary Language Writing Math Science Social Studies Paper

 Personal Supplies to be replenished from home daily:

◦ Paper◦ 4 sharpened pencils (NO MECHANICAL PENCILS!)◦ 1 red pen◦ 1 blue pen◦ glue sticks◦ tape◦ eraser.

 

4th Grade Supply List 15-16

Our 4th grade classes will have the option to view some PG rated movies that directly coordinate with the Georgia Professional Standards and our lessons in class.

These movies were chosen for their correlation to the particular subject matter being taught.

In addition we schedule fourth grade fun days from time to time where a fun movie is shown.

Some homerooms also play a movie during carpool. Although the overwhelming majority of these are Disney movies some are rated

PG.  Some examples of the movies that we show are:  Nim’s Island  Hoot!  Disney’s Tall Tale  Sign of the Beaver Because of Winn Dixie How to Eat Fried Worms   If you would like to have your child opt out of any or all of these movies, please

send a written note in your child’s agenda. Thank you so much! 

4th Grade Movie List

ENGRADE is the grading system we use to input all of your child's grades.  Their grades are electronically averaged as they are input, and what you will see is their current letter grade, current grade point average in each subject, and all of their individual test and assignment grades.  ***Please note that the grades are weighted, so averaging all grades together from different categories will not equal the grade you see for your child.

Tests/Projects = 50% of the overall gradeQuizzes = 30% of the overall gradeHomework/Classwork = each 10% (Homework grades are either 100% if fully completed or 0%.)A=90.0 to 100.0+B=80.0 to 89.9C=74.0 to 79.9D=70.0 to 73.9F=0 to 69.9 ACCESS TO SIGN UP FOR ENGRADEhttp://www.engrade.com/studentsPlease click on the Sign Up boxEnter your entire codeCreate you account

Once you are on this web page , enter the entire code that was given to your child in the box.The format will be:  lagresta-xxxxxx-xxxx  (the x's represent your private access information)If you have a problem, please email me at mmcmasters@kcsma.net After you register, please use the same web address to access your grades. **LOOK FOR YOUR CODE TO COME HOME THE FIRST WEEK OF SCHOOL.

PARENT NOTE: 3’s earned in prior grades are not equivalent to your child being an honor roll student.

4th Grade Grading Info

This is the first year your child will be earning letter and number grades. We find that this is a huge adjustment for parents and students. Grades are the documentation of your child’s work reported to you by their teacher.

Students are most successful when they come to class prepared to learn: by having a good night’s rest

◦ Please keep this in mind when scheduling extra-curricular activities and vacations.

getting to school earlier than the scheduled start time staying at school for the full school day having all of their supplies every day being afforded a place at home in the evening to do homework and

review lessons. PARENT NOTE: 3’s earned in prior grades are not equivalent to your child being an honor roll student.

Recipe for SuccessMake School Your #1 Priority

We normally have 2 field trips during the school year.

◦ Cobb County Safety Village This will be scheduled by Cobb County Cost is about $15.00 depending on bus costs.

◦ Cobb County Youth Museum Cost is about $20.00 depending on bus and museum

costs. Scheduled for November 19th and 20th for 3 sessions. Each homeroom will attend 1 session.

Field Trips

ScienceWelcome to 4th Grade Science. We are lucky to be able to use the Georgia 4th Grade Science Edition workbook published by Coach. This workbook covers all of the Georgia Performance Standards that are on the GA CRCT. The workbook is mandatory and is included in the cost of the 4th grade supply fee. If the workbook is lost a replacement will need to be purchased for $9.00.

Students are expected to have their science workbook every day. A science tab should be included as part of their 3 ring binder for any additional science related papers. (Heavy duty plastic tabs are strongly recommended.)

We try to incorporate hands on inquiry related projects as part of the science curriculum. On occasion we might ask for donations of supplies needed to make these projects successful. For some activities we also ask for volunteer assistance. These opportunities will be placed on the blog.

Social Studies Some of the main concepts of 4th grade Social Studies

are: Native Americans, landforms, economic activities, wants and needs, supply and demand, European exploration, the 13 colonies and colonial regions, the American Revolution, citizenship, rights and responsibilities, representation, branches of government, The Constitution, women’s rights, and abolition.

Individual/group research projects to be completed in class…students will be expected to make their own decisions based on the instructions and the project rubric.

Social Studies will be incorporated into our guided reading activities in reading class.

Guided reading lessons will be themed to the current topic of study in science and/or social studies, and all will directly correlate to state standards.

Vocabulary expansion and comprehension will be emphasized across all genres, with ongoing discussion and comparison/contrast of ideas.

Some of our major genres include folk tales (Native American, colonial US and international), historical fiction, contemporary fiction, poetry, and reading for information in non-fiction, fact-based books and articles.

Reading

Language ArtsStudents in fourth grade will continue to develop the skills necessary to become excellent communicators through their writing. Some of these skills include:• Recognizing and using common spelling patterns• Correctly using capitalization and punctuation• Identifying complete and incomplete sentences and using editing skills

to make necessary corrections• Identifying and using basic parts of speech (nouns and pronouns in

their singular, plural, and possessive forms; verbs and their tenses; adjectives and adverbs in their comparative forms)

• Understanding and using the various sentence types to enhance writing

Writing will be undertaken in all subject areas. Students will practice writing personal narratives, informational reports, and persuasive essays as well as poetry, fact-based short responses, and other types of extemporaneous composition.

We will be using Harcourt “Go Math” materials. We will incorporate all of Georgia’s 4th Grade Math Common Core

Standards into our KCSMA 4th Grade Math Curriculum. 4th Grade Common Core Standards are posted on our blog. Testing will be as follows:

◦ Beginning, Middle and End of the Year Benchmark Tests◦ 7 Unit Tests – graded; Error Analysis extra credit available.◦ 11 Module Tests – graded – no extra credit available.◦ Occasional quizzes - graded – no extra credit available.◦ Milestones in April

Our days will include: homework review, warm-up, whole group instruction of the daily lesson(s), and small groups.

Mrs. McMasters’ and Mrs, Harris’ blogs will have homework for students AND parents to check on (as often as possible), as they are subject to change due to school activities and other unforeseen events.

Online homework will be assigned. Please make sure your child has internet access on a computer, tablet, or smartphone.

Math Class

As we begin our new school year I would like to explain how we will assist our students to analyze the errors they make on their 7 unit tests only. It is imperative that students become increasing aware of their thinking and understandings..

The Error Analysis form on the 4th grade website at www.kcsma4thgrade.weebly.com can be used after each unit test.

Your child will be expected to completely analyze each error they have made. The students will complete the graphic organizer for each wrong answer to correct their incorrect thinking.

They may need additional forms, as there is only space to analyze 2 answers on each form. All Error Analysis forms are due the next school day after your child received their graded unit

test. Please look for these tests in your child’s binder. To encourage your child to analyze their errors, they will be given a 2 point credit for each

completed error correction they turn in on the Error Analysis form, if the form is completed and returned on the day after they receive their graded unit test.

A plain piece of notebook paper can be used in place of the Error Analysis form. It should be blocked off and follow the format of the actual form. All 5 sections of the graphic organizer must be complete.

Late work is not eligible for the additional test point credit. Incomplete forms will not be eligible for the additional test point credit. Only Unit Tests are Eligible. Module Tests/Quizzes, Projects, Classwork, and Homework are not eligible.

Thank you for supporting your child’s continued understanding of math concepts.

4th Grade Math Extra Credit