Upcoming

Welcome back!  I hope everyone enjoyed their holiday break.  Both of my children turned a year older so I now have a 1 and 3 year old in my home!  :)



News for you....
Next week (week of January 9-13) students will be Dibels tested again.  In the Spring, 4th grade benchmark goals are:

• Words Correct (per minute)- 103wpm or higher
• Accuracy- 97% or higher
• Retell- 30 words or higher
• Retell Quality- Rating of 2 or higher
• Daze (vocabulary usage)- 17 or higher

In other news, the Marshalltown Community School District has decided to no longer use the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills (ITBS) and will now be using something called the Iowa Assessments.  They are extremely similar to ITBS.  This year, ITBS will be done the week of February 6-10.  For more information, follow this link:
http://itp.education.uiowa.edu/ia/documents/Message_Parents.pdf






Thank you to all the parents who have helped plan and/or bring goodies for our classroom parties.  You are appreciated!!


I will be working on report cards again shortly.  They are going home on January 19th.  After the last report card, I gave students book logs to record the books they have read and what kind of genre they are.  There is an item on the report card that mentions students reading from a variety of genres.  I will be using their book logs to aid in filling out this part of the report card.



We are moving right along in math and will be starting a Geometry unit on Lines, Angles, and Shapes.  Following this, we will be beginning work with fractions.



Anthology- We are learning about fairy tales and fantasy stories.  We are reading The Stranger, Cendrillon, and Heat Wave.  Many 4th grade benchmark reading and language skills be be taught and reviewed.










Social Studies- The month of January is on the regions of the Southeast and Southwest.  We continue to compare and contrast learned information with what we have already learned about the Midwest and Northeast.  These units will be followed by a month-long Science unit on nutrition.







How much does your child write?  As an educator, I know we often push lots of reading.  However, writing needs to be just as big of a goal.  Once a week, ask your child to either write a short narrative or informational text.  Examples:
Once upon a time... (narrative)
I have learned_________. (informational)
Since we are near our end of review for cursive, it would be good practice to do this in cursive! :)



As always, please feel free to contact me anytime you have questions and/or concerns!  afreiberg@marshalltown.k12.ia.us
641-754-1060