Room 225 News

Announcements and News

February 22, 2012
Hello! We are just a couple short weeks away from ISAT testing to begin. Here are just some friendly reminders to help your child be prepared for the tests:
-Get a good night's rest! Make sure to go to bed early and get plenty of sleep so that you are wide awake and ready every morning!

-Have a healthy light breakfast! Whether it's the school's or you have some at home, be sure to have a healthy breakfast to give you a boost of energy! 
-BE ON TIME! It is absolutely essential that students are at school on time. Students who are tardy risk the chance of taking the test with the class and will have to make it up in the afternoon. 
-Have PLENTY of SHARPENED pencils! We seem to have really bad luck with pencil sharpeners in this class so the best thing to do is to be prepared and come to school with as many pre sharpened pencils as you can! This way we can turn to new pencils instead of battling with the pencil sharpener.
-CALCULATORS- beginning in 4th grade students are allowed to use calculators on the ISAT. Some students already have a calculator, while some do not. Please make sure you have a basic calculator to use for the Math tests. Label the calculator with your name and your # in case it gets lost. 

January 24, 2012
Hello everyone. Thank you for all of your patience, thoughts, and support these past couple weeks, as I have been dealing with a tragic loss. I returned to school this week, and the students have been so helpful and comforting. It amazes me how much time has gone by, but we're working hard at a lot of different things! 

I apologize for not having updated the website, but it should be back in commission now. Thanks again, and hope everyone's new year has started off well. 

December 7, 2011
Hello! I just wanted to clarify a few things about the classroom website. While I do my absolute very best to update it regularly with announcements, homework assignments, projects, and files, I can not make ANY guarantees that it will always be 100% accurate or up to date. Therefore it is absolutely IMPERATIVE that students write down their assignments DAILY in their assignment notebook. Some students have been getting into the habit of not writing down their homework because (as they have said), "It'll be on the website". And if the homework is not on the website, they've used the excuse "you didn't have the homework written on the website so I did not know what to do". I put the homework on the website for students who are absent or leave early, or for the ONCE IN A WHILE time (not daily) that a student doesnt get to write it down before the day ends. I'm very excited to see how many students utilize the class forum to get some lesson clarification and help from peers. Parents, please remind students to write their homework down every day before school ends. Thank you! 

November 3, 2011
i am sending home the Report Card Pickup Timesheet. Please choose up to THREE times you can be available to speak about your child's progress. In order to accomodate to your schedules as closely as possible, I ask that you please choose three times that are not closely linked (one right after the other), and rank it's choice by 1st, 2nd, or 3rd. It is often hard for me to give your preferred times if all your choices are within the same time frame.  I will also post the confirmed conference times on the site sometime next week. I look forward to meeting with you in a few weeks!

October 31, 2011
Happy Halloween!! Just wanted to share some website updates. Students did a fantastic job on their fantasy fiction projects. We've posted them in the hallway for all to see! Check out our "SHOWCASE" page to see some of the projects.
We are attending another field trip next week! Mr. Butler has arranged for us to see Cinderella as performed by "Lyric Opera of Chicago: Opera in Neighborhoods". Please send the $5.00 bus transportation fee along with the permission slip to school no later than Monday, November 7th.

I hope students are enjoying doing their Data Projects. Students should have begun collecting data by now, and complete collection by Wed. Nov.2. Graph paper and Explore questions will be given to students on Wednesday.

October 21, 2011
We had a great time to our OPEN BOOKS ADVENTURES IN WRITING field trip! The kids wrote some really great poems! We're excited to get their published booklets!

Some parents have inquired about Scholastic Book Orders. I do not have a scholastic book club account, but Mrs. Jenkins has offered our class to use her code if you are interested in purchasing books for your child. You can visit www.scholastic.com/bookclubs 
Mrs. Jenkins' code:  HCLZR
Please feel free to email Mrs. Jenkins if you have further questions crowens@cps.edu

October 6, 2011
What great weather we are having to start off October!! Just a few short announcements this week....
-My monthly newsletter will be sent home Friday.

-Fantasy Fiction is the genre of the month. Students should include at least ONE book from this genre for their nightly reading. Don't forget to update reading log calendars.
-FIELD TRIP! to Open Books Adventures in Writing Workshop! Attached is the field trip permission slip (in case the one sent home has been misplaced). Please sign and  return with $9.50 (cost of bus and workshop) by FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14th.
-Data Collecting Project guidelines will be sent home on Monday. The project is due on Monday, October 31st. Guidelines are also posted in the project section.

September 26, 2011

Hi! I just want to update you on HOMEWORK AND READING LOG POLICES....
HOMEWORK- It is MANDATED that I give students homework EVERYDAY, including Fridays. To abide by this, weekly homework packets will be DUE ON MONDAYS. Students, however, have the OPTION of turning in their packets on Fridays. Parents, have the option of requiring their children to complete their homework by Friday. =)

READING LOG- I decided to change my reading log, despite what I may have mentioned to some of you. I've gone with a format that I hope is easy and quick for both myself and the students. Students have a yearly calendar in their homework folders. This calendar should stay in there the ENTIRE SCHOOL YEAR.
*I have required students to read 100 minutes per week; 400-500 minutes per month.
*Students are required to read at least one book from the assigned genre for each month. After that, they may read any book from any genre
*For every day that a student reads 20+ minutes, they must circle that date on the calendar.
*If a student reads for 60 mintues one day, and take the next 2 days off, they may circle those days to represent all 60 minutes.
*For every day they do not read, or read less than 20 minutes, they put an X over that date.
*For every book they complete, they must log it onto the chart (below and on back of calendar)
*When they've completed the monthly required genre, they log it onto chart and place a * by it
*I will check reading logs monthly and record the number of books students read each month.

September 14, 2011

Yesterday I sent home my first newsletter/welcome letter. Please read through it carefully, sign and have student return last page. If you did not receive the welcome letter, you may download it from the link on bottom of the page .

September 6, 2011
Welcome to 4th grade! I cannot wait to spend the next school year getting to know everyone in this classroom community. Be sure to check here regularly for announcements, news, important dates, homework, etc. I've also added a "showcase" page where I will post pictures and various student work throughout the year.  I will do my absolute best to update the website daily, but I apologize in advance if time (or technical issues) do not permit me to do so. Please feel free to email me with ANY questions you have that may not be addressed on this site and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I look forward to having a ROARING good school year, the SOUTH LOOP WAY!