July 10, 2009 Hello! I can't wait to meet my new students and their families! Be sure to join me in our new classroom at Meet the Teacher Night on July 23. More specific information on the time will be shared as soon as it is available. Our room is #332 in the new building, formerly known as the bakery. You can bring your school supplies with you if you want to. Just put your name on the bag—not on the items themselves. Fourth grade is going to be so much fun! Our class will have the opportunity to bond significantly as we learn together over the course of two years! Be ready to master your math facts, if you haven't already, and get ready to loooove reading and writing--if you don't already. Together, we'll absolutely master personal narrative writing, as well as many other genres. We'll focus on Texas history for social studies, and in science, we'll work hands-on to explore the nature of science and life, physical and earth sciences. Expect to have about 50 minutes of homework each night (including 30 minutes of reading), Monday through Thursday, and expect to enjoy a great book for at least an hour every weekend. Note that mastering your math facts is not included in this total, so you might want to spend 20 minutes or so per day at one of the following sights each day for the rest of the summer. Sights former students have enjoyed include the following: http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/numbers/wholenumbers/multiplication/timestabl es/ . Click on the game to begin with and then use the other links later, when you are ready to test yourself. A great place to track your progress is at www.aaamath.com . Here you can practice any/all operations and print out a report for your parents to show them how you’re doing, say, for example on multiplying by 9. www.funbrain.com and http://www.wildmath.com/instruct.htm look like fun, too. I can’t wait to meet you! Be ready to tell me what you need from your teacher, and you’ll also want to think about what you need from your classmates. I’d also like for you to consider what you’ll be contributing to our class. Will you be an asset and a leader—someone who is eager to learn and to share thoughts and ideas with others? Will you be someone who can be counted upon to do homework everyday so that you can join your friends at recess? Will you be someone who treats yourself, your classmates and me with kindness and respect? If you can answer yes to these questions, we’re going to get along beautifully! Enjoy the rest of your summer. Read lots and have fun at the math websites I suggested! Sincerely, Mrs. Phillips sphillips@nyos.org