Dear Parents,

Wow! Another week with 5 full days of school. It was wonderful!

On Tuesday, Mrs. Christopher and I team taught a lesson. Mrs. Christopher came into the 4th grade room. We team taught a lesson on "GOOD FIT BOOKS". Choosing a "Good-Fit Book" takes practice, but with 5 strategies, students are able to better pick a book to read. The 5 strategies use the acronym, I PICK:

I choose a book.
P urpose--Why do I want to read?
I nterest--Does it interest me?
C omprehend--Am I understanding what I am reading?
K now--I know most of the words, using the 5 finger rule.

We demonstrated to students how to choose a shoe based on our purpose of clothing. I brought in Addison's shoes and Mrs. Christopher brought in her doll. The students learned how we use this same process when doing other things in life and that choosing a book is just as important as the picking of shoes we put on our feet!

We had a great time team teaching and we are going to be teaching together during the rest of this year. I know that the students really enjoyed it and so did we.

Ask the students about the layers of the ocean and the ocean food chain. They should be able to tell you the 4 layers of the ocean. The students and I also discussed and learned about the ocean food chain. There are 5 different areas to the food chain, plankton, zooplankton, small fish, large fish, and mammals. These can either be very simple or more complex, we are learning the simple version of the ocean food chain. After, we discuss the food chain and the layers of the ocean we will cover a couple more areas and then decide what animals we will be studying.

Next week is going to be busy. On Wednesday, the students will be taking the NAEP test and learning about their February book project. Thursday I will be attending an Iowa Core Curriculum meeting all day in Elkader and finally on Friday, the students will be swimming at the Cresco Fitness Center. Busy, busy!

To keep up to date on your student follow the blog I started. The internet address is http://www.northwinn4thgrade.blogspot.com/
Or go to the North Winn homepage, elementary, and click on my name. I am going to start putting the Friday letters on there, as well as, fun daily lessons that I will be teaching. I think it will be a great way for you and students to keep up to date.

IMPORTANT DATES:

Wednesday, February 4th—NAEP Testing
Friday, February 6th—Swimming at the Cresco Fitness Center for January Reading Calendar—Keep Reading!!! New project coming soon!
Tuesday/Thursday, February 10th & 12th—Parent/Teacher Conferences
Friday, February 13th and Monday, February 16th—No School


Conferences are coming up, but if you ever have questions or comments that you would like to share, contact me via e-mail or phone.