Loon Tribune 9 4

							                          The Loon Tribune
                               September 4, 2012


          http://teacherweb.com/ma/houghtonelementaryschool/gailmiller

     The only birdie good newspaper of its kind that won’t leave you molting
around as you attempt to search for important Miller Mob information.

       Kudos to our Miller Mob! We really had a busy and exciting first four
days. Our room did get a bit warm (!!!!!!) but, our kids were able to stay
positive and well focused.

       You'll be pleased to know that during our first week of school, our Miller
Mobbers took very good care of each other, their Mob Leader, and our
enthusiastic student teacher, Mrs. Johanson. Our children arrived on the
first day with all of their supplies and healthy snacks. Thank you for taking
time to make certain that all of that “stuff” was organized in such a short
amount of time. You have all helped to make certain that our classroom is
certainly well supplied.

       Our Mob consistently modeled excellent behavior exemplary of the "big
kids" roles they now have earned at Houghton School. This was especially
apparent as I observed their behavior during our first fire drill on Thursday.

      I enjoy being able to BRAG about the wonderful families that make up
the Miller Mob this year. THANK YOU! As you have probably already guessed,
I am quite excited about participating in new learning experiences with our
Mob. Your support and enthusiasm have definitely rubbed off on our kids.

       This week we will share our individual goals that we plan to achieve this
year as 4th graders. We will use these goals to help us establish rules that we
will honor for our classroom and our school. After we have each had an
opportunity to contribute our own thoughts, we will probably discover that the
following three good ones seem to cover everything.


          Keep ourselves safe
          Keep each other safe
          Make certain that our beautiful Houghton School
           remains a safe environment for all of us.
  Have You Heard About Our Morning Meetings?
        We begin each day with our Morning Meeting. Morning meeting usually
lasts around twenty minutes. During Morning Meeting, our children learn to
value themselves and their fellow classmates. Miller Mob Morning Meetings
include four important components.


        1. Greeting: We greet each other individually, by name. We
concentrate on using excellent communication skills by speaking clearly and
maintaining good eye contact and a friendly handshake. This is a bit of a
challenge for us at first, but we started to master this skill in only a few short
days.
        2. Sharing: This second component of our Morning Meetings affords
us the opportunity to share interesting news with our classmates. Usually
three or four children share per day, and EVERYONE shares at least once a
week, which encourages our more reticent speakers an opportunity to become
more comfortable with this skill. After a child briefly shares, he/she states, "I
am ready for questions or comments." In the conversation that follows, our
children learn a great deal about each other and develop respect for someone
else's opinion. In addition, listening skills always improve.
        3. Activity: This is a cooperative experience for the entire Miller Mob.
Some days it might be singing a song or learning a new poem. Some days it
might involve us all in a math or language game. The activity time helps us
encourage our strength as a whole group. We find that we can cooperate and
solve problems together. Our goal is to build a TEAM SPIRIT within our Miller
Mob.
        4. News and Announcements: During this time, we discuss the events
for our particular day ahead. This exercise reinforces and fine-tunes our
organizational skills.
                                    Reading

        Reading will continue to be an exciting adventure for all of us this year.
Together, our children and I will establish routines and procedures for managing
our independent reading and writing workshops. My GOAL is to help our
children think of themselves as lifelong readers by reading books that they enjoy.
I will be encouraging our children to actively PARTICIPATE in all of the choices
and decisions good readers make. Our weekly newsletters will keep you current
on our progress and goals.


                          Wordly Wise/Spelling
        Spelling tests and Wordly Wise tests will be on Fridays. The word lists for
spelling tests will be a combination of commonly used words that all fourth
graders should be able to spell and words that support a special vocabulary
enrichment program called “Wordly Wise.” “Wordly Wise” words are important
because they represent new vocabulary words that our children will be able to
apply as they expand their reading comprehension skills, speaking, and writing
skills.

      The Wordly Wise test is a multiple-choice test. We will do the first one
together this Friday, 9-7-12, so that our descriptive writers will be comfortable
with the format. I would like all of our Mobbers to be responsible for this
particular test because it will help me see who is gaining strength in their
vocabulary development as a result of the work we do during the week.

       Our spelling test will also be on Fridays. Every once in a while, our
spelling words will have a connection to something specific we are studying that
particular week in science, social studies, or math. Our children will bring home
the spelling list and Wordly Wise definitions on the Friday before the tests, for
those dedicated writers who want to practice early. We will also include a copy
in every Monday's Loon Tribune. Our first spelling test is scheduled for Friday,
September 7th.




                         Words Worth Remembering
        As a class, we often discover through our daily discussions, new
vocabulary words that we want to remember. We have these words posted on a
list in front of our classroom, so we can refer to them, often. Last week’s words
included: idioms, homophones and synonyms.
      Side note…my yoga teacher always encourages us to go to our
"sweet edge". I like that expression and would like to pass that on to our
children. We have 22 uniquely talented Miller Mob members, and with your
help and support, we can encourage them ALL to reach for their “sweet edge.”


That being said, PLEASE get in touch with me if any of this seems
overwhelming for your child.




                                         Math
      We will continue to review the concept of place value. Please make
certain that your 4th grader understands the difference between a digit and a
number. Also, take a minute to review place value.

A Digit is any one of the ten symbols 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 9.
A Number is the numeric value of a particular digit.
      For example: 5 means five ones
      56 means 5 tens (50) and six ones
      578 means 5 hundred (500) 7 tens (seventy) and 8 ones.
And, while we’re talking about numbers, be sure review Standard Form and
Expanded Notation. For example, consider the number 5672.

      Standard form: 5,672
     Expanded notation: 5,000+600+70+2, or five thousand plus six
hundred plus seventy plus two.



      Learning to write and think mathematically is an important skill that
needs to be encouraged and nurtured in our students. To help our
mathematicians feel more comfortable with these skills, we will be keeping math
journals.
                       Our Classroom Schedule

Midmorning Break

      Please remember to provide a REALLY nourishing snack for our 4th graders
who are usually famished by 10:45 A.M. In fact, they are often hungry all day!
Classroom donations are gratefully accepted (cereal bars, dried fruit, animal
crackers, rice cakes, etc.) We appreciate your sending in HEALTHY goodies that
we can keep on hand for those kiddos who sometimes scoot out the door in the
morning without eating breakfast or forget to bring a proper snack.

      Fourth graders have lunch from 1:00 – 1:30 and recess from 1:30 – 1:52.



Schedule of “Specials”
      . Please remember the sneakers on Physical Education day!


Monday         Tuesday         Wednesday       Thursday       Friday
ART            MUSIC           Power Walks     P.E.           LIBRARY
                               and Yoga
                               breaks with
                               Mrs. Miller




                             Book Orders

      Book orders will be sent home this week and are due Friday, September
14th. Just drop me a quick note if you need more time. Write the check out
to the name of the book club--- NO CASH or checks written out to me or
Houghton School, please!
Website: Future Loon Tribunes will be posted
on our website every Monday.

              Because of our paperless “challenge”, I will no longer be able to print
out individual copies for each miller Mob family, unless you send in a written
request. BUT… it is important to me to be certain that you are receiving these
newsletters electronically, so I am asking a special favor of each Miller Mob
parent. Every Monday night, please sign the box allocated for you in our
homework planners to acknowledge that you have received the newsletter. We
will do this every week. I will call you if I do not see your signature in our
planner Tuesday morning to make certain you are not having computer “issues”.
This is a new challenge for all of us and I am open to any suggestions you have
that will keep us closely linked and you well informed as to the exciting “ loon
learnings” that happen weekly.



     We have a wonderful Miller Mob and I am truly excited to be learning with
them this year!!


                                                                   Most sincerely,
                                                                   Gail Miller


      P.S. Today we sent home the entries that we completed last week in our
Math and Writing prompt journals. I held conferences with each Miller Mobber.
We then set specific goals for improving our skills for this week. My goal is to
send these journal papers home every Monday so I can reflect on our “birdie”
good progress and help our children continually set new goals that are in line
with our core standards.


      P.S.S. Just a reminder to please send in $3.00 for our homework
planners if you have not already done so. Also, Mr. Walsh is looking
forward to receiving pictures of our Mobbers doing some physical activity
that they enjoy.
              Guest Teacher List



All Guest Teachers must have an updated
CORI Check. Please check with Renata in the
Main Office if you need verification.


Monday     Joseph Andrachick     978-365-3527
           Hillary Bried         508-868-2537

Tuesday    Kathleen Mello        978-422-7890
           Erin Bailey           978-422-9693
           Lisa Goss             978-855-0535
           Katheryn Papandrea    978-422-3318

Wednesday Erin Brennan           978-422-2337
           Paula Perry           978-422-6063

Thursday   Kim Decelles             978-563-1183
           Laura MilnerJoerres      978-422-2389
           (one Thursday a month)
Friday     Chris Gage            978-422-8453
           Lisa McDowell            978-422-5288
                  Healthy Feathers and Flocks
                  We are hoping that our LOONS will stay healthy and
                  NEVER miss a day of school. But just in case, we have
                  established an efficient plan that has worked quite well in the
                  past.

                   Please complete that form at the bottom of this page and send
it back to school ASAP (hopefully, by the end of this week). I will send homework
home with your designated, responsible messenger thus saving you the need to
call school and try to get through our often busy phone line. Please try to select
someone from a classroom at Houghton School. We have been asked NOT to
send homework to Chocksett siblings.


      Miller Mobber’s name: ________________________________________________


      #1 Messenger:_________________________________________________________


      Grade__________ Homeroom teacher_____________________________________



      #2 Messenger:_________________________________________________________


      Grade__________ Homeroom teacher_____________________________________




      #3 Messenger:_________________________________________________________


      Grade__________ Homeroom teacher_____________________________________
      Wordly Wise and Spelling List


1) average
2) border
3) cocoon
4) flutter
5) moisture
6) moist
7) nectar
8) process
9) span
10) suitable
11) timber
12) about
13) every
14) myself
15) they
16) above
17) family
18) name
19) they’re
20) across