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
