Happy New Year!

Grade 4 has been busy bees here at Dedham School. Our fall was full of finishing our Literature unit with our book, Bud, Not Buddy. Fourth grade really loved this book and gained lots of experience with responding to all the chapters in the book. After Thanksgiving, we started a study on the famous "Christmas Carol" by Charles Dickens. Surely a challenging read, but they did a great job!

On January 2nd, we welcomed our student teacher, Miss Lagasse. She comes to us with many years of experience as an ed tech and looks forward to learning more about teaching! She will be teaching more and more each week as we progress through her time here. She is currently teaching spelling and writing; she will be adding on math next week! She's doing a fantastic job!

In Science, all 4th grade students are completing a unit where they will be researching some instruments to find out how those instruments make noise. Finding out if they are pitch or non-pitch instruments. After this, students will be challenged to create their own instrument! I cannot wait!

Spelling homework has been a new addition. It will now come home on Wednesday night and be due the following Wednesday. This has seemed to be an issue for some - they have a week to complete - please try and help them accomplish this :)

We've just started our next Literature unit on Number the Stars.

Keep up the hard work 4th grade!

Week 7

We have wrapped up our first science unit on weathering and erosion and will have a test on Thursday. This will be a vocab test where they are matching definitions to words (that they have made notecards for to study) and then there is a writing piece. They will be able to use their lab journals for this part of the test too.

We are working our way through our in-class novel, Bud, Not Buddy. The kids seem to really be liking this book! We are currently in suspense waiting to read Chapter 9 on Monday. With that said, your children have been studying the vocabulary words here at school for chapters 5-8. This vocab test will be on Monday. They also have made vocabulary study cards. These will come home today to study this weekend!

We are currently working on a multiplication unit in math. PLEASE have your child study multiplication facts at home. They will need a solid foundation of fluency in these skills to build a good base for the remainder of this year’s work. I have made math packets for those who know they would rather study in this manner. Some kids prefer flashcards, some like to do it out loud with parents at home, while others like to write them. Whatever works for your child is great! Multiplication practice pages will be sent home with ALL children today - this is not mandatory. If it works for your child that’s great - if your child would rather study with flashcards or an online game that is fine too! Just PLEASE be studying them :) As your children complete pages from the packet, tear them out and turn them in. I’d love to see them.

Our narrative writing is moving along REALLY nicely. This week we worked on some revisions. The strategy we focused on was storytelling through a scene, rather than summarizing. The changes that were made in their stories were amazing! I can’t wait to hear final products!

We are cruising along with independent reading as well. Each month your child is responsible for reading a chapter book and responding to it. There is plenty of time in class for your child to complete this. We have an open door policy with Mrs. Christie and are able to go to her room any time to select books if they don’t find something that interests them in here. We can also utilize Mrs. Frederick’s library and the school library. Children are consulting with me when selecting books to be sure they are in the right range as far as Lexile levels go.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!    ~ Mrs. Haulk

Please keep the following dates in mind:

10/16 Bud, Not Buddy vocab test (notes cards sent home Friday)

10/18 Field Trip to Wyman’s Blueberry facility (pack a lunch)

10/19 Spelling Unit 7 test

10/19 Science Test (study vocab)

10/26 Field trip to Acadia National Park (Rock Sleuth Program)

10/29 PTF Trunk or Treat ~ 2:30-4:30

11/8 Veteran’s Day Celebration

Week 3

We made it! Our first full week! It’s been a hot one here in fourth grade - but we have survived! :) Although it’s been warm, we have enjoyed this perfect weather for awesome recesses!

In math this week we have finished our first unit. Math assessments will be coming home next week. We are onto our second, which is a quick study on comparing, ordering and writing numbers in word form. Please, please make sure that your child is practicing multiplication facts. Daily math in the morning has problems everyday that require automaticity with these facts.

In science this week we continued our unit on weathering and erosion with a lab day on Thursday. This Thursday’s lab was geared around water erosion. We watched some videos about mudslides and then created our own imitation mountain with trees and boulders. We then made a rain storm and watched the “erosion” occur. Students have a lab journal they keep here to record in each week. Can’t wait to show you in November at conferences!

In reading this week we started a new 10 minute activity each day to help build background knowledge with different subjects, increase vocabulary and increase stamina with reading. We have short passages we are now reading to start independent reading each day. After reading the passages the students pull out information they learned or facts they thought were interesting. These facts go into their book of knowledge. You may have heard about this, as this week’s topic lead to a discussion about granite and marble countertops! :)

We are working through chapters 3 and 4 of Bud, Not Buddy. As we finish each chapter the students are writing responses in their literature journals. We also are pulling out vocabulary words and doing comprehension questions with each chapter. We are held in suspense at the end of each chapter and eagerly await the next day’s reading!

We are currently on week 3 of spelling words. On Thursday your child brought home last week’s unit 2 test (with their grade) and the current week’s pretest. Please, please, please study these words that they got wrong on their pretest (unit 3) with your child so they will succeed on their post test next Wednesday. If you can’t find the pre test to study with….remember, they have the yellow folder in their backpack with the word lists for the year!

I hope you have a great weekend! ~ Mrs. Haulk

Week 2!

In math this week we have continued our study on place value. We have been working with numbers up into the billions and learning how to accurately read these large numbers. We have been doing some mental math with these larger numbers and finding out that our multiplication facts may need a little more practice. Please be sure to be studying at home!

In science this week we continued our unit on weathering and erosion with a lab day on Thursday. We tested out the effects of wind on sand and made a mess! What fun! :)

In reading this week we worked on some comprehension strategies with poetry. We also got right into our independent reading time. Students are responsible for one novel a month. They need to read this book and then complete a reading response sheet. Some students are already done with September reading! For those students, they may choose to work one month ahead, or choose a free read. Their stamina is great and they are loving this time to relax and read. Next week students will be reading to me daily as well.

We also dove into our literature unit this week with the other 4th grade class. We will be reading Bud, Not Buddy and learning some about the Great Depression. We have read chapter one, so far, and are working in our response journals.

We are currently on week 2 of spelling words. On Thursday your child brought home last week’s unit 1 test (with their grade) and the current week’s pretest. Please, please, please study these words that they got wrong on their pretest (unit 2) with your child so they will succeed on their post test next Wednesday. If you can’t find the pre test to study with….remember, they have the yellow folder in their backpack with the word lists for the year!

Class Dojo is going GREAT! The kids really seem to love it!! If you haven’t already connected at home, I urge you to do so. You can keep up to date with your child’s daily behavior and I am going to be better at posting class pictures and updates. Just waiting to hear back from all parents on whether or not their child can have pics posted in this private group to just our class.

  I hope you have a great weekend! ~ Mrs. Haulk

Please keep the following dates in mind:

9/13    School Board meeting @ 6pm

9/14    Instrument Demos @ 9am….order online after demos

9/16  Demon Open Golf Tourney @ Traditions

9/20   Online order for instrument CUT OFF DATE

9/30   Dedham PTF Fall Festival 11-3

First few days done!

These first few days have been great in our 4th grade room! I’m amazed at how QUIET your children are! Seriously?! :) We’ve been having fun though and are ready for a great week next week.

Spelling tests (pretests and post tests) will all take place on Wednesdays. Students have brought home this week’s pretest. The incorrect answers on the pretest have been spelled correctly and passed back. Please focus on these and prepare for the unit 1 post test on Wednesday! If you’d like them to practice online, visit www.spellingcity.com and type my name (Erika Haulk). You should be able to find your child’s list and activities for them to do with their words!

All fourth graders participated in our first STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) challenge on Wednesday. They were given 50 straws and some masking tape. They had about 45 minutes to plan and then construct a structure that would support a baseball using all their straws. These turned out really great and the kids had a blast! Check class dojo for pictures soon!

Our first writing unit this fall will be narrative writing. We opened this week with talking about genres, but focusing on realistic fiction. Students have been asked to think of a few “small moments” from this summer from which they can start a story.

4th graders are also in the process of selecting their first independent reading book. All students will be required to read a book at their lexile level each month. After reading this book they will complete a response sheet.

Class dojo!!! We are LOVING this!! Have you logged on yet? Have you seen what we are tracking? The kids are so excited and I hope you can log in and set up your account soon. I’m going to start sharing pictures of your child’s day with you through this app too!! Today was the first day that they got to turn their dojo points into dojo dollars to be used at the school store next Wednesday.

Mondays and Fridays are PE days - be sure to wear comfy clothes and sneakers as you may end up outside for PE these days that are still nice.

Please keep the following dates in mind:

9/4 - Monday - No School!

9/5 PTF meeting - 6 pm - Please come! We need more people! :)

9/6 Book orders due

9/14 Instrument Demos @ 9am  

Thanks for sharing your kiddos with me! What a blessing to be back!

~Mrs. Haulk

Welcome to Grade 4!

Hey fourth graders and families! I am so excited to be back with you at Dedham School! I cannot wait to get our school year underway and start our journey this year. 

Just a few updates and reminders...

Open House is Tuesday, August 29th from 5:30-6:30pm

School begins on Wednesday, August 30th @ 8:00 am

Dedham Demon Open is 9/16

Dedham School's PTF Fall Festival is 9/30

Check back here often to see updates of what's been going on each week in class along with a digital version of my newsletter that will hopefully come home weekly! ;-)

A supply list should have been mailed to you, but if you have lost it,  here is a reminder of what your child will need to start school. If you can't get these items its ok!

• pencils; lots of them with pencil top erasers and maybe a big pink eraser to have handy
• two one-subject spiral notebooks
• markers, crayons, or colored pencils
• a calculator
• glue sticks
• scissors
• dry erase markers with eraser (we always run out)
• a pencil/marker container to keep in