June 18, 2010
Together we made it.  Thinking back through all of the accomplishments we've shared from the slide show of this year and the video from our last Open House, there's not much more we could have squeezed in.  Our last week was busy and touching, but the last day of this school year, and your child's time at Dimondale Elementary, was especially poigniant.  Let me share a bit of it with you:

The kids arrived full of energy, almost talking over the Bearcat News.  Before I knew it they were off for Move-Up Day with Mr. Cooper, where I hear there was a silly string fight and lots of dancing.  Meanwhile, I met the kids I will have for the next two years as I begin a looping class opposite of Mrs. Brown.  (Boy, incoming third-graders are much younger than outgoing fourth-graders!)

When we got back together, I met with each of our team members and looked over their report cards, shared some final advice, and listened to their thoughts about their year.  It turns out, many did have their Best Year Ever!  We gathered for final words to the group and I let them know that because they'd heard me yapping all year, I was done and it was their time to talk for the remainder of the day.  Kind words were shared, one of our kids from Mrs. Martell's room thanked me for "adopting" them, a few were sad to leave Dimondale, surprisingly deeper memories of our year came out of some of the most unexpected mouths.  Then, Mrs. Coon and the Seibolds arrived as our surprise visitors, bringing ice cream sundae makings for the team.  In classic fourth-grade fashion, after eating, a few kids actually did come up and ask me when the surprise visitors were coming!  

Then we sang.  We sang almost all of the songs we shared this year and no voice remained silent. By the time we culminated with "You've Got a Friend", few eyes were dry.  I was so surprised at the emotion from kids I would have never expected from certain kids.  This transition is the beginning of an emotional roller coaster through Jr. High for them and your households and I think this group became especially tight-knit that they were okay sharing the confusion, sorrow, and joy that overcame a few of them today.  We then sat down quietly to receive our "yellow books" which are a collection of song lyrics, quotes, and messages from the class to each student.  I explained to the kids that no other school in our district is named after the town itself, but that is what makes them and our school special.  Kids from Dimondale represent our village, a village that has brought them up well and a village that will continue to be behind them.  I charged them to make the village and name proud and to be proud of it.  It was silent for a few minutes as each one reflected on comments from their team.  Then, as soon as it began with us pulling weeds together in August, it was time for their final BIG WAVE at the busses.

At the beginning of this year, we played a quick game to get to know each other, called Hug or High-Five.  Simply gather at either side of the room to show which way you prefer to communicate when you come in or leave the room.  It was neat to see how this changed over the year, more kids became huggers as they became comfortable on the team, sometimes bad days moved someone back to the high-five side, but there was no pressure either way.  Today, almost the entire team chose a hug.  

The year was my privilege.  Thank you for sharing your spectacular children with Dimondale Elementary and please keep in touch so we can see their successes!

June 11, 2010
Most of this week was spent practicing and improving our presentations (oh and taking a pile of district tests), but we made it through. If you weren't here for the Open House today, we missed you...and you missed an outstanding showing of these kids' character and academic performance!  Some video clips will be posted to the Third Year gallery in the next few weeks, so if you couldn't be here you can still see us singing.  A slideshow of our year in review is also on that page for your viewing pleasure.

Have a great weekend and, YES, we do have school next week!

June 4, 2010
We have had a wonderful, and short, week.  Most of our team time has been spent preparing presentations for our Open House, next Friday, June 11th from 2:15 - 3:15.  Please join us to witness the hard work and great vocals!  Aside from that, in literacy we've been writing thank-you letters and lyric poetry.  Try to tease out some hyperbole from your kids...they may need to define it for you!

In math we've had a fun week of reflections, rotations, and repeat frieze patterns and finished the week learning how to make tessalations.  We will continue work on those during our district tests next week.  Unfortunately, we did just receive our district tests in math, reading, writing, and science.  That means next week we will be chopping away at them a little each day, so nightly reading will be the only homework. If at all possible, please get your kids to bed early and feed them in the morning for the tiring tests that are so important for teachers to measure our curriculum  and instruction practices!  

This week is the last week for sending home blue notes or getting agendas signed.  We will continue to fill them out through the year, but with minimal homework as we wrap up, the main thing of interest will be what we've done each day.  Have a great weekend!

May 28, 2010
I think we're all looking forward to a great Memorial Day weekend.  As we do, please remember (to your children) all of the soldiers past and present who have represented us on home and foreign soil.  Whatever your politics or persuasion (and I'm a huge promotor of peace), we should all have a soft spot in our souls for those people who earn so little, but show such an example of discipline, self-control, and care for others.

This week was hot and fast.  We celebrated many fiction stories from our writing and will begin writing some poetry to round out our writer's workshop year.  We will also work on some letters to important people who have helped us this year.  In reading, we are preparing presentations for our Parent Open House on June 11th.  We sure hope you can attend.  We will continue studying living organisms and their features through science and reflections, negative integers, and symmetry in math.  We've got so much left to do, that this three weeks will certainly fly by!

May 21, 2010
Somehow we whipped Spring Fever this week.  We spent a good deal of time celebrating our return to being the model class at Dimondale, which made for a nice Friday!  

We took a math test over the last two days and we will score (and fix) it together next week.  Although there is good understanding of fractions, percents, and decimals, sometimes the wording on tests is a challenge and this one had some peculiarities that I feel we're just not there with as a whole (pardon the pun).  We will keep slugging away at these concepts for the remainder of the year as we enter a new unit on symmetry, transformations, and reflections.  It will be more hands-on and fun!

We'll finish our fiction revisions next week and share some with the class.  As we move into a final unit of poetry and some miscellaneous genres, we will continue revising and polishing our fiction stories, sharing occasionally.  In reading, almost all groups are working on Reader's Theatre where expression and fluency are the goals.  We will present these to the team soon, then work on some special projects for our Parent Open House on June 11th.  Look for the note coming home!

May 14, 2010
What is the percent of students who LOVE fractions in our class?  Well, we start by finding out who loves fractions, then divide that by 26 (the total number of kids).  Once we have an answer that's a decimal (sure you can use a calculator for this), move that decimal two places to the right (or multiply by 100) and there is your percentage!  It's a few step process, but we're getting there towards a test in the next week!

In writing, we are revising our fiction stories still and expect to share some with you in June.  In reading, we are already beginning some of our end-of-year assessments to see how far we've come.  A little preview, is that Mrs. Brown and I are very satisfied with the hard work and results we're seeing.   In science we observed dwarf African frogs, pond snails, and guppies very closely this week (like right on our desks) and analyzed their physical characteristics for survival.  Try doing this with other living things you encounter with your kids.

Blogs get a little thinner towards this final month as we do a lot of review, wrap-up, presentation planning, and testing, but I'll keep you updated on the latest as our Best Year Ever heads out of Dimondale Elementary!

May 7, 2010
We had a ton of book club presentations this week, which means those parent reading buddies are keeping in step with one another and getting through a lot of good books.  Thank you for your time!  

In reading, we're working on informational text.  Ask to see your child's skills sheets to see what features and patterns we've learned to look for, then help find those in newspapers and magazines as you read.  A few seconds discussion pays off big for young readers!  In writing, we learned a few more strategies for revising our fiction works.  You may not see a finished story from our fiction unit, but you will see polished paragraphs and hopefully thoughtful writers.  In math we are deep into decimals, percents, and fractions...today we played a memory-matching game to become more fluent with these.  Science has us discussing all the things that allow an organism to survive in a habitat and ecosystem.  There is lots of observation and recording to this work.

The blog is still up at Kidblog.org and we have a partner class in Texas who is posting a lot of their own thoughts.  Join the online conversation and learn about a different place!

April 30, 2010
This week we decided to eliminate the due date for our fiction final copies in an effort to focus on revising.  Instead of rushing through the "get it done" mentality that is third and fourth grade, we're going to spend more time really revising and re-writing our fiction stories to make each part of them even better!  

In math we finished our area and perimeter unit and now we're off into fractions, percents, and decimals to see how similar they really are.  In reading, we'll start our last change of reading groups and rooms to ride the year out while we keep working on information text features and patterns.  This week's "cause and effect" was pretty simple, so next week we'll try to push the thinking a little harder!

Join us tonight for our annual ice cream social and, ironically, health fair!

April 23, 2010
The blog is out a day early because I'm away from the classroom for a couple of days doing professional development.  No one misses me being in Room 120 more than me!  

Our week unfolded with a big burst of Spring Fever that continued through the week.  Talking and movement is on the rise, so we're going to focus really hard on self-discipline while there is a sub in the room, using this opportunity to show our guest teacher how well we manage ourselves even without Mr. S. there.   If that sounds contrived, pass it on to your kids so they remember how I'm banking on them to show off their best learning examples while I'm gone!

This week we moved along in our fiction writing, developing plots with story mountains.  In math we're wrapping up a unit on area (A=LxW) and perimeter (P=Add up all the sides).  Next week we'll have a review, then a quick test on these skills.  We are exploring informational text features and patterns this week and reading lots of nonfiction.  We'll have one last change of reading groups beginning next Tuesday.  We just finished our science unit on electricity and magnetism and some great test scores are coming home to you this week.  Also our African Dwarf frogs arrived to inhabit a new fish tank in the room for our last science unit on Living Organisms!

I'm still on email, though out of the class, so please drop a line with any concerns!

April 16, 2010
After a week off, routine is hard for everyone, but let me tell you a quick story that exemplifies the kind of people we're raising.  Before Spring Break, we had our final Unicorn award in which half of the table tied for modeling their learning and behavior for the class.  Usually, we have one table that wins, but this meant I was on the hook to buy pizza for four times as many kids...but I'm good for my word.  However, as the remaining tables were upset, the class remembered our probability lessons to explain that it was random chance and very fair.  Still a number of the winners proposed that we all donate money to include the remaining tables in our pizza luncheon.  I accepted their generousity...if they could remember it.  To my surprise after the break, kids showed up with money.  We even had a child from Mrs. Brown's side hear about the deal and offer some change to help our whole class join the party.  Without prompting from me, they ended up collecting enough to buy the additional pizzas and I picked up the balance and beverages.  That is teamwork, that is caring, those are your kids!  

Oh yeah, we started a new math unit (area & perimeter), a new writing unit (fiction), and we'll start learning about informational text next week (atlas', newspapers, articles, etc.), but truly, the learning that happened this week was the character your kids showed.   Everyone can be a teacher.

April 2, 2010
WRITTEN BY THE CLASS THIS WEEK - We finished our fraction unit this week.  It was kind of hard at first, but then it got a little easy.  We accomplished being quiter during math.  We accomplished the fractions test and some people did better than they expected.  We finished our literary essays this week.  We did the Unit 25 spelling pretest and instead of a test at the end of the week, we had a spelling bee!  We accomplished some great quiet lines in the hall and got a 20 point compliment at the Capitol field trip.  We managed to stay quiet during the field trip.  We not only accomplished in school, we also accomplished being quiet out of school.  We had fun at the field trip!  We accomplished getting our class blog done and 21 kids participated already.  We had fun this week.

WRITTEN BY MR. S - I see a lot of "We's" in this blog and I see a lot of "accomplished" this week, which tells me it was a successful week in fourth grade!  Have a wonderful Spring Break and make sure to READ and check your classroom Blog at www.kidblog.org/sutterlearn.


March 26, 2010
Thanks to allergies, I didn't have much of a voice for much of this week and like any group of 9-10 year olds, our team took good advantage of this!  :)  It felt like we moved a little slower this week as a team, so I assume with the allergies, Spring fever is beginning for kids.  Hold out one more week until Spring Break!

Next week is our math test on fractions.  You can practice, as always, by reviewing homework sheets that we've done, especially finding equivalent fractions, greater than/less than fractions, and adding/subtracting fractions.  The key is to find those common denominators.  The SRB is a good help too, but we'll keep reviewing in class right up until test time.

Literary essay sloppy copies were due today and almost everyone got them in!  We'll spend the next week revising and editing to publish by next Friday, then we're off into writing fiction after the break.

March 19, 2010
The week ended on a high note, but the beginning wasn't too bad either.  Following parent conferences, there is frequently a couple days of great behavior (infer what you will).  I was curious how this would play this year since we have such a well-mannered team.  We still had a nice Monday and Tuesday, but it carried on even into the three assemblies we had this week.  After deciding to limit assemblies last year, it was neat to see that sitting and listening is a skill that must be practiced, however, our class was the example for the school this week.  Ask your kids about the assemblies we shared.

We all have a thesis picked for our literary essays and progress is quick.  Ask your child about which story s/he is writing about and what's "the big rock" about it.  Fractions still confuse us to pieces, pardon the pun, but we're making it and I'm seeing more lightbulbs turning on.  Thanks for all the help at home to convey this unconventional concept!  Reading has been exceptional this week, in terms of kids reading independently and earning lots of compliments for their hard work.  From their discussions, the reading itself is the reward!

A permission slip for our field trip to the Capitol went home today.  Please consider and return these ASAP.  We will contact chaperones as soon as we know you're available.  Science Day was a success thanks to a lot of cool scientists and parent volunteers.   Have a wonderful weekend...I'm getting out of here to enjoy some of this Spring weather before the snow comes back...

March 12, 2010
Between Spirit Week and Parent Confernces, there's not much you probably haven't heard already this week.  Things are sailing smoothly at this point and I can confidently say this is the Best Year Ever!  

In writing, we're starting to nail down a thesis for essays we're working on about short stories we've read.  Talk to your writer about the story, its meaning, and what his/her thesis might be...due Wednesday.  In math, we're all struggling with fractions, so stand firm...we will get there and never be afraid to draw a picture to really grasp it.  The big idea is that fractions are equal parts of one whole!  Reading continues to soar and we received a handful of new books from generous families donating from the Book Fair this week.

Have a nice long weekend and come back ready to rock!

March 5, 2010
Here comes the sun!  We slid back with behavior a little this week...lots of talking and self-control issues, but we ended the week with a great Town Hall meeting where we refocused on our goal as a team and talked about how each of us could make small changes that would make a big difference for the team and everyone with whom we come into contact.

We began a fractions unit in math.  This is usually a bumpy ride as we start dividing one whole into equal parts, especially when one whole could be 18 cookies or 26 kids.  It's hard to imagine one set being 18 pieces, but we're getting there.  Discuss real-world fraction scenarios as you cross them with your kids:  candy in a bag, slices in a pizza, red shirts in a group of friends, etc.  Literary essays are coming along and we have kids wanting to jump right into writing an essay.  We're working on the patient process of collecting lots of thoughts and pieces of writing about a story we're reading over and over, then we will weave all of those journal entries into an essay.  Sound sophisticated?  You bet, but kids can get there...we see it each year.  

Conferences are next week.  Report cards went home today for you to review ahead of time and bring in any questions.  As always, talk to your child about what is going great or could be better in our room and their learning.  Kids are always invited to conferences because anything we discuss is something they're already working on.  Have a great sunny weekend!

February 26, 2010
It has been a very snowy week, but we made all five days.  People have asked me all week why our district had school on Monday and I just tell them that it's because we are so into learning, we can't keep kids away.  That's how it is in Room 120 at least.   We've had two really great weeks of behavior and learning (one leads to the other, you know)!  

In writing we just started a new unit on Literary Essays where we're reading short stories over and over, then writing our new thoughts until we have enough material to create a thesis and write a strong essay about it.  In reading, we've changed our routine slightly so we do a daily sharing of what we've read, thought, and our work on the weekly strategy sheets.  I'm seeing large growth in how sophisticated the discussions are getting!  Math has really pleased me as a teacher this week because we bit the bullet and did the winter District Math Test and Unit 6 Division Test.  Halfway through scoring these (which both scared me to give), I have been so pleased at how much our kids have learned and how they're proving it in their work.  I sincerely feel this is our Best Year Ever academically!

On the social front, our Peace Project is rolling along and we collected a HUGE box of gloves and hats for the Village Summit.  The kids on both sides of the team (3rd and 4th ) signed the box today and I will deliver it this weekend.  Our next collection, for March, is for GAMES!  Clean out your closets and cupboards for any new or gently-used board games and the like.  Have a great weekend and tell your kid that his/her teacher thinks they're great!

February 12, 2010
We had a wonderful past two weeks!  Cooperation allowed us to do lots of learning together...and enjoy one another so much.  

Today we finished writing essays and took a practice test on writing an entire essay in one session.  I was blown away at the work I saw, just walking around.  We have re-arranged reading groups quite a bit and keep enjoying lots of success.  In math, we spent the week playing with angles and protractors.

Have a great week off with your family and we'll see you to finish February!

February 5, 2010
This week has been full of comparing past and present.  Thanks to all of the parents who came to the "emergency" math workshop!  Your effort to learn with your kids (and me) speaks volumes of the integrity of our community.  I'm so proud to be a servant here!  Speaking of past and present, something we would have never celebrated in the old days was a week of excellent, respectful behavior...however, in these days of so many distractions, we had a spectacular week across the class with very good behavior and teamwork.  When we all work together, one can actually feel and see learning happening.  I may be a nerd, but that is exciting!

In math we're still talking division and it's slowly coming together.  We've also begun using protractors and learned a second verse to our increasingly popular "line dance".  In writing, our essay final drafts are due next Friday.  About half the team has published a first essay and is hard at work on a second with much more independence.  In reading, some of our book clubs are finishing their first book and will present next week, while other reading groups have shifted as we focus on specific skills like fluency and vocabulary.

Remember that we're collecting gently-used, or new, hats and gloves for the Village Summit as part of our Peace Project.  We have a huge box to fill, so check your closets before the break creeps up.  Finally, I've become somewhat unpopular for not having a Valentine's Party.  I've even been called the Cupid Scrooge, but I've got broad shoulders.  I believe that if we act with love toward everyone, each day, we don't need one day to celebrate that...our lives can be the celebration of that love.  However, I do allow kids to trade cards so long as everyone is included and no one is left out.  Cards are not required, but it's an all-or-nothing convention.

January 29, 2010
I know I'm the last one who's counting, but this week included the 90th day of our Best Year Ever!  That's also means we're exactly halfway through the school year!  The week began chilly and wet and ended down-right cold, but sunny and beautiful.  For us, this meant a couple days of indoor recess...a killer for everyone...but we got to go outside and enjoy the arctic blast on Friday afternoon to burn off pent-up steam.

In writing, Sloppy Copies of our first essays were due today and almost all kids have them done on time.  The rest will join the Recess Writing Club to make up lost time.  Is one of those writers yours?  In reading, we finished mid-year testing and sorted a bunch of new books the district purchased for our classroom library with grant monies.  We have about 200 new titles for kids to select from at all levels!  That's a good thing because at the mid-way point, I show that 96% of our fourth grade team is at or above grade level in reading.  This is great news for our team!  

In math, we began a unit on division which is blowing everyone's mind...even you parents!  To that end, I will be hosting two emergency parent sessions to help bridge the homework gap between how "we" learned it and how kids are learning the same skills differently.  Please RSVP via email to wsutterl@hpsk12.net if you would like to attend one or both of these on Tuesday, February 2 at 7:30am or 7pm.  

The only other reminder is that we are collecting gently-used or new gloves and hats for our Peace Project to support the Village Summit Community Center.  Have a great weekend!

January 22, 2010
Our four-day week rumbled by quickly!  My vote for year-round school is in because all of the small, frequent breaks really do affect the rhythm of learning.  However on the flip side of that thought, just this week I've been looking over the gradebook and reviewing student work, feeling really positive about the learning that is happening, despite having to retrain classroom behavior.  This class is really doing well and the math tests I've seen this week are some of the best yet, not to mention the daily work that has been outstanding!

We continue to wrap our reading and writing workshops together and find patterns in reading that we can copy when we write.  It's neat to hear those connections from kids.  Talk to your child about what makes a good paragraph, indenting, complete sentences, introductions and conclusion sentences, and of course, lots of details.  That part of writing hasn't changed much over the years, but paragraphs as groups of thought still sometimes are hard to put together in fourth grade.  

Today we launched our Peace Project for the year, which is helping the Village Summit by collecting different items each month and any spare change kids would like to donate.  A detailed note went home with the entire team today after the kids decided what things they'd like to donate and on what schedule.  For the remainder of January and all of February, we will be collecting gently used gloves and hats for local children.  To read more about the Village Summit, check out these links Village Summit and Lansing State Journal.

January 15, 2010
It's been an entire month since the last blog post thanks to a long holiday break, then a snow day on our first Friday back (last week).  Our family took a trip to North Carolina to visit my new twin neice and nephew, which was a blast.  We did a lot of sledding and relaxing on the impromptu three-day weekend last week.  Now we have another long weekend to enjoy (at least the kids do) while teachers celebrate MLK day next Monday together in "teacher meetings".

In the past two weeks, we've done a bit of mid-year reading assessments which has switched up our reading group schedule a bit.  We're working through writing essays.  I must say that the consistent writing curriculum we've used over the past few years and grades is really starting to show in how quickly kids take to these writing genres and improve over time!  In math we've been working on multiplying two and three digit numbers.  This takes lots of practice.  Science is still a study of the three states of matter.  Right now kids are creating comic strips of how a molecule makes phase changes.

Last Tuesday we had a special guest who made us all very rich.  Casey Bartrem is a Peace Corp volunteer who was in Lesotho, South Africa and last year's class had a book drive that helped her create a library for a small village there.  Casey came to share that story, pictures, and gifts from Africa.  She reminded us of how rich we are and how normal kids like us can do great things to change the world.  You can check out the slideshow of last year's project in Gallery 2 on Sutterlearn.com.  Stand by for this year's peace project (which is a lot closer to home than Africa!)

December 11, 2009
It has been a good week, especially in writing.  We've been blown away at how strong our writers are already in writing essays.  They are so good, we're already excited about how far we can get in writing this year!  Ask your child about his/her thesis.

In math we just finished a unit on decimals and most kids are doing well.  We can always use practice with adding/subtracting decimals to the thousandth place, so if want to push their thinking, do a few such problems (45.23 - 12.06, or 63.1 + 4.02).

In reading we now have 12 parent volunteers who are in once a week at various times to help all readers improve.  This extra time and community engagement is priceless, so we thank you all very much.

Next Friday is our Winter Open House and you're invited.  Please join us from 2:15 - 3:15 for some math games, sharing our writing and light refreshments, plus a song or two!

December 4, 2009
We're in December and it's cold and snowy...a taste of winter to come, finally!  This was a pleasant week back from a long weekend break and the kids got right back into routine, with only a few whose mouths were full of Thanksgiving chatter still.  Most seemed rested and ready to learn!

We started a new unit in science: States of Matter where we began measuring the difference in weight and mass.  Did you know they were different?  Ask your child.  In math we continue to chip away at working with decimals and measurement together.  Next week will be our test on this unit.  In reading we are talking about predicting and questioning.  Those are quick discussions you can have with your child about their reading, "What's going to happen next?  Why do you think so?, What don't you understand?  What do you wonder?"  We also started a new writing unit this week: Essays.  Help your child notice "big ideas" in the world, things they think are important and can find lots of examples to support.

November 20, 2009
This week we worked on one of the hardest comprehension strategies so far...synthesizing.  This is hard for third and fourth graders becuase it is so non-descript and can take on many meanings.  Primarily, we define this as "how your thinking grows" as you read.  You have to infer a little, summarize a little, ask questions a little, and determine what is important...these all lead to making predictions and having connections, so synthesizing really is all of the comprehension strategies working at once.  I can't wait to read the kids papers about how they synthesized a couple articles we read this week!

In math we've started exploring decimals to the thousandths.  We were chugging along until we tried to order them and realized that decimals are more confusing than just knowing how to read them.  We'll get there and understand decimals as similar to fractions or "parts of one whole".  Talk about it and find real-world examples at home (ie. cups from a pitcher, pieces of pizza/cake, pieces of candy from a pack, etc.)

Next week will be short, but busy.  Our writing has shifted from personal narratives and for a few days we will write letters to some soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, telling them what we're thankful before we go to spend a long, grateful weekend with our families!  When we come back after the holiday, we'll begin writing essays.  We will also be baking cornbread muffins and churning our own butter on Tuesday morning, then enjoying them as part of a pre-feast with our third-grade teamclass and Mrs. Warnke's fourth-grade class who each will make a dish!

November 13, 2009
I'll begin this short update with an apology that I was out of the classroom more than I was in it this week.  I had a district meeting on Monday, then both of my kids have been sick, requiring me to be home another two days this week.  Having a sub always throws off the team a little, but I have to say I had good reviews on behavior and all work was accomplished, which speaks well to how our team is coming along!

I really enjoyed speaking with most of you at conferences this week and encourage continuing feedback and conversation on your child's progress.  You know you'll hear from me the minute I have concerns.  Thanks for your support on the home team!  

Finally, I did mention in a few conferences that we would have no Blue Notes this week, but we actually had a few go home for missing reading logs or skills sheet.  Agendas are to be signed every week, so look and see if there's a Blue Note to remind your child of any missing reading work this week.  Have a great weekend!
November 6, 2009
It was a really good week in Room 120!  This week we had a visit from Dr. Scott and a board member, a couple parents sat in on our Reading Workshop, and we learned some really difficult ways to determine importance when reading.  Mr. Sutterlin's side of the Workshop was extremely hard-working and quiet this week.  I think our writers are starting to bloom because that is when it is the quietest, which tickles me pink!

Yes, I just used the phrase "tickles me pink".  

Thanks to the parents who have sent in bottles of sanitizer and packs of pencils!  We started a new routine today that if a table doesn't have the 8 pencils they are supposed to have by the end of the day, the whole table gets a mark for "Best Effort" (which isn't a good thing).  Hopefully, this will help us be better citizens of the team and keep us in pencils.  

At our Town Hall we talked about a little boy (Noah Biorkman) and an old man (Grandpa Elliot).  We also learned about a rock star turned peacemaker (Cat Stevens/Yusif Islam) and sang some of his songs.  Ask your child what they thought about in Town Hall today.

October 30, 2009
We have reached a milestone!  Not only was it Halloween and the traditional parade, but also the end of the first marking period.   Parent conference schedules went home today and are due Monday.  I look forward to a pattern of 100% parent attendance at conferences!

We had a big turn-out today for the parade and a very well-behaved, large group of kids.  The parents were polite too! ;)  Thank you for your support and teamwork on this celebration.  

The week was not just fun and games though.  We did a lot of good work.  I'm really happy with how our writers are moving through their work more independently than previous years.  I'm also pleased with the math and science talk our class has.  Most of all, I appreciate how our team embraces routine and my high expectations.  They're a chatty bunch to say the least, but for such a large class, they are really coming together and making us a team of which to be proud!

Note that we will soon be out of hand-sanitizer for the wall pumps.  If you've watched the news, these will not be replaced due to funding cuts and demand being so high in this H1N1 season.  We will return to old-fashioned handwashing more often, but the pumps are so nice for kids to access throughout the day.  If you'd like to donate a gallon or so of sanitizer from Sam's or Costco, we've got 54 little hands that will use it!
October 23, 2009
MEAP weeks are over for this year!  Does it seem like that gets a bit too much attention?  It's a necessary evil that actually is getting better each year as they figure out how to write appropriate questions for kids and it really does help us measure the curriculum (not the kids!).

We finally had our first 4th Friday today and it was a blast!  Both teams ended up working off most of the marbles from the Community Chest and what they hadn't worked off, they sacrificed their recess to eliminate the remaining few marbles.  I am hard, but I'm fair and I really enjoy seeing the difference in our class and others when it comes to disciplining ourselves!  For 4th Friday we sang some songs, played Surgeon Dodgeball, then painted with watercolors and watched movies.  It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon together.

We're working hard on multiplication facts.  Please ask your child about the first Factor Challenge and make sure to practice flash cards for a few minutes each night to get those facts memorized.  In writing, everyone turned in their first sloppy copy on time (which is a first in my room), so we're celebrating as these pieces move on to be published and you can read them at conferences.  In reading, we spent the week discussing "questioning" as a reading strategy.  Help your child by thinking of and asking questions about reading!

Next week will be our Halloween Celebration which will include the traditional parade and a few snacks in the room.  Parents are welcome to arrive after 2pm on Friday and must sign in at the office.  Costumes should not have anything that resembles weapons or gore.  Our new schoolwide focus at Halloween is celebrating uniqueness.  Looking forward to parent-team support then!
October 16, 2009
The first week of MEAP testing flew by and our team handled it so well.  There were no obvious anxieties and everyone worked very hard and quietly!  This week we did the reading tests.  Anyone who was absent on Tuesday or Thursday will have time to make them up next week.  Speaking of, next week we will do the math and writing tests on Tuesday and Thursday, then we'll put MEAP to bed for one more year.  Make sure your kids get good rest and meals in preparation for those tests and a snack that day is usually something they're grateful for having!

Otherwise, we finished another math unit this week exploring data landmarks and multiplication, with some review of old stuff.  Friday was the test which we'll correct together as a class so that kids can fix their own errors and adjust their misconceptions with guidance.  It's about the learning, not the test!

In reading we've been discussing connections this week.  Ask your child what T-T, T-S, and T-W mean and how they use these as they read.  In writing we're plowing through our first drafts of small moment stories and most kids have conferenced and submitted a "sloppy copy" ahead of time.  They seem to be learning a lot from conferencing with the teacher and a partner.

October 9, 2009
This week marked our first time having a subtitute teacher and the team made themselves very proud!  We removed about 30 rocks from the jar, putting us in a better place for the next 4th Friday.  Today was a rough way to end the week with lots of chatting and movement, but anytime we have two inside recesses on a Friday, what else can be expected?  We did, however, beat our team record of lining up 49 kids in silence in 12 seconds and that's something to be proud about!

Math this week was a variation of exploring data, addition and subtraction.  The various algorithms that can be used are designed to "hit" all learners however they understand numbers.  As long as children can add and subtract fluently by now, I'm happy, but I want the exploration of different methods to be fun and as always best effort.  In reading we worked on making predictions and learning that it's okay if we're not right, as long as we find evidence in our books to show how our predictions change.  We have a few writers who have begun publishing their first final drafts of a personal narrative....lots of great stories to be shared.  

FYI - This year, to keep fundraising hounds at bay, the staff of Dimondale has decided to hold one fundraiser across the school to fund our field trips.  Whatever each grade-level earns, that will be their budget for field trips so that we don't continually ask for donations or charge fees for trips.  If you're like me, it will be nice not to always have a fundraising popping up!  This year Dimondale will be selling Little Caesar's Pizza Kits which are profittable, great sellers, and really an enjoyable product.  Watch for flyers coming home soon!

October 2, 2009
In our school competitions, we're up to 20 compliments as a class!  That averages to about one per day in school so far, which is something of which to be proud.  This week started with an empty Community Chest jar, and we earned 23 extra minutes for the next 4th Friday celebration.  Alas, we lost those and added 41 rocks to the jar since Wednesday simply from not controlling our talking.  

Friday was a nice end to the week with a fun Town Hall meeting where we discussed being the change we want to see in the world, or our own team.  In math we've been working with place value and there is a lot of brilliance in our room!  We now have due dates for our first writing project, small moment/memory stories. The sloppy copy is due 10/23/09 and the final draft will be due 11/20/09.  Our reading groups also kicked off this week, so we're excited to start seeing our readers soar!

Have fun at Holt Homecoming if you go, or just have a great time with your family and this first blast of pure Michigan fall weather!

September 25, 2009
The class grew by nine team members this week and I'm excited to have 27 total kids share the Best Year Ever!  Wait, I almost forgot Mrs. Brown's half of our team which makes us 49 in all!  This week we returned to a number of first-week teambuilding activities to get everyone working together and it's getting there. Unfortunately, we did lose our first ever 4th Friday and I don't think anyone was as sad as Mrs. Brown since she's never experienced that either.  Monday will be a fresh start and the team will work together to get talking back under control.

We already finished a math unit on Geometry and took the test this week.  Since test-taking like this is new to fourth-graders, we corrected them together so that we could see our mistakes and learn from them.  I will review those corrections this weekend to see what clarification is necessary, then the tests will come home on Monday.  Our next math unit is all about using data (collections of numbers).

In reading, have finished previewing all of the reading strategies and setting up our workshop procedures, so we'll be focusing on visualization (mental images) next week and start reading groups.  Home Reading Logs came home today and a weeklong worksheet will start.

In writing, we're working hard to collect small moment stories or personal narratives.  Once we see everyone with a handful of possible stories, we'll be setting due dates to take these through the writing process!  We're on a roll!

September 18, 2009
We're nine days into it and I have to admit that the teamwork of two classrooms definitely has a different "feel" to it this year.  Mrs. Brown and I have been so pleased at the positive difference in how our year has begun with this group of kids.

During the first two weeks of school, we do a lot of reading assessments and setting up procedures for our Reading and Writing Workshop, so your child probably has stories of repetition and monotony.  It's all for good reason as we're "setting the table" before we "serve the meal" for our best year ever!  Ask your child to explain what BYE means to him/her.  In math, we've been through almost a whole unit of Geometry that has been fun at times, trying at others.  The focus is to put math in their hands, perfect or not.  Keep up with those parent letters (they have homework help in them)!  

A Scholastic Books catalogue and online-purchasing option was sent home this week.  There is no pressure on these purchases!  These are great books at great prices and our class earns points to build our library and reading group material...again, that stuff will happen, so no pressure.  I realize times are tight all over.

Remember, next Thursday, September 24 are our Curriculum Night meetings at 7pm and 7:45pm.  Please pick a session and join us for all the information you need to make this year successful with your child!

September 11, 2009
Welcome to the SutterBlog for our Best Year Ever!  I have been so impressed this week as this class is already beating some records and showing teamwork more quickly that years past.  They should be cheered on since we have an additional challenge of teaming with Mrs. Brown's class for a total of 40 kids!  We are thrilled and excited at what we've seen so far.

While the week has been full of procedures, practicing, reminding and "getting in the groove", we've grooved a little together with some Bob Marley tunes and Keb' 'Mo as we've talked about a theme of Respect, Encouragement, Best Effort and to Love Learning!  Please note the green folder and yellow agenda that should come home each night.  Your child can explain how these work until you come to the Curriculum Night on September 24 at either 7pm or 7:45pm.  This is not an Open House style and will be a brief, but critically informative meeting to understand how we can work as a team this year for your child's benefit.  I look forward to seeing you there!