Well, week 1 is done! I have to tell you, all our students have done a fantastic job! They have learned so much in just five days. Each day was filled with learning new routines, procedures, lessons, and even new names. In our class, we have four students that have never before attended Wilkesboro Elementary. However, by Friday, everyone looked like they had been friends for their whole lives! The students in our class are kind, positive, helpful, and encouraging! Most of all, our class is quickly establishing friendships with each other and I love seeing these bonds created! As this year's school theme says, WE connect!

Over the course of this school year, we progress through four reading modules, not counting the one we did for the first week of school, because it is labeled as Module 0. On Tuesday, I will send home a letter about upcoming module and what you can expect.

Our Module 1 unit is entitled A Great Heart. In the upcoming week, we will begin learning about the human heart in both the literal and figurative sense. This module will take about one month to complete. Our Core Texts for this module are The Circulatory Story and Love That Dog, we will also be incorporating some pieces of art such as paintings and poems. Our Essential Question for this module is "What does it mean to have a great heart, literally and figuratively?" This week we will focus on the figurative heart as we review various meanings of the word heart, discover the etymology or origins of the word heart, examine two quotes about heart and make needed corrections, identify figurative language, and practice organizing text evidence. This will be a very exciting, engaging, and enjoyable module!

This week we will complete our BOY reading assessments. Our class will take the MAZE, Star Reading, and do the Oral Reading Fluency also known as ORF. These assessments are brief and will be conducted over the course of a few days. The MAZE and Star Reading are done on their Chromebooks, and the ORF is done one-on-one with me. These are great for establishing a fourth grade baseline and will help me to see how much reading growth is done over the school year.

Please encourage your child to read at home every night. Twenty minutes of reading will help your child to increase reading fluency, build language skills, and also help to foster a love of reading that will stay with them forever. They can read any book they choose that has your approval. Reading does not only have to take place at home. Students can keep their reading book in the car and read as travel to and from school, sports, restaurants, etc. Those drive-time minutes add up quickly! Be sure to ask about what they are reading to help ensure they are understanding the content.

I have sent home the September Reading Logs. Please help your child fill them out daily.The Pizza Hut Book-It Program will begin next month!

Last week we began our math routines. Every day, after our class returns from lunch, we grab our Chromebooks and spend a few minutes working on XtraMath, and app that is used to practice math facts including addition, subtraction, multiplication, and even division. This is a program that challenges students to beat the timer through each stage. Once they have progressed through all levels, the timer gets shorter and they start again. It is a great way to help keep math facts fresh in their minds as well reset the body & brain for learning time again. It has been very helpful in transitioning back to lessons after recess and lunch.

In our actual math lessons, we learned how to define and identify lines, line segments, rays, angles, points, along with identifying parellel, intersecting, and perpendicular lines. We also completed a starter assessment (not the Beginning of Year or BOY assessment) to give me an idea of where each student is in math skills after having the summer break. I explained to the students that this was a "no-stress test" and that it was not the BOY. They first practiced it on paper and took the online version.

In our upcoming week, we will begin our BOY assessments by taking our STAR Math this week. This is an online assessment and helps us determine what areas students may need extra practice and establishes a baseline for this year to determine growth gained from our math lessons and practices.

Additionally, our math lessons this week will focus on place value, numbers written in expanded form, word form, and standard form. We will also work on creating our math interactive notebooks and adding a great deal of information to them. If time allows, I hope to have our class create multiplication flash cards that they will be able to keep and use at home to help practice these facts at home. I encourage you to keep them in a place where they can be used quickly in moments of down time. For example, flashcards can be kept by their bed and they can review facts before going to sleep.

I will also begin providing extra practice worksheets for students. These are completely optional and students can grab them as they leave for the day or work on them during free time, if they wish. They will be clearly labled in the class and I will make sure students know where they are located. In the past I have had parents request students bring home practice sheets during the week. If you would like for your child to bring one home regularly, please let me know. I will do my best to make sure they grab one daily.

Over the course of the school year, 4th grade will rotate between science lessons and social studies units. We are starting with science and last week, we began studying about minerals. This week we will continue those studies with building our Interactive science notebooks and taking notes. We will have a quiz over minerals on Friday. Our next unit will transition to rocks and we will even take a field trip to real gem mine at the end of this month!

Our first social studies unit will start with learning about North Carolina's early history and the first people to come to the state. In social studies, students will complete various research projects have a lot of fun learning about where they live!

The first few weeks of a new school year, I like to read Wonder to the class. This amazing story helps to establish relationships in the classroom by showing how important it is to alway choose kindness. There are so many life lessons embedded in this compelling and heart-warming tale. This is the story of a young boy named Auggie that was born with facial abnormalities and is going to public school for the first time. Along the way, he encounters many hardships, but is also able to establish real friendships and overcome very tough times. When reading this book, our class will laugh, cry, and learn that every life has value and every person deserves to be treated with love and respect.

This book is not part of our reading/ELA curriculum, but is used as a part of our Social and Emotional Learning, or SEL. I prefer for students to focus more on the social and emotional aspects of Auggie's amazing journey. We will have a few short lessons with this book that will help them make connections from the story to how they can spread kindness in this world through everyday interactions.

Every month, I will focus on areas that our class can practice for growth. This will help improve our class behavior and as a result, improve our learning. As I mentioned earlier, our class is off to a great start. I am so impressed with how quickly they have learned our routines! We do tend to face challenges when transitioning between subjects, activities, and when leaving the room. This month we will focus on going from one activity to the next with very little interruptions. Our lesson time is incredibly valuable and when it takes two minutes between all transitions, that can add up to a great deal of instruction time lost. Please help remind this sweet group how important it is to stay focused and I am certain we will soon master all transition times.

I have had several parents ask what are the classroom needs right now. I keep a Amazon Wish List going all year long. I update it frequently as our needs change throughout the year. Some of the items are things that help to make the day more enjoyable and some are items that will really enhance our lessons. Additionally, we are always accepting donations of books, tissues, soap and hand sanitizer. No matter what is donated, every single item is always greatly appreciated!

Our class will have a snack every day at 1:50-2:05. If you would like to send an individual snack for your child you may do so. I provide snacks for students that choose from our class snack supply. We are always in need of snack donations. I have several options posted on the class Amazon Wish List, or you can choose to donate a different snack. I know an empty tummy can be quite a distraction and I don't want for anyone to have trouble learning. A lot of physical growing happens at this age and that means most students are almost always hungry! Snacks are essential for our class to have a successful day!

Monday- No School

Tuesday, Day 6: Mega Toy: Music

Wednesday, Day 1: Track, PE

Thursday, Day 2: Big Spider, Media

Friday, Day 3: Mega Toy; Art

We are making some minor changes to our class schedule. Here is how our day is planned:

Morning Meeting: 7:50-8:00

Reading: 8:00-10:15

Recess: 10:15-10:45

Lunch: 10:45-11:15

Math: 11:15-12:30

Science/Social Studies: 12:30-1:00

Specials/Encore: 1:00-1:50

Snack & Restroom: 1:50-2:05

IE: 2:05-2:50

Cool Down & Pack up: 2:50-3:05

Angie Watkins

watkinsan@wilkes.k12.nc.us

(336)- 838-4261 EXT 4349

Monday-Friday 7:00am-6:00pm

Class Dojo

If you have not yet joined our class's Class Dojo page, please do so as soon as possible. It is a great tool for daily communication and where I post day-to-day activities, most recent updates, and send private messages. It can be translated to many languages is super helpful when you need to send me reminders for your child such as transportation changes.,

Wilkesboro Elementary also has a Class Dojo page where announcements for schoolwide activities and events are posted. Please be sure to connnect with all provided platforms if possible. Communication is so important between families, schools, and classrooms. Let's make sure WE Connect!

Important September Dates:

September 4: Labor Day~ No School

September 7: PTO Board Meeting from 8:00am-9:00am

September 8: PTO Dance 3:00-5:00

September 12-13: Grandparents Day Celebrations 1:30-2:30 *must sign up in advance*

September 19: Good News Club begins

September 25: No School, Teacher Work Day

September 27: Progress Reports go home

September 29: 4th Grade Field Trip to Emerald Hollow Gem Mine

Please remind your child to bring the following items to school every day:

Backpack

Green Communication Folder

Book to read

Water Bottle

Snack (if choosing to bring snack from home)

Homework (if assigned or unfinished work from previous day)

Be sure to check back here for updates on what we are learning and the adventures we are having! Make sure you check here often so that you can always get the scoop!

At Wilkesboro Elementary, WE are building bright young minds that will soar like eagles!

Email: watkinsan@wilkes.k12.nc.us
Website: wes.wilkescountyschools.org
Location: 1248 School Street, Wilkesboro, NC, USA
Phone: 336-838-4261 (4349)