Conferences:

I hold conferences any time they are needed.

Please do not feel that you need to wait for the
October conference time if you have a concern.
Feel free to contact me and we can set up a
time to meet or simply talk over the phone.
Open communication is the key to your childs
success.



Book Orders
About once a month, we will send home book
orders. Ordering from these book orders is
entirely optional. If you are ordering from
several order forms, you can write just one
check to Scholastic Books. Ordering through
these book clubs is a great way to encourage
reading and help our classroom library grow!



Snack and Water Bottles:
Due to our early lunch (10:45 am), we know that
students may be hungry by the afternoon. We
encourage your child to bring a healthy snack
and a new or clean water bottle everyday.



Birthdays
Your fourth grader is allowed to bring in a
special birthday treat to celebrate his/her
special day!











How can you help?
**If you work at State Farm, you can volunteer
your time (40 hours) and earn $500.00 for our
school or classroom!


**Ways to volunteer your
time:
-supporting students with reading, writing or
math
-playing math games
-putting up bulletin boards
-stapling, sorting, or
hole-punching papers
-assisting with special projects/celebrations


Website: On our class website you will find
links to sites that relate to our curriculum, project
information, and an online assignment notebook. Use
this to double check daily assignments. You can also
find our class list, class birthdays, our schedule,
weekly updates, and pictures. Simply go to:
schumacher100.weebly.com.


Communication: Communication is
definitely the key to success! Please email or call if
you have any questions, concerns, comments, or ideas!
You may also jot down a note in your childs
assignment notebook. If you need to contact your
child regarding information that s/he will need
immediately, please call the Main Office. Someone
from the office will be sure that your child receives
the message before the end of the day. Your
support and interest are so important to the success
of your child. I look forward to working with you to
help your child be the best s/he can be!








Fourth Grade
Survival Guide
2014-15






Mrs. Schumacher
Email: ajschum@ilstu.edu
school #: 309-438-3564
website: schumacher100.weebly.com











English Language Arts (ELA):
Our English Language Arts curriculum revolves
around Reading and Writing Workshop, Guided
Reading, skill-based mini-lessons, grammar, and word
work.

Reading: Common Core Standards has fourth
graders working on determining the main idea of
text, making inferences, determining themes,
analyzing characters, settings, and events within a
story. Craft and structure standards deal with
determining the meanings of words and phrases used
in text, comparing and contrasting the point of view,
as well as making strong connections with text. We
will also be working on using reference materials,
learning figurative language, similes and metaphors,
idioms, synonyms and antonyms and learning Greek
and Latin affixes and roots to give us clues to the
meaning of words.

Writing: Fourth graders will be focusing on
narrative writing, realistic fiction, informational
writing, poetry, and persuasive essays through
planning, revising, and editing. We will be conducting
research, taking notes, citing sources, and publishing
writing with correct grammar, punctuation, and
capitalization.

Everyday Math: With a combination
of Everyday Math curriculum, math workshop, skill
work on computers, math games, task cards,
projects, and story problem practice, we will be
learning a tremendous amount in fourth grade math!
Fourth grade common core standards include: using
the four operations to solve problems, working with
factors and multiples, creating and analyzing
patterns, using place value to understand larger
numbers, understanding fractions and decimals,
solving problems involving measurement and
conversions of measurements, representing and
interpreting data, and geometry.

Word Work: The goal is to help students
learn to spell correctly in their everyday writing.
Students will be pretested on a variety of most
frequently used words and will work with words that
are at his/her level.
Science: We have many hands-on activities
that go along with the fourth grade Next Generation
Science Standards (NGSS). We will be asking
questions, researching, hypothesizing, experimenting,
analyzing, and making conclusions while studying the
following topics: energy through electric circuits,
animal studies, land and water with an erosion
emphasis, and waves (wavelength and amplitude).

Social Studies: We will focus on the five
regions of the United States as well as map skills,
Illinois, and architecture. It will be a lot of fun
learning about our wonderful state and country!

Nothing Notebook: Curious about
whats happening in fourth grade? Each week you will
receive a letter, written by your child, in his/her
Nothing Notebook that will give you the inside
scoop. We hope that you enjoy reading this each
week and will take a few moments to write an
encouraging letter back to your child. Your childs
nothing notebook will come home each Friday and
should be returned on Monday. (This will be a sweet
keepsake!)

Long Term Projects: Over the
course of the school year, there will be various long-
term assignments and projects across the curricular
areas. The majority of these projects will be
completed during the school day, but there may be
situations in which some work will need to be
completed outside of class. Large assignments will be
broken up into portions and assigned mini due dates
which will be recorded in the assignment notebooks
and available on the class website.

Assignment Notebook:
We will fill out assignment notebooks every day in
class. If work is completed in class, a checkmark
should be placed by the assignment. Please take a
few moments every evening to check your childs
assignment notebook and sign your name/initial at the
bottom of the page so I know that you are aware of
upcoming activities.


Homework: Homework will be an extension
of classroom learning and we expect students to
complete all assignments on time. If homework is not
handed in on the day it is due, incomplete work will be
sent home to be completed. If this plan does not
seem to develop a sense of responsibility, teachers,
parents and the student will meet to design a
different plan. We realize there may be times that a
student is unable to complete a required assignment
for whatever reason, please write a note in the
assignment notebook or email us to let us know there
was not enough time and an extension is needed.
Students should not have more than an hour of
homework a night. If it is taking longer than an hour,
please notify us of the problem so we can discuss
situations that might be occurring.

Homework Folder: Students will
bring home a homework folder each night. Please be
sure to check this folder daily as it will contain any
schoolwork that may need to be completed. One side
of the folder will be marked TO-DO and the other
side will be marked TURN IN. We will stress this
system for the homework folders to help students
establish effective organization habits.

Report Cards: Students will get one
grade for each subject and then will be assigned a 4,
3, 2, or 1 for each standard that has been addressed
for each of the reporting periods. The focus will be
on how each child progresses with regards to the
standards that must be accomplished by the end of
the school year. The student version of the rubric
that will be displayed in our room includes the
following information:
4: Demonstrates complete and masterful work. (I
can teach it. I can even teach more and explain
my work.)
3: Demonstrates proficient work. (I get it.)
2: Demonstrates an emergent understanding. (I kind
of get it, but I still make some mistakes.)
1: Demonstrates significant gaps in understanding.
(Im starting to get it with help, but I am still
confused.)