Upcoming events and News...

Hi everyone, here is what's coming in 4S and in Fourth Grade!

Math:  Division test for some (4S switch) is scheduled for tomorrow.  For Mr. Jewell's switch, it's scheduled for mid week next week.  Please refer to your child's assignment notbook for his exact test date.  Mrs. Fraser's group has already assessed.

-Up next in math: use the four operations to solve word problems, and solving multi-step word problems with whole numbers. (2 report card standars for 2nd trimester)  After that, we will move on to customary and metric units of measurement before ISATs.

-Keep practicing your multiplication and division facts 0-12!  Thank you parents for your continued dedication with this!  We see improvement! :)

Reading:  We are still enjoying our reading switch groups.  Our focus is keeping track of our thinking while reading, characterization, predicting, literal and inferential questioning.  We plan to end the switch by February 21st.  The next reading switch will focus on Harriet Tubman.  This will tie nicely with our social studies curriculum that is coming up!

Writing:  We are finishing our graphic organizers for our narrative papers and will start writing our papers Monday.  We will spend a week writing our papers and a week peer-editing before publishing them in the computer lab using our typing skills!

Social Studies:  At the end of next week, there will be a short vocabulary quiz covering vocabulary words from the lessons on US Economy and NE expansion.  We will take time in class to review, but please continue reviewing at home as well for further study.  After this, we will move on to the SE region of the United States along with Civil War.

Science:  We are finishing chapter two at the end of next week.  There will be an open-book test at the end of the chapter scheduled for Monday, February 10 and Tuesday February 11th (if needed)

Spelling: we will have a "normal" week next week in spelling with a pre-test and a test scheduled for Friday.

Book Reports:  The kids did an excellent job with their Informational Text book reports.  They all enjoyed creating their Tellagami's and we are super-excited to view them as a class!  Up next for February either Fairy Tales or Fantasy...we have to decide!

NEWS:
Tomorrow, Hannah Clark's grandfather will be coming in to class to share his experience as the General Manager of the United Center.  We are all excited to meet him and listen to his interesting job!  He might even bring in a few surprises to share.  Just a reminder to wear your Chicago gear tomorrow if you have it!

Also, on more of a sad note, Mrs. Boyd will be leaving us after next week.  We will all miss her very much.  Interviews for her replacement are scheduled during the week next week and we expect a seemless transition as much as possible.

Upcoming dates:
2/7-Winter Carnival 
2/17-No school, President's Day
2/28-No school, Institude Day
ISAT's start week of 3/3
NEW report card date (due to missed days in 2nd trimester) 3/19

*Please e-mail me pictures of any snow creations you've made at home!  I'd love to add them to our blog and we're supposed to get even more snow this weekend!

Have a wonderful, safe and relaxing weekend!
Mrs. Schroeder

Please refer to the letter sent out from Mr. Callahan regarding arrival and dismissal safety:

Dear Parents,

On these cold weather days, an understandably great number of children have been arriving to school by car.  I have been observing traffic patterns on Mayo Avenue and Creekside Drive and have seen some unsafe and illegal behavior that needs to be addressed. Please pay close attention to the following guidelines below that will help keep Madison students safe and get everyone to and from school quickly:

• Please wait in line for your turn to load/unload.  Do not pass other cars in line or already in loading zone.
• Students should only enter/exit cars on the passenger side.  Please move car seats, booster seats, etc.
• When driving into the loading/unloading zone, pull forward as much as possible.
• Parents should remain in the car.  Allow children to exit/enter car quickly, on their own.  They can do it.
• Cars should leave the loading/unloading zone ASAP.  When all follow the guidelines, cars can exit the zone in the same order they entered.
• Do not ignore posted "No Parking" restrictions.  Wheaton Police will be ticketing illegally parked cars on Westhaven and on Creekside.
• Remember that during arrival and dismissal, we unofficially use Mayo Avenue as a one-way street from school to Marcy Avenue.

Thank you for practicing patience and safety during these times.  Although jumping ahead in line may not seem intrusive at that moment, it disrupts the system for others and causes unnecessary delays and frustration.  Please remind your children to move quickly and to be ready to load and unload at the appropriate time.  Almost 450 students come and go within a 10 minute time frame.  For this to happen safely, the above guidelines need to be followed by all.

If you have questions or concerns, please contact me.

Tim Callahan