Welcome Back!

I hope that your holiday season was full of family, friends, and many memories to share. Mrs. Arnold and I are looking forward to getting back into the swing of things, with school resuming tomorrow. Stay tuned to the blog throughout the next weeks for news in 4th grade. As our scholars continue to work diligently in the virtue of responsibility, the following changes are meant to better prepare them for life.  

Lost/Misplaced Homework:

Our scholars have had two quarter to practice their organizational skills in fourth grade. At this point, they have their folders and notebooks organized and are familiar with what type of homework there is for each subject. Starting in the third quarter, if a scholar loses or misplaces their homework, a new copy of the homework will not be issued. That being said, we understand that their are extenuating circumstances. For example, "What if my dog really did eat my homework?" Please send us an email if something out of your child's control happened to the homework, so that we may replace it. We have also added a resource page to the blog where you can find the pdf file for reading logs and math quarter nightly reviews, those seem to be misplaced the most. 

Late Homework:

Many of our scholars have risen to the occasion of getting their homework in on time! We are so proud at how much they have grown. However, there are a few that are still having trouble turning in their homework on time. Starting in the 3rd quarter, if a scholar does not turn in one or more of their assignments, they will be calling home to inform you. When your child calls you, please tell them when you would like them to make the work up, whether during recess or at home that night. Please know that your child still has until the end of the quarter to complete any late work that they may have. They will still receive 80% credit, up until the end of the quarter.

Tutoring:
Math tutoring will resume this Wednesday after school for scholars who have been invited to participate.
Wednesday: 2:05 - 2:40
Thursday: 3:05 - 3:40

Homework:

Before the break, the headmasters and deans sent out a homework survey. In all of the fourth-grade, there were only about thirty families who responded. Out of those who responded, a number of families said that homework is taking over 90 minutes. As teachers, we want to be responsive to the time students are spending on homework each night and are making adjustments to what homework will look like in the third quarter. These adjustments are probationary in nature because reducing the amount of homework could cause negative consequences in student performance. We also understand that many families were satisfied with the amount of homework their children were being expected to do. Below are the three adjustments you can expect to see in the third quarter.

Adjustment #1: During the third quarter, students will only be expected to write their Spalding words once with spaces but no rules or markings. The reason for keeping the spaces is because students need to be able to identify the syllables to correctly spell the words. The reason for getting rid of the rules and markings is because these aren't as essential for helping students learn to spell and most parents don't know what they mean so they can't help them understand why something is underlined or what the rule numbers stand for.

Adjustment #2: During the third quarter, the amount of math homework has been reduced. The purpose of all homework is to practice new skills so that they are mastered in the allotted time and to review previously learned skills so they are retained. This regular practice and review regiment is extremely important in a subject like math that is primarily skill based. We utilize three main types of homework assignments to meet these objectives. First, we use the regular workbook pages to practice current skills. One thing we will be doing is reducing the number of workbook problems. Second, we use Singapore produced and teacher made practice tests. These practice tests are meant to ensure that students have the required skills to demonstrate mastery on the upcoming test. Given the nature of these practice tests, these will not be reduced in size and they will usually be very similar in size to the test students will take. Third, we use the review worksheets to review previously learned material. These worksheets are also very important to us as they allow us to collect data on what students are failing to retain and what needs to be retaught. The adjustment we are making with these documents is that we are significantly limiting the number of problems on each worksheet. Instead of having ten to twenty problems per a sheet, most sheets have between four to six problems. We believe this will be a sufficient number of problems for students to practice the skills to remain skilled at solving them correctly while also providing us with the data necessary to determine if a skill needs to be retaught in class.

Adjustment #3: During the third quarter, all history tests and quizzes will be open notes and open reading packet. When talking to a number of families, they report that homework from one night another night isn't so overwhelming, but when they have to prepare to tests it becomes more difficult. Thus, we have chosen to transition history assessments to open notes and open reading packet.  The first reason for doing this is because it is real-world applicable. It is important that students learn to access their own notes, process the information, and be able to answer questions well. We hope this will reduce the amount of work done at home while at the same time developing the students’ critical thinking skills.

The reason for not making this adjustment in science is twofold. First, students do need to learn how to memorize information for assessments. Memorizing facts will be an important skill they use for the rest of their lives. Second, students in fourth-grade are required to take the Science AIMS, a state-mandated test. Therefore, in order to give students the best opportunity to perform well, we must ensure that they have set important information to memory and are able to use that information to formulate their own thoughts and solutions to different concepts and questions.