1. Welcome Parents!
Please take a look at the work inside and outside our classroom. Enjoy your visit!

2. What is happening with what North Carolina 4th graders are supposed to learn?
There are high expectations for each 4th grader! The standards used to shape our lessons are rigorous in order to push our North Carolina students further and prepare them for life in the 21st century!

3. Reading
This year, all Estes students will be using a new ELA curriculum called Wit and Wisdom! This curriculum gives students the opportunity to explore grade level text:
Fictional Text
Informational Text
Visual Arts
Word Work and Vocabulary
Comprehension Skills
Writing
This curriculum allows us to dedicate several weeks each quarter to in depth Science and Social Studies exploration!

4. Writing
Students can expect to write the following genres: personal and imaginative narratives, research reports, logs, diaries, journals, rules, instructions, letters of request and complaint
The standards emphasize writing across the curriculum. Students will be writing in ALL subject areas ☺
Our Wit and Wisdom Reading program includes built in journal writing activities to increase students love of writing and expand on reading comprehension.

5. Math
4th Grade math is CHALLENGING!!! The big topics covered this year include:
Addition and Subtraction of large numbers
Multiplication and Division of large numbers
Fractions and Decimals
Measurement
Geometry
Rigorous Multi-step word problems

6. (And we love having fresh baked cookies! ☺)
Math Help at Home:
What can you do?
At home, in the car…..
reinforce time and elapsed time: ask your child how long you have been gone, how long his/her practice lasted, what time is it? Etc….
Have your child estimate and round prices while at the grocery store
Look at data and graphs together
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE math facts. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Learning facts is pure memorization.
Let your child cook with you. This will help with units of capacity (gallon, quart, cup, pint, liter, milliliter) and also fractions!
(And we love having fresh baked cookies! ☺)

7. Leadership Notebooks
As a Leader in Me School, each student will be building a Leadership Notebook. The Leadership Notebook is a personal snapshot of your child and their 4th grade progress. It will highlight your 4th Grader’s:
Personal goals (WIGs)
Celebrations
Progress
Self reflection
Graded work for the quarter

8. WIGS
Leaders begin with the end in mind! Therefore, students will be setting Wildly Important Goals throughout the year. Look for more information to come home as the year progresses!

9. Homework is each STUDENT’S responsibility!
Your 4th Grader can expect to have the following tasks for homework:
*Read minutes
*Math Activity or Practice Sheet
*Wit and Wisdom task (not nightly)
*Unfinished Classwork
4th Grade homework should not take more than an hour of active, focused thinking and effort.

10. Social Studies and Science
Social Studies Standards
Science Standards
North Carolina: history, geography, economy, technology and people.
Some topics will include – NC regions, lighthouses, pirates, Native Americans, and state symbols.
Earth in the Universe (Moon phases and Day and Night)
Rocks and Minerals
Electricity and Magnetism
Animal Adaptations
Food and Nutrition

11. Classroom Management and Expectations
Emotional Bank Account- virtual behavior tool to reinforce positive behavior and change inappropriate behavior
Estes is a PBIS (Positive Behavior Intervention and Support) School – Each classroom uses individual rewards for positive behavior and class rewards, as well as school wide opportunities.
Estes is a Leader in Me school. Students move their clip on the clip chart each time they demonstrate one of the Seven Healthy Habits.

12. Field Trips Fall: Camp Kanuga Team Building Spring: To be determined
$35 for all trips and t-shirts

13. Book Orders
Please help support our classroom by ordering books from the scholastic book club!
When you order books I receive bonus points which I then use to order books for our class.

14. Conferences
I would like to meet with everyone within the first nine weeks to discuss your child’s progress.
I will be sending home a conference sheet soon!