1. September 4, 2015 tmillls@ms.k12.il.us
Mrs. Mills 4E Newsletter
September 4, 2015
We have started our first two reading stations, “Read to Self” and “Work on Writing.” They will be a very important part of our Daily Five literacy block, so we are working to establish the rules and build our stamina. The students will be expected to read and write independently for 25 minutes each day while making “tracks,” in their reading and filling out their Thinkmarks. They will then use their Thinkmarks to write a reading letter to me each week.
We will be adding word work station in next week.
We are nearing the end of our very first math unit. We have been studying place value. Within this unit, we have learned how to write numbers in standard form, expanded form, and word form. We’ve compared, ordered, and rounded numbers. We’ve also spent time adding and subtracting whole numbers, and we drew diagrams to solve comparison problems with addition and subtraction..
We will finish up the unit
next week with the
test on Thursday. Look for
the study guide within your
child’s Friday Folder.
We have started our unit on energy in science. We have learned that there are four types of energy: thermal, light, sound, and electric energy. We are studying each one in more depth as we go throughout this unit. We just learned the difference between thermal energy, temperature, and heat. Next week, we will be making our own solar cookers and melting s’mores Please send in an empty shoebox for this, if you have any extra available.
We finishing up our work on friendly letters in writing this week. We have gone through the entire writing process of drafting, revising, editing, and creating a final draft of our friendly letter. These letters outlined a challenge the students recently faced and detailed the steps they went through to solve this challenge. They also wrote a letter to their future self to read at the end of the fourth grade year.

2. September 8- LEAP starts September 9- DAWG Walk Money Due
We have started our first round of standardized testing this year. We did reading MAPS testing on Thursday and will be doing math MAPS testing in a couple of weeks. These are standardized tests that provide baseline information. You will be getting a copy of these reports at Parent Teacher Conferences in October. I have also been working on completing other formal reading tests with your students including Dibels testing and DRA. I will use the information from these tests to help form guided reading groups.
We are still working on building a positive classroom atmosphere and being respectful classmates. Each day we try to work on a community building activity. Ask your child about saving Fred, puzzle races, and the marshmallow challenge. It is so wonderful to see the groups work so well together to be successful in these challenges.
LEAP will be starting on Tuesday, September 8. Our intent is to provide additional support for students who experience difficulty in reading and enrich and extend the learning for students who do not need the additional reading support. This block will allow us to provide small group instruction to students focusing on extra reading support. Students that do not need the additional reading instruction will participate in extension or enrichment groups. Students assigned to the extension or enrichment group will participate in teacher designed lessons focusing on language arts, science, social studies, or math. Those kids staying in our classroom will work on novel studies.
Important Dates:
September 7- No School
September 8- LEAP starts
September 9- DAWG Walk Money Due
September 10- Math Test
September 11- Grandparents’ Day
September 30- Mid-trimester