Welcome to 4th /5th grade! I have enjoyed our first week of school together and I hope you have too! Parents, I hope your child came home with a smile on their face this first week. These are the years of developing independence, responsibility, and great study habits. There is a big jump in expectations and content from 3rd grade to 4th grade. Students will have a difficult time the first quarter adjusting to these expectations. By second quarter most students have found their way and are doing well. 

I have two primary goals for my students. When they leave St. Edwards School I want them to LOVE the Lord and have a LOVE for reading! To that end, I have given the children a September Reading Log. Its purpose is to encourage them to read in a fun way. I hope they have already shared it with you. It is a list filled with fun ways to experience reading. My goal is to give them a log every month. The sheet is due back on the last school day of the month signed by you. Your signature verifies that they did indeed read throughout the month. This reading log is NOT mandatory. If they participate they will receive a Brag Tag for their necklaces here at school. To help them in their journey of knowing our Lord they will have a Saint of the Week. I read a story about the saint on Monday and they get a picture to color of that saint. On the back side of that picture is an information page the children need to fill out. They may use my saint books, their own saint books, or the internet to complete the backside of the page. The Saint of the Week sheet will always be due on Friday on a normal week. On weeks we aren't in school on Friday it will be due the following Monday. 

Scholastic Book Club flyers will come home monthly. I'm sure you are all familiar with them by now. Our class code can be found on your child's planner or at the bottom of this blog. I have more stickers with the code on it if you need it. You may send orders to school with payment and I will place the order for you or you may go directly to the Scholastic site with our classroom code in hand to place the order yourself using a credit card. Did you know that when you order books our class earns bonus points that I can use to purchase things for our classroom? 

A few pictures from our first week! 

Flashlight Friday~Enjoying a good book in the dark with a flashlight!

Chase with his buddy Clay the Packer owl!

Hailey discovered a great place to read under my desk!

Jackson in his cozy corner!

Jylian found a friend to read with!

KayLee enjoying a good book!

On the first day we had an engineering challenge to make shoes from newspaper! Thank you to all who donated the newspapers for us!

Chase modeling his creation!

Rowan designing and crafting his shoe!

Patrick is drawing the sole for his shoe.

Owen trying on his shoe!