Welcome to my class website for parents and students at Central School in Brecksville, Ohio

what's new

|Jan 22| changes to Earth's surface test

This Thursday students will be taking a test over the "changes to the Earth's surface". Last Thursday a study guide was given out and will be reviewed tomorrow as part of preparing for the test.

|Jan 11| historic indians test

Next Tuesday students will be taking a social studies test covering the Historic Indians of Ohio. A study guide was created and passed out last week. Both the spiral notebook and social studies book is needed to prepare for this test. Students should also use the completed and graded questions to study from for this quiz.

|Dec 4| social studies quiz

This Friday students will be taking a social studies quiz covering the Prehistoric, Archaic, and Woodland Indians of Ohio. A study guide was created, passed out, and pasted into student's sprial notebooks today. Both the spiral notebook and social studies book is needed to prepare for Friday's quiz. Students should also use the completed and graded questions to study from for this quiz.

|Nov 30| progress reports

Progressbook has been updated with grades today. This is also the midway point of the second quarter, and these grades reflect your child's academic progress to this point. Per the Family Handbook, a progress report is to be given if a student has dropped two letter grades from the previous quarter or has a D or an F in any subject.

Last week a letter came home giving you the option to either check your child's grades online exclusively or receive a printed report. If you chose the printed report option, you will only receive one if your child has met the requirements stated in the Family Handbook. Otherwise, please check Progressbook for current academic progress.

|Nov 13| addition/subtraction quiz

Mrs. Hallis' Math classes will be taking a Math test over addition and subtraction on Tuesday, November 20. It will cover all the methods presented in class. Addition methods that will be covered include: traditional, partial sums, and column addition. Subtraction methods include: traditional, first trade method, and partial difference. These concepts have been or will be covered in notes, SMJ pages, practice worksheets, and are also found in the student reference book on pages 9-14. Students will need to be able to show all their work for each method used for full credit. After learning these methods, students will be able to choose what method they prefer for the remainder of the year to work with.

|Nov 13| theme 2 holistic assessments

Mrs. Hallis' and Mr. Kinkoph's language arts class - This week is our final week learning about reading, writing, grammar, and spelling skills in theme 2. Next week is a two day week and we will do some activities revolving around Thanksgiving. The week following the Thanksgiving holiday, students will be assessed on what they have learned using a posttest, timed writing, and a holistic assessment. The holistic assessment will test student's understanding of the skills learned over the past five weeks and how well they apply them. You can visit the Harcourt Learning Site using the password of Farr. Complete the rest of the information and then click "Explore". On the next page click the "Grade 4" link and you can review the skills for theme 2 with your child.

|Oct 22| fundraiser pickup

The PSO has asked that we remind students that the items ordered through this year's fundraiser have arrived and need to be picked up by parents.  Pick up is today from 3:15 - 6:15.  The items are in the small gym.

|Oct 18| geography unit test

Next Thursday, October 25th students will have a geography unit test. Today, Thursday, October 18th, each student received a detailed study guide to prepare for this coming assessment. Starting tomorrow, we will explain what students will need to demonstrate what they have learned throughout this unit. To review each night, students are going to need their social studies books.

|Oct 5| future assessments & progress reports

math

Students will be having a unit testover Geometry & Spacial Sense standards on Tuesday, October 16th. The students have been working on a review packet and papers that will be their study guide for the test. They are also working on a culminating activity: creating their geometry reference book that they will be able to take home to study with. His/her book will be collected and given a grade for accuracy, completion, neatness, and creativity. I would strongly encourage students to bring home their spiral notebooks nightly, which contain notes from this chapter. It will help tofocus on specific concepts that will be tested.

science

Students will be taking a quiz over air pressure next Tuesday, October 9th. They will need their science sprial notebooks to study from which includes a study guide that was pasted into their notebook on Friday, October 5th. Both classes will be reminded to take the science spiral notebook home over the weekend, and Monday evening.

progress reports

Students are bringing home progress reports this evening. Would you please look over them and review them with your child. Please sign, date, and return on Monday inside your child's Friday Folder.

|Oct 3| comprehension-fiction and nonfiction

When looking in Progressbook there is an assignment type designated as "Comprehension - F/NF". First, this stands for comprehension of fiction and nonfiction text. Both types of literature are present in each theme we read in the Trophies reading manual. Grades for this assignment type come from the story or selection tests students take after reading a story. Included in this grade will also be the holistic reading test score that each student takes at the end of each theme. The first holistic test for students in Mrs. Hallis' and Mr. Kinkoph's class will begin next Tuesday and take place over two days. The scores from each part of the holistic test, both reading and writing, will be added to their language arts grade and scored out of 100pts.

|Sep 24| no school tomorrow and fundraiser

no school tomorrow

Tomorrow is a waiver day. Teachers will be meeting throughout the district for various professional reasons.

fundraiser

Wednesday is the last day for fundraiser money to be turned in.

|Sep 17| picture day, math, and science quiz

picture day

Picture day is tomorrow and every student will have their picture taken. Last week an order form came home for you to look at. Please send the picture package in you would like to order with the money. You are NOT required to order a picture package, however ALL students will have their picture taken for the year book.

math quiz

Students who have Mrs. Hallis for math will be having a quiz tomorrow that covers angles and measurements.

science quiz

Students first science quiz is this Thursday that will cover the cause of weather and temperature. Each student was given a study guide which was pasted into their science notebooks to help guide their studying.

|Sep 14| friday folder

This evening is the first time Friday Folders are coming home along with the Weekly Work Record. All of the papers inside of the folder are yours to keep. Please sign the Weekly Work Record (WWR) at the bottom of week 3 and return the Friday Folder with the WWR on Monday.

|Sep 12| thank you

Thanks to all that came to the parent meeting last evening. It helped to communicate various expectations in our classrooms. For those that were not able to come to the meeting last evening, you can view the presentation to go over some of the items talked about last evening.

|Sep 7| parent meeting

On Tuesday, September 11th there will be a parent meeting here at Central School for Mrs. Hallis, Mr. Kinkoph and Mrs. Peters. Mrs. Hallis will meet in her classroom, and Mr. Kinkoph and Mrs. Peters will meet in his classroom. Both meetings will begin at 6pm and end at 7pm. The goal is communicate various items that deal with the school, classroom, and curriculum. We look forward to seeing many of you that evening!

|Aug 30| supplies, books, math

extra supplies

An extra supply list was sent home yesterday, August 29, 2007, asking for just a few more supplies. A point of clarification: Each student needs a total of 6 spiral notebooks for school this year. We know that the original supply list said two so, in most cases, four more are needed. The extra supplies are needed by Tuesday, September 4th.

books

All school textbooks are to be covered so as to prevent damage to them. Three of the four textbooks are under three years old and will be in use for some time. Please make sure these do get covered.

math

The math webpage has been updated to reflect the normal fourth grade curriculum as approved by the Board of Education. Please refer to it for some general information regarding math and units covered.

|Aug 28| snack and website

snack

We eat lunch everyday at 12:30pm which is a long way away from breakfast. All students are permitted to bring a healthy snack to school that can be eaten in five minutes. It needs to be eaten quickly so we can get back to learning.

website

This website will officially become the Team 4C website comprised of Mrs. Hallis, Mrs. Peters and myself. This is being done so that student work can be posted here for all three teachers without having to create individual sites. It may happen that some things will be posted for one teacher or another that is specific to that teacher. In the future, it is possible this site will contain individual teacher pages although this is not for certain.

|Aug 27| first day

Today was a great day for us in the classroom! We had the chance to learn already and the one thing we learned as a class was this year was going to FUN! We also learned about class and school rules, toured the building, attended physical education, went to computer, and most importantly had lunch.

Assignment notebooks will be coming home tonight for the first time. There is no homework in any subject except for a class activity we are going to do called "Brown Bag It" tomorrow. This activity is in each student’s assignment notebook.

As Progressbook gets up and running we will be using that to communicate nightly assignments online.

It was a great day and looking forward to another one tomorrow.

|Aug 23|

welcome

The start of the school year is hurriedly upon on us beginning with meet the teacher at Central School on August 23rd. I look forward to a wonderful school year filled with rich experiences of fun and learning. Welcome!