Hill's Herald

The Week At A Glance

Hi Parents, Students, and Guests!

   

 
     Happy Thanksgiving! We have been busy this week wrapping up our studies on the Explorers of the New World ( test tomorrow- I hope everyone studied hard!), Drug and Alcohol Abuse, and our study of verbs in English. When we return from the holidays next week, we will begin our study of Space and the Planets and the thirteen colonies and the events leading up to the Revolutionary War. Our field trip to the Youth Museum on Wednesday, December 2 will be so timely in this study! It's a great field trip and I'm looking forward to the excitement this field always brings. Ask your child what "role" he/she played in the field trip! Our visit to the Fire Safety House  at Jim Miller Park in Marietta will be the following week, December 7. We will be gone for this field trip for most of the day. If you wish to pack your child a lunch, please do so in a disposable bag. The school will provide peanut butter sack lunches for those children who normally buy their lunch. We will eat lunch at school before we leave on the field trip to the Youth Museum so no additional preparations will need to be made by you, the parents.

Don't forget that our fabulous class will perform at the PTA meeting on December 8. We will be performing the annual Christmas Program. Get there early to get a good seat! The program will start at 6:30. See you there!

                     
     

UNITS FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 30, 2009

Math-extension math- Tessellations and Symmetry Art Projects

Social Studies- The 13 English Colonies in the New World

Science- Space and The Planets: Moon Phases and the Seasons of the Year

English- review of the parts of speech already studied begin adjectives

Cursive handwriting- Perfect skills! Cursive begins all day starting in January!

Health- Wrap up Drug and Alcohol Awareness

Spelling Unit 15 week of November 30, 2009

police   princess   sentence   actress   arrange   courage   challenge   message   address   distance   compass   office   midget   gadget   village   package   surgeon   luggage   possess   science    express    practice   manage   garbage   axis   rotation   phase   space   planet

HAVE A WONDERFUL, SAFE and HAPPY THANKSGIVING with your family and friends!

Mindee Hill, M.Ed.

         

The Week At a Glance

Hi Parents, Students, and Guests!

     
      Thanksgiving and the holidays are fast approaching! After the Thanksgiving break, which will be a week long this year, our fourth grade classes will be heading off the school campus for two field trips. The first field trip, on December 2, will be to the Cobb County Youth Museum. This is a GREAT field trip provided by the county to all fourth graders in Cobb. At the museum, the students will dress up in costumes and reenact the stirrings of the Revolutionary War at the Boston Tea Party and we'll even see a teacher reenact the Boston Massacre! We will also take part in the war itself as characters from history and will end  the lesson  by learning about the writing constitution first hand as we portray famous figures from the time. Everyone will get a part or two and it is great fun as well as a preview to what we will be studying for the next few months! 

            

     Our second field will be on December 7 to Jim Miller Park to the all new Fire Safety Village. At the village the students will rotate through 8 stations manned by Cobb County Fire fighters. This field trip will take the place of the in-school visits by the firemen. We will need to bring a lunch that day to eat in the park. Please look for permission slips to come home about both trips. The cost of the youth museum is $2.25 to cover the bus transportation to the museum and back. There is no cost for the Fire Safety Village. Space is VERY limited in the youth museum so I will only be able to take one parent on that field trip . The first parent to contact me about the youth museum will go. I can take a few parents with me to the Fire Safety Village. If you would like to go on that trip as well, please contact me!

        

   One final reminder. Mrs. Brown, our music teacher, and the Fourth Grade classes will be presenting Holidays Around The World, a musical program for PTA on the evening of December 8. The program will take place in conjunction with the December PTA program so come early and get a good seat! The PTA program starts at 6:30. See you there!

UNITS FOR THE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 16, 2009

Math-(Extension math)  Geometry: symmetry and tessellations

Social Studies: The Pilgrims and Early American Colonies Explorer test on November 19

Science : Space

Health: Alcohol and Drug abuse and use

English: Verbs

Literacy Centers:Non Fictional Reading- Pilgrims Colonies and Space

Spelling Sort Week of November 9 uni- bi- tri-

unity   biweekly   trilogy   pentagon   octagon   unicorn   bisect   triangle   octopus   October  unique   bilingual   triple   triplet   unison   uniform   tripod   universe   trio   scalene   isosceles   equilateral   congruent

Spell Sort Week of November 16  No words this week.

Have a wonderful week. YOUR child is MY child!

Mindee Hill, M.Ed.

           

The Week At A Glance

Hi Parents, Students, and Guests!

     
     Happy week before Halloween! We will be doing some fun seasonal activities next week. Look for them to come home with our students. Please feel free to send any unused holiday candy to school with your child after Halloween. We can ALWAYS use it for our candy jar and for rewards!

   Our Halloween family dance will take place next Friday evening, October 30, in the school cafeteria. Parents and students are welcome to dress in your best holiday costume attire! Tickets are being sold through the PTA.

Please consider donating the following to our class:

   *** Playground equipment: balls, jump ropes, side walk chalk and other items that our students can play with out on the field.

***printer ink cartridges HP #21 and  #22.  We have a real need for these!

***Clorox Wipes: with so much sickness going around, we are cleaning our desks off each afternoon and going through alot of wipes!

                          

UNITS FOR THE WEEK OF OCTOBER 26, 2009

Math-Extension Class We will do a short study of factor trees and exponents. We will continue to work on two digit divisors and the principles of long multiplication.

Social Studies:Exploration and Settlement of the Americas, beings of Jamestown and Roanoke

Science- Light and Sound with Mrs. Wright (my homeroom) Mrs. Douglas' class is still with me for weather. We will be studying Wild Weather ( tornadoes, hurricanes, blizzards and lightning)

English- Verbs

Cursive Handwriting-Capital letters We are beginning ti wrap it up!

Health- Drug and alcohol use and abuse

Spelling Unit Sort #12

another   degree   believe   divide   awhile   among   depend   desire   between   beneath   direct   aboard   against   upon   beforehand   agenda   decision   behavior   begun   astonish   aloud   because   afraid   delete   defend   develop   armada   charter   compact   invasion

Have a wonderful week. Please remember, YOUR child is MY child!

Mindee Hill, M.Ed.

         

The Week At A Glance

Hi Parents, Students, and Guests!

  

REPORT CARDS ARE COMING!

REPORT CARDS ARE COMING!                            

 Reports cards will be sent home tomorrow, October 16. Please review your child's report card and keep it as a keepsake. Return the signature card signed and the envelope to school to me on Monday. Please remember that grades are always earned, not given. I am VERY proud of the WONDERFUl work our children have done this first nine weeks! Let's keep the momentum going!

Units for the Week of October 19, 2009

Math- Two digit divisors into three and four digit dividends

Social Studies- The Explorers of the New World - We will continue to discuss the early explorers from Marco Polo through the establishment of Spanish settlements in the Americas.

Science- My homeroom continues to study light and sound with Mrs. Wright.

Mrs. Douglas' homeroom will study weather instruments and Wild Weather with me.

English- Verbs

Cursive Handwriting- capital letters...almost finished then we will begin writing in cursive!!!!

Literacy Centers- Non Fiction Books about explorers and light and sound

Spelling Unit Sort #11 soft and hard sounds of G and C

circle   common   central   camel   gutter   gingerbread   govern   gurgle   custom   cyclist   college   cider   collect   cereal   giant   cavern   genius   century   garage   golden   gymnast   gossip   giraffe   candy   Halloween   pumpkin   trick-or-treat   jack-o-lantern   haunted

Have a wonderful week! Remember, YOUR child is MY child!

Mindee Hill, M.Ed.

The Week At A Glance

Hi Parents, Students, and Guests!

   
 

  Happy October to you! We have alot of really fun , educational, and family oriented happenings at Big Shanty this month! Here are some of the happenings at our school:

  The Week of October 5-9 Fall Bookfair in our media center. please come and see all of the wonderful books to buy and help support our school. Our class will preview the bookfair on Monday, October 5.

  Picture Day is Tuesday, October 6. Please dress your child nicely on this day. These will be our yearbook photos. All pictures are available for purchase as wel

 End of Grading period is this coming Friday, October 9th. Please encourage your child to finish any incomplete assignments before this day.

  Report cards come home on Friday, October 16. You have been receiving your child's grade in both the Thursday folder and recorded on the daily agenda. There should be no surprises on report card day!

                       

Our first early release day is Wednesday, October 21. School will dismiss at 12:15. Please make arrangements for your child's early release on this day. The After School Program remains open until 6:00 pm.

Halloween is on Saturday this year (yeah!) We will have a small class celebration of the fall on Friday, October 30. Please let me know if you wish your child to do an alternative assignment.

Units For the Week of October 5, 2009

Math Extension: We will look at multiplication models, practice long multiplication and division and get ready for the unit test on Friday. Our homeroom will also take the next until pretest (IMI#2) for placement in math class for the second nine weeks.

Social Studies- We will begin exploring the Explorers of the new world this week. Topics of discovery will include the vikings, Chris Columbus, Magellan and Vespucci. We're going to talk about some interesting and colorful guys!

Science- Our class is studying light and sound with Mrs. Wright next door. I will be working with Mrs. Douglas' class on the water cycle and cloud formations.

English- We are wrapping up our study of nouns and will begin discussing verbs this week.

Cursive Handwriting: Capital letters

Spelling Sort #9 /wor/  /war/  /wa/

worse   squad   waffle   warning   backward   worthwhile   squabble   quarter   world   worthy   swarm   quarrel   warden   warrior   worry   worship   wander   dwarf   squat   wardrobe   squash   expedition   settlement   colony   navigation

Have a wonderful week. Remember,YOUR child is MY child!

Mindee Hill, M.Ed.

               

The Week At A Glance

Hi Parents, Students, and Guests!

 

     I hope that everyone has dried out from the storms! We will get back into the swing of things hopefully very shortly. Until then, have your student practice their reading for at least 30 minutes a day and a brush up on multiplication and division facts wouldn't hurt either! 

                    

 

   We will begin our rotation for Science within the next few days. Our class will go to Mrs. Wright's room to learn about Light and Sound while I begin the weather unit with Mrs. Douglas' class. If you have any questions about procedures or assignments please contact that teacher directly.

    Fourth Grade t-shirt orders are now due. If you wish for your child to have a shirt, please send the order form and $6.25 to school ASAP. We will wear these on spirit days as well as on field trips and during field day.

UNITS FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 28, 2009

Math- Extension Math- Long Division

Science- Light and Sound ( Wright with Hill's class) Weather ( Hill with Douglas' class)

Social Studies- Wrap up of our Native American Unit

English- Nouns

Handwriting- Cursive upper case letters

Literacy Centers- Fictional stories and chapter books

Spelling Sort #8 Week of September 28 pre-  dis-  un-

mistreat   prefix   disable   precious   preteen   mismatch   misbehave   dishonest   preheat   pretest   misjudge   precaution   miscount   disappear   preview   dislike   displace   misplace   premature   mister   disobey   disloyal   mistrust   distant   factor   quotient   divisor   dividend   product    multiplication

Have a wonderful week. Remember, YOUR child is MY child!

Mindee Hill, M.Ed.

            

The Week At A Glance

Hi Parents, Students, and Guests!

    We had a very successful and happy make up day today. The students have proclaimed me the "Best Teacher Ever" because most had a happy relaxing day gaming. Most of the students are now caught up.

Academic Alerts are coming home today. If your child has received one in his/her Thursday folder, please review it with your child, decide on some strategies you can work on at home together to improve, sign the alert and send it back to me ASAP. remember, there is still time to bring up grades!

                

UNITS FOR THE WEEK OF SEPTEMBER 21,2009

Math- Extension Math-Wrap up our study of long multiplication and begin learning the process of long division. Ask your child about the dead monkeys!

Social Studies- Chapter 2 The First Americans We will continue to learn about the different tribes in the Americas before the explorers and enter our findings into our Native American Booklets

Science- Light and Sound We will begin our Science rotation on Monday. Our class will be going to Mrs. Wright to learn about Light and Sound. Mrs. Douglas' class will be coming to our room to learn about weather. These units will last for 15 school days.

English- Nouns

Literacy Centers- We are studying works of fiction

Handwriting- Capital cursive letters begin this week

Spelling Unit Sort for the Week of September 21, 2009

awkward   halted   sausage   although   always   caution   lawyer   flawless  autumn   laundry   faucet   salty   awesome   almost   haunted   August   laughed   gnawing   author   all right   pueblo   tee-pee   longhouse   roundhouse   wampum   barter   nomad

Have a wonderful week! Remember, YOUR child is MY child!

Mindee Hill, M.Ed.

             

The Week At A Glance

 Hi Parents, Students, and Guests!

            

  I hope everyone had a wonderful Labor Day weekend! It's almost hard to believe we have had four weeks of school already. Academic alerts will be coming home in some of the students' Thursday folders this week. If your child gets an alert, there is still time to improve. We will have our first Game Day this coming Wednesday. Students who have completed all of their assignments may wear PJs and bring a game to share. Students who have NOT finished all their work will have the day to catch up. Electronic games are permitted, with parent approval and discretion. Please know that students bring personal property at their own risk of breakage and loss.

Fund raising monies are now due. Please return any money for class t-shirts as well. We want to place the order in plenty of time for students to get maximum wear!

If your child is going to participate in our School Science Fair in October( and I hope they will) please return the application to school ASAP. Thanks.   

       

Units For the Week Of September 14, 2009

Math-(Extension Class)we will continue to explore many methods of multiplying larger numbers using the distributive method and traditional multiplication. We will also begin looking at factorization using factor trees and exponents.

Social Studies-We will be exploring the different Native American Tribes in the Americas before the 1600s and learning about their different cultures.

Science- Our study of weather continues

English- Proper and Common Nouns

Handwriting- Cursive lower case letters

Spelling List for the Week of September 14 Sort #6 -LE  -EL  -IL  -AL

April    saddle   total   level   angel   couple   fossil   metal   signal   council   novel   vowel   needle   pedal   stencil   pupil   local   bundle   fragile   journal   special   cancel   angle   jewel   evil   stuggle   clan   irrigation   community   civilization

Have a WONDERFUL week! Remember, YOUR child is MY child!

Mindee Hill, M.Ed.

   

The Week At A Glance

Hi Parents, Students, and Guests!

   We are really beginning to rock now! This week I have added Literacy Centers to our "Things To Do" list every day. Math compacting has been added as well and the kids are adjusting to their teachers and the math routine nicely. We will wrap up our first  Health unit next week and it will be followed by our first Science unit, Weather. I am so excited to be beginning science!

Please remember that any unfinished classwork will be sent home for homework. Your child should be spending no more than 30 minutes each night on his/her homework because the majority of the work should have been done in class!

PLEASE sign your child's planner every night and check for homework/classwork that is incomplete!

HERE ARE SOME GREAT WEATHER WEBSITES FOR YOU AND YOUR STUDENT TO BROWSE THROUGH:

A lot of Great weather sites!

Find out what the weather is like all around the world 

A NEAT kids only version of the Weather Channel 

All About Earth, Space and Weather 

More on Great Info on weather

The Weather Dude

Let me know what you think of these websites and if you know of any other great sites we can share!

UNITS FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 24, 2009

Math- Extension Class  We are finishing up our study of place value with a week of comparing larger numbers and rounding larger numbers.

Social Studies- Map skills continue

Health- Your Needs and Feelings

English- Sentence Structure

Literacy Centers- Non-Fiction books about weather

Spelling List for the week of August 24, 2009

Thursday   birthday   service   person  dirty   further   spirit   turtle   thirsty   furnish   birdbath   perhaps    mermaid   purpose   merry   hurry   firmly   perfect   circle   certain   during   map key   longitude   latitude   compass rose

Have a wonderful week. Remember, YOUR child is MY child!

Mindee Hill, M.Ed.

  

The Week At A Glance

Hi Parents, Students, and Guests!

      Welcome to the fourth grade! We had a wonderful first day of school. This an an exceptional class of kids and I know we are going to go so very far this year. I am looking forward to working with each family in the months to come. Together we will make this the very best year ever!      

A few reminders for you.....

Please sign your child's planner nightly. I believe in immediate reinforcement, so I will check your child's work and have him/her correct it immediately. Once done, I will initial the planner next to that assignment. You will know it is ready for you to see in your child's  daily "take home folder."

Please remember to send in the requested supplies from the supply list I provided during Sneak-A-Peek. Thanks to all of the parents who have sent theirs in already and for all the generous extras you have sent as well. We especially still need bags of wrapped candy!

Weekly folders, "Thursday Folders" will come home starting this Thursday. Inside will be the class week newsletter as well as any work that was graded during the week. Please read the newsletter, sign and return on Fridays along with the empty Thursday folder. The work will be yours to keep.

If your child plans to eat lunch at school, even for a few days, please consider paying via the school website on paypal or send a check at the beginning of the week for lunches. It is so much easier for our cafeteria staff and helps cut down on lost and missing money.

UNITS OF STUDY FOR THE WEEK OF AUGUST 10, 2009

Math- We are preparing for our first compacting unit this week. The pretest will be given on Tuesday and math compacting will begin next Monday with Place Value and Number Sense. Until then, I am assessing and then practicing with the students on basic computation skills.

Social Studies- We will explore a variety of different maps and learn how to read a map using map keys and compass directions.

Science- We will begin exploring Weather.

Health- Students will explore their feelings and needs

Handwriting- I am assessing the students manuscript and cursive writing knowledge. We will begin learning/practicing cursive next week.

English- We will begin studying parts of a sentence.

Spelling List Week of August 10

grammar   rather   cedar   doctor   mirror   favor   sugar   rumor   silver   after   motor   flavor   mother   regular   dollar   popular   calendar   weather   flower   tractor   error   brother   father   solar   cover   lunar   harbor   because   their   there

Have a wonderful week. Please remember, YOUR child is MY child!

Mindee Hill, M.Ed.