Welcome!!

1. Welcome!! Mrs. Piccony Fourth Grade

2. Mrs. Shanna Piccony • 630-897-1961 ext. 203 • shanna.piccony@kaneland.org • Graduate of Illinois State University • Master’s Degree from Aurora University • ESL Endorsement from NIU • Twelfth year teaching 4th grade

3. Class Rules Be Ready Be Respectful Be Responsible

4. Consequences • Warning • Lose ½ recess • Lose full recess • Note home and/or phone call home. • Each time a child turns their card, he/she will fill out a behavior slip indicating to his/her parents the reason for the card change. That will need to be signed and returned to school.

5. Rewards • Mystery Motivator—class works together to earn a mystery reward. • Coupons--Individual students earn coupons to redeem for a prize.

6. Bus Rules • Outlined in the school calendar. • Discipline is handled byMrs. DeGaetano or Mr. Mayer.

7. Classroom Basics • Handwriting—students will be writing completely in cursive by second semester. • Assignment Books—required in fourth grade, assignments written at the end of each day. Parent signature is unnecesary unless there is a problem with homework completion. • First and last name on papers in cursive.

8. Classroom Basics Continued… • A healthy morning snack is fine—please don’t send anything messy. • Birthdays—Even though the birthday policy is that there are no treats at school, we still celebrate birthdays in the classroom. Your child may bring a non-edible “treat” if he/she would like.

9. Typical Day in Our Room Morning: Guided Reading, Daily 5 Special: 9:25-10:25 Math, Science, Social Studies Recess/Lunch—12:35-1:20 Afternoon: Read aloud, Writing, Guided Reading, Daily 5, Word Study

10. Literacy Block • Balanced Literacy: Shared Reading, Guided Reading, Daily 5—(Read to Self, Read to Someone, Work on Writing, Work on Word Work). • CAFÉ—Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency, Expanding Vocabulary • Phonics, Grammar, and Skills • Teacher Read Aloud

11. 40 Books in Fourth Grade! Each student will have a goal of reading 40 books this school year! Students will read from a variety of genres. There will be no reading logs for you to sign! Parent Letter

12. Word Study/High Frequency Words

13. Writing • Writer’s Workshop • 6 Traits of Writing: Ideas, Voice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions, Organization, Word Choice • Step Up to Writing Program—Paragraph/Process Writing • Most writing stays at school in the students’ Writer’s Notebooks. • Poetry

14. Math • My Math program • Beginning (B) skills, Progressing (P), Developing (D) skills, and Secure (S) skills • Nightly homework • Computation Practice • Math Journals stay at school • Daily Time Tests (Rocket Math) to practice basic facts

15. Social Studies • National Geographic textbooks • Illinois • The Prairie • Regions of the United States • Map and Globe Skills • Each student will learn to identify all 50 states on the U.S. map. • Each student will learn to identify all 50 state capitals.

16. Science • FOSS Hands-On Science • Earth Materials • Structures of Life • Ideas and Inventions • Dissect Owl Pellets • Engineering • Health

17. Engineering • Learn about engineers and what they do. • Construct pasta cars and spaghetti bridges. • Practice problem solving. • Save a shoebox for February.

18. Specials (9:25-10:25) • A Day—Computer (Mr. Wolf) • B Day—Art (Ms. Anderson) • C Day—P.E./Music (Mr. Drendel/Mrs. Kunstman) • D Day—P.E./Music • E Day—Literacy/P.E. (Ms. Williams) • Library is on A Days

19. Homework • Math—homework each night and additional computation practice frequently • Practice High Frequency Words • Independent Reading • Practice Maps and State Capitals • Occasional Social Studies or other work not finished in class

20. Friday Folders • All work from the week comes home in the Friday folder. • Folder needs to be signed and returned on Monday.

21. Communication • Updates on classroom happenings, reminders, and homework will be posted on Konnect. • The Virtual Backpack contains important information and forms that may need to be filled out. • “Like” Kaneland on Facebook and “follow” Kaneland on Twitter.

22. Report Cards • No students will receive letter grades • The report card will consist of a checklist for each subject. • Skills are assessed as Beginning, Developing, Progressing, or Secure

23. Field Trips • Field Trip to Springfield, IL in May!! • In order to keep the cost down, we will fundraise for this awesome trip!

24. Homework for Wednesday Bring an independent reading book to school. Bring in a list of your top ten favorite books of all time. Please know the title and author.

25. Don’t forget… Sign up for Parent/Teacher Conferences in the LRC or Computer Lab. Check out the Specials Teachers’ presentation in the LRC.

26. QUESTIONS?? Thank you for coming!