Labor Day Holiday

No school on Labor Day Holiday, Monday, September 6th, 2010. Enjoy, be safe and see you on Tuesday.

Math Challenges

We have started multiplying by double digits and using the magic zero in the ones place when we multiply our tens digits. Students are being challenged doing the mulitiplication problems this way so we practice often. An example would be:

456 X 23 =

We have also been introduced to division of single digits into triple digits. This one is really challenging us but the more we practice the better we will feel about this kind of division. An example would be:

125 divided by 5 =

Remember boys and girls, division is only multiplication backwards and always check your work.

Poem For The Week

Afternoon on a Hill

by

Edna St. Vincent Millay

I will be the gladdest thing

Under the sun!

I will touch a hundred flowers

And not pick one.

I will look at cliffs and clouds

With quiet eyes,

Watch the wind bow down the grass,

And the grass rise.

And when lights begin to show

Up from the town,

I will mark which must be mine,

And then start down.

Core Knowledge Saying for the Week

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall."

Spelling Words For Week of Aug30th-Sep3rd

This week we will learn and study words with long a and long e. We will have our spelling test on Friday and read the story "Amelia's Road". The words are:

cape agree crayon rusty gray teacher

cable station secret fail raisin family

tea bean freight cane zebra tidy

rail agree

CHALLENGE WORDS: accidental labored occasions rhythms shutters

Welcome New 4th Graders

A very special welcome to my new students. We spent the first week of school getting to know each other, playing a few games, finding out what our writing requirements will be, learning to think outside of the box for math and learning rules and procedures for our school and class.

I am a very lucky teacher to have such a great bunch of students. We are going to have a great year with:

Angela

Ashley

Audrey

Brittney

Caitlin

Cote

Emily

Felipe

Gia

James (JJ)

Jared

Joel

Kaitlyn (KK)

Kody

Rylan

Samantha (Sam)

Samantha

Sarice

Sergio

Tessa

Practice Practice Practice Our Math

Getting started with multiplication means practicing how to skip count our numbers. Students need to master and feel comfortable multiplying by 2's, 3's, 4's, and 5's within the the next few weeks. Therefore they need to practice skip counting in these numbers. They will find that multiplying these numbers up to their 12's will be so much easier. I would like to get them into multi-digit multiplication soon however, they must first master these numbers. We will also be doing the other numbers as well but we will start with 2's through 5's.


So they need to practice, practice, practice. Just ask them to skip count for you whenever you are driving in the car with them. Next time your child has a free moment ask him or her to skip count their 2's and 3's. Tell them that when they are skip counting, they are actually multiplying.

As always, thanks for helping make this a great Legacy year.

Lets Skip Count

Lets Skip Count

Hey kids, do you know how to skip count your 3's and 4's? If you do, than you know your 3's and 4's multiplication. We will be doing lots of skip counting in 4th grade so lets practice and memorize it.

OK, ready, set-do 3's, go:

3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36, 39, 42, 45

and ready, set-do 4's, go:

4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60

Keep practicing.

Class Supply List

Must Have Items For 4Th Grade

• One 3-ring binder with 6 pocket folders
• Six reams of writing paper (3 hole punched & wide ruled)*
• Two red ink pens
• 20-24 Pencils #2
• Two fine tip dry erase board markers (black)
• Two chapter novels for the student to read
• Two compositions notebooks (for journal and daily planner)
• Erasers for pencils
• Set of colored pencils
• One pencil sharpener
• One box of crayons
• One pencil box to store items inside desk
• Two boxes of Kleenex/tissue*
• One roll paper towels*
• One large bottle of waterless hand sanitizer*

*These items will be maintained by the teacher. They will be used one at a time and shared by all the students in class as needed.

Fund Raiser & Re-cycling

Cheer Teams Fund Raiser & Re-cycling

Help our Earth stay green while helping our students raise money for our cheer teams. Donate all old unused cell phones and ink jet cartridges for re-cycling. Our team will earn some much needed funds while we keep those things out of our landfills. In addition, the cell phones are refurbished for use by help organizations such as Shelters for Battered Families-so we get to help other families as well.

Just turn these items into our front desk or to Mrs. Arnold. The phones and cartiridges can be any condition and please DO NOT include the batteries or accessories. Thank you for your support.

School Year Field Trips

Our 2010-2011 4th Grade Field Trips

Arizona Science Center - Date TBA

Arizona State Capitol - Tentative depending on funds

Renaissance Festival April 2011

This Weeks Home Work

Summer Vacation Homework:
Read, read, and more read; Be prepared to write a book report the first week back on a book you read over the summer.

Welcome To The 4th Grade

Dear Parents and Students,

I retired from the US Army as a Major and since leaving have spent my time in education. I have over 20 years of both military and civilian experience teaching and training youth and adults. Even though I have taught at the middle school level and worked many years with high school kids, my heart is with 4Th grade. I truly enjoy the contributions and excitement these kids bring to learning.

I am excited about the challenges we will face during this new year of growth, development, and learning. I will be teaching math, history, reading, cursive writing, language arts, science, character education, and other wonderful things that will make this a perfect 2010-2011 school year.

I received my Bachelor of Science degree from Arizona State University and have several hours of classes at the Master's level from other universities. I am married to a military pilot who flies both helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. He loves his job and his country and has dedicated most of his life to serving. I have two wonderful children that make me very proud. My daughter is in college and does competitive cheer. She competes with Arizona Myth in the level 5 international team. My son is a high school senior who plays football and does track. This year he took three medals at the State track meet. My favorite pass time is riding the Harley with my husband and watching my kids at their sport events. I am involved with our Legacy School spirit line and pep squad as their coach and mentor. I love working with kids!

My teaching philosophy is that every student is a shining star that glows brighter with each learning day. Our learning day must be filled with positive attitudes, respect for one another, great learning and teaching skills and creative approaches toward learning.

Education is a cooperative effort between the parent(s), the student(s) and the teacher. We will work together to successfully reach the full potential of each student. I welcome your questions, comments and concerns. I am available for conferences before or after school. You may visit our classroom at any time but must first check in with the front office. The best way to reach me is through email. You may also leave a message at the front office and I will return your call at the end of the school day.

This blog will help me keep in touch with my students and their parents/guardians. Please visit this blog often and see what we are up to.

Let’s have a wonderful, creative, and fun learning year!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Arnold
480-981-1500
barnold@legacyschoolaz.com

Pop Can Taps for Ronald McDonald House

Our 2008-2009 students brought in 103 pounds of tabs. This put us in First Place for the annual school competition for the most weight per student. Ronald McDonald House recognized us with a certificate and letter which we will proudly display in our new building. They also posted the results on their website so our proud name was there for everyone to see.

Our 2009-2010 students brought in 145 pounds of tabs. We were very proud of our efforts and proudly displayed all the tabs for everyone to see. We never knew we could keep so much out of the landfills by just collecting poptabs. In addition, we helped families that needed the help and support of the Ronald McDonald House.

Ronald McDonald House collects the taps and recycles them. The money is used to purchase much needed supplies for the house in which families stay when their child is in the hospital. So we are helping those families in their very important time of need.

Plus we are recycling and keep all those tabs out of our land fill. GO GREEN, LEGACY!

Our goal for the 2010-2011 school year will be to double last years weight and win the category again. So students and parents please keep saving those tabs and bring them in to watch our count grow and grow. We are doing our part to help other families and keep our world GREEN!

4th Grade Class Motto

I am important to my school and my teacher Mrs. Arnold.

So because I am important,

I always try my best,

respect others,

work quietly,

keep my school clean

and make good choices about my behavior.

2009-2010 4th Grade Class

Meet my 2009-2010 4th graders! They are awesome kids and are excited about being in 5th grade for the 2010-2011 school year . These students had a fun year learning lots of new skills that prepared them for 5th grade. I will miss these kids greatly but I know they will do fantastic in their new grade. You guys are truly super stars.

Must Know 4th Grade Sight Words

4th Grade Sight Words-First 100 Words

We have about 400 words that we must know by the end of the school year. Here are some interesting facts about our words:

"These are high frequency words that are the most common words in English, ranked in frequency order. The first 25 make up about a third of all printed materials. The first 100 make up about half of all written material, and the first 300 make up about 65% of all written material. Students must learn to instantly read and spell these words correctly."

All 400 words will be taught to mastery by the end of 4th grade. My goal will be to smoothly move these students from "learning to read" to "reading to learn". I will post the first 100 and add the next 100 in October. So practice, practice:

cross * speak * solve * appear * metal * son * either * ice * sleep * village * factors * results * jumped * snow * ride * care * floor * hill * pushed * baby * buy * century * outside * everything * tall * already * instead * phrase * soil * bed * copy * free * hope * spring * case * laughed * nation * quite * type * themselves * bright * lead * everyone * method * section * lake * consonant * within * hair * age * amount * scale * pounds * although * per * broken * moment * tiny * possible * gold * milk * quiet * natural * lot * stone * act * middle * speed * count * cat * someone * sail * rolled * bear * wonder * smiled * angle * fraction * Africa * killed * melody * bottom * trap * hole * poor * let's * fight * surprise * French * died * beat * exactly * remain * dress * iron * couldn't * fingers * row

4th Grade Pajama Day

My 2008-2009 4th Grade Class

First Picture L-R: Austin, Adriana, Maylo, Leah, Selaya, Landon, Madison, Dawsyn, Rebecca, missing was Savannah.

Second Picture L-R: Adiana, Landon, Hope, Kobe, Stephanee, Vanessa, Keilea, Angel, Tanner, Tracy, Celsy, Ayla.