January 13 Newsletter

Good afternoon, Families!

It feels like such a long time since I've written a newsletter! I'm very excited to start a full week of school and get third quarter under way. We have so much to do! In science, we are continuing our ecosystems unit with a study of predators and prey. In writing, we are working on our entries for the George Washington Carver essay contest, and we're going revisit conventions to make sure we all understand the rules of capitalization, punctuation, and grammar. In reading, we will revisit strategies to determine an author's purpose, and in math we will be wrapping up our unit on division and beginning our unit on geometry.

I also want to say thank you for all the sweet cards, notes and treats during the holiday season. You made me feel so special and loved. I really appreciate it!

Reminders for this week:

• Our class has filled another chart with 100 signatures, so we have earned another reward day! As a class we voted to have an electronics day, so we will do this on Tuesday, January 14. I will give the class some free time to play with their electronics together. Students may bring one electronic device in addition to their iPad. Please remember that accidents sometimes happen, so there is always the possibility that a device could get broken. It will be our students' responsibility to take care of their device at school. If you are not comfortable sending electronics to school, students can still play with their iPads, so please do not feel that you must send an additional device. Great job, fourth graders!
• Have you seen the new Nixa Public Schools app? It is really useful with updates, the school lunch and breakfast calendar, and more. 
• Thank you so much for reminding your fourth grader to be reading and working on his/her monthly book report. I am so impressed with the reading comprehension the class is demonstrating when they share these reports, and they generate a lot of students' interest in a wide variety of books. 
• Please help your child get back into the routine of completing morning math homework each night. They sometimes have time to complete this work in the morning, but not always, so it is important that it is finished before they come to our classroom each morning. Check over the previous day's graded work to see how your child is doing and what he/she needs extra help with. Thank you for your support at home!
• Grade cards came home on Friday, and I will be sending mid-year Acuity reports home this week. Please look over this information to see your child's progress and current needs. Feel free to email me with any questions. 
• Remember to visit our JTSD website for school-wide updates and information.

Important Dates:

• Thursday, Jan 16-PTA General Meeting
• Friday, Jan 17-All Pro Dads Breakfast, Hat Day (50 cent donation required)
• Monday, Jan 20-MLK Jr Day, School in Session (snow day make-up)

Visit the JTSD school calendar for more information.

Thank you so much for helping to make JTSD such a wonderful place to be. Have a great week!