Hello Wonder Families,
Welcome to Division 5! We are looking forward to an exciting grade four year.
My name is Ms. Younger, and I am excited to be entering my fifth year at LFES and my eighth year in the Langley School District. I completed my Bachelor’s in Geographic Information Systems in 2014 and my Bachelor of Education at UBC in 2015. I am currently working on my Master’s in Education focusing on mathematics through Queen’s University. In my free time I enjoy dancing, most water sports, skiing, hiking, long walks, cooking and reading.
I am pleased to be back in my favorite grade this year. Grade 4 is an exciting transition year for students. We are looking forward to helping students become more independent learners and take greater responsibility for their learning. This year we will have to opportunity to explore multiple topics in a cross curricular manner, this will include our grade 4 living museum. Students will also have the opportunity to explore several novels this year both as whole class studies and small group book clubs. In Division Five students are also part of Number Corner for the first time, these daily math work outs focus on a monthly pattern and build students number sense and mathematical thinking skills while also building oral language skills and several of the core competencies.
This year our team name for Division 5 is the Wonders we will spend the first few weeks of the year exploring what it means to wonder and be wonderful. We will determine what it means to be Wonders together connecting it to our four key words for learning, Connection, Wonder, Thinking and Play.
As we begin the new school year, I am excited to get to know you and your family. I would greatly appreciate it if you would take the time to complete the survey that I have included the link to. This information is for my use to help me get to know your child and to best tailor the classroom to the unique students in the class. I am also going to be calling home starting on Wednesday afternoon to connect with each family. When you receive a call from an unknown or blocked number, please answer the call. My goal is to have connected with all families by the end of the first full week of school. If there is a specific time you would like me to give you a call, please let me know.
School Supplies
Grade 4 supply list
Students are required to have all items on the grade four list. These will be for your student’s personal use. Please contact Ms. Younger or the office if you require a copy of the school supply list. Students’ items should all be marked with their name; we will not be sharing supplies this year. Extra supplies will be kept in labeled bags in the classroom for students to access as needed. If your child needs additional supplies, we will let you know.
School Supply Fee
You will have noticed that your student’s school supply order did not include any notebooks, duo tangs or binders. To ensure continuity in the classroom we have pre-ordered class sets of all required notebooks and duo-tangs. These will be distributed to your child as needed throughout the year. To cover the cost of these items we are collecting $10.00 from each student, this should be paid through School Cash Online.
Additional items from home
- Odd sock for erasing personal white boards
- 1.5” binder, no zipper types please
Homework and Assignments
Homework
Typically, homework is the work that your child did not complete after having adequate class time. Usually, homework should take 15-20 minutes of focused work time. If your child is frequently doing more than 30 minutes of homework a night not including home reading and math games, please let me know.
Spelling
We will have a weekly spelling list based on a phonics pattern. Students will have time to work on the activities in class. Please help your student practice their words focusing on the spelling patterns before the weekly test on Friday.
Word Wizards
Word wizard is part of our study of the English language and will be completed in class. Word Wizard focuses on the morphology or structure of the English language. By focusing on the Greek and Latin roots that make up nearly 80% of academic language, we build students awareness of the words and word parts and increase both comprehension and decoding when reading. There is one Word Wizard task that comes home each week, that your student may need supervision with, each week they are going to look up one additional word for each of the three roots and be prepared to share it in class on Thursday.
Home Reading
Students in Division 5 will participate in the school wide home reading program starting in October. Grade 4 students are expected to read for a minimum of 400 minutes each month. This works out to an average of 20 minutes a day on weekdays. Students are welcome to read any book, text or article that interests them during this time, this includes physical and digital texts. We will be setting up Epic books for students to use in the first few weeks of school.
Math Fact Practice
Students should be practicing their math skills at home on a regular basis. I will be sending new math games home regularly for you to play as a family. Please take the time to play these games a few times a week with your child. It would be helpful to have a deck of cards and a few dice at home as well as something to write on to play the math games.
Late and Missing Assignments
Occasionally students may require extra time to complete an assignment, in this situation please let me know prior to the start of the school day that it is due. If a pattern emerges of late or missing work, I will let you know. As many of our assignments will be uploaded to teams you will be able to see at a glance what your child has completed. I will upload the most essential tasks each week to teams.
Communication
Communication Binders
Your child will need a binder to use as a communication binder. Please select any 1.5” binder without a zipper. Zipper binders are too bulky to fit in our cubbies and desks. Students will keep their agenda and back and forth folder together in their communication binder. Most of our notebooks come three holes punched so any notebooks coming home will be snapped into the binder as well. Students will need their Communication Binder at school every day.
Agenda
Your child will bring their agenda home daily with assignments, information and reminders. Your student will record upcoming events and due dates in their agenda as well as homework. Parents should be checking and signing the agenda every night.
Back and Forth Folder
Your student needs their back-and-forth folder daily. They will use this to bring home important notices, or information as well as homework. It should be the first thing in front of their communication binder. Please get in the habit of checking this daily.
Weekly Email
I will send a weekly email that has all of the information you need for the week. This email will be sent on Sunday for the upcoming week. The email will include the schedule for the week, learning plan, due dates, words of the week, weekly math fact family and a family math game for the week. We will also use the weekly email to share highlights from the previous week and celebrate our learning.
Office Hours
I will be available at school from 8:00 am-4:00 pm each school day. I typically check my email a few times throughout the day. If you would like to meet with me, please email me so we can schedule a time, I am available to meet in person, by phone or virtually after school. Please note that I do not typically check my work email from home, I will respond to all emails sent at night or over the weekend within 24 hours of returning to school.
Microsoft Teams
I will be adding all students to a Class Team using Microsoft Teams. This year we will be using Teams as part of our regular learning. Students will be able to use Teams at home and at school to access resources and complete assignments. Many of our written assignments will be submitted and assessed using Teams. If we enter another remote learning situation, we will use Teams as our primary learning tool and all work will be assigned and collected through Teams. I will be posting daily assignments to Teams, if your child is absent, please have them check Teams for the daily assignments and complete them to the best of their ability. I will post the daily Smart Notebook presentation to teams at the end of the school day as a PDF. Please keep in mind that not all in class activities can be posted in Teams, I will post the activities that can be completed at home independently.
Teams Assignments
You will be able to view the weekly assignments to be handed in in Teams, this will be updated and posted each week. You will also be able to view which items your student has completed and uploaded. My feedback will also be available on each completed Teams assignment, please allow a few school days after uploading for full feedback to be posted. I do not typically check for submitted assignments on weekends. All must do assignments to be handed in will be posted to Teams, except for math where some paper assignments will be collected. Most will post at 8:00 Monday morning. If your child is absent, please check the due date for the assignment and help them to prioritize the tasks with the nearest due dates. All Teams assignments will have a completion time of 11:59pm on the day that they are due. Only a small portion of our learning will be posted to teams, much of what we do is hands on, and participation based.
Spaces / My Blueprint
This year we will be using Space and My Blueprint as our digital portfolios. Students should be familiar with My Blueprint from previous years. I will send each family an invitation to view their student’s portfolio when our class is set up in My Blueprint.
We have also signed up to be part of the pilot of the Spaces portion of My Blueprint and are excited to begin using this as an extension of our existing My Blueprint program.
Health and Safety
Absences
If your child is going to be absent, please notify the office and myself via email. If they are late, then they need to sign in at the office before coming to class. It is THEIR responsibility to find out what they missed and catch up. I will be posting daily assignments to Teams, please check here for the essential assignments your student missed.
Extra clothes
In order to promote safety, we will be spending a lot of time outside this year. Can you please send a change of clothes (socks, pants, long sleeved shirt), in a plastic grocery bag, clearly labelled with their name? As we get closer to the winter rains, a pair of indoor shoes that they can leave in the room would be fantastic. Spending the day with wet feet is uncomfortable and not conducive to learning.
Lunch and Water Bottles
This year we are asking that all families provide a litter less lunch no garbage including organics will need to return home in your child’s lunch kit. We will not be providing any plates or cutlery this year. All students will need to bring a water bottle to school each day, this should be taken home to be cleaned and refilled daily.
SCHEDULES
A detailed class schedule will be sent home as soon as it is solidified.
Please help me get to know your child’s emotional and educational needs by completing the parent survey that is attached. Please try to have it back to me by Friday September 16, 2022.
I am looking forward to a wonderful year together,
Ms. Amanda Younger