Math: Tonight you should expect to see to things - first, a parent letter that reports and explains our Unit Two assessment results and second, homework on equivalent fractions. In the event you don't see the cover letter explaining the results you can see it below...

"I am extremely pleased with how we did with almost all of the content. The lone area of concern after about 5 weeks of work continues to be their knowledge of basic facts. As a school we’ve identified this as a high priority area based on our historical trends so this unfortunately isn’t a surprise.

I discussed with the class this morning that of all the things they’ll encounter in school, mastering their basic facts is something they have complete control over. At the beginning of the unit I provided index cards in an effort to “arm” them with a tool to practice their facts. In addition, our leadership team decided to move our entire 3rd grade into the FASTT Math program on a daily basis to provide another opportunity to learn their facts. With that said, despite our unit being over, it is essential that your child continues to practice his/her basic facts on a daily basis in an effort to “catch them up” while the math concepts become more complicated.

Attached you will find your child’s assessment report and a sheet with sample problems to help you match the content titles with actual applications. As you look at the report, one thing to keep in mind is that the basic facts component was worth 18 of the 28 points in the number relationships and computation section. This equates to approximately 33% of the entire 4th grade assessment!"

Language Arts: I met with just about everyone today regarding their reading group's work. Below are some observations...

JGB: Tomorrow we are having our shared inquiry discussion based upon the focus question from group - "Why does the mushroom man live more in darkness than in light?"

Lon Po Po: At most of my conferences I encouraged them to think about two emotions the mother might have felt - frightened at the danger and relief that her girls were ok. I'm finding with this group that they can always go a bit deeper with their thinking but they need a little coaxing...

The Great Ball Game:

The 'sequencing group" did pretty well despite a couple students appearing to rush through their work without including enough details.

The "main character group" answered my description question fine, but I learned that my question didn't get to the answer I was looking for...I should have asked, "Why do you believe ___ is the MAIN character?"