4A - Mrs. Gadell

email: mgadell@sainttimothyschool.org

Communication

CONTACT ME:  If you ever need to reach me, email is best.  My address is mgadell@sainttimothyschool.org. 

ASSIGNMENT PAD: Your child's assignment book is an invaluable tool.  Check it every day to learn about homework, projects, and messages from school.  Feel free to write notes back to me in the planner.

WEEKLY FOLDER:  The weekly folder comes home every Wednesday.  Please sign and return each Thursday.

Room Mother

The room mother for our class is Kim Urlwin. She can be contacted via email at: RM4A@sainttimothyschool.org. She will be in contact with each family regarding volunteering in and outside the classroom for special events; during Art, Computer, PE and Library; and will forward schoolwide PTO announcements via email.  To assist her in communicating with the class, please contact her with your email address and willingness to volunteer. 

What to Expect

MATH:  Our year begins with place value, quickly followed by multiplication and division strategies.  Study your basic facts, they are the key to math success.  We will move on to fractions, whole numbers and fraction strategies.  The students will learn about graphs, measurement, perimeter, probability, and problem solving.

READING: We will read selections from our text, Seeing is Believing.  Our lessons focus on strategies that good readers use such as:

• use prior knowledge
• make and confirm predictions
• self-question
• create mental images
• use context to confirm meaning
• use text structure and format
• use graphic aids
• summarize and paraphrase
• story genre

SPELLING: Our spelling units are matched with the stories they are reading that week.  They are given the spelling words on Monday when they receive their "Spelling 3x's" sheet. There is a Spelling Test every Friday.

WRITING:  We will write to persuade, to inform and to entertain.  Some examples of student writing tasks are: reports, posters, letters, journals, poems, stories, outlines and notes. We will focus on the proper use of mechanics such as capitalization, punctuation, usage and spelling as we work on our organization and vocabulary.   We will finish up the year with a published story from every student and a classroom poem book. 

SOCIAL STUDIES: In Fourth Grade our Social Studies focus is the state of Virginia.  We will study many aspects of our state, including it's history, geography, political structure, and economy.  We will include a field trip to Gunston Hall for some hands-on colonial activities, and finish up the year with our own Colonial Days in May.

Volunteering

To volunteer for Specials, please contact your Room Mother, who will prepare a schedule of volunteers for Art, Library and Computers.  For your convenience, schedules will be available online.