Ms. Murphy’s Blog

DATES TO REMEMBER

 November:

• 11th–No School in Honor of Veteran’s Day
• 13th–End of 2nd Marking Period
• 17th-20th–1/2 days (dismissal at 12:42) for Parent/Teacher Conferences
• 20th–Report Cards Mailed Out
• 25-27th–Thanksgiving Break

December:

• 21st-January 1, 2010–Winter Break

January:

• 4th–RETURN TO SCHOOL…HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
• 18th–No School in Honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day
• 22nd–End of 3rd Marking Period
• 27th-29th–1/2 Days (12:42 Dismissal) for Parent/Teacher Conferences
• 29th–Report Cards Mailed Out

MULTIPLICATION IS THE CORE OF YOUR STUDENT’S MATH NEEDS FOR 4TH GRADE

We are well into the school year and are finishing up the second marking period. I will add another post filled with dates for you to remember about the coming months.

Multiplication, multiplication, multiplication!!!!! I am pleading with each of my students and you the families to encourage your student to turn their knowledge of basic multiplication facts from 0 x 0 through 12 x 12 into second nature.

We are in our third unit of math and are well into discussing division with remainders. I have noticed that the students who have mastered their multiplication tables are finding the division techniques used in our math books to be very easy. However, on the flip side of this the students who are still struggling with their multiplication tables are starting to struggle with the division concepts.

I know that the adults are not familiar with the math techniques that our book and school district use and some of you feel lost when helping your student with their math homework. I am not going to be teaching math the “old way” but I do encourage you to pick up a math parent handbook that is part of our Math Investigations series. Some parents signed out this book during Open House and I will have the sign out sheet available during parent/teacher conferences.

Drilling your child with flashcards for multiplication is still a great strategy to get them comfortable with their multiplication facts. Math is a step-by-step process and if your student makes multiplication a habit they will excel with math for the rest of the school year.

If your student enjoys playing on the computer encourage them to visit the following websites that help with mulitplication in particular:

http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm

http://www.gamequarium.com/multiplication.html

http://www.aplusmath.com/games/index.html

http://www.coolmath4kids.com/

Hopefully using some of these educational but fun math websites might get our students to gain confidence in their knowledge of multiplication.

First Day of School on Teacher Tube

Welcome Back Students

Fourth grade officially begins on August 19, 2009. As I sit at my desk in my home, I am thinking about how to make this the year that the light bulb turns on in the minds of each and every student that will be in my classroom. I am so excited to meet each one of you, work with you and your families, and make this year an educational adventure for you. I am going to be adding several pages and blogs to this site to make this a tool for parents and students to access freely and hopefully open up another line of communication between the teacher and the families. In the coming days I will be setting up a Welcome Letter, folders, and working on the classroom. If you all have ANY questions for me before school begins, please contact me at cjmurphy@colonial.k12.de.us and I’ll be sure to email you back as soon as possible. If you have any other questions about enrollment, schedules, and room assignments please contact our school secretary or the new school principal, Mrs. Jone, at 302-323-2926. Thank you and I can’t wait to get started!