Weekend Routines

Wow, it’s hard to believe that we have completed our 3rd week of school!  I look forward to meeting and seeing families next week at our Open House. As you enjoy this last weekend of summer, I wanted to clarify weekend routines for families.  Students go home every Friday with a Friday Folder and write in a communication journals most weeks.  Friday Folders & Communication Journals  help you stay informed and up-to-date with important information and events at school. Home work binders and Planners do not go home on weekends.

Friday Folders:

Friday Folders are an important communication tool between home and school.  All notices, important information, and most completed student work for the week goes home in our Friday Folders (poly folder with Velcro flap), as well as your child’s communication journal.  It is important for families to go through the Friday Folder and review student work and notices.  Parents also need to read and respond to their child’s communication journal (see below), and return any paperwork to school via the Friday Folder.  When your child arrives at school on Monday, they empty out the folder and hand everything in (communication journals & paperwork).

Communication Journals:

We have started writing in communication journals. This is a way for you to hear about your child’s week from their perspective.  Most children share things that are meaningful and interesting to them.  It is a great way to spark a discussion with your child about how their week went.

We are practicing many skills when we write in these journals.  Students are learning proper friendly letter format; a struggle for many fourth graders to master.  We are also practicing paragraph writing.  In fourth grade we must write paragraphs that are focused on ONE topic.  Each paragraph needs to have a topic sentence, a minimum of three detail sentences, and a closing sentence.  We are working on writing more detailed sentences.  These skills are very important for essay writing.

You are highly encouraged to journal also.  This is an opportunity for you to have an ongoing written dialogue with your child about what he/she is learning in school.  Journaling is much more fun and effective when your child knows that you will be responding each week.  These journals will give you detailed accounts of at least two things we worked on during the week.  Look for these communication journals to come home most Fridays.  They should be returned the following Monday.

Please note that the student journal entries are not edited by me and are an authentic reflection of your child’s current writing ability.  Happy journaling!