Sing-a-long

Today, our school celebrated together with a sing-a-long! The fourth graders performed two songs: Jingle Bells on the recorder and Where Are You Christmas? This may have been the best recorder performance ever by the fourth grade! Enjoy and have a wonderful Christmas and New Year! See you in 2015!

Hour of Code

We live in a world surrounded by technology. We know that whatever field our students choose to go into as adults, their ability to succeed will increasingly hinge on understanding how technology works. But only a tiny fraction of us are learning computer science, and less students are studying it than a decade ago.

That’s why our entire school is joining in on the largest learning event in history: The Hour of Code, during Computer Science Education Week (Dec. 8-14). Last year, 15 million students tried computer science in one week. This year, we're joining students worldwide to reach 100 million students!

Our Hour of Code is a statement that Jordan Hills is ready to teach these foundational 21st century skills. To continue bringing programming activities to your students, we want to make our Hour of Code event huge. I encourage you to volunteer, reach out to local media, share the news on your social media channels and consider hosting additional Hour of Code events in the community.

This is a chance to change the future of education in West Jordan.

See http://hourofcode.com/us for details, and help spread the word.

Hour of Code Team

Our class was very excited to participate in Hour of Code. I'm sure you've heard about it! Half of the class completed the first programming course and received a certificate. Most of the other kids are really close to finishing! The kids can continue to log in and take more advanced courses through Hour of Code or use the programming section on Khan Academy for more experience.

Math Facts Websites

When math facts are memorized, everything in math is easier! Here are some great ways to practice:

This site can help kids learn some tricks to remember addition and subtraction facts. Great place to start as 4th graders need both in order to do longer multiplication and division problems
http://www.helpingwithmath.com/resources/math_facts.htm

Print flashcards! Lots of different kids. If 6s are the hard facts, print just the 6s to study!
http://www.helpingwithmath.com/resources/oth_flashcards.htm

You can print different worksheets from this site. Just click on the type of math you need. This will be a valuable site for years to come!
http://www.math-drills.com

A personal favorite! Who didn't love playing Wack-a-mole? This time you wack the answer to the multiplication problem. You can even choose which problems to focus on!
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/popup/popup_multiplication.htm

Lots and lots of multiplication games here!
http://www.math-play.com/multiplication-games.html

Jordan School District has provided some parent resources at
http://elemmath.jordandistrict.org/students-parents/

Halloween Fun!

Halloween was celebrated a day early at Jordan Hills but we had a wonderful time! Thank you to all the volunteers who came to help and to everyone who donated prizes, candy, or toilet paper!

Why did I need toilet paper you ask? Here's your answer!

Anyone know this child?

We also had some a relay race with the world's oldest candy corn.

For many kids, the food table was the most popular stop.

As a teacher, I felt I had to throw in some academic. How many words can you make from Happy Halloween?

A few more fun shots!

Hope everyone had a great Halloween!

Almost time for conferences!

Fall conferences will be held Wednesday, November 5 from 4:00 - 7:15 PM and on Thursday, November 6 from 1:45 - 7:00. You may begin signed up for conference times on Friday, October 17 at https://www.canyoncreeksoftware.com/scheduler/ut/jordan/

Information about sign ups was sent home today. If you have trouble signing up, please contact Tina Dickinson at 801-280-0238 or tina.dickinson@jordandistrict.org

Utah County Maps

Student will be memorizing the location of all 29 of Utah's counties. I've sent home a sheet to practice with that also includes the dates of the quizzes.  Our first quiz is Friday, October 24 and 10 counties need to be memorized by then. I provide a list of names and a blank map. Students must correctly identify the counties and spell the name correctly.

If you would like to print additional blank pages, I'm including a map below.

Math Facts Apps

A big thing EVERYONE in class needs to work on is the memorization of math facts. Most of the kids have great techniques for remembering facts (skip counting, adding on, doubles, etc.) but we really need to move to the point where the facts are automatic.

I know a lot of the kids or your families have iPads, iPods, or other tablets. There are some really great apps to help kids practice their facts. You can always go to the app store and search math facts or multiplication, division, etc. but here are some of my favorites! (Click on the name for the link. I've noted if it is Apple or Android but a some of these can be found either place.)

Sushi Monster (Apple, free) Meet Sushi Monster! Scholastic’s new game to practice, reinforce, and extend math fact fluency is completely engaging and appropriately challenging.

Quick Math - Arithmetic & Times Tables (Apple, 1.99) My very favorite! With this app, kids will answer traditional skill-and-drill questions -- but they won't have to enter answers into a keypad. Instead, your children can write the answer anywhere on the screen of their device, and the app will read their handwriting and record their response.

Math Vs Zombies (iOS - $4.99, Android - Free!)
Honestly, not one of my favorites but the kids LOVE it and if that gets them to practice then I'm happy! This silly app asks children to add, subtract, multiply or divide single- and two-digit numbers. Students need to answer each question correctly in order to zap the zombies back into humans.

Math Up X (Apple, Free)
Good multiplication practice plus it has the Lattice method which I'll show the kids later in the year! It also tracks the facts kids miss and revisits them.


Math Fact Master: Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, and Division (Apple, 0.99)
The clean, simple look of this app disguises a powerful program. All four operations are included and numbers can range from 0-20. Parents can view a report of the problems missed and students are shown correct answers immediately.

Math Duel: 2 Player Math Game (Android, Free)In this game, two players fight each other mathematically! Math speed training improves math skills, reflexes and concentration.

There are tons more apps in both stores plus other games accessible from the internet with just a bit of searching. Turn screen time into learning time!

Red Ribbon Week at Jordan Hills

Each year JHE celebrates Red Ribbon Week to encourage students to Be Drug Free! This year the theme is Love Yourself. Be Drug Free. This is a national campaign. You can find more information at http://redribbon.org/theme/ 

Next week's dress-up days include:

Monday - Wear Red

Tuesday - Hat Day

Wednesday - Crazy Socks 

Thursday - Team Gear

Friday - Backwards Clothing

In class, we will have some activities to go along with the theme. 

How many pennies can you float?

Do you know what STEM is? STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and math. Teachers use STEM as a way to teach critical thinking and problem solving skills. It also encourages students to work together. Many of the jobs our kids will be doing in the future haven't even been invented yet so it is hard to train them on individual skills. But STEM teaches skills that can be applied in any job!

I'm sure you've heard about our boat building project this week. Some of you may even have had boats built in your kitchen sink! Here is our experience in action:

Students brainstormed ideas for boat designs and then tested the designs. They analyzed why one shape worked while another did not. Using this information, groups built their best boats and we had a competition in the class. 

JHE Fundraiser

Thank you to everyone who supported the PTA's fundraiser for our school. Our class was the top money raising class in the entire school. We earned three parties! Jenny and Elizabeth were the top fundraising girls in the whole school.