This coming week is Red Ribbon Week! Nationwide, Red Ribbon Week takes place each year from October 23 through 31st. With older children, the theme of the week is Celebrate Life. Live Drug Free.™ At Bath Elementary School, we focus more on celebrating life through a fun-filled spirit week. Please note the themes for each day:

• Monday: Wear your favorite jersey!
• Tuesday: Shine bright in your NEON!
• Wednesday: Pajama Day
• Thursday: Bath Team Hero T-Shirt Day

Last week we started a new novel, Sign of the Beaver. This is a historical fiction book about a 13-year-old boy left alone in the Maine Territory while his dad returns for his mom and sister. The main character, Matt, goes through a lot on his own with the help of an Indian tribe. It is an excellent tie-in to our social studies unit about Native Americans. We hope the children love it as much as we do!

We are starting a new unit on strategies to divide 1-digit divisors in math. We will take our time this week by reviewing basic division facts so that we can jump into long division next week. It is pretty exciting to watch these kids growing so much in math! At home, you can help by practicing basic multiplication and division. The more fluent your child is, the better! 

This Friday is a professional development and records day for teachers. There is no school for students. Please note that any outstanding assignments need to be in by Thursday afternoon. Report cards with grades and comments will be officially available on ProgressBook by November 4th. Please note that paper copies of report cards do not go home. If you are new to Revere, please visit https://pa.neonet.org/ to log into ProgressBook. There is a sign-up link located on the page. You will need to complete the sign-up if you do not have your Registration Key. Please contact helpdesk@revereschools.org if you have any trouble. Thank you!

Important Dates to Know:
10/24/22 - Red Ribbon Week starts
10/26/22 - Gaming Club (Students need a note to stay.)
10/27/22 - Fun 'N Stuff PTA Fundraiser Reward
10/27/22 - Bands in the Round Concert
10/28/22 - No School for students / Teachers' Records Day for Q1
10/31/22 - Halloween Parade and Parties at 2:00​ 
11/4/22 - Picture Retake Day
11/5/22 - Illuminate Fundraiser for Revere Schools Foundation
11/7/22 - Dewey's Night - 20% of purchases donated to BES
11/10/22 - Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/16/22 - PTA Meeting and Parent-Teacher Conferences

Despite the sunshine and beautiful weather this weekend, I think it is time for students to start bringing coats. We are looking at highs in the 40s and 50s this week. Unless it is raining, the kids will go outside for recess. If you prefer your child to also wear boots, please feel free to send them in. Coats can stay in lockers during the day, and boots can stay outside our room on blue mats. 

We accomplished a lot last week in math! Our mathematicians are learning how to multiply two-digit by two-digit numbers! We cover three methods throughout this unit: distributive property (or box model), partial products, and the traditional algorithm. If you or your child have questions or need another look at these methods, please check out the math videos at ​www.mrshetman.com/topic-4.html. We think the math test for Topic 4 will be on Friday.

We will start a new novel called Sign of the Beaver in language arts this week. This book has been a favorite of fourth graders in the last few years. We will have some good cross-curricular conversations with the kids since we are also learning about the first natives of Ohio. If the weather cooperates, we may also be able to read outside in our new NEST (Nature Exploration for Students and Teachers) area in the land lab.

Thank you for all of the poster board. We didn't ask everyone to bring one on purpose. We needed five last week for a prehistoric timeline the children are making. The rest will be saved for future group and individual research projects we do in class. Your support means so much to us! I will post a picture of our timeline on Twitter once they are complete.

​PTA sent out a newsletter last week with a lot of great information. It mentioned our Halloween parade will start at 2pm. If the weather permits, we will go outside. If there is rain, we will parade inside, and the PTA will live stream. I want to thank Lindy and Lauren for organizing our treat sign-up! Non-perishable items can be sent in with your children as early as Thursday, 10/27 (no school Friday for students). Please remember that food needs to be pre-packaged, and there must be an ingredient list because we have nut and food dye allergies. 

Another big item coming up is parent-teacher conferences in November. Miss Sokolowski and I will prepare a list of parents we would like to meet with based on first-quarter concerns or goals we may have established with you. A sign-up genius will be sent out around October 28th. If you do not receive a request for a conference, please look for comments on your student's report card for an update on their progress. If you have questions, please email us, and we will do our best to add conferences.

Important Dates to Know:
10/17/22 - Girls STEM Club
10/19/22 - Unity Day - wear orange!
10/20/22 - Kona Ice PTA Fundraiser Reward
10/21/22 - Popcorn Friday
10/24/22 - Red Ribbon Week starts
10/27/22 - Fun 'N Stuff PTA Fundraiser Reward
10/28/22 - No School for students / Teachers' Records Day for Q1
10/31/22 - Halloween Parade and Parties at 2:00​ 
11/7/22 - Dewey's Night - 20% of purchases donated to BES
11/10/22 - Parent-Teacher Conferences
11/16/22 - PTA Meeting and Parent-Teacher Conferences

I would like to first thank you for understanding my need to skip the blog post last weekend. I have written blog posts for parents in three of my four years teaching fourth grade. Last weekend was the first time I had to skip one! I came down with the flu, and I was shocked by the severity of it! The children were very sweet when I finally returned to school on Wednesday, and it was nice to be back to their smiling faces.

During this past week, the children mastered one-digit by multi-digit multiplication. Miss Sokolowski and Mrs. Oboczky teamed up and taught three methods to the students. Then, on Friday, students chose the technique they mastered to take the Topic 4 test. The scores are an excellent reflection of their hard work and the time spent practicing. This week we will amp it up by learning to do two-digit by multi-digit multiplication. I love watching these children grow so much in math in fourth grade!

In language arts, we took a break from reading a novel together and focused on synonyms and writing. Thursday morning, the teachers in the room surprised the class by dressing up like a dinosaur, pirate, granny, and farmer. This excitement was topped off by Nala, the golden doodle, showing up as a pumpkin! All this was our fun way of asking the students to write a piece about their Halloween costumes. The paragraphs turned out great! Students will get them back tomorrow; make sure you look for them at home Monday night!

I am not sure if you are aware, but the kids presented two group projects this past week. One was in a US Region, and the other was an ecosystem. They are collaborating well within their table groups, and we are working on solid presentation skills. This week we will start diving into Ohio’s first inhabitants during social studies. Meanwhile, in science, we will shift our focus from the present to the past. We learn how fossils can be compared to one another and present-day organisms. In fact, some students may have even asked you to help them bring in poster board. If they can do that by Tuesday, it would be greatly appreciated. We will use some now and save the balance for future investigations. 

Finally, this coming week is a short one. Friday is NEOEA Day. Revere Local Schools gives students the day off so that teachers can attend professional development activities. I am partaking in some exciting sessions at Kent State; I look forward to sharing what I learn with our classroom. I would also like to invite students to wear green tomorrow, October 10th, in honor of World Health Day. 

Important Dates to Know:
10/10/22 - World Health Day - wear green!
10/10/22 - *Girls STEM Club
10/12/22 - MAP Parent Meeting at the High School
10/13/22 - PTA Farmer's Market at lunch
10/13/22 - Safety Drills
10/14/22 - NEOEA Day (No School)
10/17/22 - *Girls STEM Club
10/19/22 - Unity Day - wear orange!
10/20/22 - Kona Ice PTA Fundraiser Reward
10/28/22 - No School for students / Teachers' Records Day for Q1
10/31/22 - Halloween Parade and Parties at 2:00​

* Girls STEM Club is run by our incredible High School students, and Bath Teachers help supervise. Classroom teachers do not always know who is selected for the club. As a result, a note is required if your daughter is staying. Thank you!