We had a fabulous time on our Jamestown field trip!  The students enjoyed seeing all of the locations and learned some new information they would not have learned with me.  I’m sure they will remember this trip for a long time!  Thank you so much to our chaperones, Mrs. Perkins, Mr. Bell, and Mr. Martindale. It was so great to have their help throughout the day.  I also wanted to thank you all for your patience with our late arrival. A little bit of bus trouble really set us back and then we hit all sorts of traffic once we got on the road. I know that it was a long day for the kids, so I hope that they all slept well for you Friday night!

**Important Announcements This Week**

*Parent Teacher Conferences:  This week we will have our parent teacher conferences.  I look forward to meeting with many of you on Monday afternoon and Tuesday morning.  Please remember that there is no school for students on Tuesday 11/6 due to Election Day.

*Family Life:  On Thursday, Nov. 8 fourth grade students will participate in Family Life.  A letter went home a couple of weeks ago explaining the Family Life information that will be shared in the lesson.  An opt-out form was also sent home if you would prefer that your child not participate.  Please send this form back before Thursday if you would like to opt your child out of the program.

*Veterans Day Assembly:  Friday, Nov. 9 is our annual Veteran’s Day assembly.  It will be held outside this year on the lower grade playground.  Please check the weather forecast and if it is going to be chilly on Friday – please make sure that your child has a jacket that he or she can wear during the assembly.

*Treats for the Troops:  Short Pump Elementary has a tradition of collecting items to send to our troops overseas. We do this in collaboration with the Blue Star Families of Richmond, http://www.bluestarrichmond.org, a chapter of a national organization of families with loved ones who proudly serve our country. Each grade level is assigned specific items to collect. Our goal is to collect 200 of each item in order to complete 200 care packages for active duty military personnel in combat zones and various USO sites.

Here’s the breakdown by grade:

• Kin:  Q-tips, travel size shampoo/conditioner, sample size Gold Bond foot powder
• 1st:  dental floss, “wisps” (dental cleaners), toothpaste, toothbrushes
• 2nd:  socks, travel size lotion, deodorant/antiperspirant (stick only)
• 3rd:  instant oatmeal, individual snack packs (nuts, dried fruit, fruit snacks, trail mix), beef jerky
• 4th:  power bars/granola bars, powdered drink mixes (Gatorade, coffee, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light)
• 5th:  tuna/chicken in foil packages, crossword puzzle books, playing cards

Students can bring the items into their classroom any time between October 29 – November 9, 2018.

*Lunch Policy:  Please note that the county has a new HCPS Safety Lunch Policy: This year, HCPS has changed this policy to help make your child safer. Only adults who are on the child’s authorization for pick up list are allowed to eat with your children unless you have provided a written note to the school authorizing your permission. For example, Grandma, who’s from out of town, comes to visit your child and wants to eat lunch with him. The only way she can eat lunch with your child is if you have placed Grandma on the authorization for pick up or have written a note. Anyone who is listed on the Authorization to Pick Up list can always come in and eat. If someone is not on the list, please just send in a note letting us know who is coming in and that they have your permission to eat with your child. Thank you for your help with this new safety policy.

**What Are We Learning In Class?**

*Reading:

This week our reading comprehension strategy will be making inferences.  Students will learn that they will need to use evidence from the text (“What I read”) + something that they know in the brain (“What I know”) to make an inference (“I infer/I conclude”).  We will practice by using some picture books, and then at the end of the week we will begin to look even deeper as we analyze the dialogue between characters and the inner dialogue of a character in a short excerpt from a novel called Bayou Magic.

During small group rotations, students will meet with me in small group and we will continue our strategy work using leveled texts.  Students will also read to self and work on their writing.

We will take a week off from specific word lists for word study this week due to the short week with the Election Day.

*Math:

We will continue work with decimal computation and solving multi-step word problems involving decimals this week. Students will complete a decimal computation quiz on Thursday.  Then on Friday we will spend some time working on math equalities. We will work on understanding the meaning of an equality and determining strategies to solve various equalities.

*Social Studies:

This week we will continue our Jamestown unit (VS.3).  We will learn about the arrival of Africans (1619) and women (1620) to the Jamestown colony (VS.3e).  We will learn about the impact of the Africans and women and how they changed the future of the Virginia colony.  Other topics we will discuss this week are the hardships faced by the colony and the changes that the colonists made to ensure the survival of the colony (VS.3f).

*Science:

This week we will begin our next science unit which will be natural resources of Virginia.  We will be learning about the various resources in Virginia and the James River Watershed.  Students will have the unit notes glued into their science notebook. Please begin reviewing this information and the vocabulary associated with the unit.

Have a wonderful week!

-Mrs. Jacobsen