Welcome to Mr. McGaughey’s Grade 4 Class webpage.

My name is Sean McGaughey and I am beginning my ninth year of teaching
for the Simcoe County District Board of Education. Prior to coming to
Parkview, I taught Special Education and grade 2 at Huronia Centennial
School in Elmvale. I live with my wife, Nancy, and my daughter Sarah,
age 5. I enjoy playing guitar and writing and singing folk music. I
bring a lot of music into my classroom.

• School begins at 8:45 and ends at 3:15.
• Recesses are at 10:05 and 1:50. Please send healthy snacks for your
  child at recess.
• Lunch is from 11:30 – 11:50 in the class followed by outdoor recess
  from 11:50 to 12:30.
• Dismissal is at 3:15.

Sending Money to School

If you are sending money to school with your child, please put it in an
envelope and indicate;

a) Your child’s first and last name,

b) My name.

c) The amount of money and the purpose for the money.

Agendas

Agendas are an excellent way of teaching children organizational skills
and keeping track of assignments. At the end of each day, the children
will have the opportunity to record assignments and information about
upcoming events in their agendas. Every morning I will ask the children
if they have any notes in their agendas for me.

Rules for Grade 4

1) Treat others with kindness and respect.

2) Keep hands, feet, objects and unwanted comments to yourself.

3) Listen carefully during lessons.

4) Remember to do your job.

5) Take care of your classroom and your school.

6) Never give up. Always do your Best!

Consequences for Grade 4

1st Time: WARNING from teacher, name on board.

2nd Time: Check mark beside name, Time Out in classroom to complete a
think sheet.

3rd Time: Think sheet with: Phone Call Home

Severe Clause: Phone call home, or parental interview. Office
intervention

Please go over these rules and consequences with your child. Be aware
that if you receive a time-out sheet to sign or a phone call, that your
child has already had a warning and received 1 or 2 consequences.

Weekly Schedule

Here are a few of the events that happen in our classroom over the
course of a week. Math, Language, and French occur every day.

Monday: Science

Tuesday: Phys-Ed, Social Studies

Wednesday: Science

Thursday: Phys-Ed, Library, Social Studies

Friday: Art, Music

Homework

Homework will be listed in your child’s agenda. Your child may bring
work home to complete if it was not finished in class. This work needs
to be completed for the next day. From time to time, I may send other
assignments to be completed at home. We will make sure the due dates
are written in your child’s agenda.

Sharing and Newstelling

In grade 4, children are still eager to share special items and events
with the whole class. At this time, we are not doing formal sharing in
our class. In the future, your child may be assigned one or two days a
month for formal sharing or news-telling as part of our Oral Language
program.

Gym

Our class has gym twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Your
child is expected to have running shoes in the gym, and gym clothes.
You may leave a pair of indoor shoes at the school.

Units this Month:

Language:

This year we will be using the Write Traits program for writing. This
program identifies 6 Traits of Writing used by effective writers:
Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, and
Conventions. In the beginning, we will focus on developing strong ideas
in writing.

Math: Patterning: Nelson Math 4 Chapter 1

For the first 3 weeks, your child will be exploring shape and number
patterns. The goal will be for your child to recognize, extend, create
and describe shape patterns and number sequences.

Patterning Activities you can do at home:

1. Your child can use skip counting patterns on a calculator to find the
age of each person in the family in months or weeks. For example, using
52 weeks = 1 year enter 52 +52 = = = = = = to find the number of weeks
in 1 year.

2. Your child can use a month-month calendar to record activities that
occur on a regular basis, such as weekly, or daily sports, groups, music
lessons, or favorite TV programs. Have them describe any patterns they
see.

Thursday September 29: Math Test on patterning: chapter 1

Chapter 2- Numeration: Students will compare, order and explore number
patterns in numbers up to 10, 000.

At home, your child can:

• practice reading and writing numbers found in magazines or newspapers
  that are between 1000 and 10, 000.

• relate numbers of distances between places that she or he has been or
  has heard about.

Science: We will beginning a unit on Rocks and Minerals shortly. On
October 12, we will be going on a field trip to Wye Marsh to study rocks
and minerals. A permission form for this field trip will be coming home
shortly.

Social Studies: We will begin by studying map and globe skills this
month, moving into a study of Canada and its regions.

Sean McGaughey