Welcome to Mrs. Johnston's Page!
My name is Heather Johnston and I am one of the Title I Reading and Math teacher's here at Lake Elementary. I began teaching here in January 2011 and I am looking forward to helping our students achieve their goals this year! Please don't hesitate to contact me if you need assistance or have questions. I am here to support the learning of your children in any way I can.
Heather Johnston
330-877-4276 x4255
Updated 5/4/2012
4th Grade Reading
We are winding down the year in fourth grade reading by continuing on in our novel study of Gary Paulsen's "Hatchet". The students seem to really enjoy following Brian's adventure. We even had an opportunity to enjoy the beautiful weather and read a chapter outside!
Fourth graders are also working on their informational reports and finalizing preparations for fifth grade! I want to congratulate them on all of their hard work this year. They have certainly inspired me to continue reading to learn!
One area where many of the students are still having difficulty is with cause and effect. This is a simple area to work on at home while still having fun! Students get into a habit of identifying the first part of the sentence as cause and the second portion as effect. We have a fun smart board game that we will continue to use to practice this skill!
Many students still struggle with reading speed (fluency) so please give them every opportunity to read, read, read! Reading with your child also continues to be critical to building their fluency, vocabulary and love of reading. Please continue to aim for 30-60 minutes a night. I know this seems like a lot but it is possible and so important!
There are many fun websites that your kids can practice so many vocabulary developing opportunities or get decoding/spelling practice. Please visit my portaportal links to find many of these fun games. Quia is also a popular site where you can find loads of language arts activities to practice. Do a search for any reading or language arts topic and add the word "quia" and you will see what I mean!
Mrs. Coblentz also has many great websites on her page. Please check it out and use all of these wonderful, fun resources this summer to keep learning!
I heard many of our fourth graders say that the Math OAA was not as difficult as they expected and they felt it was far shorter than their 3rd grade one! I'm not sure about any of that, but I am very glad they were confident and felt good about their performance on the "big test!" We all know that our year is about so much more than that one test. Keep working hard and get ready to begin DIVSION!
*Facts - Please continue to practice addition and multiplication facts nightly. Even five minutes a day helps greatly! As we begin division, knowing multiplication facts continues to be of the utmost importance. www.xtramath.org is a great place to easily practice facts and the students seem to love being on the computer to do so. Please let me know if you need a new login code for Title class and I'll send it home. Many of our students do not know their multiplication and addition facts. This is hindering them because, for example, to find volume you must multiply length times width times height!! It is ESSENTIAL for them to have these mastered.
www.IXL.com also is a great resource for practicing grade level math tasks. You can do up to 20 free problems per day!
Check out my portaportal page that has many great sites for practicing math!
www.portaportal.com (See my access info and links on Teacher/Blogs websites page)
5th Grade Math
As we close out the year, we are going to begin a very fun activity called the "Travel Unit". Our students usually love this unit as it gives them an opportunity to plan a "trip" to their selected state and plan activities and accommodations. We will work on this in the Title I classroom as well as the regular classroom. Ask your student about their check writing practice!
Continue to work with them on their math facts, especially multiplication as this makes EVERYTHING we do the rest of the year much, much easier! Check out my portaportal site for fun ways to practice math online. I also have an account at www.xtramath.org which allows students to login from home and sends me the reports/results. Students receive classroom rewards for time logged at home and can earn a certificate and a prize box pick!