April 1-19

April 1-19

Welcome Back! We hope everyone had a refreshing spring break. This blog update will cover the next three weeks.

IAR Testing

The fourth grade classes will start testing on Friday, April 5th to Thursday, April 11th. It is important that every child has a set of personal headphones or ear buds for this assessment. Please make sure your child has one at school.  Our fourth grade schedule is as follows:

• April 5th- Math test 1:00
• April 8th- ELA test 1:00
• April 9th- Math test 1:00
• April 10th- ELA test 1:00
• April 11th- Math test 1:00

As always, eating a well balanced breakfast and getting a good night's sleep will ensure your child is rested and ready to do his/her best!  If possible, avoid doctor appointments and other absences (unless ill).  The tests will need to be made up, which means missing curriculum. We understand if emergencies come up.  Homework will be lighter during this testing window.

Language Arts

Our next lesson will cover words related to our Social Studies curriculum (Revolutionary War).  The test will be in THREE weeks, on Thursday, April 18th.  Spelling activities will also be due on April 18th. 

We will continue our focus skill of sequencing, which is a structure authors use to describe events in time or chronological order.

Book Talks
As explained in class, students are completing a 'no notes' book talk due April 30. The genre is biography and specific directions were given to students. They will be completing the graphic organizer as usual, however to present, they are only allowed to use a slide show with pictures only.  NO WORDS/NOTES allowed. We are extending the time limit to 2:00-3:30 minutes this time. Let me know if you have any questions. This is the last formal book talk, as the final reading project will mostly be done in school (poetry project). Thanks for your continued support with these book talks. Students' overall confidence, presentation skills and enthusiasm have soared since the beginning of the year. Please see the following rubric and graphic organizer below that will help your child prepare for the book talk.

No Notes Biography Book Talk Organizer.

Math

We are starting Unit 7, multiplication of a fraction by a whole number and measurement. The students are learning how to multiply fractions in word problems. They are using pictures, equations, and repeated addition to solve these problems. Students will also focus on multi step division problems and generating and identifying patterns in the upcoming weeks. Here  is the link if your child forgets their home link for homework: http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/4th-grade/em4-at-home/unit_7/

Social Science

Our next unit in social science is the Revolutionary War. For the first half of this unit, we will be focusing on the events that let up to the war and the growing tension between the Colonists and Great Britain. We are using the metaphor of a parent-child relationship to learn and connect with historical events leading up to the war. We will also participate in a couple of simulations that will help the students empathize with the colonists' struggles. 

Social Emotional Learning

We will wrap up our study on Growth Mindset this week. In preparation for the IAR tests, we will also discuss test anxiety and strategies to help if students are feeling nervous or anxious before or during a test. 

Second Step has also provided parents with a recommended reading list that help reinforce the topics we are learning about in class.

Important Dates

• Monday, April 1: School Resumes
• Tuesday, April 5-11: IAR Testing in the afternoon
• Tuesday, April 16-Thursday, April 18: Spirit Days and Change Wars for Books
• Wednesday, April 17:  Music Show, 6:30 PM
• Thursday, April 18: Mid-Trimester Reports Sent Home
• Friday, April 19: NO SCHOOL; Good Friday
• Monday, April 22: NO SCHOOL

March 11- March 22

It's nearly Spring! This blog update will take us through spring break. It's hard to believe your child is 2/3 of the way done with 4th grade! One more trimester to go! We have lots of fun in store.

Field Trip

The 4th grade field trip will be on June 3. I know that sounds a while away, but will be here before we know it. Our field trip will be to Botanical Gardens in Glencoe. We will enjoy the day with a self guided tour and participating in a class called Partners in Pollination. This field trip connects to the following power standards:

-The student is expected to construct an argument that plants and animals have internal and external structures that function to support survival, growth, behavior, and reproduction.

-A system can be described in terms of its components and their interactions.

Parents interested in chaperoning should write a note on the permission slip that will go home soon. We will choose chaperones based on a lottery system.

Math

We have been busy working on our division skills. It is essential that the students have mastery of their basic multiplication and division facts. For students who are not yet at 100% mastery on Reflex, please continue to use the helpful Reflex Math resource that our PTO has so generously provided. This past week, the students were introduced to a long division algorithm called partial quotients. We realize this may be very different than the way you were taught long-division. Hopefully, this video will be helpful in explaining this alternative method.

For the second half of Unit 6, we will be learning more about measuring angles and number stories with fractions and mixed numbers.

Everyday Math Unit 6

Language Arts

Our next Reading skill is sequencing. Sequencing is a structure authors use to describe events in time or chronological order!  We will interact with this skill for the next two weeks. Students will be working with the skill in small groups during guided reading time as well.

Our new vocabulary and spelling words are taken from our our current math unit. The students will have 2 weeks to learn these words, after which they will be assessed on Friday, March 22nd.

Book Talks

Book Talks

As explained in class, students are completing a 'no notes' book talk due April 30.  The genre is biography and specific directions were given to students. They will be completing the graphic organizer as usual, however to present, they are only allowed to use a slideshow with pictures only. NO WORDS/NOTES allowed. We are extending the time limit to 3-4 minutes this time. This is the last formal book talk, as the final reading project will mostly be done in school (poetry project). Thanks for your continued support with these book talks. Students' overall confidence, presentation skills and enthusiasm have soared since the beginning of the year. Please see the following two resources that will help your child prepare for the book talk.

Here is the No Notes Biography Book Talk Organizer.

Writing

We have spent much time on writing!  Students are well into their Realistic Fiction stories. The first draft will be due some time in the coming weeks.  I will be asking your help in revising and editing your child's first draft when the time comes. Thank you for your support! Soon we will be working on writing good endings. Students will learn that there are 5 ways to end a story: 1) what did the character learn from the events of the story 2) what dream or hope does the character have for the future 3) what decision does the character make based on the events of the story 4) what does the character want to remember 5) what emotions does the character have at the end of the story. Students will learn that as authors, we are continually trying to make our stories better. To do this, we need to look at our story with a different lens.  During the next couple weeks, students will be thinking about the following:

• Did you know professional photographers use different lenses for different things? They change them based on what they want to take a picture of.
• Revision is like changing your lens to see different things in your story you may want to change.

Science and Social Studies

This coming week the students are excited to start a problem based learning (PBL) project. Our class will be working in groups of 3 or 4 to solve the problem of soil erosion from wind and water on a farm. The students will be creating a prototype that would help fix this problem. Each student will be assigned a role in their group. Each group member will need to perform his/her job to help the group be successful in developing a way to lessen the impact of soil erosion. The students will get to test the prototype and then have the chance to modify it to make it better. At the end of the project, each group will give a presentation about their prototype and we will test each one.

After this PBL, we will switch back to Social Studies and start our unit on the Revolutionary War.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL)

Our next lesson in SEL is about showing compassion and learning how to join a group. We will also start some activities on growth mindset vs fixed mindset. Here is a little about what we will learn about: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1CHPnZfFmU

Important Dates:

Tues. and Wed. March 12-13: Fourth Grade Battle of the Books (noon), 

parents of participants are welcome

Friday, March 15: Report Cards go home

Monday, March 18: (noon) Battle of the Books Championship

Friday, March 22: Sweat Shop Assembly

March 25-March 29: Spring Break (Enjoy the time with your family and friends!)

Tuesday, April 1: Classes Resume