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.
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:
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
No comments:
Post a Comment