October 28-November 8

October 28-November 8

Happy Fall everyone! Thank you to the PTO for running another successful book fair. Due to the generosity of your change donations and the PTO, we were able to add some new and popular books to our classroom library.

Please continue to help your child learn responsibility by checking his/her assignment notebook daily. Many students are coming unprepared with incomplete homework, forgotten chrome books, or uncharged chrome books. The spelling/vocab Meaningful Sentences activity is now an at home activity. This activity can be found in your child's Reading Google Classroom. It is completed for each set of spelling/vocab words. For the first few lessons we completed these sentences together and did many examples. Please help your child to use the words in a sentence and not just give the definition.

Reading:

The next focus skill for reading will be author's purpose and perspective.  Students often confuse author's purpose and perspective. An author's purpose is the reason an author decides to write about a specific topic. Then, once a topic is selected, the author must decide whether the purpose for writing is to persuade, inform or entertain.  The author's perspective, or viewpoint, is how the author feels about the subject. 

Our next set of words are homophones.  Homophones are words that sound the same, but have different meaning and spellings. While the spelling is relatively easy, knowing which homophone to use in context is the focus.  We will be interacting with the words in a different order than what is shown here.  The test will be on Friday, Nov. 8th. A hard copy will go home early this week. Here is the list for your reference:

Soon we will be kicking off writing. Students will be learn how to develop believable characters by giving characters struggles and motivations. Students will be working on developing realistic fiction stories.

We are looking forward to hearing the first book talks of the year this week. We will try our best to have everyone present on Monday, but that is not always possible due to our busy schedule.

Science:

We are enjoying our new science curriculum, Mystery Science. In this astronomy unit, we are learning about the sun, moon, stars, and planets. This will help the students develop a new perspective on the world we're standing on. This past week we were shown evidence that the Earth beneath our feet is actually moving through space, both spinning on its axis and traveling in a great orbit around the Sun. We also made our own shadow clocks and determined the time of day by using them! In the next two weeks, we will see how these movements account for the patterns we see in our sky (the paths of our Sun across the sky, the changing seasons, and the changing constellations). Throughout this investigation students will engage in actual and simulated observations of the sky. Throughout this unit, the students will engage in the process of inquiry: beginning with observations, debating a range of possible causes, and reasoning to possible conclusions.

 

Math:

We have been busy discussing factors and multiples in great depth. For the next couple of weeks we will work with units of time, multiplicative comparisons and classifying triangles and quadrilaterals. We will end the unit with line symmetry and patterns. The students are encouraged to used strategies to help them calculate facts they don't know. However in fourth grade, ultimately, we want students to reach automaticity with multiplication and division facts up to 12.  Please encourage consistent use of Reflex Math as often as possible. Printing out home links is always a great option if your child misplaces them or accidentally leaves them at school. You can do that here:

http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/4th-grade/em4-at-home/unit_2/

Upcoming Dates

• Thursday, October 31: Halloween!
  • Spooktacular Walk, 1:30 PM
  • PM Kindergarten and Grade 1-5 Celebration: 2:00 PM
• Friday, November 1: School Improvement Day
  • Grades 1-5 dismissed at 12:00; No Kindergarten
• Monday, November 4: PTO Sponsored Assembly, “The Pro Kids Show”
• Thursday, November 7: PTO Meeting, 7:00 PM in the teachers’ lounge
• Friday, November 8: Veterans Day Assembly, 1:05 PM
• Tuesday, November 19 and Thursday, November 21: Parent/Teacher Conferences
• Friday, November 22: End of Trimester 1-Report cards go home Dec. 6
• Monday, November 25: House Meeting, 10:00 AM
• Tuesday, November 26: Education Fair, 9:30-11:00 AM
• Wednesday, November 27-Friday, November 29: NO SCHOOL, Thanksgiving Holiday Break

Link to 2019-20 District Calendar

Link to 2019-20 A-B-C-D-E Calendar

It's hard to believe we just finished the 6th week of school. The students are now very familiar with the routines and expectations of 4th grade. Next week students will receive their mid-trimester report card. This will communicate to you how your child is doing with the district's learner qualities. It also gives you a S for Satisfactory or N for Needs Improvement in Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, and Math. Since we have not started our Science curriculum yet you will see a N/A for Science.

Reading

Over the next two weeks, we will continue our focus skill on finding story elements; more specifically, the following: conflict, plot events, and resolution. It is an important skill for fourth graders to master as it will help your child not only understand and appreciate the author's work, but it will help him/her with understanding the requirements for Book Talks this year.

October Book Talks:

Our mystery book talks are due on Monday, October 28th. Students should be following the Book Talk Organizer when preparing for their presentation.  A common mistake students make is giving a "retelling" of the book. I am looking for specific elements: a creative hook, characterization (complete with traits, actions and motivations of one MAIN character), summary (conflict, plot events, and solution, not a long summary of the book), one additional reading word with text support, closing, and an object brought in that connects to the book in some way.   Additionally, students should be between 2-3 minutes total.  In order to master this, practicing and timing are a MUST! A sample Book Talk of the book Odd Velvet was sent home this week. You can also see a copy of the Odd Velvet Book Talk organizer below. We also watched some past 4th graders give Book Talk presentations.

These book talk supports oracy in the classroom. I am looking for good public speaking skills: making eye contact, using good expression, loud tone, and pacing. This is might be a challenge and many students initially rely solely on their notes and have a difficult time looking up. Again, practicing multiple times while being timed is important. You can see a copy of the rubric below.

Also, please continue to fill out the RAH calendars.  RAH calendars are due on Oct. 28th.Students get graded on correct total minutes, parent signature, and filling out the calendar correctly with minutes totaled up weekly and monthly. 

Global Read Aloud:
Longfellow's fourth grade is participating in the Global Read Aloud 2019. We have  enjoyed our book, Stella Diaz Has Something to Say so far. We did a Mystery Hangout with our partner class that resides in Ontario, Canada. The students loved video chatting with them and giving clues to where we live so they could figure out our location too! We have also used Flipgrid. The students were partnered up with another 4th grade student in Canada and recorded a message using Flipgrid. They were able to ask their partner questions and give them a prediction about our book. We are anxiously awaiting to receive the responses from our partner class. Longfellow's awesome PTO purchased books for the fourth grade classes. 

Spelling/Vocab:
Our next set of spelling and vocabulary words are from our Language Arts unit. The assessment will be on October 25.

Math:

On Friday we took the Unit 1 test. The students were successful in showing all their knowledge on
place value,adding, subtracting, rounding numbers, finding perimeter, and making estimates.
These tests will go home on Wednesday since we have Discovery Science on Tuesday. We will begin
Unit 2 this week. We will learn about square numbers, area, factors, and multiples. With all of these
topics, it is important for students to have automaticity with their multiplication and division facts.
Please continue to have your child use Reflex Max 2-3 times a week to help with this skill. This
program is available to us through the generosity of our PTO, so I want to stress the importance
of students spending time on the program both at school and at home. The goal is to achieve the
"green light circle" as much as possible. Also, here is the Everyday Math link for your convenience as
you help your child with Unit 2. Remember, home links can be printed at home if anything is
forgotten at school.

http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/4th-grade/em4-at-home/unit_2/

Social Studies/Science:

We are finishing our Map Skills unit with a creative cartographer project. First students picked a theme they had expertise in. Then they created a country that had geographic features, towns/cities, and special attractions that all connect to the theme. Students also had to take all the concepts learned during the unit, such as scale, compass rose, legend with symbols, directions) and include it on their map. Even though the students had amble time to finish this project in school, some decided to take it home this week so they could work on the extra credit. This project is due tomorrow, October 14. This coming Wednesday we will start our unit in Science. This is the first power standard we are covering in Science: 

Represent data in graphical displays to reveal patterns of daily changes in length and direction of shadows, day and night, and the seasonal appearance of some starts in the night sky.

We will be using a new program to teach Science this year called Mystery Science. I am excited to explore this hands-on program with some new power standards.

Social Skills:

Our next lesson in our Second Step Program is on being assertive. Being assertive means being able to stand up for yourself and your rights in a calm and positive way without getting aggressive. At the end of the week there will be an optional Home Link sent home. This Home Link connects to the skill of being assertive. Students will receive a bonus house point for completing the Home Link.

If you would like more information on what is covered in this program please see Second Step's
scope and sequence for Fourth Grade.

Important Dates:

• Tuesday, October 14: Discovery Science
• Wednesday, October 16: Our class will go to the Book Fair in the morning. Please send any money in an envelope or bag with your child's name on the outside. 
• Friday, Oct. 18: Mid-trimester report card sent home 
• Friday, Oct. 18: Sign Up Genius will be sent via email for conferences. Conferences will be held on 11/19 and 11/21.
• Monday, Oct. 21: Erin's Law presentation
• Friday, Oct. 25: Spelling and Vocab Assessments.
• Monday, Oct. 28: Book Talk and RAH Due