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.
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:
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.
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
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