March 9-March 20

I hope everyone is enjoying this Spring like weather this weekend!

This Friday your child will bring home his/her Trimester 2 report card. We have been discussing D21's Learner Qualities during SEL lately. Please take some time to sit down and reflect with your child about their Learner Qualities and grades. Please remember that anything that comes home with a fraction, like 7/8, is part of that subject's grade. This can help you see how your child is preforming in each subject area.

Language Arts
Our next vocabulary and spelling words will come from our Math Unit 6 unit. The assessments will be on March 20, 2020.

Our next reading skill focuses on non-fiction text features. Text features help the reader make sense of what they are reading and are the building blocks for text structure. 

Here are just some of the text features that will be covered. It's important students also understand why these text features are important to readers. 

• Captions: Help you better understand a picture or photograph
• Comparisons: These sentences help you to picture something {Example: A whale shark is a little bit bigger than a school bus.}
• Glossary: Helps you define words that are in the book
• Graphics: Charts, graphs, or cutaways are used to help you understand what the author is trying to tell you
• Illustrations/Photographs: Help you to know exactly what something looks like
• Index: This is an alphabetical list of ideas that are in the book. It tells you what page the idea is on.
• Labels: These help you identify a picture or a photograph and its parts
• Maps: help you to understand where places are in the world
• Special Print: When a word is bold, in italics, or underlined, it is an important word for you to know
• Subtitles: These headings help you to know what the next section will be about
• Table of Contents: Helps you identify key topics in the book in the order they are presented

Book Talks

We were very impressed with the quality of February's presentations. March/April's book talk genre will be biography. Please note that the format will be different for this particular book talk. The students will be creating a poster instead of our usual templates. This will also be a No-Notes presentation. Instead of using notes, the students will only use images on Google Slides to help them present their information. More information on the biography poster and No-Notes presentation will be given in class and through upcoming blogs.

Writing

Our writing progress is coming along. We are writing our first draft of our realistic fiction
piece. So far, we have covered a variety of writing skills: brainstorming realistic fiction
topic ideas, creating believable characters, developing a story arc to show rising action,
conflict and falling action, "showing, not telling" character's emotions and thoughts,
hooking the reading into the story, and finally, having a balance of actions,
thoughts/dialogue and setting descriptions. We've noticed that at this stage in a
young writer's development, students focus on character's actions (i.e. Jack went
to the baseball game. Jack bought some popcorn. Jack watched the game
and then went home). We are trying to encourage students to have dramatic
scenes that leave thereader wanting to know more.  Students will work through
a checklist to guide their writing.

Social Studies:

Our next unit in Social Studies 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. The following Power Standards will be covered in this unit:

• Explain why significant events in early American history are important
• Explain why significant events in early American history are important
• Describe how early settlers in Illinois and the US adapted to, used and changed the environment

Science:
This Monday we will finish up our Science unit, Chemical Magic. This unit consisted of five experiments that involved learning more about properties of matter, states of matter, and physical and chemical reactions. On Monday students will take the final test that focuses on comprehension questions from each experiment. Students know that they can prepare for this test by using the resources found in their Science Google Classroom. 

Math:

Mrs. Mullen and Mrs. Schlender's Math Class: On Monday we will review for the Unit 5 test. On Tuesday, we will end Unit 5 with an assessment that focuses on the big ideas from each lesson. We will start Unit 6 this Thursday.
Mrs. Schwartz's Math Class: The Math review will be on Monday and Tuesday of this week. Students will be assessed on Thursday. 
Students will be using skills and strategies they have been taught throughout this unit and demonstrate their understanding on this test. There is an extra optional review (which was emailed and can be found in Math Google Classroom) for students to complete as an additional study resource. This math test will be the students' first grade for trimester three. Wednesday, we have Discovery Science so there will be no math.  As for all units, students will receive the Math family letter this week. This letter includes an overview of the lessons, as well as HomeLink answers. So, please be sure to look out for that! In Unit 6 students will focus on division. They will learn new vocabulary such as dividend, divisor, remainder, and quotient.

http://everydaymath.uchicago.edu/parents/4th-grade/em4-at-home/unit_6/
This link will allow you to print out homelinks and access the digital parent letter.

SEL:

This upcoming week of SEL will continue to focus on the topic of avoiding jumping to conclusions. This lesson will consist of story discussions and the effects of what can happen if we assume and jump to a negative conclusion. Throughout next week, students will be working with their peers and role-play strategies on how we can prevent jumping to conclusions. Getting confirmation on someone’s feelings or actions is essential so we do not act aggressively. Being aggressive can then lead to having regret on how we handled our behavior through our negative actions. Students will receive a HomeLink and this should be completed with an adult to work on SEL skills at home. As usually, students will have one week to complete the SEL HomeLink.

Important Dates:

• Wednesday, March 11: Science Discovery AND  McTeacher Night, 5:00-8:00 PM (Ms. Gore and I will be helping at McDonalds from 5-6:15! Come and see us!
• Thursday, March 12: PTO Meeting, 7:00 PM
• Friday, March 13: 
  • Trimester 2 Report Cards Sent Home
  • Commemorative Tile Design Due; Click here for PTO Store
• Monday, March 16-Friday, March 20: Charity Coin Collection for Spring Book Fair (see the flyer going home next week with the spirit days)
• Monday, March 16: Kids Heart Challenge Starts
• Tuesday, March 17: 
  • NO SCHOOL, Institute Day
  • Cooper Spirit Night at Dave and Buster’s
• Thursday, March 19: 
  • House Meeting
  • CCSD21 Board of Education Meeting, 7:30 PM, Gill Administration Building
• Friday, March 20:
  • Sweatshop Assembly sponsored by PTO
  • All School Lunch
• Monday, March 23-Friday, March 27: NO SCHOOL, Spring Break
• Monday, March 30: Return from Spring Break