A Successful Weekend

A few of our 4th grade boys had a successful baseball tournament this weekend!  Nice job to Jacob Marti, Zachary Kelly, Derek Sprague, and their team on a successful weekend!

We know that we also had two 4th grade wrestlers make it to the state tournament this weekend.  Denton Biller ended the weekend with a 3rd place finish.  We congratulate Wade Stanton on qualifying for State, as well.  

March 30-April 2

We have a very exciting week this week with our Wax Museum project! Just a reminder, the Wax Museum will now take place on Thursday, April 2nd from 9:30-10:30. You may begin bringing in platforms and props to store at the school.

In writing this week, we will fine tune and practice our Wax Museum presentations. The students are getting so excited to share their hard work with you Thursday!

In reading, we will begin discussing and comparing 1st and 2nd hand accounts.

In math, we will finish up our unit on fractions and decimals. We will review tomorrow and prepare for the test on this unit. The test will be Wednesday. They will be asked to compare fractions with different numerators and denominators, simplify fractions, write equivalent fractions, write numbers in decimal form, make line plots, and compare decimals.

In spelling this week, we will start our new unit and word list. We still study homophones further and look at "ie" and "ei" spelling patterns in words.

In science this week, we will move back into studying Ecosystems. We will discuss threats to the survival of organisms and how they adapt as well as fossils.

Reminder: The character awards assembly is Wednesday at 2:15.

Thursday is a noon dismissal and there is no school Friday or Monday. Enjoy your spring break with your families!

March 23-27

In writing this week we will continue working on our famous Missourian projects. They are really coming along well! It's fun to see the students get so excited about their work.

In reading, we will focus on understanding vocabulary within texts. We will read several stories and use the information from those stories to help us find the meaning of unknown words.

In spelling this week, we will be starting unit 14. In this unit, we will study homographs (same spelling, different meaning/pronunciation ex: wind, wind). We will also study different Latin roots that are found in many English words and what those roots mean. Our test for this unit will be this Friday.

In math this week we are starting to relate fractions to decimal values. We are studying the 10th and 100th decimal values. We will compare them as well as convert them back and forth between fractions and decimals.

We are finishing up our science unit on ecosystems today and moving on to our next Social Studies unit. We will be studying our government, both state and federal. We will discuss the 3 branches, talk about how our state government works, and learn how new laws are made.

**The character awards assembly will be next Wed. (April 1) at 2:15.

Wax Museum Date Change

March 23, 2015

Dear Parents/Guardians,

Happy spring!  The weeks are flying by!  With that in mind, we wanted to take the time to remind everyone about the upcoming Famous Missourian Wax Museum.  It is next week!  There are a few items that we need to touch base with parents about, so we thought this note may be helpful.  Please make sure that you send this note back tomorrow with your child, so we can get a better idea of how to help and plan.  

First off, we have a scheduled make-up day on Thursday, April 2.  It is a half day.  Since this is the case, we have thought about pushing the museum to that day, still starting it at 9:30.  We hate moving the date, but since it was a later date, we thought it may work.  We want to make sure that no parents have already taken off work on Wednesday at that time in order to attend before we move it.  We can absolutely leave it on the April 1 if the consensus agrees with that.  Please make sure that you return this information back to school by TOMORROW, MARCH 24.    

Hopefully students are hard at work at home planning out their plaques, costumes, platforms, and buttons.  As a reminder, most of these items (especially the platform) should not be transported on the bus.  If you could please make arrangements to bring the larger items to school no sooner than Monday, March 30, we would greatly appreciate it.  Before, during, or after school would be fine.  

Some of our Missourians have props that aren’t always school appropriate.  Jesse James, for instance, would probably have a gun as a prop.  If your child has a Missourian with a prop that may be questionable, Ms. Smiddy has asked us to store these in her office until the actual museum time.  This is an item that needs to be brought in by the parent, as well.  Although it is for the project, we want to make sure that we are following the rules of the Safe Schools Act.  

If you would, please check off the items on the back when returning this so we know how we can further help your child at school.  

You may also be interested to know that your child could be featured in the news!  We have invited Fox 26 News, KQ2, and the St. Joseph News Press to attend the museum!  What an awesome opportunity!  

Thank you in advance for your support.  This has been an amazing project so far, and we can’t wait to see the final product!  Keep practicing memorizing those scripts!  Final Drafts are due by the end of the day on Friday!

In anticipation,

Ms. Ussary

Mrs. Kountz

March 16-20

After our nice long break we are back and ready to start our 4th quarter!


In reading this week, we will continue working on sequencing and chronological order. We will study this by reading several books, ordering events, and playing ordering games in our teams.

In writing this week, we will continue working on our Famous Missourian projects. Students should be making a lot of progress on this as we are just two and a half weeks from our Wax Museum presentations!

In math this week, we will look at equivalent fractions and comparing fractions with unlike denominators. They will learn how to change the fractions so that they have the same denominator and are easier to compare.

In science this week, we will study different ecosystems, roles of organisms in those ecosystems and food webs.

In spelling, we will learn about different silent letters, review homophones, and rules for adding "er" to words. The spelling test will be this Friday (March 20) over unit 13 words.

March 9-11

Way to go Dragons!!! Thanks to our boys' basketball team earning a State Tournament bid, we will not have school this Thursday and Friday!


In reading this week we will continue discussing sequencing and sequencing with flashbacks. We will also begin our literature circle books. This means all literature circle groups will have started a book this week and will have a job to do for that book.

In writing, we are continuing to research and plan our Famous Missourian projects. Students have been researching for several days now and many are beginning to plan other aspects of the project.

In math this week we will begin a new unit on fractions. In this unit, we will study comparing fractions with different denominators, decimal form, and equivalent fractions. If your child is struggling with any of the new concepts, kahnacademy.com has a lot of good videos they can watch on fractions and what we will be working on.

In Social Studies this week, we will finish up our chapter by discussing the changes that came after the civil war in our state and country.

We will begin a new science unit on the Ecosystem. This unit will focus on different ecosystems, food webs, and different roles organisms play in an ecosystem.

In spelling this week, we will take our test on Tuesday (March 10th) and do a word preview for our new word list on Wednesday.

AR points are due this Wednesday (March 11th). This is also the last day of the quarter. Grade cards will be sent home next Wednesday (March 18). March 18th is also school picture day. We will be sending home school picture forms today.

Have a great week!

Famous Missourian

And the Missourian is...

Today, students chose the Missourian that they will be portraying in the Wax Museum held April 1.  We are so excited to see these Missourians come to life through the student's writing and portrayals!  

Some of the students have Missourians that are actually still alive!  How cool is that?  With that in mind, and the time frame that we have, I think it would be an awesome opportunity to reach out and try to contact their Missourian, if possible.  Last year, a student contacted Kate Klise ( Missouri author of many children's book series).  Mrs. Klise was so fantastic to work with!  She helped the student with what she would wear, her favorite activities, and lots of other information to help her with her project.  We sent the picture of our "wax statue" to Mrs. Klise who put the information on her website!  It was an awesome experience, and we encourage students who have that opportunity to reach out and try to contact them.

The research process will start tomorrow.  Some students are "swapping" their names. We are okay with one swap per student, as long as both parties agree and let their teacher know.  After tomorrow, the students are no longer able to "swap".

Some parents have already asked how they can help at home.  We will do a lot of the research and planning here at school.  At home, you are welcome to do more research (make sure to site those sources!), begin building a platform for their "statue" to stand on, developing a button that relates to their Missourian, finding a costume to portray their Missourian, and practicing to memorize that narrative!  Please do not send any "props" prior to the week of the Wax Museum to school.  (March 30 at the earliest.)  Also, sending large items on the bus is not a great idea.  If you could make arrangements to bring them to school in a vehicle before, during, or after school that would be appreciated.  

Please let us know if you have any questions.  This is not meant to be a stressful project, but a memorable learning experience.  With the extended timeline before all things are to be completed, we hope that we allow enough time for their imaginations to run wild...within reason.  Do not feel obligated to purchase items.  We are a great community that is always willing to lend a hand.  Let either teacher know if you are in need of an item, and we would be happy to help locate it for you.  

Happy researching! 

Reminder

Reminder: Character Trait Award Assembly is tomorrow, March 3rd, at 2:00 in the MPR!

March 2nd-6

This week we will be finishing up our math unit on Fractions. Our test is scheduled for this Thursday. We will use Wednesday's class time to review and prepare for the test together. The test focuses on adding/subtracting fractions as well as converting fractions into mixed numbers or mixed numbers to fractions.

In social studies this week, we will begin discussing plantation life/slavery as well as Missouri's part in the Civil War. We will complete a study guide together for Chapter 5, read and discuss chapter 6, as well as watch a couple videos about these chapters. This open book test is tentatively planned for Thursday, March 12.

We are returning to spelling this week. We will hand out our word list today and begin studying those words. In this unit, we will also review homophones, "c" spelling patterns, and create mnemonics for tricky words. This test is tentatively scheduled for next Tuesday, March 10th.

In reading this week we will begin studying sequencing. We will use our knowledge of sequencing to place events in order, follow recipes, and other sequencing activities. Also, Friday is Read in Day. They can bring blankets/sleeping bag, pillows and wear comfy clothes. AR points for this quarter are due next Thursday, March 12th. 

In writing this week we will continue learning how to do research. We will practice this by beginning to research famous Missourians in preparation for writing a paper on one.

Have a great week!