Thursday, October 26, 2017

October 31-November 3

Dear Fourth Grade Families,
     I hope you all enjoy your four day weekend. I want to give you some updates for our upcoming four day week. First we are returning on a party day. So, Halloween parties begin at 1:45 on Tuesday. Children are allowed to bring their costumes to change before the party. Please do not send them in their costumes. If parts of their costumes can be worn that day that are clothing items that is fine. We just don't want them in full costume all day.
     In Reading we are continuing to read the book Bunnicula and the students are really enjoying it. In Writing they are getting ready to do their final drafts of their Halloween How to papers. They have come up with some great how to's. In Math they are still working on multiplication up to a two digit number by a two digit number. We are starting the transition to division as well. In science they just wrapped up a motion unit. In social studies we are going to start our next unit of Native Americans rather soon. Spelling this week is List 8.
     We want to thank all of you that attended conferences! It means a lot to us that we get to meet with you and discuss your students. So, we really appreciate your attendance! As always if you have any questions or concerns please reach out to your child's teacher. Have a great weekend and Halloween break.
Sincerely,
Fourth Grade Teachers.

Monday, October 23, 2017

October 23- 26

Good morning!  We hope that all had a great weekend.  Here is a look at our short week.

This week in spelling, we will be testing over the week 7 list.  It went home last week.  We will test on Thursday.

In reading, we will continue to work with inferences.  This week, we will begin the book Bunnicula  and look at vocabulary and inferring about the characters.  Book Project Cereal Boxes are due on Wednesday!  A lot are coming in and they look amazing!

In writing, we will begin organizing our writing with some simple activities.  This will lead into our How-To papers coming out soon.  Be on the look out for information about those.

Math is continuing work with 2 by 2 multiplication.  Students are really working hard and focusing their energy on how to get these problems correct.  It is a good thing math is in the morning!  We will be ready for a test over this next week.  Please continue to work on basic facts with your child.

We will be wrapping up science this week with a test on Wednesday.  We will complete an experiment on Thursday.

Please remember that conferences are this week.  We have scheduled all of our time slots for Wednesday or Thursday.  Please check with your child's teacher or the office for your scheduled time.  We look forward to seeing you then.

Monday, October 9, 2017

Book Project

Hello all!  As a reminder, fourth graders have a quarterly book project to work on.  This quarter's book project is the Cereal Box.  They are to take the book that they have read and had approved by the teacher and make it into a cereal!  By this Friday, all students should have taken and passed the quiz over an independent reading book.  After that, they are to follow the scoring guide that was given to them on September 22.  By October 16, students should have the front cover of their cereal box completed. By October 18, 1 side of their cereal box should be completed.  By October 19, side two should be completed.  By October 20, both the back and the "prize" should be completed.  The actual project is not due until October 25, but we were hoping to keep the kids ahead of the game with smaller, short-term goals.  Please let us know if you have any questions.  

October 9-13

The first quarter is almost over!  Can you believe it?  As a reminder, please encourage your child to be reading and working towards getting 100% of their goal by October 17- NEXT Tuesday!  Those who do will be participating in a special activity day on the 20th.  Our hope is that all students participate in our quarterly party.

This week in math, we are finishing up our area and perimeter Playground Activity.  I am sure you have heard all about it!  The students are excited and have some great thoughts on how to use our space outside!

In social studies, we will be finishing up our unit on federal and state government.  We will review on Tuesday and test on Wednesday.  Your child has a packet that we completed in class.  They should be bringing it back and forth from home to school to use it as a study resource. we will begin our next unit in Science on Thursday.

In reading, students are still working with vocabulary while reading The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.  They will finish that unit up on Friday, October the 13th!  Spooky!

In writing, students will finish up their expository writing and work on revising and editing.  They will then begin work on an argumentative piece that tries to convince the readers to pick their playground options and why.

Spelling this week has no rule and is a review of the words from the previous weeks.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns.

Monday, October 2, 2017

October 2- October 6

Dear Fourth Grade Families,
   We apologize for missing last weeks blog. We have created and implemented a schedule to ensure that we are keeping you up to date. We would like to start by thanking the parents that attended our field trip last Thursday. It is so nice to have the extra hands to help and we are sorry to those that were not selected this time. We will also have a spring field trip where we will draw again.
     This week in math we are still working on multiplication and we are getting ready to start an exciting project tomorrow. We are sure your student will be sharing this with you. In reading, we are starting The Legend of Sleepy Hollow today and using it to break down vocabulary terms using our context clues. In writing, students are still working on drafting our expository pieces. They will be ready to publish them soon. In spelling, we are on list 5 which focuses on the double vowel syllable combination "ea". This list may be a bit tricky. Please help your student in preparing for the test on Friday. In social studies, we have delved into our government. We are discussing things like the three branches of government, the people that make them up, their responsibilities and how the Constitution guides everything that they do.
     Other things to be looking for. . .if your student hasn't yet shared their book project with you please ask them about it as it is due October 25. The quarter ends on October 17. If your student hasn't yet achieved their AR goal, please encourage them to be reading at home and quizzing when they have finished their books. We appreciate everything you do for our students! As always, if you have any questions or concerns please reach out to your child's teacher.
Have a great week!
Fourth Grade Teachers