August 31- Sept 2

Welcome Back!

We are so very happy to have had a great start to our school year.  Here is a look at what we will be doing in the classroom this week.

In Reading, students are learning about the different roles of Literature Circles and how to have quality discussions about the books that we are reading.  Eventually, students will be broken up into small groups to have discussions on small group reads.  

In Writing, we are launching our Writer's Notebook and Writer's Workshop.  We are working on how to edit sentences and apply that to our own writing.  Students will also work on writing from their senses this week, as well as working on nonfiction writing.  

Students will also begin working on our first Science unit.  We will launch our notebooks, and work on learning the Scientific Method as we navigate through a chapter on energy.  We will NOT have a test this unit, but will have a few assignments to be completed throughout the unit to check for understanding.  

Math will continue this week with comparing and ordering numbers, and completing a check to ensure learning.  

We will have our first spelling list this week.  Students will keep a copy in their Writer's Notebook as a spelling resource, and will bring a list home.  Please work with your child on learning their rule, as well as the words, as they will be tested on both.  A list will be posted to the right hand side of this blog shortly, in case a list happens to disappear!  

Have a great week!

Welcome Back!

We are so very happy to have had a great start to our school year.  Here is a look at what we will be doing in the classroom this week.

In Reading, students are learning about the different roles of Literature Circles and how to have quality discussions about the books that we are reading.  Eventually, students will be broken up into small groups to have discussions on small group reads.  

In Writing, we are launching our Writer's Notebook and Writer's Workshop.  We are working on how to edit sentences and apply that to our own writing.  Students will also work on writing from their senses this week, as well as working on nonfiction writing.  

Students will also begin working on our first Science unit.  We will launch our notebooks, and work on learning the Scientific Method as we navigate through a chapter on energy.  We will NOT have a test this unit, but will have a few assignments to be completed throughout the unit to check for understanding.  

Math will continue this week with comparing and ordering numbers, and completing a check to ensure learning.  

We will have our first spelling list this week.  Students will keep a copy in their Writer's Notebook as a spelling resource, and will bring a list home.  Please work with your child on learning their rule, as well as the words, as they will be tested on both.  A list will be posted to the right hand side of this blog shortly, in case a list happens to disappear!  

Have a great week!

Welcome Back!

We are so very happy to have had a great start to our school year.  Here is a look at what we will be doing in the classroom this week.

In Reading, students are learning about the different roles of Literature Circles and how to have quality discussions about the books that we are reading.  Eventually, students will be broken up into small groups to have discussions on small group reads.  

In Writing, we are launching our Writer's Notebook and Writer's Workshop.  We are working on how to edit sentences and apply that to our own writing.  Students will also work on writing from their senses this week, as well as working on nonfiction writing.  

Students will also begin working on our first Science unit.  We will launch our notebooks, and work on learning the Scientific Method as we navigate through a chapter on energy.  We will NOT have a test this unit, but will have a few assignments to be completed throughout the unit to check for understanding.  

Math will continue this week with comparing and ordering numbers, and completing a check to ensure learning.  

We will have our first spelling list this week.  Students will keep a copy in their Writer's Notebook as a spelling resource, and will bring a list home.  Please work with your child on learning their rule, as well as the words, as they will be tested on both.  A list will be posted to the right hand side of this blog shortly, in case a list happens to disappear!  

Have a great week!

May 2-6

Reminders: Field Trip Permission forms are due this Friday! Teachers will notify the parents whose names were drawn to attend with us as soon as possible.

4th Grade Field Trip is May 13th.

Character Awards Assembly is tomorrow (May 3rd) at 2:15.

AR points are due May 11th

Book Projects are due May 13th.

Science Fair is May 10th from 2-3 in the Multi-purpose room.

In reading this week, we will be getting into groups for a Fractured Fairy Tales project. Students will be comparing traditional fairy tales with a Fractured version. Then they will be working to present their fairy tales as a play, playing the different characters in their story. This will be a continuing project.

In writing this week, we will shift to reviewing persuasive writing. We will work on writing persuasive pieces all week in our workshop format.

In spelling, we will get a new list this week to study. The spelling test will be Friday.

In math, we will begin the Metric Olympics. Students will be in teams and compete in events that require them to estimate and measure several different things in order to be successful. This is a fun way to review the metric system. Each team will be a country and have their own flag.

In science, we will be wrapping up our science fair projects. We will be creating our boards and working on our presentations for next Tuesday.

Have a great week! Only 13 school days until summer!!

April 18-22

Reminders: 4th Grade MAP testing will begin next week!

In reading this week, we will take a break from MAP review and begin reading Sarah, Plain and Tall. We will do a lot of vocabulary and critical thinking as we read.

In writing this week, we will review the use of apostrophes. We will begin by reviewing contractions and then review possessive nouns. We will work on applying these skills in our daily writer's workshop.

In spelling this week, we will get a new list on Monday and test over it on Friday. This week's words will be a review over the previous 5 lists we have worked on.

In math this week, we will continue reviewing and practicing multiple math skills with out morning work. Then for our lessons, we will do MAP test prep using test-like questions to review the concepts we've covered this year.

In science, we will continue working on our science fair projects. We are hoping to begin wrapping them up this week and next so that we can begin working on our presentations. Science fair will be May 10th, in the afternoon during school.

Have a great week!

April 11-15

Reminders:
Wednesday is a noon dismissal
Friday, Progress reports will be sent home. Please sign and return those as soon as possible. 1/2 AR point goal is due Friday!

This week in reading, we will focus on MAP prep and test taking tips. MAP testing will begin April 25 for 4th grade. We will also introduce our new and final book project this week. Students will be making a game board to go along with their book.

In writing this week, we will continue reviewing grammar and language skills. We will review quotations, letter writing, and common homophones (there, their, too, to, etc).

In math, we will continue with our geometry unit. We will continue working on using our protractors to measure and draw angles. We will also work on using those measurements to help us classify shapes.

In spelling, we will get our new list on Monday. Test will be Friday.

In science, we will continue working on science fair projects. Many groups have begun testing while others are continuing to plan and prepare their projects.


Have a great week!

April 4-8

Thank you so much for all you did to help our Wax Museum be a success last week!

This week in writing, we will move to a more "Writer's Workshop" like approach. This will give students more freedom in topics during writing. We will use this approach to reteach several grammar concepts that we've covered this year. We will do a lot of reviewing to help them prepare for MAP testing. This week we will give them resources for coming up with new writing topics and we will review capitalization rules, the four sentence types, and the editing/revising process.

In reading this week, we will continue practicing identifying first and secondhand accounts. We will read several examples and use point of view and the focus to help analyze and determine if an account is firsthand or secondhand.

In spelling this week, we will work with words that have the suffix -er or -est. We will do several activities with these words throughout the week, including a cursive practice worksheet. The test for this list will be Friday.

In math, we will move to measuring area and perimeter. We will discuss how these are different. We will then move to geometry as we begin discussing and measuring angles. We will use these measurements to help classify angles.

In science, we will continue our work on science fair projects. Groups working with plants were able to get those planted last week. All other groups will do their experiments at the end of this week or beginning of next week. Again, the school is providing all the necessary materials for the science fair projects. We are sending home a note today with more information. Science fair will be May 10th in the afternoon during school! I don't know the set time yet, but we will get that information to you ASAP.

Reminders:
1/2 AR points are due next Friday, April 15. Progress reports will go home this day.
Character award assembly will be tomorrow, April 5th, at 2:15

Thanks and have a great week!