Week 15

We made it to Thanksgiving break!!!!!!!

This week in…

Spelling: NONE

Grammar: We discussed what figurative language is and different types of figurative language including similes, metaphors, proverbs/adages, idioms, and personification.

Reading: We read different poems and discussed the various elements of poetry including line, verse, stanza, rhyming, and repetition.

Writing: The kids worked on completing their body paragraphs and began working on strong introductions and conclusions.

Social Studies: We learned about the last 3 explorers: John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, and Henry Hudson. There will be no test over the explorers!!!

Math: We discussed how to multiply using the distributive property and partial products.

After the break in…

Spelling: The kids will have a new spelling list. They will need to know how to spell the months of the year, the days of the week, their address, and an emergency contact phone number (could be a parent’s phone number). We are finding that many kids do not know the correct spelling for the months and days of the week and some do not know their address.

Grammar: NONE

Reading: We will be discussing the 3^rd type of writing, drama. We will discuss the different elements of dramas and the kids will perform their own reader’s theater on Friday! I will try to get them videoed and on the blog for you to see.

Writing: We will finish writing the opinion essays. These will be due on Friday December 2^nd.

Science: Our new unit will be over sound and light. We will begin this unit on Monday.

Math: We will begin discussing how to multiply 2 digit by 2 digit numbers.

Reminders:

-         -  Next week is Thanksgiving break and we do not have school all week!!! (Don’t worry, I wouldn’t let you forget!)

-        -   I will be submitting a Scholastic order December 12^th. If you order books and do not want me to give them directly to your child, please let me know.

-         -  The break is a great time to practice math facts!!! Please help us continue to improve your child’s math fluency. Traveling over the break? No worries! Calling out math facts is a great way to practice in the car or on a plane too!

o   Here are some additional multiplication fact websites:

§  http://www.multiplication.com/quiz/old/self-correcting-multiplication-online-quizzes

§  http://www.multiplication.com/

§  http://www.softschools.com/math/multiplication/multiplication_drills_game/

§  http://www.math-play.com/multiplication-games.html

§  http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/quick-flash-ii

§  http://mrnussbaum.com/multiplication/

-         -  As a way to celebrate the holidays, we will be doing a class book exchange. Each child should bring in a book that would interest another student. Boys will be exchanging with boys and girls will be exchanging with girls. Please bring in an unwrapped book with your child no later than December 16^th. We will be doing the book exchange during our holiday celebration on the 20^th from 12:40-2:00. If you know your child is going to be absent that day, they may still bring in a book and we will do an exchange for them so they can still participate in the fun! Scholastic is a great place to purchase books! They have books at a reasonably cheap price. To order a book on the Scholastic website, go to https://clubs.scholastic.com/ and use our class code Q79JX to give our class points so we can purchase more books and other resources for our class.

I hope you all have a nice, relaxing, and fun Thanksgiving break! I am thankful for each and every one of your kiddos. They may drive me crazy at times, but overall, they make me fall in love with teaching more and more every day! They are the reason I love coming to school each day! Thank you for trusting me with your precious children each day.

Week 14

Hi parents!

One more week until Thanksgiving break!!! Woohoo!

This week in…

Spelling: The kids completed Spelling BINGO activities. We took our spelling quiz this morning.

Grammar: NONE

Reading: We discussed one of the 3 types of writing, prose. We talked about the characteristics of prose and gave examples of prose. We also discussed the importance of asking questions before, during, and after reading a book. The kids came up with “thick” and “thin” questions to help with comprehension.

Writing: We continued our opinion/persuasive writing pieces.

Social Studies: We began our unit on Explorers. We discussed Christopher Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and Juan Ponce de Leon.

Math: We discussed multiplying two by one digit numbers using base 10 blocks and the area model.

Next week in…

Spelling: NONE

Grammar: We will be discussing figurative language. The kiddos will make a quilt explaining and illustrating similes, metaphors, adages/proverbs, personification, and idioms.

Reading: We will be discussing the 2^nd type of writing, poetry.

Writing: We will work on wrapping up their first opinion pieces by writing conclusions and editing with a partner.

Social Studies: We will learn about the last 3 explorers in our unit: Henry Hudson, Jacques Cartier, and John Cabot.

Math: We will begin discussing ways to multiply two by two digit numbers.

Reminders:

-        -   I will be submitting a scholastic order on December 12^th. 

-       -    Progress reports will go home next Thursday. Your child will only receive a progress report if they are failing a class. Please make sure you are checking Parent Vue.

-        -   Chicken Biscuits will be sold Friday.

-         -  Breakfast will start being served on December 5^th. Chick-Fil-A will no longer be served on Fridays once breakfast begins.

-         -  We will have a Thanksgiving treat on Friday from 10:20-11:00.

I hope you have a great weekend!

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Week 13

Hi parents!

Only 2 more weeks until Thanksgiving break!!!

This week in…

Spelling: We decided as a team that having a spelling, grammar, and reading assessment on Friday was too much so we are going to switch back and forth between spelling and grammar each week. Mrs. Burns will continue to give her spelling list to a couple of her kiddos each week.

Grammar: We continued talking about capitalization. We took a quiz this morning.

Reading: In reading we wrapped up our discussion on point of view. The kids have done a phenomenal job with this!

Writing: We have continued to discuss opinion writing and how to write strong, persuasive essays.

Science: The kids took the Forces and Motion test on Wednesday. Those were sent home yesterday in the Thursday folders. They took the Simple Machine test this afternoon.

Math: We have continued to discuss multiplication patterns and multiplying with base 10 blocks. As promised, I have  a video explaining how we multiply in 4^th grade. I have also emailed a PowerPoint and a parent letter with more explanations.

Next week in…

Spelling: The kids will get a new spelling list next week. You can find the spelling words under the Spelling section on my blog. 

Grammar: NONE

Reading: We will be discussing questioning and prose.

Writing: We will continue to discuss opinion writing and how to make strong arguments using evidence and examples.

Social Studies: Our new unit on Explorers will begin on Monday. The explorers we will be discussing next week are Christopher Columbus, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, and Ponce de Leon.

Math: We will be discussing multiplication of 1 by 2 digit numbers with models and multiplication with regrouping using base 10 blocks.

Here is the link to the video that I made! https://www.educreations.com/lesson/embed/41207482/?s=h4C4dQ&ref=app

I hope it is helpful!

Don’t forget:

-         - There is no school on Tuesday (Election Day).

-         - We will be selling chicken biscuits on Friday.

-         - I will let you know of the date I will be placing the next order as soon as possible, but it will be around the second week of December.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Week 12

Please see below for a change in the science tests for next week!

This week in…

Spelling: We took our spelling quiz this morning.

Grammar: We discussed capitalization rules.

Reading: In reading we discussed point of view. We read two different books, one written in first person point of view and another written in third person point of view.

Writing: The kids have continued to work on opinion/persuasive writing. We looked at some Scholastic News Debate articles on various topics and the kids were able to choose a side.

Science: We wrapped up our discussion on simple machines.

Math: We learned about the different multiplication properties and division rules. We also began discussing factors and multiples.

Next week in…

Spelling: There will be a new spelling list for next week. The kiddos will write these words down in their agenda on Monday. Mrs. Burns will give her kiddos their list.

Grammar:

Reading: We will continue to discuss point of view. There will be a quiz on Friday.

Writing: The kids will begin writing their opinion essays.

Science: We will take the Forces & Motion test on WEDNESDAY and the Simple Machine test on FRIDAY. This is a change from what was originally stated. We decided doing both on the same day would be too much. The kids were given their study guides yesterday. The Forces & Motion study guide should be complete by Monday so we can discuss the answers.

Math: We will begin multiplying one digit numbers.

I will be submitting a Scholastic book order on Monday. Please have your orders in by midnight on Sunday. I can only submit an order if $20 worth of books has been purchased. Please use our class code when ordering so we can get books for our classroom library! Our class code is Q79JX. Follow the link to take you to the Scholastic website https://clubs.scholastic.com/home Books make for some great Christmas gifts! J

On Monday we will be having our fall centers. Please send in $3 if you haven’t already to cover the cost of the materials. Students should NOT dress up on Monday.

Just a reminder, November 8^th is Election Day and also a teacher workday.

Chick-Fil-A Chicken Biscuits will be sold on Friday November 4^th.

I hope you have a great weekend and as always, please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. 

Week 11

It was nice meeting with you all this week. I love getting to brag on all the hard work the kids are doing.

This week in:

Reading: We discussed historical and scientific texts. We used a timeline to explain the events of the Boston Tea Party and a “spider map” to provide information about baby frogs.

Science: We continued our unit on forces and motion and we also began discussing simple machines.

Math: In math we discussed the relationships between multiplication and division and we also reviewed the properties and rules of multiplication and division.

Next week in:

Spelling: We will have a spelling quiz next Friday. You can find a copy of the list of words on my blog under the spelling section. As always, Mrs. Burns will have a different spelling list for her students.

Grammar: We will be discussing capitalization.

Reading: In reading we will be going over different points of view in stories. We will be reading two different stories from 1^st and 3^rd person point of view.

Writing: We will continue with our persuasive/opinion writing unit.

Science: Next week we will wrap up our unit on forces and motion. There will be a test the following week.

Math: We will discuss the associative property of multiplication along with factors and multiples.

Don’t forget, I will be submitting a scholastic book order on October 31^st. I can only submit an order if $20 worth of books have been ordered.

We will be transforming our pumpkins on Wednesday. Please send in the pumpkins as soon as possible but no later than Tuesday! Remember, if the pumpkin needs to be completely painted all over that needs to be done at home. There will not be enough time for the paint to dry on Wednesday. This is NOT Halloween related. We are only using pumpkins since you can find them anywhere this time of year.

Your child may dress like their favorite book character on Friday October 28^th. Our class fall centers will be on October 31^st from 10:20-10:55. If you would like to join us, please feel free.

Picture retakes are next Tuesday. If you want your child to get their picture taken again, please make sure they are dressed appropriately on this day.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to contact me.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Week 10

Hi parents! 

This week in…

Spelling: We took our spelling quiz this morning.

Grammar: We have been talking about adjectives this week.

Reading: In reading we have continued to discuss summarizing fiction stories. We also discussed how technical texts explain a procedure or how to do something. We looked at different recipes and looked at the different steps to the recipe.

Writing: We began talking about persuasive/opinion writing.

Social Studies: On Wednesday we took the Native American test.

Science: Our new science unit will be on forces and motion.

Math: We are beginning Unit 2 which starts out with multiplication and division relationships.

Due to our shortened schedule for conferences, we will only be doing 3 subjects.

Next week in…

Reading: We will read different types of scientific and historical informational texts.

Science: We will continue to discuss forces and motion.

Math: We will continue with Unit 2 on multiplication. When we start getting into the different ways to multiply, I will be sending out a video explaining the steps to help clarify any confusion.

Picture retakes are rescheduled for October 25^th. If you ordered pictures they were sent home yesterday.

Parent Vue and Student Vue will be down until after conferences so if you have trouble logging in just know that it has been deactivated for the week.

I am looking forward to seeing you all next week for conferences! Please remember to be on time to your conference. We are on a very tight schedule and will not be able to run over if you are late. If you are early and have time to take a 10-15 minute survey, you can do so in the upstairs or downstairs computer labs. If you cannot come early, please stay after your conference to complete this survey. The class with the highest number of parents who take the survey will be rewarded with a treat! If your conference time is after 3:15, please plan on coming through the ASP doors in the back of the building as there will be no one in the office at this time to let you in.

I will be submitting the Scholastic order on October 31^st so please get your orders in!

If you have any questions, as always, please do not hesitate to email me.

Week 9

We have reached the end of the first 9 weeks!

Thank you so much for quickly returning the conference forms!

This week in…

Spelling: We read through a Scholastic News magazine and we highlighted spelling words along with answering reading comprehension questions about the different articles. The kids took their spelling quiz this morning.

Grammar: We discussed three different homophones: your/you’re, whose/who’s, and its/it’s. The students took an assessment this morning.

Reading: In reading we continued to discuss summarizing and main idea. They took their main idea assessment this morning.

Writing: We finished up writing narratives and the students shared their writing with the class.

Social Studies: We talked about the last Native American tribe, the Seminoles. The test over Native Americans will be on Wednesday. I totally forgot about our field trip on Tuesday so obviously we will not be able to take our test that day! Oops! As you are helping your child study, please make sure they are also studying the map of the locations of the tribes we have discussed. This will be in their Social Studies notebook.

Math: We continued reviewing unit 1. We took our unit test this afternoon.

Next week in…

Spelling: I will give out a new list of spelling words for my kiddos, the list is posted on the blog and the kids will write them down in their agendas on Monday. Mrs. Burns will give her kiddos their spelling words as well.

Grammar: We will be talking about adjectives.

Reading: The students will be discussing the differences between scientific, historical, and technical texts along with finding the theme and message of a fiction story.

Writing: We will begin discussing opinion writing.

Social Studies: We will take our Native American test on Wednesday.

Math: We will begin chapter 3 which is over the oh so fun multiplication! PLEASE stick with the strategies that we are teaching in class otherwise the kids will be totally confused. I will be more than happy to send out some videos that will teach you the strategies we are using in class. I understand that this is different from the way you and I learned how to multiply, however this is how they have to learn now and they will need to be able to explain the different strategies on the Milestone. Unfortunately they cannot use the standard algorithm. I appreciate your support with this.

Our field trip to the Booth Museum is next Tuesday. I have actually been to the Booth Museum before and it is pretty neat, so I think the kids will enjoy it. Who am I kidding, they would enjoy anything that doesn’t involve sitting in class! If your child told me they are bringing a sack lunch, please have it in a brown paper bag or a plastic bag. They should know what they told me. I will remind them next week.

Don’t forget, I will be placing a Scholastic order on October 31^st!

Have a great weekend!

Week 7

Happy Friday!

I hope you have had a wonderful week!

This week in…

Spelling: We read a Scholastic News and highlighted our spelling words. The kids took their spelling quiz this morning.

Grammar: We have continued to discuss possessive nouns.

Reading: This week we have been learning about how to determine the main idea and using supporting details to show evidence. We have also continued to talk about inferencing.

Writing: The kids have continued to finish up their narratives. Some kiddos started sharing their narratives this week too. They are so cute!

Science: They took their Water and Weather test on Tuesday. Overall, I was really impressed with how well the kids did!

Social Studies: We began talking about 2 Native American tribes, Kwakiutl and Nez Perce.

Math: We discussed finding the perimeter of figures and word problems involving perimeter.

Last week in…

Spelling: The students will get their new spelling words on Monday and will be quizzed over them on Friday.

Grammar: We will be discussing the differences between there, their, and they’re. There will be an assessment on Friday.

Reading: We will continue to discuss main idea using supporting details and we also begin discussing how to summarize a text. There will be an assessment over main idea on Friday.

Writing: The kids will continue finishing their narratives and sharing them with the class once they are complete.

Social Studies: We will learn about more Native American tribes. We will discuss their environment, shelter, clothing, and the food they ate.

Math: We have covered all of our math standards for the first nine weeks so for the last couple week we will be reviewing the concepts to ensure the students have fully grasped the concepts. Please continue to review the following concepts at home with your child: place value, expanded form, word form, standard form, rounding, estimating, comparing and ordering numbers, addition, subtraction, and perimeter. There will be a Unit 1 post-test the Friday after Fall break.

We are getting low on band-aids, so if you would be so kind as to donate some it would be greatly appreciated!

One more week until our break! I know the kids are ready for a break. They have been working so hard and I am extremely proud of them!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Week 6

Happy Friday!

Don’t you wish every work week could be 4 days?!

This week in…

Spelling: The kids were introduced to their spelling words that they will be quizzed over next Friday. 

Grammar: We have been talking about possessive nouns.

Reading: Mrs. Burns and I have been conferencing with students and setting up reading goals and strategies. We also discussed inferencing in fiction and non-fiction texts.

Writing: The kids have been working hard on their narratives! Many of them are wrapping up their narratives and are almost ready to start on their final draft.

Science: We talked about how to read weather maps, how to predict weather, and the different weather instruments that meteorologists use. The Water and Weather test is on Tuesday September 13^th. Study guides were sent home on Tuesday so your child should be studying at home.

Social Studies: I introduced the students to their project that they will work on over the next month. The students will be completing a map in a month. They received information on this today so please look over this with your child this weekend. I encouraged the kids to not put anything off and to not get behind, however they are more than welcome to go ahead of the pacing guide!

Math: We discussed strategies on how to solve word problems and multi-step word problems using the CUBES acronym. The kiddos took their chapter 2 test today!

Next week in…

Spelling: The kids will work on their spelling activities and there will be a quiz on Friday.

Grammar: We will continue talking about possessive nouns.

Reading: We will be discussing main idea and supporting details in fiction and informational texts.

Writing: The students will wrap up their personal narratives and will begin writing their final drafts!

Science: The Water and Weather test is on Tuesday.

Social Studies: We will begin our unit on Native Americans. Your child should be working on their Map In A Month project.

Math: We will be discussing perimeter.

I would like to submit the Scholastic Book Club orders by September 19^th so please get your orders in over the next week! We are still a couple dollars short of being able to submit the order! Check last week’s Weekly Update for more information.

If you have not already done so, please return the permission form for Edmodo. I would like to begin using this tool for the students to use as well as assigning homework through Edmodo. You can follow this link to register your child:  https://edmo.do/j/s9dw69 . If you need another copy of the permission form please let me know so I can send one home with your child. Your child knows if I do not have their permission form. These forms were passed out at Open House.

Also, I was able to get my Social Studies grades fixed so every child should now show a grade for Social Studies. Good news, no one needs a progress report sent home because everyone is passing Social Studies! Woohooo!!

Reminders:

-          Tonight is the Fall Festival! It will be from 5:30-9.

-          Picture day is on Monday. Make sure you kiddos are dressed nicely for picture. Please bring picture money if you plan to purchase pictures.

-          Due to 1^st, 3^rd, and 5^th grade taking the Iowa/CoGAT test next week, starting on Friday our specials will be from 8:25-9:20 and lunch will be from 11:00-11:30. This will only be for a few days. We will be back to our normal schedule on September 21^st.

If you got an email stating that you had not turned in your money for Boosterthon and you know that you did, no worries! I turned in all the money this afternoon so they should get that processed soon! I am so sorry about that!

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to let me know.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Week 5

We survived week 5! The kids have been having so much fun this week with the Boosterthon fundraiser and they were super pumped about the Fun Run! Thanks to all of the parents, friends, and family who contributed!

This week in…

Spelling: The kiddos worked on their spelling activities and took their spelling quiz this morning.

Grammar: We discussed singular and plural nouns and overall the kids have been doing very well with this concept!

Reading: We continued to talk about the theme of books and different context clues that we can use to determine a word’s meaning.

Writing: The kids have been working very hard on their personal narratives and I have enjoyed reading them this week.

Science: We talked about the different types of clouds and the differences between weather and climate. They seem to really be enjoying this unit, which I love! Please ask them questions about what they are learning! I think they may be faster at naming clouds than I am!

Math: We learned the standard algorithm for subtraction and subtracting across zeros. This is an extremely abstract and difficult concept for the kids so please help your child with this at home!

Next week in…

Spelling: We will give a preview of the words but will not officially test on these words until the following Friday (9/16) due to the short 4 day week, I know the kids will be so sad (ha!).

Grammar: We will be discussing possessive nouns. There will be an assessment on Friday.

Reading: The kids will be practicing inferencing skills. Please practice this skill with your child as this can be a very difficult concept.

Writing: We will continue working on and editing their personal narratives.

Science: The kids will be learning about weather maps and weather instruments. The Water and Weather test will be on Tuesday September 20^th. I will pass out a study guide next week!

Math: We will be solving addition and subtraction word problems and multi-step word problems.

Make sure your child is logging into IXL each day. This is a great website to practice the skills we are learning in class. If you do not have access to internet at home, I always allow kids to log on in the morning! I also have SEVERAL resources for different math skills on my blog under the “Math” page. I recommend that your child practices their basic math facts as often as possible. I’m finding that many of them do not know their basic addition and subtraction facts, so these sites will help and they are games so they don’t even realize they are educational (teacher secret!). I have resources for other subjects under my other pages on my blog as well, so please check it out!

At Open House I handed out a sheet with the information about how to purchase books off of the Scholastic website. I have a couple parents who want to purchase books for their child, however I cannot submit the order until the total is $20. PLEASE consider purchasing books through this website, the books are marked down and some of them are dirt cheap. Not to mention, for every dollar you spend our class gets a point. With the points I can order books for our classroom library and other fun things! The easiest way to order is to go online to https://clubs.scholastic.com/home and create an account. Enter our class code which is Q79JX and this will ensure that our class gets the points through your purchases.

Progress Reports will be sent home next week in the Thursday Folders to all students. If your child has a C or below in any subject you are asked to sign and return their Progress Report. You can also log in to ParentVue to see their grades as well. If you still do not have access or have difficulty logging in, please contact the front office.

Please sign and return the Performing Arts permission forms as soon as possible. These are in school “field trips” that the students can participate in. It is requested that you make a donation to the program, however it is not mandatory for your child to attend. If I do not have a permission form for your child, I cannot allow them to go and they will have to sit in another class or in the Learning Commons (library).

If you have any questions or concerns about anything, please do not hesitate to contact me. If I can’t answer your question over email, I will be more than willing to set up a time to meet or a time to call you. I want your child to be successful and I will do whatever it takes to make that happen!

Week 4

TGIF!!!

We have been very busy learning lots of fun stuff this week! Here’s what we have been working on in…

Spelling: The kids worked on spelling activities and took their spelling quiz this morning.

Grammar: We talked about common and proper nouns and there was an assessment on that this morning as well.

Reading: We were introduced to a new CAFE strategy, Voracious Reading! Please have conversations with your child and encourage them to use these strategies as they are reading at home.

Writing: The kids have been working very hard on their personal narratives. They did an AWESOME job coming up with some very clever hooks!

Social Studies: The kids took the Economics test on Tuesday. Those grade came home in the Thursday folders yesterday.

Science: We began our unit on water and weather! We talked about the different states of matter, the water cycle, and various forms of precipitation.

Math: The kids have been doing an AWESOME job with adding and regrouping this week! I am so proud of how hard they are working! It’s hard having math at the end of the day but they are doing a great job!

Next week in…

Spelling: I have posted the week 4 spelling words. Please remember that some of your kids will have a different list than what I have attached. They will get this list from Mrs. Burns on Monday.

Grammar: We will be talking about singular and plural nouns and will have an assessment on Friday.

Reading: We will continue discussing themes of books and learning new strategies to use while reading! There will be an assessment on Friday over theme.

Writing: I will go over with the students how to improve their writing.

Science: We will be discussing clouds. Your child will be required to do some cloud observations at home.

Math: The kids will learn the standard algorithm for subtraction and regrouping (borrowing)! Please work with your child on these skills as they are crucial to understand before learning other, more challenging, math concepts.

Parent To-Do:

• I have been posting grades online, please log into ParentVue and check your child’s grades if you haven’t already. If you do not have the login information, you will need to go to the office to pick that up.
• If you have not returned the Edmodo permission sheet, please return it. I want to begin using that for homework assignments.
• Class t-shirt orders were due today, but if you forgot to turn in the form, it’s not too late! Send in the money with the attached blue paper on Monday!
• Sign up for Remind if you haven’t already, you can find the invite sheet that tells you how to sign up under the Parent Resources tab.

If you have any questions, please let me know!

Week 3

I want to thank those of you again for attending Open House last night! It was so nice to see all of you. I know all of the information can be overwhelming so I am attaching the PowerPoint in case you want to go back and digest some of the information some more. Also, for those of you who did not attend, this will help provide you with a little more information about how our class is set up and what you can expect for your child’s 4^th grade year.

This week in…

Spelling/Grammar: The students worked on their spelling activities and they took their spelling quiz this morning. We also discussed simple subjects this week.

Reading: We continued to learn reading strategies and the students are finding “good fit books” to read.

Writing: The kiddos have been working hard on their narratives.

Social Studies: We wrapped up our Economics unit and there will be a test next Tuesday. Your child should be bringing home their study guide and their Social Studies notebook every day to study. Please help your child go over these terms.

Math: We are wrapping up place value today with a Chapter 1 test (reading and writing large numbers, comparing and ordering numbers, and rounding numbers).

Next week in…

Spelling/Grammar: I am going to start posting the spelling list for the week to my blog (see Spelling page on the left). Some of your children may have a modified spelling list from Mrs. Burns so check your child’s agenda for their words as well. In grammar we will be talking about common and proper nouns.

Reading: We will continue practicing our reading stamina and learning new CAFE strategies.

Writing: The students will continue working on their personal narratives.

Social Studies/Science: We will take our Economics test on Tuesday. On Monday, we will begin our Science unit on Water and Weather!

Math: We will begin learning how to do the standard algorithm for addition (woohoo, you’re welcome parents!). Please help your child with this concept as it is a new concept for most of them.

If you haven’t already, please sign up for Remind. This is a simple, easy, and convenient way for me to send you quick text updates and reminders about what is going on in our class. I will attach the letter that was sent home at Sneak-A-Peek but all you have to do is text @b99c7 to the number 81010.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I am so blessed to be able to spend my days with your precious children. As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do not ever hesitate to contact me! 

Week 2

I hope you all have had a wonderful week! We have been rockin’ and rollin’ in class this week! I am SO proud of the kids and all of their hard work. They have done such a wonderful job with all of the routines and procedures (they even keep me in line if I have forgotten something!).

This week in…

Reading- We continued with our CAFÉ strategies and we continued to build our reading stamina. We went to the library and checked out books as well.

Writing- We talked more about narrative writing and will continue to talk about and write narratives in the coming weeks.

Spelling- The kids had their first spelling sort this week. They did a great job with their spelling activities. The kids will always be required to do spelling activities each week (all due on Friday) and then we will have a spelling test every Friday (unless told otherwise).

Grammar- We talked about complete subjects and predicates.

Social Studies- We began our unit on economics! We talked about goods and services, opportunity cost, wants and needs (hearing their wants vs needs was funny!), and supply and demand. The kids have a TON of background knowledge about economics thanks to their fabulous 3^rd grade teachers and Market/ Economics Day! Please talk with your child about these different concepts and test them on their knowledge!

Math- We continued talking about place value which includes how to read numbers properly, how to compare numbers, and how to order numbers. Please continue the extra practice with your child by having them read numbers to you! All students should have their IXL usernames and passwords where they can go on and practice the math concepts we are currently working on!

Next week in…

Reading- We will continue learning more CAFÉ strategies and building our stamina!

Writing- The students will begin to compose their own narrative.

Spelling- We will begin with a new spelling sort and the kids will have a quiz on Friday (if they are with me for spelling).

Grammar- We will be talking about simple subjects.

Social Studies- We will wrap up our Economics unit by discussing different resources, international trade, specialization, and income. The students will be taking a test on August 23^rd over the Economic unit. I highly suggest that the kids start studying now! They will be given a study guide early next week.

Math- We will be talking about how to round numbers and solving different real-world problems involving place value! There will be a math assessment on Friday to go over these concepts. (There is a math assessment every Friday).

Open House is on Thursday at 5:00! Please plan on being there as I will be discussing many important topics about your child’s year in 4^th grade!

I hope you have a great weekend!

Thanks!

Week 1

What a whirlwind of a week it has been! It has been a crazy busy, but wonderful, first week of school! I am loving getting to know all of your precious children!

This week we really focused on learning classroom routines and procedures. We are still a work in progress but they are doing a phenomenal job so far.

In math, we began learning and talking about place value. We will continue to work on this next week. You can help your child by writing down a number and having them read it to you out loud. We will be going up to the millions place. In social studies, we talked about map skills. The students worked with a partner to discover different parts of a map and various locations on a map. Next week we will begin talking about economics! In reading, the students were introduced to new reading strategies using the CAFE model.  I hope that you will frequently ask your child what they are learning in class! These updates are to help you when you ask your child what they learned at school and they respond with “nothing”! I encourage you to test their knowledge!

Please know that you are asked to sign the agenda each day. It is your child’s responsibility to remind you of this. It is NEVER your fault for forgetting to sign their agenda (trust me, they will blame you and I remind them that you’ve already passed 4^th grade J). By 4^th grade the kids should start becoming independent learners. The agendas are going to be checked for signatures daily starting on Monday. Students are also required to read for 2 hours each week. These 2 hours must be spread out over at least 3 days. I recommend that the kids read about 20 minutes a night. Please make sure your child is recording their reading in their agenda each day. This will be discussed further at Open House on the 18^th.

If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to let me know! I look forward to seeing all of you at Open House on August 18^th. Have a great weekend!