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!