Nov. 12-16

Weekly Update

Important Reminders:

• Helping Hands began last week with food week, and thanks to your generosity we collected 116 food items! Amazing!  Please send in paper products this week.  Thank you for your help!
• We have library tomorrow - please plan to return or renew your books.
• PLEASE practice multiplication facts!  The students need to really know them quickly, and without having to use strategies to solve them.  We will be starting multi-digit multiplication and long division soon, and having those multiplication facts memorized will be a HUGE help!  On Google Classroom (just log in with your child's username and password, then save that to your computer, and you will then have access whenever) I put some multiplication websites and game directions under the "classwork" tab and then under the "Websites" topic.  Thanks for your help with practicing these facts!

• Please remember to check, and initial, your child's planner every night.  Homework and important notes are written in the planner daily.  Thanks for your help with this!
• Please send a snack with your child that is NUT FREE every day, as we do not eat lunch until 12:10.  Thanks!

Important Dates to Remember:

• Nov. 12-16 = Leader of the Week - Peyton
• Nov. 16 - Mystery Reader
• Nov. 18th - Happy Birthday Armin
• Nov. 20th - Wacky Day
• Nov. 21-23 - Thanksgiving Break
• Nov. 26-30 = Leader of the Week - Riza
• Nov. 27 - Picture Retake Day
• Nov. 28-Dec. 1 - Scholastic Book Fair
• Nov. 30 - Mystery Reader

Check Out What We Are Learning This Week:

Writing:  
We are continuing Unit 2: Personal and Persuasive Essays this week.  We are working on our conclusions, editing and revising, and will be celebrating our pieces on Thursday.   ***I uploaded pictures of the Essay anchor charts for this unit  under the "Writing" topic on our Google Classroom. ***

Reading:  

We are continuing Unit 2: Reading Informational Books.  We will continue to focus on the different Text Structures in informational texts.  The students will begin taking notes about hurricanes using the text structures we spent the last few weeks learning.  We are beginning our research to help us answer the question, "How can we educate others about the importance of understanding extreme weather."  This will be our driving question for our PBL unit.  ***I uploaded pictures of the text features anchor chart and the text structures anchor chart to our Google Classroom on the "Reading" topic.*** 

Read Aloud:

I will continue reading the book Out of My Mind to the class.  This is an amazing book about an extraordinary eleven year old girl who is the smartest kid in her school, but no one knows it because she is stuck inside her head.  This book allows for some very heart warming conversations about acceptance and inclusion.  I LOVE this book!  

Math:  

We began Ch. 6: Divide by a One-Digit Number last week.  In this chapter, the students will learn o estimate quotients, problem solve using a model, divide with remainders (aka Long Division), how to interpret remainders, how to use the Distributive Property and partial quotients, how to divide with zeros as quotients, and multi-step word problems.  This is a long chapter, with lots to learn.  Long Division is a hard concept, with many steps.  We will spend two days learning this concept, and then lots of time in small groups practicing this concept.   Our test is currently scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 29.  

**I will post a picture of the Long Division anchor chart, and the Ch. 6 study guide to our Google Classroom asap.  I will let you know when they are there.**

***Knowing your multiplication facts is extremely important as we move forward in math, so keep practicing those facts! 

***In order for students to show mastery with a standard, they will be doing "Check-ins" throughout the year to show that they didn't just memorize the skills for the test, but that they retained the skills, thus showing mastery.  My goal with the check-ins is to make sure that the 4th grade Math Standards are mastered by all students by the end of the year! ***

Spelling:  

We will begin learning the patterns of the words for our next spelling sort in our units.  We will also take our Sight Word test on Friday, Nov. 16th.  Remember these are the words that do not follow a pattern, and need to be memorized.  Students will need to not only spell the words correctly, but be able to read them in order to "pass" this group of words.

Science:

Last week we completed the Mystery Science unit on the Birth of Rocks.  The students had a fun time with the investigations in this online unit.  We will continue our unit on Rocks and the Earth's Surface this week with a rock cycle lab using Starburst, continuing to learn about the different types of rocks, and doing a Science Court about soil.  

Have a GREAT Week!