Mark Twain Readers

These kiddos read some of the Mark Twain Nominees.  Congrats to Kate, Aislyn, and Caroline who read 8 or more, and were invited to the Mark Twain party in the library.  Also, congrats to Thomas and Destiny who read 4 Mark Twain Nominees and were able to vote today. 

Float My Boat - Science Experiment

Students designed a boat, predicted how many pennies it could hold before sinking, and then tested it.  They took the results from their first boat to build a second boat to test.  

Leader of the Week - Kate

Mystery Reader - Mrs. Knehans

Thanks Mrs. Knehans for being our Myster Reader on Friday!  We loved the book, “Mr. Peabody’s Apples,” and the lesson we learned about spreading rumors.  Thanks for coming!

Weekly Update: Feb. 25 - March 1

Weekly Update

Important Reminders:

• We have Library Tomorrow.  Please plan to return or renew your books.
• Read Across America Week Potato Contest:
  , Feb. 28.
• Extra PE for returning ALL Jump Rope for Heart permission slips first out of the whole 4th grade is Thursday
• 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

• Feb. 25-28 - Leader of the Week = Kate
• Feb. 26 - Mother and Son Dance at Concord
• March 1 - Mystery Reader
• March 5 - Father and Daughter Dance at Concord
• March 7 - 3rd Quarter Ends & Half Day of School
• March 8 - No School - Professional Dev. for teachers
• March 11-15 - Leader of the Week = Armin
• March 13-15 - I will be out for a minor surgery.  Mrs. Stevens (she has been an SSD Para in our building for years, and just finished her student teaching with Mrs. Goedde) will be the guest teacher for these 3 days.  She is awesome!
• March 18-22 - Spring Break
• March 25 - School resumes
• March 25-29 - Leader of the Week = Jack
• March 26 - Concord Expo

MAP Testing Dates:

• MAP ELA  - April 29, May 1, and May 2.  We will test first thing in the morning (9:00) until 11:00/11:30, depending on the test.  
• MAP Math - May 6 and May 8.  We will test during the same time frame as the ELA tests.  

Check Out What We Are Learning This Week:

Writing:  

We will continue with Unit 3:Bringing History to Life.  This week, the students will use the research they gathered to continue drafting the chapters for their information pieces.  The students came up with some great topics, and focus topics.   While the students are drafting this week, I will pull groups to work on headings and subheadings, elaborating, transitions, introductions and closings, and the organization of their pieces.  The students will take what they learned from the first piece in this unit, as well as from the small group instruction, to complete this piece independently.  We will showcase this piece, and what the students learned about their topics, at our 4th Grade Expert Fair.  More info will come regarding this event, including the date and time, asap.  

Grammar:

This week we will be focusing on Part 3 of Sentences and Fragments, with a direct focus on Prepositions.  We will also be focusing on Independent Parts of Speech, with a direct focus on nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs.  After the minilessons on these topics, the students will be using noredink.com for more practice and an assessment.  

Reading:  

We will continue with Unit 3: Reading History: The American Revolution.  We have moved on from reading and learning about the American Revolution, and are now learning skills and strategies for any informational text.  We will be focusing on making inferences while reading non-fiction and fiction, as well as identifying the Author's Purpose of a text.  

Read Aloud:

We are finishing  Walk Two Moons on either Monday or Tuesday, and will begin another one of my favorites, Among the Hidden.   This is the first book out of seven in the Shadow Children series by Margaret Peterson.  This is a book about a fictional future in which drastic measures have been taken to stop overpopulation.  My students loved this book last year, and could not wait to read the rest of the series on their own.  I do have the entire series for our classroom library that I will get out for them once I finish the first book.  

Math:  

We will begin Ch. 11: Customary Measurement.  In this chapter, we will be reviewing customary units of length, measurement, and weight.  We will also be converting these customary units of measurement, which is a harder concept for some because it does require memorizing the units.  We will also be converting time, displaying measurement data in a line plot, and problem solving with measurement.  Our Ch. 11 test is scheduled for Friday, March 1.  The study guide is on Google Classroom. 

***Knowing your multiplication facts is extremely important as we move forward in math, so keep practicing those facts!  We will continue to practice multi-digit multiplication and long division.

***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:  

ALL Students will test over their current Spelling sort on Friday, March 1st.  

We will continue to have sight word tests, however they will be every other week so that the students are only taking one "spelling" test a week.  Our next sight word test will be on Thursday, March 7.   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 began Ch. 7: Matter.  We learned about the properties and phases of matter, how matter is measured and changes, and what mixtures are.  This week we will use what we learned about Matter to complete investigations during six different Matter Stations.  We will also complete a STEAM project about Density.  

 Have a GREAT Week!

Weekly Update: Feb. 18-22

Weekly Update

Important Reminders:

• 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:

• Feb. 18 - No School
• Feb. 22 - Mystery Reader
• Feb. 25-28 - Leader of the Week = Kate
• Feb. 26 - Mother and Son Dance at Concord
• March 1 - Mystery Reader

MAP Testing Dates:

• MAP ELA  - April 29, May 1, and May 2.  We will test first thing in the morning (9:00) until 11:00/11:30, depending on the test.  
• MAP Math - May 6 and May 8.  We will test during the same time frame as the ELA tests.  

Check Out What We Are Learning This Week:

Writing:  

We will continue with Unit 3:Bringing History to Life.  This week, the students will use the research they gathered last week to begin drafting the chapters for their information piece.  The students came up with some great topics, and focus topics.   While the students are drafting this week, I will pull groups to work on headings and subheadings, elaborating, transitions, introductions and closings, and the organization of their pieces.  The students will take what they learned from the first piece in this unit, as well as from the small group instruction, to complete this piece independently.  We will showcase this piece, and what the students learned about their topics, at our 4th Grade Expert Fair.  More info will come regarding this event, including the date and time, asap.  

Grammar:

This week we will be focusing on Part 2 of Sentences and Fragments, with a direct focus on Dialogue and Pronouns.  After the minilesson on these topics, the students will be using noredink.com for more practice and an assessment.  The students did a great job with independent and dependent clauses last week.  Hopefully we will see an improvement in their writing with complete and incomplete thoughts.  

Reading:  

We will continue with Unit 3: Reading History: The American Revolution.  We have moved on from reading and learning about the American Revolution, and are now learning skills and strategies for any informational text.  We will be focusing on making inferences while reading non-fiction, summarizing non-fiction, and learning strategies for tackling complex texts.

Read Aloud:

We will continue reading another one of my favorites, Walk Two Moons, this week.   Walk Two Moons is a young adult novel by Sharon Creech, narrated in first person through Salamanca Tree Hiddle, better known as Sal. While traveling across the country to Idaho with her grandparents, she tells of her new best friend, Phoebe Winterbottom. Her own story unfolds at the same time.  In this book, the message "Don't judge a person until you have walked two moons in his moccasins" appears over and over.  We will discuss what this means in reference to each character, as well as to ourselves.  

Math:  

We will begin Ch. 11: Customary Measurement.  In this chapter, we will be reviewing customary units of length, measurement, and weight.  We will also be converting these customary units of measurement, which is a harder concept for some because it does require memorizing the units.  We will also be converting time, displaying measurement data in a line plot, and problem solving with measurement.  Our Ch. 11 test is scheduled for Friday, March 1.  Once we have the study guide ready to go, I will add it to the Google Classroom.  I will let you know once the study guide is there for you to use.

***Knowing your multiplication facts is extremely important as we move forward in math, so keep practicing those facts!  We will continue to practice multi-digit multiplication and long division.

***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:  

ALL Students received their new Spelling Sorts on Friday, Feb. 15.  The test over these sorts will be Friday, March 1st.  

We will continue to have sight word tests, however they will be every other week so that the students are only taking one "spelling" test a week.  Our next sight word test will be on Friday, February 22nd.   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:

We will begin Ch. 7: Matter this week.  We will learn about the properties and phases of matter, how matter is measured and changes, and what mixtures are.  We will spend this week learning all about matter, and next week investigating matter.  

 Have a GREAT Week!

Happy Birthday Peyton

Happy 1/2 Birthday Destiny

Welcome Hudson!

Leader of the Week - Noah

Happy Birthday Jack

Weekly Update

Weekly Update

Important Reminders:

• Library tomorrow - please plan to return or renew your books
• Jump Rope for Heart is on Thursday, Feb. 14th, from 12:40-1:40.
• We will be celebrating Valentine's Day in our classroom on Thursday.  A letter was sent home last week, as well as emailed home, regarding our plans for the day.  
• 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:

• Feb. 10 - Jack's Birthday
• Feb. 11-15 - Leader of the Week = Noah
• Feb. 12 - Destiny's 1/2 Birthday
• Feb. 14 - Peyton's Birthday
• Feb. 14 - Jump Rope for Heart and Valentine's Day Party
• Feb. 18 - No School
• Feb. 22 - Mystery Reader
• Feb. 25-28 - Leader of the Week = Kate
• Feb. 26 - Mother and Son Dance at Concord
• March 1 - Mystery Reader

Check Out What We Are Learning This Week:

Writing:  

We will continue with Unit 3:Bringing History to Life.  The students completed their teacher-guided pieces on The American Revolution last week, and we will celebrate tomorrow.  This week the students will begin by selecting a Big Topic, and a focus topic that they would like to research and write an informational piece about.  This piece will be independent, using what they learned while writing The American Revolution pieces.  They will begin to research their "Big Topic", and then use that research to draft Ch. 1.  

Grammar:

This week we will be focusing on Complete and Incomplete thoughts (Dependent and Independent Clauses).  After the minilessons on these topics, the students will be using noredink.com for more practice and an assessment.  We began noredink.com last Friday, with practice and an assessment on capitalization.  

Reading:  

We will continue with Unit 3: Reading History: The American Revolution.  We have moved on from reading and learning about the American Revolution, and are now learning skills and strategies for any informational text.  We will be focusing on making inferences while reading non-fiction, summarizing non-fiction, and learning strategies for tackling complex texts.

Read Aloud:

We will continue reading another one of my favorites, Walk Two Moons, this week.   Walk Two Moons is a young adult novel by Sharon Creech, narrated in first person through Salamanca Tree Hiddle, better known as Sal. While traveling across the country to Idaho with her grandparents, she tells of her new best friend, Phoebe Winterbottom. Her own story unfolds at the same time.  In this book, the message "Don't judge a person until you have walked two moons in his moccasins" appears over and over.  We will discuss what this means in reference to each character, as well as to ourselves.  

Math:  

We will continue with Ch. 10: Fractions and Decimals on this week  In this chapter, the students will learn place value through tenths and hundredths, tenths, hundredths, decimals as fractions, adding decimals, comparing and ordering decimals, and they will learn how to solve problems with missing or too much information.   The Ch. 10 test will be Friday, Feb. 15th.  The study guide is on our Google Classroom.  

***Knowing your multiplication facts is extremely important as we move forward in math, so keep practicing those facts!  We will continue to practice multi-digit multiplication and long division.

***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:  

ALL students will be testing over their current sorts on Friday, Feb. 15th.  They will receive their new sorts on Tuesday, Feb. 19th.

We will continue to have sight word tests, however they will be every other week so that the students are only taking one "spelling" test a week.  Our next sight word test will be on Friday, February 22nd.   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.  

Social Studies:

 We will continue with the American Revolution again this week with Ch. 13: The American Revolution.  In this chapter, the students will learn about the battles, the results, and the effects of the war.  **This is the last Social Studies chapter for the quarter - we are moving on to Science!**

We will also continue watching some Liberty Kids videos as we follow along the timeline of this time period.  As I said in a prior email, the Liberty Kids videos are a fun way for the kids to watch and learn about these important historical events.  There are 4 fictional characters that are in the videos, taking place in all of these events, in order to tell the story.  The rest of the characters, and all of the information, is true.  They are VERY educational!

Have a GREAT Week!

Mystery Reader - Hannah’s Grandpa

Thanks for coming today, and reading us the book called “Balderdash!”  This book takes place during the same time period as the American Revolution, and was about when there were no books for children.  “Balderdash! Books should be for children!” many said during this time. We are glad that someone began writing books for children because we LOVE to read! Thanks for sharing such a fun book with us!

Leader of the Week - Isabella

Leader of the Week - Isabella

Happy 1/2 Birthday Raquel

Weekly Update: Feb. 4-8

Weekly Update

Important Reminders:

• 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:

• Feb. 3 - Raquel's 1/2 Birthday
• Feb. 4-8 - Leader of the Week = Isabella
• Feb. 5 - Isabella's Birthday
• Feb. 6 - Early Release and Buddies
• Feb. 6 - Makeup Conferences for 1/31/19
• Feb. 7 - Mrs. Joy will  be out today
• Feb. 10 - Jack's Birthday
• Feb. 11-15 - Leader of the Week = Noah
• Feb. 12 - Destiny's 1/2 Birthday
• Feb. 14 - Peyton's Birthday
• Feb. 18 - No School
• Feb. 22 - Mystery Reader
• Feb. 25-28 - Leader of the Week = Kate
• Feb. 26 - Mother and Son Dance at Concord
• March 1 - Mystery Reader

Check Out What We Are Learning This Week:

Writing:  

We will continue with Unit 3:Bringing History to Life.  Students will use the essay format they learned from Unit 2, as well as the narrative format they learned from Unit 1, to complete their information pieces about history.  Our writing will connect with our Reading and our Social Studies for this unit.  We will be writing about the Causes of the American Revolution, important people during that time period, the actual American Revolution, as well as arguing for and against the Patriots and the Loyalists.  This week we will focus on Ch. 4 - the essay.  In this chapter, the students will take the side of either a Patriot or a Loyalist, and state their opinion and reasons why.  We will celebrate these pieces on Thursday.  On Friday, the students will take what they have learned about Information Writing to begin researching for their independent piece about a topic of their choice.  

Reading:  

We will continue with Unit 3: Reading History: The American Revolution.  We will spend time reading articles about the American Revolution.  We will read about the Causes of the American Revolution, the important people during that time, as well as the two sides -the Loyalists and the Patriots.  We will be researching for our writing pieces, and taking notes about what we learned from our reading.  We will be learning the difference between Primary Sources and Secondary Sources, as well as synthesizing texts during our research.  We will also focus on finding the main idea and detail in information texts.

Read Aloud:

We will continue reading another one of my favorites, Walk Two Moons, this week.   Walk Two Moons is a young adult novel by Sharon Creech, narrated in first person through Salamanca Tree Hiddle, better known as Sal. While traveling across the country to Idaho with her grandparents, she tells of her new best friend, Phoebe Winterbottom. Her own story unfolds at the same time.  In this book, the message "Don't judge a person until you have walked two moons in his moccasins" appears over and over.  We will discuss what this means in reference to each character, as well as to ourselves.  

Math:  

We will review for the Ch. 9 test on Monday, and the test will be on Tuesday.  We will begin Ch. 10: Fractions and Decimals on Wednesday.  In this chapter, the students will learn place value through tenths and hundredths, tenths, hundredths, decimals as fractions, adding decimals, comparing and ordering decimals, and they will learn how to solve problems with missing or too much information.   The Ch. 10 test is currently scheduled for Friday, Feb. 15th.  As soon as the study guide is ready, I will add it to the Google Classroom.

***Knowing your multiplication facts is extremely important as we move forward in math, so keep practicing those facts!  We will continue to practice multi-digit multiplication and long division.

***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:  

ALL students will be testing over their current sorts on Monday, Feb. 4th.  They will receive their new sorts on Monday as well.  The test over the new sorts will be Friday, Feb. 15th. 

We will continue to have sight word tests, however they will be every other week so that the students are only taking one "spelling" test a week.  Our next sight word test will be on Friday, February 8th.   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.  

Social Studies:

 We will continue with the American Revolution again this week with Ch. 12:  The Declaration of Independence.  We will focus on The Second Continental Congress, Thomas Paine and the Common Sense, writing The Declaration of Independence, and approving The Declaration of Independence.  We will also take a look at The Declaration of Independence, what it says, what it meant for the colonies, and how it led the the American Revolution.    We will begin Ch. 13: The American Revolution on Thursday.  In this chapter, the students will learn about the battles, the results, and the effects of the war.  

We will also continue watching some Liberty Kids videos as we follow along the timeline of this time period.  As I said in a prior email, the Liberty Kids videos are a fun way for the kids to watch and learn about these important historical events.  There are 4 fictional characters that are in the videos, taking place in all of these events, in order to tell the story.  The rest of the characters, and all of the information, is true.  They are VERY educational!

Have a GREAT Week!