Weekly Update: March 11-15

Weekly Update

Important Reminders:

• Library is Monday - 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:

• March 11-15 - Leader of the Week = Armin
• March 15 - Mystery Reader
• March 13-15 - I will be out for a minor surgery.  Mrs. Hoffman will be the guest teacher for these 3 days.  She is great!
• March 18-22 - Spring Break
• March 25 - School resumes
• March 25-29 - Leader of the Week = Jack
• March 26 - Concord Expo
• March 29 - 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, we will continue to draft the chapters for our Information Pieces.   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 the Concord Expo Night.  More info will come regarding this event.

Grammar:

This week we will be focusing on compound and complex sentences.  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 comparing information from different texts about the same topic.

Read Aloud:

This week we will continue reading another of my favorite read alouds, 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 continue with Ch. 12:  Metric Measurement this week.  In this chapter, we will learn metric units of length, metric units of mass, metric units of capacity, converting metric measurements, and solving measurement word problems.  Our Ch. 12 test is scheduled for Thursday, March 14th.  The study guide is on Google Classroom, as well as a conversion chart.   We will begin Ch. 13: Perimeter and Area on Friday, and will finish the chapter after Spring Break.

***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 were given their new sorts on Friday, March 1st.  We will test over these sorts on Friday, March 15th.  New sorts will come home after Spring break, and the next Sort test will be in April.

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, March 29th.   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 our investigations of Matter during six different Matter Stations.  We are finishing these stations on Monday and Tuesday.  On Wednesday, we will begin our Mystery Science Unit: Waves of Sound.  In this unit, the students will develop the idea that sound is an actual thing, a wave of vibrations traveling  through the air.  Equipped with this understanding, students can begin to to make sense of how sound and music work.  

 Have a GREAT Week!