Leader of the Week - Serah

Test Taking Strategies

Weekly Update: April 22-26

Weekly Update

Important Reminders:

• ALL books will be due back to the library for inventory and processing on May 3.  
• 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:

• April 22 - We DO have school - snow day makeup day
• April 22-26 - Leader of the Week = Gwen
• April 22 - Concord Night at Busch Stadium
• April 29 - May 3 - Leader of the Week = Serah

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 are continuing with our Poetry Unit this week, as well as writing a second narrative piece to a given prompt for MAP testing practice.  We will using the MAP scoring guide to look over our piece, as well as sample pieces.  This week in poetry we are finalizing our poems, adding pictures, and choosing one or two that will be added to the 4th Grade Poetry Book.  Just like last week, while students are independently working on their poetry, I will pull groups based on the opinion, informational, and narrative pieces they wrote.

Grammar:

Each student will continue to work on their grammar learning pack on Quill.  This is a personalized approach to learning grammar - each student learning what they need to learn.  

Reading:  

We will continue to work on test prep - reviewing charts and graphs, note taking, context clues, and prefixes and suffixes.  This is not only good practice for a test, but also as a great reminder for our every day reading.  

Read Aloud:

Last week, we began the book Because of Mr. Terupt.  This is a very funny book, with some great messages.  It is definitely one of my favorites.  Ask your kiddo to tell you about what we have read so far!

Math:  

We are going to spend the next two weeks reviewing the big concepts we covered this year: place value, addition and subtraction, multi-digit multiplication, long division, simplifying and comparing fractions, improper fractions and mixed numbers, and measurement.  The students will be given a pre-assessment each day for one of the big topics.  I will use the pre-assessments to pull my groups for that day.  The students will continue to work independently on a new Math Menu while I am pulling groups.  There will be homework for each big topic as well.  

***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:  

Due to testing, there will NOT be any new sorts until Monday, May 6. 

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, April 26th.   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 are learning about Government in the next two chapters.  We will focus on The Bill of Rights, how a bill becomes a law, and the three branches of government.

 Have a GREAT Week!

Leader of the Week - Gwen

Writing Poetry Outside

We are taking advantage of this nice day, and writing some poetry outside!

Happy Birthday Cadence!

Mystery Reader - Hunter’s Mom

Thanks to Hunter’s mom for reading to us today as our Mystery Reader!  She shared the book, “The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors.”  It was really funny!  Thanks for coming today!

Hunter Throwing his ALEKS PIE

Hunter completed his ALEKS PIE, and since he’s moving to Arizona tomorrow, he got to throw his pie at me today! 😳🤣 (photo credit to Caroline) 

Before 

After

Bloxels in Library with Mrs. Graef

Weekly Update: April 15-19

Weekly Update

Important Reminders:

• We have Library today.  ALL books will be due back to the library for inventory and processing on May 3.  
• PLEASE send in your MAP encouragement letter for your kiddo by Thursday, April 18.  
• 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:

• April 19 - NO School
• April 22 - We DO have school - snow day makeup day
• April 22-26 - Leader of the Week = Gwen
• April 29 - May 3 - Leader of the Week = Serah

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 are continuing with our Poetry Unit this week, as well as writing an opinion piece to a given prompt for MAP testing practice.  This week in poetry we are still focusing on figurative language, primarily using personification and onomatopoeia.  These kiddos are writing some great poems!  Just like last week, while students are independently working on their poetry, I will pull groups based on the opinion and narrative pieces they wrote.

Grammar:

Last week we took a grammar diagnostic assessment on Quill.  Each student will receive a grammar learning pack with what they need to work on based on the assessment.  This will be a personalized approach to learning grammar - each student learning what they need to learn.  We are using the online site quill.org. 

Reading:  

We will continue to work on test prep - reviewing main idea using boxes and bullets, reviewing text features, answering questions about the purpose and the main idea, and how to read step by step directions.  This is not only good practice for a test, but also as a great reminder for our every day reading.  

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. 14: Geometry.  In this chapter we will learn how to draw points, lines, and rays, drawing perpendicular and parallel lines, modeling angles, classifying angles, drawing angles, measuring angles, solving problems with angles, triangles, quadrilaterals, and drawing lines of symmetry.  This chapter has A LOT of vocabulary.  I sent home the vocab cards on 4/1/19 for this chapter.  Please make sure you keep them some place safe so that you can study them throughout the chapter, and before the test.  Our test will be Thursday, April 18.  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 were given their  current sorts on Monday, April 8.  We will test over these sorts on Thursday, April 18.

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, April 26th.   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 are finishing up our Energy and Motion Units this week. We will focus on how friction affects motion.  We will investigate this by measuring the angle at which objects reach the bottom of a ramp with a sandpaper surface and a wax paper surface.   

 Have a GREAT Week!

Mystery Reader - Thomas’s Mom

Thanks to Mrs. Madrid for coming in and reading to us today.  We enjoyed the book “P is for Pterodactyl The Worst Alphabet Book Ever!”  It was funny, and the words were very interesting.  Thanks for teaching us some new words too!  We enjoyed your visit!

Chain Reactions in Science

Check out these chain reactions!