Happy 1/2 Birthday Hunter

Weekly Update: Jan. 28 - Feb. 1

Weekly Update

Important Reminders:

• 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:

• Jan. 29 - Hunter's 1/2 Birthday
• Jan. 29 & 31 - Parent Teacher Conferences 
• Feb. 1 - No School K-5 ONLY
• 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. 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.  

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 begin Ch. 9: Operations with Fractions.  We will learn how to add and subtract fractions with like denominators, add and subtract mixed numbers, how to solve word problems with fractions, and how to multiply fractions by whole numbers.  We will also continue to practice Greatest Common Factor and Least Common Multiple.  Our Ch. 9 test is currently scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 31. 

***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 new sorts on Thursday, Jan. 31st.  This gives the students two weeks to work with these words.

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 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 - Grandpa Steve

Thanks so much for being our Mystery Reader today!  We loved the book “Giraffe Problems” that you read to us! It was really funny!  We are so glad you came to our classroom today!

Weekly Update: Jan. 21-25

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:

• Jan. 21 - No School
• Jan. 25 - Mystery Reader
• Jan. 25 - Family Bingo Night
• Jan. 29 - Hunter's 1/2 Birthday
• Jan. 29 & 31 - Parent Teacher Conferences 
• Feb. 1 - No School K-5 ONLY

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.  

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.  

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. 9: Operations with Fractions.  We will learn how to add and subtract fractions with like denominators, add and subtract mixed numbers, how to solve word problems with fractions, and how to multiply fractions by whole numbers.  We will also continue to practice Greatest Common Factor and Least Common Multiple.  Our Ch. 9 test is currently scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 31. 

***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 given their new sorts on Tuesday.  ALL students will be testing over these new sorts on Thursday, Jan. 31st.  This gives the students two weeks to work with these words.

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, January 25th.   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. 11:  To Declare Independence or Not.  We will focus on learning who the Loyalists and Patriots were, as well as learning about some of the important people during this time and whether they were a Loyalist or a Patriot.  The students will be divided into groups, and each group will be given an important figure to focus their learning on.  They will create a slide for their person, and will share what they learned with the class on Wednesday when the slide show is presented.   The groups are also taking on the role of either a Loyalist or a Patriot.  They will gather notes to support either why they want to stay loyal to Great Britain (the Loyalists), or why they want their independence for Great Britain (the Patriots).  All the Loyalist groups will gather together, and all of the Patriot groups will gather together, and they will prepare for their debate.  On Friday, the Loyalists and Patriots will have a debate over the current issues in the 13 colonies during this time.  

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 - Isabella's Dad

Isabella's dad was our Mystery Reader today.  He shared the book What Do You Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada.  We LOVE the message of this book, especially the ending where it says, "And then, I realized what you do with an idea... You change the world."  Thanks for sharing this wonderful story with us, and for the colored pencils that you gave to each student so that they can write/draw their ideas!  We enjoyed your visit with us!  Thank you!

Happy (early) Birthday Kaden

Preparing for Our Debate - Loyalists vs. Patriots

Students were put into groups, and each group was given an important historical figure from the American Revolution to research.  They used the information they found to complete a slide for the slide show we are creating as a class.  The students will present their slides next Wednesday.

After completing their slides, the students had to take the side of their person - Loyalist or Patriot.  They had to research, synthesizing different sources, to list reasons why they wanted to stay loyal to Great Britain, or why they wanted independence from Great Britain. They made lists on anchor charts.  Once we are finished gathering info, then all of the groups that are Loyalists and all of the groups that are Patriots will work together to prepare their research for a debate. Next Friday, the two sides will debate! 

Happy Birthday Nate

Leader of the Week - Thomas

Weekly Update: Jan. 14-18

Weekly Update

Important Reminders:

• 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:

• Jan. 14-18 - Leader of the Week = Thomas
• Jan. 16 - Nate's Birthday
• Jan. 16 - Early Release
• Jan. 18 - Mystery Reader
• Jan. 18 - Ability Awareness Day
• Jan. 19 - Kaden's Birthday
• Jan. 21 - No School
• Jan. 25 - Family Bingo Night
• Jan. 29 - Hunter's 1/2 Birthday
• Jan. 29 & 31 - Parent Teacher Conferences 

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.  

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.  

Read Aloud:

We finished the The Wild Robot on Friday.  I told the students that there is a sequel to this book, The Wild Robot Escapes, that they should check out if they are interested.  We will begin another one of my favorites, Walk Two Moons, this week. 

Math:  

We began Ch. 8: Fractions last week.  We reviewed factors and multiples from our multiplication chapter, learned prime and composite numbers, looked at equivalent fractions, learned how to write fractions in simplest form using Greatest Common Factor (GCF), comparing and ordering fractions using the Shoelace Method and Least Common Multiple (LCM), using Benchmark Fractions to compare and order.  This week we will work on problem solving using logical reasoning, mixed numbers, and converting mixed numbers to improper fractions and then improper fractions to mixed numbers.  Our test will be Friday, Jan. 18.  The study guide and some anchor charts are on the 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 given their new sorts on Monday.  We have decided to go back to testing after each sort instead of after each unit.  Based on the data we have from first quarter and then the data from second quarter, we found that the students were able to learn the words better, were able to continue to spell the words correctly in their writing, and were much more accountable for doing the word work during spelling time because they knew they were being tested over the words.  Therefore, ALL students will be testing over these new sorts on Jan. 18th.  This gives the students two weeks to work with these words.

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, January 25th.   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. 11:  To Declare Independence or Not.  We will focus on learning who the Loyalists and Patriots were, as well as learning about some of the important people during this time and whether they were a Loyalist or a Patriot.  The students will be divided into groups, and each group will be given an important figure to focus their learning on.  They will create a slide for their person, and will share what they learned with the class during a class debate - Loyalist vs. Patriot.

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 - Noah’s Grandpa

Are there any spies in 4th grade? 😳 Anyone know how to snow ski?

Noah’s Grandpa introduced a chapter book series called “Spy School” to the class today.  He shared with us the first chapter of “Spy Ski School” today.  The chapter of the book definitely got the kiddos excited to read more!  Thanks for coming today, and for helping to excite the students about reading!

Thanks too for donating the book to our classroom.  We appreciate your kindness!

Magic House Field Trip

The students applied for jobs at the Magic House last week.  They were hired this week for one of the jobs they applied for.  Today, we went to the Magic House where they were put to work, earned a paycheck, had to cash their paychecks, and were given "break time" from their jobs to spend some of their money.  At the end, they worked with those that were in the same job as them to create a monthly budget for their "family".  It was a fun morning!  Thanks to our parents who helped out on the field trip.

Serah, Raquel, and Caroline worked at the Market.

Kate, Noah, and Gunner (plus other kiddos in 4th grade) worked at the Post Office.

Peyton and Kaden worked at the Electric Company.

Nate, Cadence, and Aislyn worked at the bank.

Michael, Thomas, and Jack worked at the Ranger Station.

Hunter, Armin, and Alen worked at the Service Station.

Kaybree, Isabella, and Rose worked at the Pizza Parlor.

Destiny, Alex, and Riza worked at the hospital.

Hannah, Gwen, and Jillian worked at the Pet Clinic.

Thanks Mr. Otte!

Thanks Mr. Hrach!

Thanks Mr. Kabiri!

Thanks Mrs. McRoy!

Thanks Mr. Russell!