Good afternoon!
Candy Grams start Wednesday! Volunteer calendar sign up sheets are coming home today. If you'd like to volunteer in December and January please return the sheet this week! I've found that some emails from parents have ended up in my "junk" and "clutter" folders. If you are still waiting to hear back from me from an email please email me again! I apologize if this has happened to you. I will be sure to check those folders more often and make sure your email addresses are marked as NOT junk! Word Study - New lists this week. Tests for each group on Friday Writing - We will start off the week publishing the lighthouse reports that go with their lighthouse that they built, then we will return to our essay writing. Math - Division! Some students are finishing up pages 103-104 in their math book for homework. There will be math homework Tuesday and Thursday this week for practice. Please check out our math resources for some assistance at home! Reading - This week we are tackling the challenges that come with nonfiction. Some challenges include weird sentence structure, misleading headings, texts that are both narrative and expository, and vocabulary that is tricky. Science - We'll continue to study current electricity and static electricity. Social Studies - We will review map skills and specialty maps.
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Happy Snowy Monday! This week we're finishing up lighthouses. We'll be building today and tomorrow 1:45-2:45. Word Study - No excuse words (take, time, write, know, make, place, would, like two, day) Writing - Lighthouse report research Math - Division - practicing the standard algorithm. There will be some practice coming home on Tuesday so students can keep the steps fresh in their minds for Monday. T Reading - Students will use text structures to take notes on their nonfiction books. Science- Building lighthouses! Good morning!
We will begin building lighthouses on Thursday. On Friday your child brought home their plans for their lighthouse model including a list of materials they think they'll need to build their lighthouse. (Think: Recycle Bin) Materials are due back to school on Thursday so we can start building! If you have extra materials, feel free to send those in as well to share with others! Students will research their lighthouse at school and will also build their lighthouse model at school. We will be building 1:45-2:45 Thursday 11/19, Friday 11/20, Monday 11/23 and Tuesday 11/24. Parents are welcome to help out! Kids will need help with attaching their circuit to the lighthouse, hot gluing, cutting cardboard, and problem solving engineering issues. Let me know if you plan on coming and be sure to sign in at the office when you get here! Thank you in advance for your help! Today you'll receive word study tests back from Friday. You'll see your child spelled and sorted 10 of their words from their list. Then, they attempted to spell and sort a bonus word and they drew a star next to it. Each word could receive 2 points; one for spelling it correctly, one for putting it in the correct category. The bonus word gets 2 bonus points as well. So there could be 22/20 points written on the test. Since we are not doing grades in word study, these points are arbitrary, but gives you an idea for how they did overall on this week's test. Your child has also added any missed word to their personal word dictionary for further practice. Word Study - New lists this week! You should see their list coming home today! Writing - Students are coming up with their essay ideas. We will also start researching and writing their lighthouse report during writing time. Math - Division starts tomorrow! We will start with division with remainders and will gradually increase the number of digits we're dividing. There will be a homework sheet coming home Tuesday, due back on Thursday. Reading - Students will study text structures and will learn note taking strategies they can use to fit with each type of text structure. For example if you're reading a text that is structured chronologically, the notes that you take might look like a time line, or might be organized by date. Science - Students will learn about circuits this week and will build circuits. They will also begin their lighthouse on Thursday. Students are expected to build the circuit on their own and expected to understand and troubleshoot what problems could make their circuit not work. Social Studies - Monday - Wednesday we will study specialty maps, but then we'll focus on lighthouses until after thanksgiving. My apologies for not having the newsletter on Monday these past few weeks. It is my goal to have them published on Mondays for your reference.
I've really appreciated the opportunity to meet with each of you about your child's progress and goals for 4th grade. I look forward to meeting with my last few families tonight! A few clarifications/updates about some classroom routines and expectations: Rocket Math - Each day there is rocket math your child will receive a practice sheet. They are due the next day. Your child does not need to complete the whole sheet in a minute, but should complete the whole sheet. An extra tip is for them to do each problem orally first and then complete each problem on the paper with pencil. This will help them memorize each fact. Reading is homework! It is recommended that your child reads about 20 minutes, 5 days a week. I had students write this their planner as a reminder that this is continuously homework. Scholastic has a great resource to find books. You can use the "Search for Similar Books" feature for recommendations. We use the "Guided Reading Level" here in Lake Orion, which shows reading level as a letter. The Talent Show is on Thursday. We have many talented students performing! An updated schedule is coming home today. Please check this new schedule if your child is in the talent show. The Subject Area Resources on our classroom homepage is a gathering of resources to help you at home. If you come across anything (a video, website, a picture) that you think would be helpful to other families feel free to share and I can add it to our resource pages. Word Study - This week we got back in the routine of learning spelling patterns. Your child is expected to bring home their word study binders on Thursday to use to study. Writing - We've started essay writing! This week students participated in an Essay Boot Camp to become familiar with the structure of essay. They are now planning topics for their essays. Math - The multiplication test is tomorrow. Students are bringing home their math books for any final reviewing you may do at home. They will receive a Quarter 1 Study Guide tomorrow (we'll finish and check it at school) for the Common Assessment which will be on Monday. Then... we're on to Long Division. Brace Yourselves. ;) Reading - We've started Nonfiction reading. Students have learned strategies for previewing nonfiction reading and they've learned that as they get older we read nonfiction texts differently than when they were younger. Now they will use their nonfiction reading as a springboard for future research and nonfiction reading. Science - The energy tests went well today! Our next unit is electricity, which means our Lighthouse projects will be coming soon! As you are finishing boxes of cereal, paper towel rolls and containers of oatmeal, etc... consider holding on to them for your child's lighthouse. A note will come home with other suggestions for lighthouse materials. Social Studies - Students have learned about using maps to find locations. They will soon be using specialty maps to learn about the regions of the United States. For example they'll find that the northeast is densely populated and the west doesn't receive much rainfall. It's so good to be back!
I am really enjoying getting to know this class and who they are as learners. I look forward to meeting with each of you over the next week or so during our parent teacher conferences. Word Study - Due to the short week we are studying "no excuse" words for 4th grade. These are words that all 4th graders should know how to spell each and every time. This week the students are working with then, would, two, could, first, made, right, same, come. They will add some of these words to their own personal word dictionary to use during writing time. This week we will also use this time to work on some writing rules that all 4th graders should know. Beginning each sentence with a capital letter and ending it with the correct punctuation is our focus this week. Writing - WOW! This class is full of writers! This week your child is writing a letter to you about their 4th grade year so far. They've been asked to do some reflecting about themselves as a learner and classmate. These will be shared with you at our conference! Math - We are wrapping up the unit in multiplication. There will not be homework this week, but there will be homework (a study guide) during the long weekend. We are working really hard on 2 digit x 2 digit problems and knowing all the steps. We're currently working with the standard algorithm (the way we learned as kids!) so this is something that can be practiced at home even if there isn't homework. The Unit 2 test and 1st Quarter Common Assessment will take place next week. Reading - Next week we will begin our nonfiction unit. Students will be choosing topics to research and will learn strategies for how to read different nonfiction texts. As adults we do a lot of nonfiction reading (the internet, magazines, mail). We choose topics we're interested in and research them, somewhat informally. For example, I've been doing a lot of research on introducing different kinds of baby foods. Share with your child the kinds of things your reading and learning about! Science - We are wrapping up our energy unit this week. Students will experiment with energy transfers and insulating heat. The energy test will be early next week. Social Studies - We are starting our unit on geography and map skills. Students have already learned about some map features like the compass rose, scale and map key. They also started using lines of latitude and longitude to find locations on a map. We will also use different types of maps to learn different things about a region like population and elevation. |
AuthorCindy Kaump Archives
June 2017
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