This Week 9/14/15

Hello Fourth Grade Families!

In Friday Folders the kids brought home permission slips for our field trip to Schiele Museum on Tuesday, September 29th.  Please watch for these and return them to school with payment (by check) as soon as possible!

We had a good first week acting as MID's Safety Patrol!  Mrs. Verdi came in and  talked with the kids about Safety Patrol expectations, and what they would be responsible for while they were working the car line.  The kids couldn't wait to put on the Safety Patrol belts and get up there to help!

This week, Thursday, September 17th from 6:30 to 7:30, we'll have our annual Curriculum Night.  You'll get to walk through a day in your child's shoes!  I'm looking forward to seeing you for this fun and informative evening.

Also, we'll be alternating between Spelling and Vocabulary words each week.  This week the kids will be working on vocabulary and will have homework based on these words.  After assessing how they do with this week's words, I'll determine if students need to be working at this same level or if they should be working at a higher or lower level.

This Week in...

Math

We'll continue working on Using Money to Understand Decimals, and Counting Money and Making change.  Take a look at last week's post to see some online activities you can use with your child to help them practice these concepts.  We should be ready to take our Unit 1 assessment early next week.

I'll begin assigning  Moby Max (www.mobymax.com) for some of our Math homework beginning next week, and I'd like the kids to complete the initial assessment at home this week for homework.  I'm sending home the login instructions with their homework contracts.  Please be sure to have the children complete this assessment on their own (with no help from parents) so that we get an accurate picture of their abilities.  Moby Max assesses whether there are any missing skills and then assigns activities that help the kids work on those skills.  Once those skills are mastered, they'll be assigned activities that will reinforce what they already know, and challenge them with new skills.

Reading

We'll read the last chapter of Indian in the Cupboard on Monday, and I'll be assigning a project based on the book for students to complete at home.  The directions and grading rubric will be attached to this week's homework contract, and is posted on the Homework page of the blog.

In class, we'll be talking about leaving tracks of our thinking as we read.  I don't know about you, but I'll often read something and have all kinds of thoughts and questions, but if I don't write them down, I'll forget them.  I'll be teaching the kids how to record their thoughts on sticky notes (when we can't write on the text) and to annotate text in the margins (when we can write on the text).  This will be a great skill for them to have as they move into middle and high school.

I've been working on Word Recognition assessments with the kids and will complete those on Monday or Tuesday this week.  Then we'll move on to Comprehension Assessments.  I'm hoping to have all of our beginning of the year assessments done early next week so we can begin our guided reading groups.

Language

We'll be continuing to work on the rules for commas and apostrophes this week with some practice activities. 

Writing

One day this week the kids were lining up to go back in the building after recess, and one of them asked, "Will it be Writing time when we go in?"  When I said it would be, several of them said, "YES!"  I love seeing them so excited about their writing!  The kids and I have begun holding Writing Conferences, and I've been having so much fun reading their writing.  This is a creative bunch!  We're focusing on the Ideas writing trait right now, and this week we'll talk about using Special Places and Special People to generate writing ideas.  

Social Studies

This week we'll be working on a Glogster project to share what we're learning about the North Carolina Natives that originally lived in each region of the state.  Five students will focus on each region (Coastal Plains, Piedmont, and Mountain).  After they've completed their 'glog', they'll break into groups of three (with each region represented) and will teach each other what they've learned.  I think they're going to love it!

Bible

In the first chapter of Acts, we'll read about how Jesus's disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit when it came to them on the day of Pentecost.  At this time, the city of Jerusalem was filled with people from every nation, who were there to celebrate the feast day.  They all looked around in amazement as they realized that they could understand each other, even though each of them was speaking in his or her own language.  Peter then addressed the crown and explained to them what was happening.

Our memory verse this week is:  

• They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them.  All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit.  Acts 2:3-4

Have a wonderful week!