Sunday, September 27, 2015

This Week...9/28/15

Hello Fourth Grade Families!

This past Thursday, we observed 'See You at the Pole' during Chapel time.  This is a day, once a year, when students across the nation meet at their school flag poles to pray for their schools, families, and communities.  For our part in the observance, the fourth graders wrote a prayer together, and I wanted to share it with you.

Lord, we pray:

  • For all of the kids who can't pray in their schools, that they will find encouragement.
  • For the homeless, that they will find a home.
  • For those who don't know about you, that someone will tell them.
  • For people who are sick, that they will be healed.
  • For all of your creatures, that they will stay healthy and safe.
  • For the elderly, that someone will help them do the things that they can't do for themselves anymore.
  • For poor children around the world, that their needs will be met.
  • For the boy who broke his arm yesterday, that he will heal quickly.
  • For Mountain Island Day School, that we will continue to grow, and learn, and care for each other, and bring God glory.
We pray these things in Jesus's name.

These children have such pure, loving hearts.  I truly cherish the time that we spend together!

Field Trip - Tuesday 9/29
This week we have our field trip to Schiele Museum on Tuesday.  Please have your child wear a light blue top and khaki bottoms that day.  Also, they'll need to bring a bag lunch.  I'll send out an email reminder and a Remind text on Monday afternoon.

This Week...
In addition to our field trip, we'll be busy with lots of other things this week.

Math:  We'll begin Unit 2 - Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers. This week we'll be working on using mental math to add and subtract whole numbers, estimating sums and differences of whole numbers, and solving problems that have missing, or unnecessary information.

Six Minutes to Math Fact Fluency:  We're also going to start working on developing fluency with our math facts.   Some children will start on their addition facts, and others on multiplication facts.  I assessed their readiness last week to determine where they needed to begin.  The kids will be working with a partner to see how many math facts they can give the answer to in 3 minutes.  Each child will graph their results daily, and will work to continue improving that number.  Each week they'll take a quiz to see if they're ready to move on to a new set of math facts.  I'll send home individual notes to let you know what facts your child is working on so you can help them practice at home.

Reading:  This week we'll be talking about making connections with what we read...those "that reminds me of...' moments.  We'll also begin meeting in our guided reading groups.  In our groups, we'll choose a chapter book that we'll read together.  The focus of each group will be different depending upon the needs of the readers in that group.  For example, one group may focus on the structure of the book (character, setting, plot), while another group may focus on author's craft (the types of literary devices you find in the story...figurative language, foreshadowing, allusion, etc).  Once each group has chosen a story, we'll develop a reading schedule and begin our journeys together through our books!

Writing:  The kids will finish editing and publishing their first pieces this week (we'd hoped to do this last week, but ran out of time).  We'll also do a writer's reflection and add these new writing pieces to our writing portfolios.  I can't wait to show these to you at parent/teacher conferences!  We should begin our next writing unit at the end of the week:  Sentence Structure.

Language:  We'll look at the 'Hard and Fast Rules' for using numbers and plurals in our writing.

Social Studies:  In addition to learning more about the North Carolina Natives at Schiele Museum this week, we'll also look at the different groups that came from other parts of the world and settled in North Carolina, such as the Quakers, Moravians, Highland Scots, and Africans, and how their cultures impacted the areas they lived in.

Bible:  We'll learn about some of the miracles that the apostles performed in Jesus's name as they spread the Gospel.  Our memory verse this week is:  


  • Peter said, "I don't have any silver or gold, but I'll give you what I have. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk." - Acts 3:6

I'm praying that you each have a wonderful week!

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