This Week 1/25/16

Hello Fourth Grade Families!

I couldn't believe it this morning when I was typing dates into the homework contract, and the due date was February 1st!  The year is flying by.  But you know what they say...time flies when you're having fun :)  We really do have a lot of fun in our classroom, and I enjoy your children SO MUCH!!!

We've got lots of activities going on this week for School of Choice Week!

**We are asking our parents to think of 3 words that describe why you send your child to MID. We will take a picture of our families holding up a white board with their chosen words. This idea is based on the Good Morning America- Your 3 Words segment http://abcnews.go.com/US/words-live-event-good-morning-america/story?id=14469378. We will take those snapshots and create a video segment for our School of Choice Week entry. A special thanks to Mrs. Keener for submitting this idea. We will begin shooting our sessions on Tuesday in car rider line. A student will hand each parent a white board and a marker. The parents will be prepared to write their 3 words on the white board. A student or staff member will snap a picture and move on to the next car. Parents that walk their children in may go to the art room where a student or staff member will be waiting to take pictures in the same manner. We will do this Tuesday-Thursday.

**You are invited to eat lunch with your child throughout next week. Please send an email to me if you plan to eat lunch, along with the specific date. This will help us prepare for the extra numbers in the cafeteria.

**We will have an assembly on Friday, January 29th at 1:30 p.m. to celebrate School of Choice Week. Parents are invited to attend.

This Week...

Math - We're learning how to multiply two-digit by two-digit numbers.  The kids have learned how to break the  numbers apart when they're multiplying by multiples of 10, 100, and 1000.  Now we'll learn how to use partial products to multiply.  We did this with 1-digit by 2-digit numbers earlier in the year, so this will be an added step.

Reading - In Reading we're working on completing all of our Middle of the Year assessments to determine the progress the kids are  making.  We'll talk about the results at our February Parent-Teacher conferences :)  So far, I'm seeing great progress!  While I'm working with kids on assessments, everyone is spending their time reading, and working on a Secret Door Book Project for a book that they've read independently.

We're also having a lot of fun with our read aloud, Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson!

Writing - This week we'll wrap up our Sentences Unit and will begin our Paragraphs Unit, working on writing various types of paragraphs, such as: expository, descriptive, sequence, compare and contrast, problem and solution, cause and effect, and opinion.

Science - We've made the switch from Social Studies to Science this semester, and the kids are really excited about it!  Our first unit is the Circulatory System.  We're learning about the heart, blood, and blood vessels in our bodies.  This week we'll do an experiment to show the different components of our blood...DON"T WORRY!  We're using candy...no needles or knives involved!!!

Bible - For the next few weeks we're taking a break from our regular Bible curriculum, and will be doing video series on the book of James.  It's done by Mark Hall (the lead singer of Casting Crowns and a Youth Pastor) and is really engaging and fun!

Our verse this week is:  Consider it pure joy my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.  James 1:2-3

Have a wonderful week!

This Week 1/4/16...

Hello Fourth Grade Families!

Along with a new year, we have a new schedule!  Starting January 19th, we'll be adding Spanish as a specials class on Thursdays (yay!), so we needed to make a few changes.  Beginning tomorrow (1/6) Our lunch, recess, and specials times are changing, as well as the days we have our specials classes.  The changes are:

Recess:   11:30-12:00
Lunch:    12:00-12:30
Specials: 12:30-1;20

The new days for our specials classes are as follows:

Mon:  PE
Tues:  PE (1:20-2:15)
Wed:  Music
Thu:  Spanish
Fri:    Art

This week in...

Math:  We started a new unit working on patterns and expressions.  This unit introduces using a letter to represent a number which has really thrown some of the kids for a loop!  We'll also learn how to use function tables.  For extra practice with these skills you can use the following activities:

Study Zone

Watch Know Learn

Worksheets

Reading:  We'll be working on determining what's important to remember in our reading, specifically when we read nonfiction.  This is a great skill to work on as the kids get older and have more academic reading in Social Studies and Science classes.

Language:  This week we're going over the rules for turning singular nouns into plurals.  We'd done this earlier in the year, but didn't do so well, so we're spending some more time on this skill.

Writing:  Over the next week or two, we'll be doing the Build a Better Sentence Workshop.  The kids will work on improving their sentences by usng strong verbs, and recognizing 'when', 'where', 'why', and 'how' parts of their sentences.

Social Studies:  Now that we've finished our unit on the Revolutionary War, we'll be talking about early American Government and how it was formed.

Bible:  Our memory verse this week is:  I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.  Acts 13:47

Have a wonderful week!