This Week...10/17/16

Hi!
We are SO excited about the field trip tomorrow!  There's been a lot of plotting and planning about who's riding the bus and who will sit with each other, who's riding with a parent and who can ride along with them.  So many details to work out!  Please remember to:

• Send two snacks (morning and afternoon)
• Send a bag lunch and drink
• Have your child wear a light blue uniform shirt and khaki bottoms

Next week Thursday is our annual Fall Festival, so I'm sure the plotting and planning will include who's wearing what costume and who's going to hang out with each other :)  I'm still trying to decide what I'll dress up as, but I'll be there!  It's a lot of fun for everyone in the family...I hope I'll see you there!

We'd love to have your help with candy donations for Fall Festival!!!  

You can send it in any time between now and Thursday, 10/27.

In between all of the Fall fun, we still have to get in some learning!

This week in...

Reading:  We're continuing to work on Fix-up Strategies.  This week we're talking about Rereading, Reading On, and Slowing Down.  Next week we'll move on to our Elements of Literature unit.

Language:  This week we're talking about Prepositions, Conjunctions, and Interjections.  We'll continue working with these next week to get in some practice.

Writing:  Almost all of the kids are done with their first published piece and are working on new pieces during Writing Workshop.  Our writing focus has changed from Ideas to Excellent Word Choice, and in the spirit of Halloween, we talked about Dead Words (overused and boring words).  Later this week we'll continue this theme with Dead Verbs!

Social Studies:  We're almost finished with our NC Natives unit, and should wrap things up this week.  Next week we'll talk about the history of the North Carolina colony.

Math:  We've wrapped up our Place Value unit (rounding numbers was really hard for many of the kids, so practice with this skill would be great!), and will do a quick review of Adding and Subtracting up to four digit numbers.  Then we'll be starting our Multiplication unit.

Bible:  We're talking about what happened to the disciples after Jesus' ascension and how the Holy Spirit came to them.

They saw what looked like tongues of fire, which 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!

This Week...10/3/16

Hello Fourth Grade Families!

Where did September go?  I can't believe it's October already!  I'm looking forward to cooler weather and all of the fun that comes with fall activities!

Some upcoming activities to note on your calendar:

• Friday, October 7th - PTO Movie Night
• Monday, October 17th - Butterbraid Fundraiser begins
• Wednesday, October 19th - 4th grade Field Trip to Old Salem
• Thursday, October 27th - MID Fall Festival...don't miss it!  So much fun!
• Friday, October 28th and Monday, October 31st - Mandatory Parent/Teacher Conferences.  I'll be sending out a link to a Signup Genius in the next week so you can sign up for a day/time :)

We had so much fun seeing everyone's What's In Your Cupboard projects!  The kids did a great job reading their essays, and supporting each other as they presented their projects!  I learned something special about every single child...hearing why they chose their objects made my heart smile :)

This week in...

Reading:  We're working on Fix-up Strategies.  Last week we talked about things that can cause us to get stuck when we're reading.  We started talking about using context clues to help us figure out unfamiliar words (our most common problem!) and will continue working on using context clues this week.

Language:  This week we're doing our Parts of Speech review.  This week we'll work on Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs.

Writing:  We've been writing away in our journals, and this week we'll choose a piece to publish!  We'll go through the steps of revising and editing, both on our own and with a peer.  Then we'll publish our first pieces and add them to our Writing Portfolios!

Social Studies:  Last week we wrapped up our study of the NC Regions, and this week we started learning about the native people who lived in each region.  We'll study where they lived, the types of homes they lived in, the roles of men, women, and children in their societies, how they used the natural resources around them, the kinds of foods they ate, and more!

Math:  We've started our Place Value unit and are going to be working on rounding whole numbers, using money to understand decimals, and counting money.  Below are some websites and games that your child can go to for extra practice.

Comparing and ordering numbers:

Study Zone

Topmarks  The games toward the top of the page are for younger children, but the ones further down are perfect for 4th graders.

Rounding Numbers:

Mathman

Math Millions

Using Money to Understand Decimals:

Lunch Lady

Scottie Nickel's Change Maker

Bible:  We'll continue to study the first chapter in Acts, digging deeper into why it's so important that there were eyewitnesses to Jesus' ascension into Heaven.  Our memory verse this week is:

After Jesus said this, He was taken up to heaven.  They watched until a cloud hid Him from their sight.  Acts 1:9

Have a wonderful week!