What beautiful weather! Let's hope it stays a few days. Please note Open House (now being called Curriculum Information Night) is this Thursday; look for more information in the Tuesday folder.
We will begin Reading Logs this week and I will be explaining the specifics to the students on Monday. One of the main focal points of this year is to teach the students to be independent and responsible now that they are 4th graders. I am working with them on the need to copy the information that must go into their agendas and I write daily what will be the homework for that night. I also remind them that much of the spelling and wordly wise studying will be done outside of class. One thing we must become stronger on is the multliplication facts; we are taking quizzes every Friday and the day is coming where it will be for a grade. Mulitplication facts are something they must be solid on and is a 3rd grade objective. Right now, they have been given 6 minutes to complete 50 basic facts and many are struggling. The ultimate goal is to be able to do 50 in one minute, but we are aiming for at least 25 in one minute with 50 completed in 3 minutes. Please continue to assist your child with learning them; it will make so much of the math we will be doing later easier (and faster!).
This week we will be working on...
Writing- In writing this week we will learn how to really zoom in on the small moments in our lives. We spent last week jotting down story ideas and even began writing some stories. This week we will focus on writing seeds- example- we don't write about the whole day at the beach, we choose one tiny part (looking for seashells) to write about.
Math- On Monday, all fourth graders will take a math benchmark. This is not for a grade, but will help us in determining what information our students are coming to us with. There will be no homework Monday night, other than studying their facts. For the rest of the week, we will continue with Unit 1. We will look at polygons and their properties, lines (parallel, intersecting, perpendicular), and angles- acute, obtuse, congruent, and right. Students will practice measuring angles as well.
Reading- We begin a new planner this week (The Heart of the Story) and our central idea is how individuals are shaped by their personal experiences, observations, and interactions. This week we will focus on making connections through literature (text to text, text to self, and text to world). We will also begin reading a novel in class called The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo.
Science- Our focus this week is matter. We will describe and classify matter through readings, videos, and hands on experiments.
Social Studies- We begin using the text book this week. We will learn about geographic factors that influenced patterns of settlements and populations in Texas as well as how people have adapted and modified their environments in Texas.
Math- On Monday, all fourth graders will take a math benchmark. This is not for a grade, but will help us in determining what information our students are coming to us with. There will be no homework Monday night, other than studying their facts. For the rest of the week, we will continue with Unit 1. We will look at polygons and their properties, lines (parallel, intersecting, perpendicular), and angles- acute, obtuse, congruent, and right. Students will practice measuring angles as well.
Reading- We begin a new planner this week (The Heart of the Story) and our central idea is how individuals are shaped by their personal experiences, observations, and interactions. This week we will focus on making connections through literature (text to text, text to self, and text to world). We will also begin reading a novel in class called The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCamillo.
Science- Our focus this week is matter. We will describe and classify matter through readings, videos, and hands on experiments.
Social Studies- We begin using the text book this week. We will learn about geographic factors that influenced patterns of settlements and populations in Texas as well as how people have adapted and modified their environments in Texas.
