Math:

In February we will be finishing our study of fractions of decimals from Unit 3 and moving into Unit 4 which covers addition, subtraction and measurement.

Unit 3: Fractions and Decimals

-Introducing Decimals

- Relationship Between Fractions and Decimals with Denominators 10 and 100

Unit 4: Addition, Subtraction and Measurement

-Place Value & the Standard Algorithm

-The Standard Subtraction Algorithm

-Measurement

-Measurement and Data Displays

Math Facts: It is incredibly important that the students practice their math facts (including the 11s and 12s) each week as part of their homework. It is the foundational skill needed for higher level computation. In Fourth Grade we tackle working with large numbers so having their math facts known will make the processes easier to learn.

Accelerated Reader (AR) Goals:

Trimester 2 is under way and students have set new goals. All fourth graders have an individual goal to reach by the end of Trimester 2 (Friday, March 10).

Every time a student finishes reading a book (in school or at home, including their book club books), they know to take the AR quiz.

Remember students can request library books, and access thousands of titles online! There is always a way to find good fit books. Let us know if your child needs help.

Reading:

We continue to work on essential skills in fiction and nonfiction. These include theme, research, and character.

Our next reading unit is from Interpreting Characters by Lucy Calkins. The Tiger Rising by Kate DiCammillo will be our mentor text for the unit. Thinking deeply about characters, their traits, author's craft, and making inferences will be highlights of this reading unit. These are higher level thinking skills and they tend to be more easily vocalized than expressed in written form. We will work on both skills so that students have practice expressing their thoughts through writing, but also begin building the foundations for participating in realistic fiction book clubs.

Writing:

February writing pieces will continue focus on responding to text which also ties in with reading. The Focus for this month is the literary essay. Through this, we continue to look at ways in which readers respond to a fictional text or prompt based on their reading. Students are learning how to organize their thinking and plan leteray answers before carefully writing them using evidence from the text. We continue to utilize the Lucy Calkins-based Boxes and Bullets organizational tool that students are familiar with from third grade. This gives students the chance to organize the main ideas and supporting details from a text.

Additionally, we will be working with a variety of spelling patterns this month.The main focus will be homophones

Creative Writing:

During the month of February, our writers will be starting their Realistic Fiction stories. They have created deep characters and planned a story that shows the character's struggle between their "wants" and their "needs". In their writing this month, students will be learning how to use details to show who a character is and how they change over the course of a story.

SEL (Social and Emotional Learning):

We are currently working on the area of self-management. Some of the topics we will talk about are stress (the good and the bad), controlling negative thoughts, anxiety, and using self-control. Students continue to add journaling prompts and resources to their SEL interactive notebooks!