Week of 8/31 -9/4

LOYALTY

LEADERSHIP

INTEGRITY

RESPECT

Important Dates

September 7 – Labor Day Holiday – No School
October 7 -8 - PTS Conferences
October 9-13 - Fall Break-No School

MAP TESTING SCHEDULE

8/31 - 9/4 Reading

9/8 - 9/11 Language Usage

9/14 - 9/18 Math

🏙️ Welcome to Our Mini City: Growing in Community and Character!

If you have heard your child talking about "Job Applications," "Paying Taxes," or "Focusing on their Own House," they are sharing the exciting launch of our classroom management and character system: The Mini City!

While we utilize a daily classroom economy to teach roles, responsibilities, and financial choices to keep our city running smoothly, our ultimate goal is much larger. We are using the idea of our classroom as a "mini-city" with roads and six distinct buildings to help our students grow into good, moral, and highly supportive citizens.

Our classroom community blueprint is anchored in Micah 6:8: “And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Over the past two week, we have been exploring what this ancient wisdom looks like in a modern 4th-grade classroom through our six Mini City buildings:

⚖️ The Justice Hall (Act Justly): We learned that Fair does not mean everyone getting the exact same thing (Equal); it means everyone getting what they need to reach the shared goal (Just). We visualized this with tools like stools, wiggle seats, and umbrellas.
❤️ The Mercy Center (Love Mercy): This teaches us to shift our eyes from "What about me?" to caring about what our neighbors need to succeed. Our central motto here is: “Someone else's help does not hurt me”.
🙏 The Humility House (Walk Humbly): We discussed how we all carry "invisible backpacks" of private struggles. Since we don't always know what someone else is going through, we ask ourselves: "What might I not know?"
🏡 My Home (Not My Job): This is our dedicated space for personal responsibility. Our motto is “Focus on your own house!”—meaning we focus on watering our own garden of choices, words, and actions instead of policing or comparing ourselves to others.
🚦 The Response Center: Situated at Reflection Intersection, this hub teaches us to pause before we react to a problem and ask: "Am I helping or adding to the traffic?" We are also learning that a problem involving me, does not give me permission to cause aother problem.
🚒 The Help Station: This center maps out clear boundaries for our citizens, helping them identify when to solve a problem independently and when to "Report It" to an adult for safety.

What we are Learning This Week

Math: Ms. Shell

This week, our 4th graders are exploring the power of 10 and our Base-10 number system through a real-world “warehouse” challenge! Students will discover how our place-value system works much like buying and packaging items in bulk: 10 ones make a ten, 10 tens make a hundred, and 10 hundreds make a thousand. Using pictures, manipulatives, and hands-on packaging activities, students will investigate how each place in a multi-digit number is 10 times the value of the place to its right. They will even create their own number system using a different base, such as Base-5, and compare how the systems grow. This experience will help students understand why place value works the way it does rather than simply memorizing the rules. The lesson culminates with students considering our essential question: “Is a Base-10 number system the best system to use?” Our warehouse model and “Base-5 Factory” challenge are designed to make the abstract idea of place value something students can actually see, build, and explain.

Homework:

SS Lessons #5 - 8 Due Friday 9/4

LA: Mrs. Phelps

READING MAP TEST!

Starting Tuesday, we will be taking the reading MAP test. Monday we will prepare and go over helpful test taking strategies and wrap up an activity from last week.

After each testing session, we will get a good break outside to burn off some energy!

Homework: None

Social Studies: Mr. Lovett

Last week, we introduced Columbus and Drake. We discussed why Columbus wanted to sail west to reach Asia. We also introduced Sir Francis Drake and the Spanish/English rivalry in the 16th century. We had a quiz on our lessons on Friday and played a game about Aztec gold back to Spain.

This week, we will discuss the first English colonies in Virginia and Massachusetts. What life was like for them, how the sites were chosen, and how they formed government. Students will learn about Columbian exchange and relationships between the Europeans and Native peoples. There will be a quiz at the end of the week but no homework in Social Studies because of MAP testing.

In Writing and Grammar (WAG) we discussed proper nouns and identified proper nouns in a reading passage. This week we will conclude Proper Nouns and move on to adjectives. We will also ask some questions about the comprehension of a reading passage along with the rules for writing sentences. There will be no homework this week in WAG due to MAP testing.

Religion: Mr. Henson

Service Opportunity: Blessings in a Backpack @ Alex R. Kennedy Elementary

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090D4FA9AD22A7FB6-65260883-volunteers

Science: Mrs. Jackel

https://sites.google.com/ascension-parish.com/k-5science?usp=sharing

Class Pictures