Weekly Newsletter
Week of September 8-12
Week of September 8-12
It's hard to believe we have completed 5 weeks of instruction with your children! By passing My Path lessons, paying careful attention in class and during small group sessions, as well as reading independently, your child will grow tremendously. GROWTH is the goal for everyone this year, and each day brings opportunities for everyone to strenghten their skills.
We have finished Module 1. Students completed their Module 1 assessment last week, as well as their test on Kitoto The Mighty. Grades have been posted in Parent Portal. Overall, I'm very pleased with their progress, and I'm looking forward to beginning Module 2, Come To Your Senses this week. This module is filled with high-interest nonfiction texts. We will focus on nonfiction text features, refer to specific passages to support an author's idea or opinion on a topic, and summarize sections of a text to demonstrate understanding. Since nonfiction can be a challenge, I've added numerous resources to our Reading Resources page to assist for review at home, including video links and slideshows.
Our short read is called, What Are The Five Senses, and our story is called The Science Behind Sight a technical nonfiction text that will teach students about the structure of the human eye, and how the retina sends messages to the brain in order for us to see everyday objects. This story has a perfect Science connection for reflection and refraction, too! Vocabulary words are perception,aroma, distinguish, tactile, luminous, transparent, reflect, illuminates & judge.
A vocabulary list always comes home for studying and these words are posted on Google Classroom and under Reading Resources for your reference.
Students are continuing to learn how to form lowercase letters in cursive right now, and we've covered i, t, e, l, c, s, h & j. Homework will come home each Monday. This can be done throughout the week at your convenience, but will be due each Friday.
Students are constructing and deconstructing words weekly. We've covered with prefixes pre, mis, & dis and suffixes y and ly. This week we will discuss the Latin Root lumin. We are also continuously using the skill of context clues to determine the meaning of unknown words.
Students have learned to correctly punctuate quotations and dialogue between characters. We've also worked on using diaog tags other than said. Ask your child about "Said Is Dead" and see if they can share some more descriptive verbs with you!
In writing we will continue our first unit in which students analyze the use of narrative techniques to present ideas about characters, setting, and plot.
Students have applied these narrative techniques (character, setting, problem, resolution, and dialogue) to develop short narrative responses to the stories we've read in Module 1. I will continue to guide them through this process and give them specific feedback to improve their writing skills.
Welcome to math in Fourth Grade. This year will be a fun but challenging year. I will post resources to assist you with understanding the curriculum and what your child will learn this year. Fourth Grade math is rigorous, thus practicing multiplication and division are incredibly important.
Unit 1: Understanding Place Value
This week we will make connections between digits and place value. We will use physical and visual models to help grasp the importance of the placement of a digit in a number and how that corresponds to its value.
Important Vocabulary: period, place value, digit, expanded form, standard form, represent
Understanding Place Value Practice
Understanding Comparing Numbers
We have used place value to understand how to describe numbers as greater, less than or equal to. We use symbols to describe that relationship. <,>,=
Understanding Rounding Numbers
We will use place value strategies and numberlines to round numbers to the nearest thousand, ten thousand, and hundred thousand. This skill builds on skills learned in both third and second grade.
Understanding Addition
We will continue to use place value strategies to understand how to add larger numbers and regroup into larger place values.
Understanding Subtraction
This is our final skill for Unit 1. We will build on our prior knowledge of subtraction by applying it to larger numbers. Students will use what they know about the place value to subtraction and regroup from larger place values.
For the week of September 8th, we will conclude Unit 1 materials and begin our study guide for our Unit 1 assessment which will be September 16th. A study guide will begin to come home on Wednesday to help you understand what types of questions will be assessed.
On Wednesday, we will begin Unit 2 curriculum which will guide us through the beginnings of multiplication and divsion. We will learn that we can describe multiplication using models and words, such as 4 times as many as 8 is 32.
Unit 1: Light and Sound
We have focused on classifying objects as transparent, translucent, and opaque. We will use observation and flashlights to help us determine how light interacts with an object. We will also understand how light reflects, refracts and absorbs.
Important Vocabulary: light, waves, energy, classifcy, translucent, transparent, opaque, reflect, refract, absorb
For the week of September 8th, we will continue our discussion of energy by focusing on Sound. We will learn how sound travels and how to describe a sound in terms of volume, pitch and frequency.
Important Vocabulary: Waves, pitch, frequency
This week we will finish our discussion of important leaders who rally and support the colonists to begin their fight for independence against Great Britain. We have discussed the roles of King George III, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams & Patrick Henry,
This week we will discuss Thomas Jefferson, Benedict Arnold, John Adams & Paul Revere.
We will move on to Paul Revere's ride and The Battle of Lexington & Concord. I've added a new slideshow of the battles, as well as a few Liberty Kids episodes that would be helpful in reviewing the content we are covering in class this week. Other than Liberty Kids, these are the same resources I use in class each day.
Keep an eye on our Social Studies Resources. I keep this updated with resources your child can review at home and also on Google Classroom.
Please be sure to return your child's signed progress report envelope as well as the enclosed Title 1 Parent Compact.
9/11- CoGAT Testing
9/27-PBIS Incentive Popcorn-20 Bobcat Bucks
Wish List Items-Paper towels, hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, candy for our treat jar (no peanuts, please)