February News

• February 14, 2019 Valentine’s Day Celebration-bring in Valentine cards for the class

• February 19-20, 2019 Winter Recess (No School)

• March 6, 2019 Wednesday Early Dismissals resume

• March 6, 13, 20, and 27, 2019 Parent-Teacher Conferences

This month

Most of our book club work will take place in class. However, I am asking for your help if the children come home with work. Please help to see that the assignments are completed and that the book is traveling to and from school (if the reading assignments determined by the club are not being completed at school).

Be on the look-out for fractions and decimals in your life (especially while cooking, using money, or measuring) and point them out to your child.

Ask your child about the book he/she is reading. What is the author dong to keep him/her interested?

Ask your child what he/she has chosen to write about. If your child is persuading you or a sibling to do something, encourage them to formulate evidence to support their opinion.

At the end of the month, ask your child about the Fog Net they built with their engineering team (another highlight of the 4th grade science experiment)?

Conferences

I am eager to meet with your in March to share your child's progress and discuss goals for the spring. You will be receiving an email with a Sign Up Genius link in the near future to chose a conference date and time. As always, if you cannot find a time that works for you please email me and we will find a convenient day and time.

Math

As we continue our fraction unit, I am impressed with the children's ability to reason about the size of fractions. They have learned how to compose and decompose fractions as well as to create equivalent fractions. This month the children will learn how to add, subtract and multiply fractions. They will do this through pictures as well as equations. A bulk of out time will be spent solving word problems involving fractions. They children will use what they know about whole numbers to help them solve the problems involving fractions.

Reading

We will continue our work with Interpretation Book Clubs. The children are doing a great job managing their clubs: deciding how much to read each day, coming to the meeting prepared with sticky notes and talking points. Last month, we focused more on the characters. This month we will focus more on the theme of the novel or short text. Your child will not only identify the theme but find evidence to support it throughout the book. They will do this first through talking in their club. Then they will move to a written response about theme. It will be important that your child follows the book club rules and assignments. This will require that they have a second book to read if they finish their book club reading assignment.

Writing

This month we will continue our work with the Literary Essay. During the month of February the children will use the 5 paragraph essay format to write about the theme of a short story or picture book. The final part of the unit is where the children will construct an essay that compares two texts. It is amazing to hear and read about their ideas. It is a lot of work but their essays are a great way to showcase their hard work and highlight their improved literacy skills.

Science

We are almost finished with the unit "Energy is Everywhere." The children were put into groups to design, build and test a catapult. They will finish their construction of these and then will test as soon as possible. Our next unit is called "Dynamic Earth." In this unit the children will learn about the slow and rapid processes that change the Earth's surface. The unit will culminate with another engineering task involving the construction of a "Fog Net." The children will learn that in Chile people are harnessing water from fog to use for drinking, cooking and farming. They will then try recreate this process using a small humidifier screens, tape, plastic trays and straws. It is so much fun to see the young engineers at work.