Dear 4A Families,
Happy first day of Fall on Tuesday. It was fun seeing many of you at WestFest last weekend. It is such a wonderful community event.
This week we will be MAP testing in the area of Math. Students will not have math homework on Tuesday night this week. The students worked really hard on the reading portion of the test last week. I was proud of their effort.
Just a reminder to check your child’s filer several times a week. The first section, School/Home, is where students will place graded papers, HW for the night, notes and other important information. Please remove notes and graded papers. We also encourage you to have your child read what they have written in their planner to you. This is a great way to keep up on daily work and upcoming assessments and hold students accountable. The planner should be kept in the very last section in the back of the filer. If you notice your child’s planner is not neat, or does not seem complete, please let me know. We write in the planners Monday-Thursday. Thank you!
I love this time of year, and the students will be busy with some fun projects, especially their upcoming saint reports. The bulk of the report will be created at school, but we will be asking for some important parent homework assistance Sept. 28-30 to help your child learn about his/her saint. Please read below.
The Saints are Coming!
Next Monday, September 28th, each student will be assigned the saint that they will write their report on as well as portray during the All Saints Day Mass. The 4th grade teachers have collected a wonderful assortment of amazing saints, with kid friendly information that they can use to support the writing of their reports. I will randomly pass out a saint to each student, as well as give them the opportunity to trade or look through extras to exchange. This process works very well. I do try to give students saints with their names if we have them. If your family has a request for a particular saint that holds special meaning to your family, please email me no later than this Wednesday the 23rd. We will do our best to accommodate your request. Some saints have very little information–or may not be the best choice for a 4th grade project. Please note that no student will have St. Francis of Assisi because he is our “class patron saint” and we use his story to teach the process of the saint reports. Thank you.
Looking Ahead: All of the work for the saint report will take place at school except for the homework assignment that the students will work on with you next Monday-Wednesday–the 28-30. Detailed directions for this homework assignment will be in your child’s filer on Monday, the 28th, and will also be available on the website in PDF form by this Friday if you want to read ahead. The students will be fully prepped on how to tackle this homework assignment after taking part in a detailed example we complete at school. It is very important that parents take time to carefully read through the directions of this assignment. Thank you in advance!
We will be having a planning meeting soon regarding the Saint Masses—once I have the information I will pass it along to you. For now you can mark your calendars for Wednesday, November 4th as the day the students will come to school dressed as their saint.
Religion Our religion this week will focus on some introductory lessons on the Saints. Students will learn that the Saints are models of faith and virtue, and that following their example helps us grow in holiness.
All students will have two copies of the Prayer of St. Francis in their filers on Monday as well. Students should practice the prayer daily at home for memorization. We encourage the students to keep a copy of this prayer by their bed and say it before they go to sleep each night. What a beautiful prayer to end the day with! We will also say the prayer daily at school. The students should have the prayer memorized and recited to me no later than October 27th.
Math: Next week we will begin Topic 2: Fluently Adding and Subtracting Multi-Digit Whole Numbers. Our lessons will focus on adding and subtracting whole numbers and estimating sums and differences. Fact practice is such an important part of being fluent with numbers! To supplement our unit on solving sums and differences, your child will be engaging with XtraMath to build accuracy in fluency in addition and subtraction facts.
Be sure to enroll your child in XtraMath using the information sheet that was sent home last week. Let me know if you need me so send home another enrollment information sheet or if you need assistance. Thank you! Xtramath helps students transition from counting or calculating the basic math facts to recalling them. Quickly recalling math facts, instead of calculating them, frees up mental resources for higher-level operations. Success with fact mastery requires regular, focused practice. Thank you for encouraging your child in this area. Let me know if you need any assistance with the sign up. BE SURE TO SELECT “ENROLL” AND USE THE INFORMATION ON THE FLYER!
Spelling: Words for this week were passed out last Friday. The test will be this Friday as usual. This week’s words all have the pattern of: vowel-consonant e.
Reading: We are enjoying getting to know the characters in Charlotte’s Web. In chapter 3 E.B. White introduces us to the barn and the new friends Wilbur meets. Later in the week we will be starting a special writing activity based on Chapter 3 The Escape. The students will compose their own Postcards from the Barn, which they will share with you at their conference in November. Check your child’s filer for two separate assessments covering chapters one and two. The first focuses on carefully composed written responses that use text evidence to support their answers. The second is a multiple choice comprehension test.
Science: We will be continuing our study on earth changes by investigating the properties of mechanical and chemical weathering. Students will engage with their first science lab by simulating the mechanical weathering caused by crashing waves, burrowing roots, and expanding earth. We will then notice how weak earth acids can weather rocks and landforms by simulating chemical weathering.
Social Studies: The Continent and Ocean test will take place Friday, September 25th. The students will have a word bank for the test. All students need to have the continent poem memorized and presented by September 26th as well. In class we will be continuing our study of latitude and longitude and reading maps in Social Studies. The students will apply this knowledge as they locate places using latitude/longitude coordinates, as well as read different types of maps including precipitation, population and elevation.
Have a wonderful week everyone–thank you for all you do!