Dear 4A Families,
Happy 5th week of Lent and final week of March! The month seems to have flown by.
Thank you for your generosity of our Lenten Outreach opportunities.
Following are the collections for this coming Friday, March 31st:
Last Names A-L: Brown Bag Lunches (perishable OK) and/or reading glasses
Last Names M-Z: Brown Bag Lunches (perishable OK) and/or reading glasses
All families are also encouraged to support the Rice Bowl collection.
BINGO BASH:
Mark your calendars for Friday, April 21 from 6-8 p.m. It’s your chance to drop off the kids for a night of fun while you enjoy a break. Kids enjoy pizza, snacks, prizes, music, and of course, lots of BINGO! There are a few spots available. Sign up here.
Math: “Fraction Action” is our focus in 4th grade. Determining simplest form, comparing and ordering, mixed numbers and improper fractions, and using logical reasoning to solve problems. Look for homework each night. Success with these fraction skills relies on knowing multiplication and division facts!
Language Arts: In class the students are working on their first and second entries for their Flat Stanley Journals. The journals and flat people will all be coming home April 5th. The students will be coming with a packed of information by Wednesday this week (and you can also read it here now) with information about what the students will be doing at home in their journals between April 5th and May 16th. To start—especially on spring break, be on the lookout for great photo opportunities.
Spelling: Spelling words for this week all have final ”le” and “en” words . The lists were passed out last Friday, and the test will be March 31. There will not be a spelling test the week of April 3-7.
Reading: Students read chapters 3 & 4 in The Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. Our target comprehension skills are: visualizing, predicting and making connections. Students respond to what they’ve read through oral discussions and journal writing.
Social Studies: This week we will be doing some fun wrap up activities based around the Oregon Trail. The students will also be introduced to the regions of Washington State.
Science: Students will have the Unit 3 Human Machine test next week on March 31st. Students will have the opportunity to study during class next week with a study guide packet I have created. It is also important to study at home.
Religion: Busy week in religion—we are wrapping up our Sacrament unit and introducing our next unit on The Beatitudes. We will also have our Virtus lesson on Secrets, Surprises and Promises empowering children to tell a safe adult when something bad, uncomfortable or confusing happens on Tuesday. The students will be showing you the sheet they filled out in class as part of their Tuesday homework. Please sign and return the attached sheet confirming you have discussed the lesson with your child.
Oral Biography Project: This week the students will be coming home with some note cards they can use for their oral biography notes. If you are following along with the suggested timeline the students should be starting to write out some notes: Next step: Focus on re-reading in sections. Start with “early years,” make note cards and decide on your brilliant beginning. Add props for this section that help you remember details and tell the story. As you write the note cards, practice speaking/presenting these parts. Use PVLEGS.
Remember, the goal is to write only as many notes as needed with the assumption that some parts of the talk will be partially memorized. Students should be writing more bulleted lists with just enough info to help them remember the detailed facts. There may be sections of the talk that need more detail written/typed out–and that is fine. We just do not want students to have their entire speech written on the note cards.
Some other suggestions for the note cards:
- Do not put too many notes on one card–and skip lines. Highlight important things to remember like (pick up lamp prop here and walk around), (or pause here and look down.)
- Cards should be numbered
- Write neatly—not too small!
- It is ok to type out notes and glue them to the cards.
- The pictures show some samples of cards from previous students.
We will be planning some dedicated class time to work on the oral biographies April 3-5 as well as April 17-21. Please reach out if you have any questions about the project.
Have a nice week everyone—April here we come!
