Dear 4th Grade Families,
Next week, on Wednesday June 10th, we will be taking our end of the year field trip to Alki Beach. I will be contacting all parents that signed up to drive/chaperone later this week with details. Thank you—and pray for sun!
Return those library books! Last call for any library books that have not been returned. There are quite a few 4th graders with books still out—thank you for checking. We will do a desk search as well on Monday!!
Be sure to check your child’s filer for corrected math tests, two social studies tests (region notes and WA Map) spelling and the group class picture!
Math: For our last week and a half, students will be reviewing multiplication and division of large numbers along with geometry and doing some measurement work.
Reading: This week, students will be reading a story called The Princess and the Pizza, written by Mary Jane and Herm Auch. The essential question states where do good ideas come from? Students will be reading a fun fairy tale drama. Students will learn vocabulary and discuss questions that connect with the essential question and topic.
Language Arts/Spelling: This week the students will be finishing up their final Flat Stanley entry. Students will continue to share their Flat Stanley journals with the class. The students will share their journals with the first graders next week. We will do some sentence dictation work and start planning our letters to introduce themselves to their 5th grade teachers. The students will have a final spelling test on Friday. The spelling words are contractions. The list is on the website and they received one last Friday.
Religion: We are wrapping up our study of The Beatitudes. Students will use their bibles to look up readings as well. We will take an Open Book/Note test later in the week.
Social Studies: Corrected WA map tests will be returned on Monday. Our final SS lessons the students will be learning about Mother Joseph, the Denny Party, the Great Seattle Fire and the Klondike Gold Rush. Lots of interesting local history!
Science: The students have finished up Unit 4 surrounding the topic of energy! The final test will be on June 4th. Students have received a study guide and term list to help them. We will also do a Kahoot in class!
I am looking forward to a wonderful week ahead with the 4th graders. Attached you will find a letter regarding summer learning. Please let us know if you have any questions.
Dear 4th Grade Families,
We wanted to take this opportunity to express how proud we are of the progress the fourth-grade students have made during this challenging year. They have grown academically, socially and spiritually. Learning to take on big projects and work independently and cooperatively are skills that will help make their transition into the upper grades successful. Your support this year has been tremendous as well. We will truly miss this class next year.
As you well know, the students have learned so much this year! They have grown significantly in their reading, writing and math skills. We understand that it is often quite difficult to motivate children to dedicate time to reading, reviewing math skills or writing during summer vacation. The research is clear however; when students do not regularly read, practice math and writing skills over the summer, they can lose a significant amount of the progress they made during the school year. This is especially true for reading and math skills.
Please note, we consider some of the most important aspects of summer to be time to play and be a kid! Being outside and taking advantage of all the wonderful adventures summer has to offer plays a very important role in both physical and mental growth. Summer is “battery recharge” time and we all need that! The summer review we are encouraging is not intended to be long and laborious. In fact, the best practice sessions are consistent, limited in time, but very focused. A regular skill practice routine will build and refine skills and good work habits. What we do not want is a “low academic battery” when school begins next year. We also highly encourage a low-tech approach for most summer reviews. Here are some suggestions for avoiding the “Summer Slide.”
Reading:
Just like exercising keeps muscles in shape, reading keeps the brain in shape. If you don’t exercise, you lose muscle, and if you don’t read, you will lose literacy skills.
Research shows that children who don’t read over the summer lose up to two months of reading development. This is often referred to as ‘the summer slide’ or the ‘summer learning loss.’ On the other hand, students who do read over the summer may gain a month of proficiency in reading. Reading over the summer is not a suggestion to keep kids busy; it’s a critical requirement to help students stay on track for their entire educational career and beyond.
Building strong reading comprehension and vocabulary skills support students in all subject areas. Students should be reading daily (at least 20 minutes) in books at their instructional reading level (not too easy—not too hard). Choosing books from a variety of genres, fiction and non-fiction is the best way to build strong, well-rounded reading skills. Don’t neglect oral reading! Opportunities to read orally to build fluency, expression and pace should be included in summer reading time. Reading aloud together as a family is also a wonderful way to enrich vocabulary development. Reading a picture book aloud to a sibling can be a fun and helpful way to get some oral reading practice as well. Be sure to talk to your child regularly about what he/she is reading!
You will find information on the Holy Rosary Summer Reading Challenge in your child’s report card envelope. All students are strongly encouraged to take part! I will also post on our website in the Summer Reading tab, a packet of reading comprehension activities you can run off if you choose, with answer sheets for parents
Math:
Every 4th grade student needs to take time this summer to review and practice the many important skills we have learned this year. Students must have their multiplication and division facts mastered for fluent recall as they begin 5th grade. There are several sites linked to our webpages where you can run off your own math practice sheets. One site we use to make math fact practice sheets and skill practice for the students is a site called commoncoresheets.com. Scroll down to “math drills” to run off time test sheets. Check out the other resources as well. The students will have access to their IXL: https://www.ixl.com/ account all summer. This is an excellent site to review and build skills. We highly recommend students try to build in 30-45 minutes a week on this site. Students are encouraged to continue using Xtramath: http://xtramath.org during the summer as well.
You will be receiving the Holy Rosary Math Challenge information in the report card envelope. This year the 4th graders will have a “MENU” to use to pick different tasks that will help support their math review. One of the menu choices is to work from a packet of math practice pages that all 4th grade students will receive on the last day of school. Students are not required to complete the packet, but we do encourage it! Those students that do complete the packet can bring it in at the beginning of the year to Ms. Simpson for some special treats. This packet also counts for the Holy Rosary Math Challenge.
Writing/LA:
Journal writing, pen pals, letters, creative stories, online programs like Story Jumper and Storybird are fun ways to include writing over the summer. There will be links to several fun and useful websites for writing ideas on the webpage especially for summer use as well. Keyboarding practice is also encouraged.
I will have Summer Practice Site pages on the 4A Webpage up by June 9th. They will be on the tabs at the side of the webpage. Here you and your child can look for practice sites and extra ideas for quality summer work.
It has been an amazing year, but we are not done yet. Your support in helping your child keep focused and on track during these last important weeks of the school year is very important—and appreciated. If you have any questions or ideas to help with summer studies, let me know.
Thank you
Mary Simpson