Week of January 13th

Dear 4A Families,

I hope you all stayed warm this weekend.  Will it snow?  How much?  No city gets as excited about snow as Seattle! Snow or not, it will be cold this week.  Be sure students come to school with warm jackets and gloves.

If you have not yet turned in your permission slip for the certificate delivery during Catholic Schools Week, please do so my tomorrow, January 14th.  Thank you.

Please send in your dollar for the January Uganda collection on Monday if you have not done so already. Thank you.

Reading:  Dr. Martin Luther KingJr., the Civil Rights Movement and Cesar Chavez will highlight our reading work this week. This unit includes reading, language arts, and social studies objectives. This unit is part of our larger unit on biographies that will culminate in the big Oral Biography Projects in late March. This unit ties in nicely with the Common Core Standards of reading informational texts. As we work through this unit the students will:

Spelling:  The spelling list for Lesson 2 was sent home last Friday and the test will be this Friday the 18th as usual.  Just a reminder all students need to have the Month Poem memorized by this Friday the 17th.

Social Studies:   The students will be taking the NE/SE/Midwest Combo test this Thursday the 16th.  In class we are starting our journey with Lewis and Clark.

Science: Last week, we honed in on the engineering design process, and we started going through it to create wind mills. The goal for students is to design and create blades that will make the windmill spin and lift as much weight as possible. Students have been in the “ask” phase to try to understand potential constraints and to explore the best options for materials and their properties. Ask your student how they are becoming engineers and using the Engineering Design Process!

Religion: Your children will come home with directions for a homework assignment to write some notes for Cool School News The notes are due by Friday.  We will write the news report in class. You will just assist your child in completing the required notes.  Thank you. In class the students will present their Works of Mercy posters and we will review the Liturgical calendar. The Liturgical Year test will take place next Friday the 24th.  We will have review time in class this week, and students should use the online practice site as well has their study sheets to practice at home.  Remember, this is a two part test; the Liturgical Calendar and the fill in the blank test.

Math: We will be starting the double digit multiplication algorithm this week. Students have been working hard to understand why we multiply the way we do using area models and the Distributive Property.

All students should still be working on Xtramath regularly until multiplication and division are mastered.

Just a reminder that recorder practice is part of homework and can be a nice brain break for students. Students need to always have their recorder at school on Wednesdays and Fridays.

I hope you all enjoy the MLK holiday on Monday.   Stay warm!