Dear 4A Families,
Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the holiday in honor of Dr. King. Sadly the Hawks season came to an end, but they our still number one in our hearts!!
We have a short but busy ahead. I apologize for not getting the permission slips out last for the Catholic School’s Week certificate deliveries last week. They will be in your child’s filer on Tuesday. Look for a Pink Sheet in the “School/Home” section of the filer. The delivery day is Tuesday, February 2nd from 10:30-12:30. We will need parents to drive/chaperone small groups. Thank you in advance for your help!
Be sure to check your child’s filer for corrected tests and assignments. You will find reading, math, spelling/religion and map tests. Corrected tests and papers should be removed. Thank you!
Reading/Language Arts: Our reading focus will continue with a Civil Rights based theme as we learn about the people and events that influenced this time in history. The students will edit and revise the rough drafts of their newspaper articles and type them in the lab on Thursday in a “newspaper” template.
Spelling lists were sent out last week for lesson 10
We will be conducting our class spelling bee this week to determine the two 4A representatives for the school spelling bee on February 4th.
Math: You will find corrected math tests in your child’s filer. Overall the class did quite well. I was especially proud of the great job they did working thorugh the multi-step problem solving questions. We have already begun multiplication with a double-digit multipliers. Thank you for taking time to look over your child’s homework. Close attention to accurate computation is very important. Look for math homework each night this week.
Religion: We will continue our study of the Sacraments this week. All students will need to be able to name the sacraments and their category. Students were given a study sheet last week, which should be in their filer. Spelling does not have to be perfect, but I will give extra credit on spelling if the words are spelled correctly. This test will be on Friday.
Social Studies: Corrected Western State tests are in your child’s filer. The 50 State test will take place January 26th. This week our travels with Lewis and Clark will take us over the Rocky Mountains.
Thank you for helping your child keep up with their homework. Remember, students are always encouraged to visit the Mathletics site for extra practice. Nightly reading in a book of choice should also be part of the homework routine. On a side note, we are watching a great video about Dr. King in class. For some reason I can’t get the closed caption feature to turn off, so the video had the CC on. As we watched this video that I have seen many times over the years I noticed that with the closed caption I was picking up on many details that I had not noticed before. Then, coincidentally, as I was doing some web research, I came across an article by Jim Trelease, an educator and author well known for his research on reading. He was discussing ways to include more reading at home and this was one of his suggestions:
An economical device to teach reading is probably already in your home. Finland’s children have the highest reading
scores in the world and they use this device more than any other country—and it’s free! It’s closed-captioning on the TV. Turn it on by using the “menu” button on the remote to reach the “cc” area. Children unconsciously absorb the sight of the words and their sounds, making connections to how print is used. It’s like having a free magazine subscription in the home. All print counts.
Of course picking the right shows to use closed caption with is quite important, and this in no way would the place of reading, but great food for thought! You might want to give it a try.
Have a great week everyone. Thank you for turning in your signed permission slips by this Friday.