Dear 4A Families,
I hope you all had a great weekend. Great win for the Hawks! I want to thank you all again for the very generous and thoughtful Christmas gifts and cards. I am so blessed to work with such wonderful families. We have Mass this coming Wednesday the 11th at 10:15, so students need to come in perfect uniform. I am assuming we will be having BLUE Friday again this Friday! —stayed tuned.
Reading: This week we will continue our studies of Dr. King and the Civil Rights Movement. We will also read a new biography about Cesar Chavez. This unit incorporates 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 at the end of March. This unit ties in perfectly with the Common Core Standards of reading informational texts. As we work through this unit the students will:
- Focus on increasing the complexity of the texts students read and discuss, and developing skills in argumentative writing and research.
- Emphasize speaking and listening skills as an avenue to evaluate, integrate and present information from many sources.
- Use technology/multi-media to gather and publish information.
Language Arts: For homework last week the students were asked to research and select an inspirational/motivational news story from 2016. At school on Monday the students will use their notes to write the story, using their notes, as a reporter would. Final drafts will be completed in the computer lab on a newspaper template.
We will continue to learn about the four types of sentences. Students will be asked to be able to both identify and incorporate each type of sentence in their writing. We will also be practicing the effective use of transition words to build sentence fluency.
Spelling: The spelling list for Lesson 16 was sent home last Friday and the test will be this Friday the 13th as usual.
Social Studies: The West/SW State test is taking place on Tuesday the 10th. The entire 50 State Test will take place on Monday, January 23rd. This is a date change from last week. Please update your calendars. In class last week we will continue with the Lewis and Clark Expedition. We will learn about the qualifications of Lewis and Clark to lead the Expedition, as well as what they had to do to prepare and pack for this amazing journey.
Science: This week we will be finishing up our discussion on sound energy. We will be looking at how sound waves travel and discussing the key terms of vibration, and low and high frequencies. We will end the week with an electrical energy experiment.
Religion: We began our study of the Seven Sacraments last week. On Thursday, Fr. Oakland will be coming to visit with the class to talk about the Sacraments as well. Last week the students brought home a study sheet for an upcoming test on the Sacraments. The students will need to know each Sacrament and their categories for a test on January 20th.
Math: The math test for chapter 4 will take place on Wednesday. The math homework Tuesday night will be a practice test. Students will need to be able to match math vocabulary with examples as well. Thank you for going over the work with your child. Look for math homework Monday, Tuesday and Thursday this week. Keep up with math fact mastery.
Catholic Schools Week this year is from January 29th to February 3rd. On Tuesday the 31st the 4th graders will be delivering certificates of appreciation to many of the local businesses that support our school. This has been a 4th grade tradition for almost 20 years! We will need parents to drive/chaperone small groups of students as they deliver certificates on this day. Mark your calendars! Permission slips will be sent home this Thursday.
Have a great week everyone!
Enjoy the holiday on Monday in honor of Dr. King
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