Week of November 3rd

Dear 4A Families

untitledHappy Monday and November everyone. I was so proud of the wonderful job the students did at the All Saint’s Day Mass last Friday, and again at the Sunday Mass. They really were little “saints”! Thank you all for everything you did to help prepare your children for these two special Masses.  I also want to send out a huge thank you to all involved with our very fun Halloween Party last Friday. Special thanks to Heather Slee and all of the parent support of this fun event!

It will be nice to get back to a more normal routine. The ITBS and CogAT tests are finally complete! Now we are ready to dive into some great learning.

untitledVeteran’s Day HW Project: On Monday the 3rd each student will be bringing home a flag pattern on which they will write a thoughtful paragraph to honor a Veteran. Complete directions for this project will accompany the flag. Flags are due by next Monday the 10th, but can be turned in early if they are ready. We will have a class prayer service to honor these Veterans on Monday the 10th.

Social Studies: Look for corrected NE/SE tests in your child’s filer on Monday. You will find several fun and useful map practice sites in the links on the right hand side of the 4A website labeled Map Skills. As we move “west” with our state tests, the goal is also to remember the eastern states. Knowledge of state location is a skilled that is expected as students move up the grades. Our next set of states will be the Midwest States. The test will be Friday, November 14th.  Our classwork will focus on the early Native People of our state and the early explorers.

Science: We will be continuing our study of Energy with a short review
of Heat Energy and Sound Energy. We will be completing a few lab
activities in class and then we will start discussing Solar Energy.

untitledTime for the Market!: Next Thursday the 13th we will be heading off to wonderful Pike Place Market. Students are required to wear their uniforms to the Market. They will need to bring a sack lunch to eat, and they may bring up to $5.00 to spend at the Market, but no more please. If you signed up to drive, I will send home a confirmation letter later this week that will include the specifics of the day. Thank you. We are hoping every student will also send donations for the Pike Place Market Food Bank. We will bring the donations with us on the 13th.

Religion: The students will be learning the Works of Mercy, which tie in perfectly with our Saint studies and how we can strive to be “saints” as well.  The Corporal Works of Mercy need to be memorized for a test on November 18th.  Spelling does not have to be perfect. but should be close.  They do not have to be memorized in order.

Math: Look for math homework each night this week. The students are making good strides improving their mastery of multiplication and division. Dedicated, nightly practice to master facts is expected. Once facts are mastered, the amount of practice time can be reduced. Thank you for your continued assistance in checking your child’s homework for accuracy. FYI—when the students are writing number sentences—or answering story problems, their problems and answers need to be labeled. The order of the numbers does matter on story problems.   For instance: How many wheels on seven tricycles? 7 X 3 wheels = 21 wheels. The X sign means “groups of” when writing these types of problems. 3 X 7 would not work, as it is not three groups of seven wheels. Thank you!

untitledLast week in computer lab the students logged into their new Digit Whiz accounts.  I am sending home login information so that the students can use this site at home as well.  This is a fun and well designed site that focuses on Common Core math, with a focus on multiplication/division.  The activities range from easy to very complex.  Have your child show you around.  I will occasionally ask the students to complete activities from the site for homework as it relates to upcoming math lessons.

untitledReading: Last week the students wrote “Postcards from the Barn” in which they put themselves into a scene from the story and wrote and illustrated a postcard. We will continue on our journey this week with a continued focus on vocabulary, character traits and theme. New reading logs will be sent home on Monday. October reading logs should be turned in by Tuesday the 4th, at the latest.

Language Arts: Spelling lists for Unit 6 were sent home last Friday.  Our writing this week will focus on quality paragraph construction with clear topic sentences, supporting details and wrap up sentences. We will also be doing some fun activities related to our Pike Place Market visit.

Have a wonderful first week of November!