Dear 4A Families,

I hope everyone had a nice weekend.  The beautiful autumn colors are really starting to appear.  

All Saints’ Day Preparations:

Hopefully you have started to plan your child’s saint costume. Let me know if you have any questions. The school All Saints Day Mass will be November 4th at 8:45.  On Sunday November 1st we will be asking all students and families that are available to attend the 10:00 am Parish Mass in their saint costumes.  This is a wonderful way to share this lovely service with the larger parish community.   In order to plan for seating, and know which students will be available to possibly read during the weekend Mass, we will need to know if you are able to attend.  Please email me no later than October 22nd to let me know WILL or WILL NOT be able to attend.  Thank you!  Even though all students will not have individual speaking parts, all students take part in both services by processing in, standing during the Litany of Saints and coming forward to recite the Prayer of St. Francis at the end of the Masses.  Be sure to let us know if you have any questions about the saint project or upcoming masses.

The Annual Fund Fall Fund Drive is here which means if we are the first class to 100% participation, we receive a special event with Principal Horton. Whether you donate personally, or get someone to donate in your family’s honor, it all counts! Thank you so much for your support of our school.

Mid-Trimester Reports will be sent home next  Monday, October 19th.  These envelopes will also contain the Fall MAP test scores. I ask the students not to open the envelopes until they get home. I will have put a sticker over the flap.  Look for an envelope in your child’s filer that day. 

 

Religion: Continue to practice the Prayer of St. Francis.  It is a great bedtime prayer, and practicing right before you go to sleep helps with retention!  All students need to be able to recite the prayer from memory by October 28th. All students can choose to recite the prayer to the whole class or individually to me.  Thank you!  

Language Arts/Religion: The students are hard at work on their saint reports.  We continue with editing the main reports and this week the students will also start planning the prayer they write to their saint.

Math:  We will be taking the Topic 2 test on addition and subtraction of large numbers on Thursday this week. We will be reminding students about the habit of striving for accuracy.  We are moving into our units on multiplication and division of larger numbers.  We will begin with the basics, which also means getting back to mastery/quick recall of the facts.  I will move all students to multiplication on Xtramath this Thursday.  I would like them to visit Xtramath several times each week –for at least 5-10 focused minutes until mastery is reached. Students are also encouraged to use flash cards and other practice strategies. It is great to keep flash cards in the car for quick review sessions.

Reading:  The students have done a great job writing their “Postcards From the Barn” and we look forward to sharing them with you during the November conferences.  We are moving along in the novel as we build a better understanding of plot, character traits and vocabulary.  As we learn the new vocabulary students are practicing the skill of writing “meaning loaded” sentences that use context to show their understanding of the definitions. We hope to carry over our knowledge of our new Charlotte’s Web vocabulary words to other subject areas to fortify cross-curricular connections.   

Spelling: Our spelling words this week all have long “i” sounds spelled: i, i-C-e, y, igh, ey, uy The test will be on Friday, October 16th. 

Social Studies: Look for corrected latitude/longitude tests in your child’s filer. The students will be tested on the NE State locations and abbreviations this Friday, October 16.  Students should know both the abbreviations and the locations of these 11 states along with some added regional features (listed on the study sheets).  Extra study sheets and links to the online practice sites are linked on the 4A webpage under the tab on the left titled: MAP STUDY SHEETS.  Our classwork will be moving into a study of the Coastal and Plateau Peoples of Washington State. 

Science: Our next step as earth scientists is to explore the effects of plate tectonics on the world around us. We will study fast earth changes, such as earthquakes and volcanic explosions, and use our knowledge of the science of fast earth changes to come up with ways we can reduce the negative impact these natural earth changes can have on human lives. The first step of this unit will be to focus on how plate systems create earthquakes and volcanoes and the science that has been created to help monitor and measure what is going on underneath the earth’s surface. We will then build on this knowledge in future weeks and culminate with a STEM lab by engineering new systems and structures that can help humans avoid the negative effects of natural disasters. 

Remember to check your child’s filer for corrected tests.  Sometimes students place items in the front pocket when they were supposed to place them in one of the subject areas for use at school.  If you could double check with your children about items you are unsure about.  Generally the front pocket should only have HW, corrected tests and any special notes from the office or me.  Thank you!

Here’s to a fantastic week of learning ahead.  Thank you for all you do!