Dear 4A Families,
Happy October everyone! It was quite a wet week last week–please always send your children to school with a jacket as the weather can change quickly. A rain jacket with a hood is preferable. Thank you.. This is an exciting and busy month for our 4th graders. Here we go!
This week the students will begin their Saint Report Projects as we prepare for the upcoming All Saints’ Day Masses. Ms. Tyler and I will be meeting with Fr. Oakland and Mrs. Horton later this week to start planning for the masses. We will send out information/dates/times on the masses as soon as we have them set.
Special Saint Homework this week:
Religion/Language Arts: This Monday, October 2nd, each student will be assigned the saint that they will write their report on as well as portray at the Mass. All of the work for this report will take place at school except for one homework assignment that is due this Thursday, October 5th. Detailed directions for this homework assignment will be in your child’s filer on Monday, and are available on the website in PDF form in the Saint Report and Mass Info tab at the top of the page. The students will be prepped fully with an example we complete at school. It is very important that families take time to carefully read through the directions of this assignment. We give the students three HW days to provide ample time to thoughtfully complete the task.. There will be no math homework Monday-Wednesday to provide extra time to complete this important work. Your assistance in helping your child read the materials and understand their saint is an integral part of the process. Please be sure that the list of facts your child writes, as well as all highlighted materials, come back to school on Thursday when we will write the first drafts of the report.
All students have two copies of the Prayer of St. Francis that they should be practicing daily for memorization by October 26th. The students will recite this prayer during the All Saints Day Masses.
Our fall MAP testing will wrap up this week with the language arts section. We will also do any needed make-ups.
Check the Filers! You will find corrected math, social studies, spelling, and reading tests in your child filer on Monday, and a couple of other assignments. Be sure you remove and go over the work with your children. Thank you!
Math: Corrected math tests for our Place Value chapter will be in your child’s filer on Monday. The students did very well on the test. We will be using the place value and rounding concepts covered in this chapter all year. Chapter 2 is all about addition and subtraction of large whole numbers. Students are continuing to work on developing good habits in math class and all subjects. The good habits of listening with attention, reading carefully, following directions completely, checking over work for accuracy in both classwork and homework are all ongoing areas of focus. The students were introduced to the Mathletics math supplement site last week. Students are assigned tasks weekly that support the lessons/objectives we are covering in class. I am able to make adjustments for the level of challenge or support needed as well. Xtramath will be used at school regularly. XtraMath is an excellent resource to build fact mastery. Success with fact mastery requires regular, focused practice. Thank you for encouraging your child in this area with a goal of visiting Xtramath at home at least three times a week along with our school practice.
Spelling: This week’s words focus on short and long “i” vowel sounds. The study sheet was passed out last Friday and should be in your child’s filer. The test this week will be on Friday as usual.
Reading: Students are continuing to work on their figurative language project “Sailing the Seas of Hyperbole.” Each student created her/his own sail with figurative language chosen from one of the many seafaring tall tales that we read in class. This week, we will continue to read Charlotte’s Web. Already, we are under its spell. As students read each chapter, we pay attention to the story structure and demonstrate our understanding by writing complete responses to questions using text evidence. Students will be answering thought-provoking questions while restating the question, answering the question being asked, explaining thinking with evidence, and going back to check over each response for accuracy. We strive for quality work.
Science: This week, students will investigate how differences in lava types explain differences in the shape and eruption patterns among volcanoes. In the activity, Bubble Trouble, students compare two different types of “lava”, thin and thick. They use this information to figure out why volcanoes have different shapes and how the type of lava explains why some volcanoes explode.
Social Studies: Your child’s corrected Continent and Ocean tests will be in the first pocket of your child’s filer on Monday. We have been learning about latitude and longitude and reading maps in Social Studies. The students will apply this knowledge as they locate places using latitude/longitude coordinates, as well as learning to read different types of maps including precipitation, population and elevation.
