Dear 4A Families,
I hope you all had a nice weekend. Happy first week of October.
The Living Rosary will take place this Thursday the 6th at 8:45. This is a perfect uniform day. Join us if you are able. Please have students bring in a rosary if they have one tomorrow—Tuesday. We will be reviewing how to pray the Rosary in class to prepare for this special service. I have extra rosaries for those students that need one. Thank you.
Math: Our current math lessons are focusing on adding and subtracting large numbers, area, perimeter and estimation. With the IOWA tests fast approaching, building focus, endurance and accuracy with math skills will be included in our lessons. I will also be including some homework in the next two weeks that will help your child build these skills as well. You can assist on these worksheets by asking your child to work for the suggested time (on the sheet) without disruption, talking or stopping. They can pretend they are being timed like the IOWA tests. Then, go over the problems with your child to check for accuracy and make any corrections. Our goal is to both practice and build skills as well as endurance to stick with/focus on a task until completion.
Reading/LA: We will continue on our journey with Wilbur this week as we work on our “Postcards from the Barn”. The students are using descriptive words and phrases to describe the barn as well as explain the sequence of events that lead to Wilbur’s escape. We will read chapter 4 focusing on target skills of sequencing and characterization. Through each chapter we will draw students deeper into the story through a discussion of the authors’ themes. Helping students discover and understand the deeper meaning of events improves both their comprehension and appreciation of the story.
Spelling: The new list for lesson 7 was passed out last Friday. Along with learning the spelling list, the students will all be required to write their address in proper form—as well as correct spelling. For example:
Language Arts/Religion: The students got a great start on their saint reports last week. Most are in the first editing stage. I will be meeting with the students individually to edit this week and they will begin to work on the artistic elements of their report. Thank you all for your assistance on the homework portion of this project last week. Your child will be sharing this or her finished product during their conference, and they will be on display the main hallway bulletin board in November. Next week we will begin preparations for the All Saint’s Day Mass. You might want to begin thinking about a saint costume for your child for the All Saint’s Day Mass on October 30th. Past 4th grade students can be great resources. The costumes do not have to be fancy. Sheets, bathrobes, graduation gowns, etc. all make great costume bases. On Wednesday, Fr. Oakland will visit our class to talk more about saints and guardian angels.
Science: This week the students will be discussing the properties of different materials and their environmental impacts. They will also read thermometers in a controlled experiment to determine how well the different materials perform as thermal insulators. The data collected from the experiment will be discussed and could influence their solar oven designs. The learning objective for this week is that some materials conduct heat energy more quickly than other materials.
Social Studies: Last week the students used latitude and longitude to locate states and cities on a US map. This week we will be working with region, elevation, population and precipitation maps to learn about characteristics of the regions of the United States. Knowing and understanding these characteristics and features plays an important part in our Washington History and Westward Expansion lessons. The first state test on the NE states, abbreviations and some “extra” features will be next Tuesday, October 11th.
Homework: Look for math homework Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. All students should do a complete session of XtraMath each night as well, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I have moved all students to subtraction if they were not already there, as we will be focusing on subtraction in our math lessons this week.
Thank you for sending in your donations for our Ugandan students. We ask each child to bring in at least one dollar the first week of each month. Thank you for your support.
We also need your support for the Magazine Sale! Keep up the good work—and thank you so much!
Have a great first full week of October!