Dear 4A Families,
I hope you all had a nice weekend. The teacher inservice day last Friday was very good providing some great new ideas I can use in the classroom. Thank you all for your generous support of the magazine sale— The 4th graders went BIG this week and sold the most subscriptions! Congratulations to grade 4! This week…a new prize incentive: 1 FREE dress pass– Get 3 new subscriptions or more “this week only” 9/29 – 10/06 (8am).
The Living Rosary will take place this Wednesday the 7th at 9:00. This is a perfect uniform day. Join us if you are able. Please have students bring in a rosary if possible tomorrow—Tuesday. We will be reviewing how to pray the Rosary in class to prepare for this special service. Tomorrow, Fr. Oakland will be visiting some classes, including 4A. We will be asking him about the Saints!
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 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. Thank you! The math flash cards I mentioned last week will come home for most students today. The students that showed mastery of the facts through 9 will move forward with division facts and will not bring home flash cards.
Reading/LA: We will continue on our journey with Wilbur this week as we compose our “Postcards from the Barn”. The students will use 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 lesson 3 spelling test from last week will be/was administered on Monday. The new list for lesson 4 was passed out last Thursday. This week’s words for Lesson 4 focus on the long and short “o” sounds. The test will take place this Friday as usual.
Language Arts/Religion: The students will be busy working on their saint reports this week. Thank you 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 prior to that as well. We will also be learning about saints in general, and how we too are called to be like the saints—which will include our visit from Fr. Oakland. 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.
Science: For the next two weeks we will be conducting experiments to determine how well different materials perform as thermal insulators. The students will explore how changing the configurations of materials affects their performances, and discuss how their findings might influence their solar oven designs. We will also analyze the different materials and their impacts on the environment.
Social Studies: Last week the students used latitude and longitude to locate states and cities on a US map. We also used different types of maps; elevation, population and precipitation to learn about characteristics of the regions of the United States. We will continue with our map work this week, which will include a review of the NE states. We want the locations of the states to be retained as they move up the grades so the students will be tested on the states again this year. We will “bump up” our state reviews by including additional physical features such as mountain ranges and rivers into our lessons. Knowing and understanding the locations of these 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 Wednesday, October 14th. All students will have a study sheet in their filer on Tuesday.
Homework: Since the students had to review for their spelling test over the weekend and Seahawks are playing, there will be no math homework Monday night. I do encourage students to sneak in some flash card, oral reading or spelling practice during the commercials however. Go Hawks!!
If you have not done so already, it is not too late to send in your donations for our Ugandan students. Thank you so much.