Dear 4A Families,
Happy October on Thursday everyone!
This week the students will begin their Saint Report Projects as we prepare for the upcoming All Saints’ Day Masses (See full requirements below). We will send out information/dates/times on the masses as soon as we have them set. Be sure to check filers on Monday for corrected spelling, continent and ocean and reading tests.
Special Saint Homework this week:
Religion/Language Arts: This Monday, September 28th, each student will be assigned the saint that they will write their report on as well as portray at the Mass. The majority of the work for this report will take place at school except for
this week’s homework assignment that is due this Thursday, October 1st. Detailed directions for this homework assignment will be in your child’s filer on Monday, and will also be available on the website in PDF form. 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 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 the list of facts your child writes and all highlighted materials come back to school on Thursday—not sooner— when we will write the first drafts.
All students received two copies of the Prayer of St. Francis last week. Students should be practicing daily for memorization no later than October 28th. The students will recite this prayer during the All Saints Day Mass.
Reading/LA: The students have begun work on their Postcards From the Barn project. This writing focuses on using their senses to describe a scene, organizing a summary in their own words, and using interesting vocabulary to enhance their writing. As we read chapters 4 and 5 we will focus on character traits.
Spelling/LA: This week’s words focus on short and long “a” The study sheet was passed out last Friday and should be in your child’s filer. The test will be on Friday, October 2nd. The students will begin writing Halloween Haikus this week. Next week we will be typing them up in the lab and decorating them for a special bulletin board.
Math: Students are continuing to work on developing good habits in math class and all subjects.The good habits of reading carefully, following directions completely, and checking over work for accuracy in both classwork and homework are ongoing areas of focus. 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. Since most students are doing well with basic addition, we will be moving them all into subtraction practice soon. You will only see regular math homework on Thursday this week so that students have time to work on their Saint Report HW.
Science: We will be wrapping up our lessons on the slow earth changes of weathering, erosion and deposition. In our first lab we simulated the crashing of waves over rocks and the swelling of clay to notice that weathering events break down rocks and earth formations. We then observed what happens when soft earth materials are in the presence of an acid such as vinegar, and finally we simulated erosion events to notice how slope, groundcover, obstacles and water volume can erode soil and earth. We hope to take our weathering, erosion and deposition assessment on Friday, October 2nd.
Social Studies: Your child’s corrected Continent and Ocean tests will be in filers 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. The students have a study sheet in their filer for a latitude and longitude quiz that will take place on October 8th. This quiz should be very straightforward and will mirror the study sheet in most areas. I will provide a blank study sheet as well for practice. The next map skill review will be the NE States. Students received study sheets for this new test Friday and it should be in their filer. The test will be The students will be asked to learn both the locations and abbreviations along with some added features of the region. Study sheets and links for online review sites can be found here. This test is planned for October 16th
