Hello and welcome to the last week of February. Today we learned why it is necessary to have an extra day on our calendar every 4 years. Ask your student and see if they can tell you. It’s very interesting.
Math- We will be taking our ch. 8 math test this Wednesday. Tomorrow will be a 3 page chapter review. I will have the assignments graded by end-of-day tomorrow, and will be sending them home with most students for review. Please make sure that you sit down with your student and see what corrections might be needed. Chapter 9 starts operations with fractions, so if the simpler concepts are not learned, it will be more difficult for your child to get the concepts. Thanks! Language Arts- This week we are learning about the explorer named Hiram Bingham who was guided by an Incan boy to Machu Picchu. This is a fascinating archeological site, and we will be doing a Nearpod 360 degree “field trip” to discover it for ourselves. We will be learning more about adverbs, visualizing while we read, and comparing and contrasting parts of the story selection. We have done really well with our Lexia minutes and units. Keep it up! Science- We have finished up our unit on waves, and will be moving on to a unit about Fossils. We will be interpreting data to find evidence of stability and change. We will also be using data based upon fossil evidence to make inferences about those fossils and their environmental factors. This is a nice addendum to our Museum on the Move visit, and I’m sure the students will be very engaged. Utah History- We are all about Mountain Men until March 13. Currently, we are making portraits and writing biographies to accompany the portraits. Hopefully, your student is coming to some conclusions about what he/she will be selling at the Rendezvous, and with whom they will be working. Please let me know if there are any questions. That’s it for this week. Thanks for all you do! 3 cheers for impending spring!
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Since next week is a short week, I thought I would get a jump on the weekly update.
Math--We are knee-deep in fractions. It's so much to learn! That's the name of the game with 4th grade math. :) This week we are learning the basics with fractions, and next week, we will begin operations with fractions. Please get involved and make sure that your student can do the simpler concepts so they don't get lost as we move into more difficult concepts. Thanks!! Language Arts- Our story selection next week is entitled "Smoke Jumpers". The students will be placed into groups and they will prepare a news story about fighting forest fires and the specially trained men and women who fight them. This is a favorite project of mine. Students may want to bring props and simple costumes and they will present as if they are part of a news team. Also, the new spelling/vocab lists will be available beginning Monday, 2/17. Science- We studied sound waves this week. We will be doing some assessments next week to determine how well the students are grasping the concepts. Utah History- We will continue to study some of the famous mountain men who settled in Utah. Next week, we will be doing a project where the students will choose a particular mountain man and write a summary of his life and draw a portrait to accompany it. These will be in the hall during the Rendezvous. The students are earning Beaver Bucks until the first week of March. These bucks can be used as currency for the Rendezvous Trading Post. Students have been instructed to team up with another 4th grader (from another class is fine) and make some homemade crafts to sell. It is so much fun! Students are asked to dress up as a mountain man, a Native American, or pioneer. Students are not allowed to sell weapons of any kinds. Please let me know if there are any questions. That's it for next week! I do want to mention that the students will be going to the Space Simulator for a mission about fossils. This will be at 9 on Thursday. Thanks for everything!! Hello! For those of you who didn't get the message last week, each student should bring a box or a bag on 2/14/20 to receive the Valentine's Day cards we will be exchanging. Students are free to do whatever they would like with the boxes or bags, but it's always fun to decorate things (and it's a great way to get them busy with something that doesn't involve screen time). Please make sure that your student brings enough Valentine's Day Cards for all 27 students.
Language Arts- This week we will be reading a story selection about Encyclopedia Brown. Many of you read those books as children. This is the last selection in our puzzles and mysteries unit. We will be focusing on the characters, settings, plot, and resolution of the story and the others that we read this week. The spelling words all have prefixes. I have posted Term 3's book report and directions here. This is a favorite book report, and I'm excited to share these with the class. Math- We have been working with equivalent fractions, and we will be moving into benchmark fractions, and ordering fractions from least to greatest and vice versa. Make sure that your student gets a chance to help you cook, or get out your measuring spoons and show them the difference between the different fraction measurement amounts. That real-world application and the conversation with you will really help make it clearer. Science- We started a packet on Friday that focused only on sound waves. We will continue this tomorrow, and then there will be a quiz on Thursday. Utah History- The Mountain Man Rendezvous is coming up on 3/13/20! Students have the opportunity to dress as a mountain person, Native American, or pioneer. They are also given the opportunity to create handmade items to sell (for Beaver Bucks, which the students will be earning over the next month) at the Trading Post that will be held during the Rendezvous. There will be an opportunity to volunteer to bring some food or other items. There will also be a need for volunteers to help out during our rotations. It's also fun to come enjoy the trading post! Free Beaver Bucks for parents! This week, we will be writing constructed response essays about the different famous mountain men. They led fascinating lives! It was wonderful to see you at Student-Led Conferences last week! Thank you for being so dedicated to your students' educations. It really does make a difference! Welcome to February! I have had a few students ask me about a Valentine's Day Party. We will not be having an official class party, but we will be passing out Valentine's Day cards to each member of our class. It will be up to you and your student to make some sort of interesting bag or box to receive the cards. Please make sure to send the bag or box on the morning of the 14th. We will also be doing a Nearpod about St. Valentine. This Wednesday and Thursday is Student-Led Conferences. Thank you to those of you who have signed up. If you still need the link to sign up, you may click here.
Language Arts- We are reading a fantastic story about the frenchman who discovered how to decipher the puzzle of the Egyptian hieroglyphs. We will be learning about personal pronouns, and using graphic sources to gain and share knowledge. The progress with Lexia has been really encouraging! This is a short week. Please make sure that your student has all of the allotted weekly Lexia minutes finished by Friday. Math- We started ch. 8 on Friday. We will be learning about fractions and decimals. I have likened the students' usage of multiplication and division as mental gymnastics. Students who know their facts are able to add, subtract, multiply and divide without checking a chart, and those students are light years ahead of the students who have to stop and figure out each operation. Please have your student practice Reflex and ALEKS. It really does make a difference in their future ability to do math. Utah History- We are in the planning stages for the Annual 4th Grade Rendezvous to be held on 3/13. It is one of the activities from 4th grade that all of the students love and remember. It will involve students making homemade items and "selling" the items for "Beaver Bucks" at the Trading Post portion of the Rendezvous. More info to come, of course, but start thinking about it. :) Science- We are continuing our module on waves. Last week, we learned about more characteristics of waves and how they move through different media. Different media include water, air, earth, etc. It's obviously easier to see the waves in water and earth, but with special cameras it is possible to see waves created by sound (like in the case of a sonic boom). This is a really fun module. This week will be learning about transverse and longitudinal waves. I'm looking forward to seeing you all at our upcoming conferences. Have a great week! |