March is Reading Month!

To help encourage and foster excitement around reading, we have special reading themed days planned for each Friday of the month of March that involve dressing up!  Next Friday, students are encouraged to wear pajamas or comfy clothes to school.We also have a calendar full of activities that families can follow at home (see the calendar below).  Enjoy encouraging your student to read in the month of March!

MSTEP:  As we wrap up February next week, it is time to think about the upcoming MSTEP!  As a school, we are asking families to please make every effort to ensure that your student is at school on these dates by avoiding scheduling doctors appointments and vacations on the following dates.

Grade 4 Testing Schedule  

5/9 (Tues) ELA

5/10 (Weds) ELA

5/11 (Thurs) Science

5/16 (Tues) Math

5/18 (Thurs) Math

Reminders:
Math Unit 6 Post Test:  Please sign and return it by Tuesday. 

Math Unit 6 Retest: Will be Friday.

Matter Quiz for science will be Tuesday (study booklet will come home Monday).

Here is what we learned in 4th grade this past week:

Writing: 
I can use text features to make my informational book more interesting.

I can use different text structures to organize my informational writing.

Science:  
I can tell what a matter is.
I can explain the 3 states of matter.

I can give properties of different types of matter.

Math: 
I can review fractions and assess my learning.

Reading:
I can pay attention to the feeling of the setting in my historical fiction book.
I can sort out information from my historical fiction book into who, what, when, where, and why.

I can be aware that the spotlight of the story in my historical fiction book is not continually on the here and now.

Important Dates:

March 4th: Daddy/Daughter  bowling

March 10th: Early release day; school ends at 12:15

March 14th: Parent Club meeting at 9:00am

March 16th: Skating party, 6:30pm
March 17th: Popcorn Friday

March 20th & 22nd: Parent-Teacher conferences

A Mid-Week Valentine's Day!

We had a great time at our Valentine's Day party.  Students played games, had snacks, won prizes, decorated Valentine's bags, and exchanged cards and goodies.  Thanks to all who contributed to make it a success.  

We have a busy week next week with our magnet quiz and math test.  We will continue our informational writing, and historical fiction book clubs.  

Reminders:
Magnet Quiz is on Monday (2/20).  Please use the booklet that we made in class to study. 

Math Test for unit 6 is on Wednesday, 2/22.  A review will be coming home on Tuesday.

Here is what we learned in 4th grade this past week:

Writing: 
I can analyze the style and structure of informational writing.
I can choose a topic and plan headings for my informational writing.

I can organize and record everything I know about each heading.

I can use precise language and specific vocabulary in my informational writing.

Science:  
I can tell what a magnet is.
I can explain what a magnetic field is.

I can identify and tell about magnetic poles.

I can compare and contrast attracting and repelling in magnets.

Math: 
I can understand mixed numbers and fractions greater than 1.
I can understand addition and subtraction with fractions greater than 1 and mixed numbers.
I can solve problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions and mixed numbers.
I can understand multiplication of fractions by whole numbers.

I can solve problems that require multiplying a fraction by a whole number.

Reading:
I can plan and draft contracts for behavior and participation for my historical fiction book club.
I can research the era that my historical fiction book is set in.

Important Dates:

March 4th: Daddy/Daughter  bowlingMarch 10th: Early release day; school ends at 12:15

March 14th: Parent Club meeting at 9:00am

March 16th: Skating party, 6:30pm
March 17th: Popcorn Friday

March 20th & 22nd: Parent-Teacher conferences

  
 

Short Week Wrap Up/ New Things Beginning

In this short week, we have wrapped up a few things and started a few things.  In writing, students had the opportunity to work through the writing process by themselves to write their own opinion essay.  We have been working on essays for a while, so this was their chance to show me what they have learned.  We will be moving on to informational writing soon. In reading, we have started to explore the genre of historical fiction, and have talked about how book clubs can deepen our understanding of books.  Next week we will be starting our historical fiction book clubs.  We took our quiz on electricity in Science, and will do a quick study on magnets with a quiz coming soon.   Lastly, we started our math unit on fractions.  


Reminders:
Valentines for our Valentine's celebration are optional.  I sent home a list of student names if you would like participate in Valentine-giving.  We will exchange them on Valentine's Day.

Valentine's Day party: will be Tuesday 2:20 - 3:30.

Here is what we learned in 4th grade this past week:

Writing: 
I can recall opinion essays on my own.
I can write an opinion essay on my own.

Science:  
I can tell what a conductor and insulator are and give examples.
I can review circuits and electricity vocabulary.

Math: 
I can tell what a unit fraction is.
I can write a fraction a a sum of unit fractions.
I can  find pairs of fractions that add to one.
I can add and subtract fractions with like denominators.

Reading:
I can tell the difference between non fiction and fiction books.
I can explore ways that historical fiction is like non fiction and fiction.
I can brainstorm ideas of how to make book clubs great.

Important Dates:
February 14th: Parent Club meeting at 9am
February 14th: Valentine's Day party 2:20-3:30
February 17th: Popcorn Friday
March 10th: Early release day; school ends at 12:15

March 16th: Skating party, 6:30
March 17th: Popcorn Friday

Teachers Jump Roping and Hot Chocolate

This week we learned lots about circuits, edited literary essays, created constructed responses, and practiced equations (among lots of other things!).  We wrapped up unit 4 for math, finished our literary essays, and completed our unit on Non-Fiction reading.  That means that exciting new units in math, writing, and reading our coming our way.    

To celebrate our literary essays, we had a hot chocolate party.  Enjoy some pictures below.

On Friday, we had a special assembly where teachers shared how their classrooms have shown our theme of "better together."  A fun part of the assembly was when teachers competed in a jump rope contest.  Check out the video below to get an idea of how excited students were.   

Thanks for sending in box tops!  It was close, but our class won the challenge!  We will be having cookies and a drink this week to celebrate our victory, and our class is now home to the Box Top trophy.


Reminders:

Electricity quiz is on Friday.  We will be reviewing this week, but feel free to use the foldable study guide to prepare (it will be coming home Wednesday or Thursday).  

Valentines for our Valentine's celebration are optional.  I sent home a list of student names if you would like participate in Valentine-giving.  We will exchange them on Valentine's Day.

Homework: This week we get back on track with our math homework.  Expect it to come home on Tuesday and Thursday.  Thanks for your support at home!


Here is what we learned in 4th grade this past week:

Writing: 
I can edit my literary essay for run-on sentences.

I can edit my literary essay for the proper use of their, there, and they're.

I can edit my literary essay for spelling and grammar

I can publish my literary essay.

Science:  

I can explore electrical circuits.

I can list the components of a simple circuit and explain it.

I can tell what a conductor and insulator are and give examples.

Math: 

I can practice with factor pairs, multiples, prime, and composite numbers.

I can generate number or shape patterns.

I can write equations or use models to solve multistep word problems.

I can review word problems, equations, patterns, multiples, factors, and prime and composite numbers.

Reading:

I can practice finding the big ideas and supporting evidence in non fiction text.

I can practice comparing and contrasting information in non fiction text.

I can annotate informational text.

I can construct responses to questions about non fiction text.

I can tell what "RACES" stands for.

Important Dates:

February 14th: Valentine's Day party, details to come
February 14th: Parent Club meeting at 9am
February 17th: Popcorn Friday
March 10th: Early release day; school ends at 12:15