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