Room 12 News - May 13

This week, we'll continue another busy week as we try to finish up a few big projects.  Here's the plan:

Language Arts:  Now that the NWEA is over, we'll once again have full access to our laptops.  Yaa!!  We'll continue typing our informational books so these pages can be glued into our hard cover books.  From there, students will finish up the illustrations on their own.  This week, we'll also use our "expert topics" to write a problem/solution paper.  After we learn a bit more about the compare/contrast structure, we'll try our hand at writing this type of paper too.   

In Reading, we'll continue working through our informational unit as we master another text structure...compare and contrast.  Towards the end of the week, we'll begin reading some informational pieces that have a cause/effect structure.  

Math: This week, we'll be finishing up our Fractions/Decimals unit in Math.  I'll be handing out the review sheet on Tuesday, doing some more review on Wednesday and then we'll test on Thursday.  Please spend some time reviewing these concepts with your child as well.  

Social Studies:  This week, we'll be starting our Government unit.

Room 12 News - May 6

Just a few reminders for the week....

We will NWEA testing on Tuesday and Thursday this week in the afternoon.  Also, Mr. David, the counselor at Warner, will be here on Friday to talk to the 4th graders about next year.  We can't wait!!

Language Arts:  Our Read Everyday in May program started last Wednesday and everyone has been reading like crazy!!  Please continue to support your child through this month so they can meet their goal.

This week in Reading, we'll continue our study of text structures.  We've been analyzing a variety of informational texts and deciding on how it's structured.  So far, we've done a brief overview of problem/solution, compare/contrast, cause/effect, all about, and sequencing.  Now, we'll start delving deeper into each structure and even try our hand at writing a few of these text structures.  We've done a lot with the "all about" structure when we were working on our informational book.  This week, we'll work on problem/solution and might be able to begin digging deeper into compare/contrast.

In writing this week, our goal will be to finish up our informational books.  Many students have finished publishing and have already started typing their piece to later begin putting in their book.  Most students will taking home their writing on their flash drives to be typed.  It's difficult to give up this much writing time to type papers so the majority of this will need to be done at home.

Math:  We've been doing a great job working through our decimals unit in Math.  Last week, we worked with base 10 blocks to solidify the place value of decimals, we ordered and compared decimals and played a few games to reinforce the concept.  This week, we'll break off into groups for further enrichment or to support some who are having some challenges with concepts.  In the next week and a half, we'll be at the end of our unit and will be thinking about a test.  Our last unit this year will be Measurement.

Social Studies:  We tested last week on our Economics unit and will be beginning Government soon.  I'll be doing one more small lesson in Economics this week before I start this unit.

Science:  This week, we'll be taking a quiz on the Sun.  Students will be permitted to use their notes on this quiz.  So as long as they've taken good notes along the way, they should do fine.

Room 12 News - April 22

I hope everyone had a great weekend!  We saw some glimpses of spring...sun!

Just a reminder that we have Spring pictures on Tuesday and our class will begin the NWEA next week. Also, our Science Show and Share will take place this week if any of you are planning to attend.  Here's what is going on for the week.

Math: In Math this week, we'll be starting our Fractions unit.  The beginning of this unit reviews the basic concept of Fractions and then moves into converting improper fractions to mixed numbers and vice versa.  From there, we'll review how to reduce fractions and then will be ready to move into decimals.  We'll spend the bulk of our time on decimals, converting them into fractions and ordering them on a number line.    
Language Arts:  This week, we'll be putting our final touches on our book.  We'll be writing another chapter, a conclusion and then we'll be thinking about adding things such as a glossary, About the Author and other final touches.  We'll then be ready to move into the editing and revising stage before handing them in to be graded.  In Reading this week, we'll be doing a little with main ideas but will also be talking about text structures when reading informational pieces. 
Social Studies:  We will be finishing up our last few lessons this week.  I'll be handing out a review sheet on Friday and we'll have our Economics test week.

Science:  We're officially finished with our research project and will now be getting back to our Foss lessons in Science.  We'll be starting with some fun, hands on lessons involving the Sun.

Room 12 News - April 15

Because we are in the middle of a few larger activities, this week will look similar to last week.  Here's our plan for the week...

Language Arts:  This week, we'll continue working through our Informational unit as we pull together our Informational book.  Last week, I did a few lessons on picking a topic.  It had to be a topic that was narrow enough to work with and it had to be a topic we knew a lot about.  After we picked our topic, we started working with our subtopics which will turn into chapters for our book.  To begin each lesson, I modeled my own topic of Softball to teach the students what essential components should be found in that section of the book.  One of the most important things I was trying to drive home was making sure students had enough information in their book.  If you pick up an informational book, you expect that book to be rich with details and to teach us something we might not have known.  

In Reading this week, our lessons will be closely intertwined with what we do in Writing.  We will continue looking through informational text books and magazines and we'll begin breaking off into groups as we delve deeper into our reading strategies.  

Math:  This week in Math, we'll  be testing on our Multiplying Multi-Digit Numbers unit.  Before we move onto our Fractions unit, we'll be covering a few short lessons on Order of Operations and the Distributive Property in multiplication.  In our Fractions unit, we'll dive deeper into Fractions concepts and will be working with decimals as well.  

Social Studies:  We'll be finishing up our Economics unit within the next couple of weeks.  This week, we'll be reading a few articles and talking more about the economics concepts associated with it.  This week, we'll also be studying specialization as we participate in a hands on activity involving Play-Doh.  

Science:  Our research projects are completed and they are in the front hallway for the school to view.  We'll be getting back to the Foss units as we learn more about sun, moon and stars.  

Room 12 News - April 8

I hope all of you had a wonderful break and enjoyed some much needed sun!! We're back at it and have so much to do.  I will be sending home and email sometime this week to give you some information about a few things we have coming up. 

Here's our plan for the week....

Math:  This week in Math, we're moving on with our Multiplying Multi-Digit Numbers unit.  We'll be finishing up this unit at the end of the week and testing next week.  So far, we have worked with multiplying multiples of 10 and sketched some of our bigger multiplication problems and have solved some word problems as well.  This week, we'll be reviewing multiplying with partial products and will move into the the standard algorithm of 2 by 2 multiplication.  This can sometimes be tricky but practice makes perfect. This week, we'll be breaking off into groups a bit so those who need more practice with a particular strategy can get it. 

Language Arts:  In Reading and Writing, we'll continue working through our Informational Unit.  Last week, we reviewed the importance of text features and how they help us understand what we read.  This week, we'll be diving into many informational text books to review text features, to see how informational books are organized and begin finding the main idea and supporting details in our reading.  In Writing, we'll begin writing our own Informational Writing piece...and this will be a bigger one!  Students will be picking a topic and developing about 5 subtopics.  This will be turned into a book that will be sent to the publishing center.  The work that we do in Reading will be very important because we'll need to know what types of features to capture our reader's attention.  That way, we can add them in our own book. 

Social Studies:  We have been learning more about supply, demand, and competition and this week, we'll  participate in a simulation and read a few short stories to further enhance our understanding of these concepts. 

Science:  In Science, we've taken a short break from our Science kits to do some research.  I'm so impressed with all the hard work I'm seeing here!  Students are already bringing in their planet projects so I've been able to take a sneak peek at them.  They look great!  Presentations will begin Thursday. 

Room 12 News - March 18

I hope you all had a great weekend and are enjoying our extra minutes of daylight!  Spring is on its way!  I can't wait!!!

Thank you to all 11 parent volunteers that went on the trip with us to the Ford Rouge!  We all appreciate your help!

There will be no spelling words this week.

Here's the plan for the week....

Math:  Last week, we tested on our Geometry Unit.  Corrected tests were sent home in purple folders on Friday.  We took last week to cover a few important Geometry concepts...Area of a Parallelogram and Area of a Triangle.  We will not be tested on these concepts in 4th grade.  They hit it hard next year in 5th grade so this was definitely time well spent.  This week, we'll finish up Area of a Triangle, we'll Pre-Test Unit 5 and then we'll begin our new unit in Multiplying Multi-Digit Numbers.  In this unit, we delve deeper into the Multiplication concept.  We'll be doing some review and then begin working Multiplying larger numbers.  The Pre-Test will be important in this unit because some students already have a strong grasp of these concepts so they'll need some challenge activities.  Remind your child to keep practicing those facts!

Language Arts:  Students will continue having nightly reading with Humphrey.  I hope you're enjoying this book as well.  It's a super cute book!  This week, we'll kick off our Informational Unit.  We'll be reading a lot of Scholastic News articles as we look at different text features and how they help us make sense of what we read.  Writing will go hand in hand with reading.  We'll use the same articles we read about during reading and begin organizing our information as we find main ideas and supporting details.  We'll revisit the boxes and bullets strategy we learned earlier this year.  We might have small homework assignments this week in Reading.

Social Studies:  We'll continue working through our Economics unit in Social Studies.  We're in the midst of learning about terms such as Supply/Demand, Producers/Consumers, competition, incentives and we're making a pretend business to do that.  We'll get our creative juices running as we develop a pretend business (on paper of course) and figure out how to get customers in the door.  In this unit, we're tying in a lot of "real world" examples and the kids are right there with me.  Great to see!!

Science:   Last week we took our test on Motion and Design.  Mrs. Dew should have those corrected on Monday and I'll send them home in Friday folders.  Our next unit will be Sun, Moon and Stars. This is a fun unit for the kids because they'll be doing some outside activities but will also be utilizing their research skills as well.  Stay tuned for more about the research part of this.

Room 12 News - March 4

Hi Everyone!  I sent home a lengthy email on Friday that I'm going to include here for your reference.  This week's plan is short since I sent home the bulk on Friday. 

Math:  Our goal this week is to finish up Unit 4 and prepare for our test.  The Math Review will come home Thursday and the test will be Monday, March 11th. 

Language Arts:  This week in Reading, we'll be kicking off One Book, One School.  We'll be doing some activities in class but kids will have nightly homework as well.  We're also going to continue our work with Summarizing in both Reading and Writing. 

Social Studies:  We're continuing our study of Economics.  I'll collecting and grading a few Economics activities this week.  These activities will go on their Trimester 2 report card.

Science:  We will be taking a final unit test in Science before the end of the trimester.  These grades will be combined for a cumulative grade for the report card. 

For your reference, here's the email I sent out last week:

Happy Friday! 

I’m about to deliver a TON of information to you so get comfortable.  It’s amazing how quickly things “rev up” after a break.  Here goes…

Due to the snow day this week, the NAEP test has been rescheduled for next Tuesday the 5^th.  Information about this national assessment has already gone home if your child was randomly selected.  If you don’t know what I’m referring to, that means that your child was not randomly selected to participate and you can ignore this. 

The Ford Rouge field trip packet was sent home on Monday.  If you have not sent in your child’s permission slip and money, please do so by Monday, March 4^th.  I already have 6 parents who volunteered to attend the trip with us.  Thanks!!  We couldn’t do it without you! 

In Math, we’re getting to the end of Unit 4 and will probably be testing on Tuesday, March 12^th.  I will have a more firm date for you next week as we progress through the unit.  Keep your eyes peeled for a Geometry Review sheet.  This week, I also handed out a Geometry Log.  This will be very helpful for the large amount of vocabulary words for this unit and will be due the day of the test. 

One School, One Book starts on Monday!  We’ll kick it off with an all-school assembly on Monday afternoon.  Each family will be receiving a copy of the book…it will go home with your oldest child at Kenbrook!  It school be a fun month of reading!   

Before break, a note was sent home in Friday folders about a theme basket for our classroom.  Our fun theme is First Aid.  The PTA is trying to spruce up the playground and is holding a fundraiser on Saturday, March 16^th from 12:00 – 3:00 at Drakeshire Lanes.  The money earned will go toward new playground equipment.  We hope that you can come!  We will be collecting items through Friday, March 15!  It would be so awesome to have a really cool basket!  We appreciate any items you can send in that can be put into our basket.  Thanks to Ella O’Neill who has already donated 3 items for our basket! 

Today, your child received a note in their Friday folders regarding enrichment opportunities here at Kenbrook.  Please take a look because there are plenty of wonderful learning activities going on around the building.  There is a portion that you will need to return and send back to school.  Enrichments are held on a first come, first serve basis.  After Spring Break, I’ll even be doing a Walking/Running enrichment!  I hope to see lots of 4^th graders out there running with me!  Can’t wait! 

This week I started our F and P Reading Assessments.  I am doing a full assessment on every child.  I will be noting this information for you on your child’s report card and sharing them at conferences.

The third grade post-office will close on Friday, March 8^th.  There is still time for you to drop by and write your child a letter.  We have seen lots and lots of faces light up with excitement when a letter from home arrives. 

We will have a half day on Friday, March 16^th due to the end of the trimester.  You can view your child’s report card on Monday, March 25^th.  Information about Parent/Teacher Conferences should be going home over the next week.  Spring conferences will run as they have in the past.  I’ll be contacting you if I feel we need to conference and you can also request one as well. 

I’ve been noticing lately that the quality of some of our assignments is slipping a bit.  Some students are turning in incomplete assignments and work that does not meet 4^th grade expectations.  Today, I noticed this again when I collected two separate assignments.  Unfortunately, many students were given a late assignment today and had to stay in for recess to fine tune these activities.  Please remind your child to check over their work before turning it in.  I only had about 7 kids who had no missing assignments this week.  I rewarded them with a $500 bonus…they earned it!  Thanks so much for your support here. 

  

Wow, I just gave you a lot of information to digest.  Let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks again for all you do!  Have a great weekend!