Week of Dec. 15th Newsletter

Mrs. Follin’s 4^th Grade ~ Week of December 15^th

 

Homework: Always posted on Edmodo

Reading: Novel Study Reading- Students have a schedule in their novel study bag. They need to make sure they have their work done by the assigned date. Many groups have reading to complete over winter break as well.   

Secret Garden reading will continue with Chapters 15-18 next week as well as a literature web for these chapters. Students can read them and complete the web prior to Monday if they wish. They write the web in their literature journals and know how to make one of these on their own. Over break they will read chapters 19-24.

 

What We’re Learning

Reading/Language Arts: We are wrapping up our work with author’s purpose as well as visualization.  We did not assess on author’s purpose when intended so we will this coming week. Even though we have assessed providing evidence to support ideas when having a discussion or answering a question, we will still continue to put this skill into practice. It frames a lot of what we do!

Math: We are continuing to work on long division. Students are taking the assessment as they feel ready. All students will take the long division assessment before we leave for winter break. A great practice site iswww.kidsnumbers.com

Some students have begun Hands-On-Equations- This is a very visual way to learn algebra. We will all do a few lessons next week as a means to target the math objective related to equations. For those who did it last year, they are picking up where they left off. Any students who completed all of the levels will move into verbal problems. 

***An important side-note- It is an expectation that students know basic addition, subtraction and multiplication facts. Long division has been difficult for some, not because of the process, but the lack of memorized facts. The reality is that second grade objectives required the memorization of addition and subtraction and third grade required multiplication. These aren’t just going to go away, but are causing students many problems as we move on into harder math concepts. Upcoming fractions and decimals will also prove to be difficult. We recently met with fifth grade teachers and they couldn’t stress enough the importance of memorized facts. Please spend some time working with your child on these if they are not automatic. We want all students set up for success.

Science: Have you heard? Students are helping our watershed by determine a new location for oyster castles! They already want to know if they can actually build them once they have enough information! As I hold them off on the building until they have all of the information needed, they are uncovering our fourth grade objectives on a deep level through their work. Our field trip is set for January 15^th to the Virginia Aquarium! Forms will come home next week. Parents are welcome so please let me know if you’d like to attend. We’d like a minimum of 5 parents so that we can break students into interest groups for part of the trip. (If there is a maximum we will let you know. If you want to come and have a membership, please let me know. I am unsure of the fee for parents, but will let you know that information as soon as it is available.)

Writing: We are continuing our work on expository writing. Students have now had a strong focus on the organization (topic sentence, supporting details, and closing), as well as adding in transitions to help their work flow. We are continuing our work with grammar to focus on subject-verb agreement and sentence structure as to avoid fragments. Students will be assessed on this before break. We will also focus on writing for the intended audience and word choice. Our summative performance task for science will include both a science and writing rubric. The writing portion of the task will require students to bring all of these pieces together into one cohesive, two-paragraph essay.

Code!: We participated in the Hour of Code today! Students used code.org or Scratch (as well as some Khan Academy sites they knew on their own) to learn the ins and outs of code! Ask them what they thought! It was fun watching them make Elsa ice skate across the screen!

 

Clubs: Please check the calendar to make sure your child knows when his or her after-school clubs meet. It is exciting to have so many offered and so many students participating!  

Parent Portal: Please let me know if you did NOT receive a progress report for your child. We have experienced quite the glitch with some families getting them 12 times and some none at all. DOT sent out a message this afternoon to all teachers letting us know there was a glitch, they are aware, and they are trying to resolve the issue.

 

Regular Schedule:

PE Daily 10:35-11:20

Novel Studies across 4^th grade 11:25-12:10- Mon., Tues. & Thurs.

Lunch Daily 12:15-12:45

DARE Tuesdays 12:50-1:50

Music Tuesdays 1:55-2:40pm

Art Fridays 8:45-9:30am

Upcoming Events

December 13 Winter Wonderland 10:00 am – 2:00 pm

December 15 Science Lab with Habitat Cubes

December 16 Skype Session with Tim Cole, VBCPS Chief Sustainability Officer, to follow up and see the concrete breaks at the lab

December 19 Class Party 12:45pm -1:45pm Look for a Sign-Up Genius from Mrs. Pommerenk

December 22 – January 2 Winter Break (School Closed)

January 15^th Field trip to the Virginia Aquarium. Forms come home Thursday!

Due:

DARE letters- They came home last Tuesday and are due this Tuesday.

Community Service Forms- Came previously in Thursday folders and are due ASAP.

 

If you ever want to come in and join us for an activity, please send me an e-mail or text.

We’d love to have you!