We had a busy, fun week as usual!! Please, please take a moment and go to www.funrun.com and register your child for the Fun Run. Our school code is 558259. If you have questions about registering, please refer to the email Ms. Rooney sent. The first three classes to have 100% of their students registered will receive a prize. The class is really excited about getting pledges, earning prizes, and running for our playground! Thanks for your support.
Math Workshop: Next week we move into division. It is imperative your child know their multiplication facts so that this unit does not overwhelm them. Our focus on Monday will be interpreting remainders. Students will solve word problems with simple division problems (16 divided by 5) and interpret what to do with the remainder depending on the word problem. We will also look at rules of divisibility and learn some fun poems to help us remember how to quickly determine if a number is divisible by the numbers 0-10. We will also teach the partial quotients algorithm next week as a strategy to divide.
Writing Workshop: Next week students will finish publishing their final drafts. They are very excited to share them with you on Friday, October 30th at our Writing Celebration! We also have some fun Mad Lib and creative writing activities planned for those who are finished with their final drafts.
Grammar: Our grammar focus next week is verb tenses- simple and future.
Reading/Daily 5: We’re moving on to fact and opinion and dictionary skills. Fact and opinion should be a quick review for all fourth graders. We will also teach dictionary skills (alphabetical order, using guide words, pronunciation, etc). This is a skill all students need to know and be able to use. We're having a great time in book clubs and rotations during Daily 5. One book club has finished their first novel and is now working on their project.
Science/IB: We had so much fun creating and designing a system to get clean water to a village in Africa. Their energy presentations were fabulous as well! Next week we will look at the greenhouse effect and our own carbon footprint. We’ll go back and review the energy surveys you filled in with your child a few weeks ago to help them along as they fill in their own, personal carbon footprint survey. We’ll then discuss ways to reduce our carbon footprint. We’ll also discuss our own role in the greenhouse effect and its effect on the atmosphere.
Social Studies: Next week will launch our lesson by reading Encounter. This is a book by Jane Yolen telling of Columbus’s discovery from a native’s point of view. We’ll then begin discussing European exploration and its effect on the natives. Students will also read Texas Studies Weekly, week 9. Students will be given the opportunity to write a journal entry as one of the crewmen aboard Columbus’s ship and his/ her thoughts.
Upcoming Dates
October 26- Fun Run Pep Rally
October 27- Conferences after school
October 28- 12:30 dismissal/conferences
November 3- Report cards go home
Have a fabulous weekend. Stay dry!