Hope everyone had a great Spring Break! We are now going to get back into the swing of things….

Reading: We will be reading a section from the chapter book, A Cricket in Times Square. Our focus skill for the week is sequencing. Students will be sequencing events from the story. To review last week’s skill of Narrative Elements, students will be completing a brochure which includes all the elements from the story. To reinforce “juicy” paragraphs, students will be choosing one character from the story and finding three traits to describe them. This will them be turned into a paragraph.

Writing: Students will be starting their rough drafts for the monster writing. We are persuading the monster to eat a sibling or cousin instead of them. We read the book, My Brother Dan is Delicious. This is how we came upon this writing. Students will be focusing on elaboration and word choice.

Math: Student will be working with silhouettes of objects. As well as discussing volume and finding the volume of different cube shapes.

Social Studies: We are finishing up with the Approval of the Bill of Rights. Students will them be going to science on Wednesday for three weeks.

Remember that next week is Spring Break! Students will return to school on April 6th. Have a great week!

Reading: In reading we are reading the story, My Diary from Here to There. Students will be completing a suitcase of narrative elements about the story. There vocabulary project will be to find words that are related to the vocabulary words and tell why they chose those words. In Reading/Writing/Listening, students will be writing a “juicy” paragraph about a dream vacation!

Writing: We will be starting a new writing prompt. I will be reading the story My Brother Dan is Delicious. Students will then write a persuasive five paragraph essay including reasons why they should not be eaten. We are focusing on elaboration and word choice.

Math: We will be starting the new unit, Moving Between Solids and Silhouettes. Students will be investigating 3-D geometry and measurement.

Social Studies: Students will be creating a project about the Three Branches of Government. Then learning how a bill becomes a law.

Friday is Mathamania!! Students will be engaging in high interest math activities all day! They will rotate to Mrs. Franklin and Mrs. DiEmedio. Wear something with math on it!!

Students did a great job testing in Math last week. This week we have the Reading DSTP on Monday and Tuesday. Make sure they eat a healthy breakfast, get a good night’s sleep, and relax. They will do great as long as they try their best!

Reading: On Wednesday, we will be learning about text-based writing. Students will read about Jackie Joyner and then write to a prompt. On Thursday we will read our story, My Diary from Here to There. Students will be working on the story elements in a story. To reinforce writing skills, students will write a journal about a vacation they took. Finally, students will be creating a related words book for their vocabulary.

Math: Students will be learning about decimals. We will be combining decimals to get to 1 whole, estimating and adding decimals, and taking the end of unit assessment on Friday 3/20.

Social Studies: Students are back with me! We are learning about the Constitutional Convention. Students will create fortune tellers about the reading. Then we will be using them in the classroom to test their knowledge.

I hope everyone enjoyed their snow days!
This week in Reading we are starting a new story, “Because of Winn-Dixie”. We are working on the characters, setting, and plot events of the story. We are making pop-up books to describe these elements of Winn-Dixie. We are also writing our own crazy stories, drawing setting, characters, and plot events from a bag. Students with exceptional stories will be able to record theirs on a PodCast online.
In Math we are odering fractions from smallest to largest and comparing them to the landmark numbers 0, 1/2, 1, and 2.
In Writing we are revising our barebones descriptions and publishing them. On Friday and Monday we are going to be in groups building paperbag puppets and describing them. Then we switch directions and try to recreate the puppets that other groups made, solely from the directions.
Mrs. Franklin has the students for Science.
***The Math DSTP is March 11 and 12 (Wednesday and Thursday of next week). Please make sure that your child has a good nights sleep and a healthy breakfast, it helps with test-taking!
Next Friday is my last day in Mrs. Lane’s room and I am very sad to be leaving. I have enjoyed working with the students in B11 very much. They’re the best 4th graders I’ve ever had! -Miss Hake

Hello! I hope you had a great weekend. This week I, Ms. Hake, will be teaching all of the subjects, (except of course Science because Mrs. Franklin teaches that) and I am very excited!

In Math we are learning about Fractions. We will be adding fractions and determing if we think the sum will be bigger or smaller than 1. We are also going to make Fraction Cards to help us visualize all of the fractions that we’ve been working with.

In Reading we are reviewing skills that we’ve already learned: fact and opinion, summarizing, compare and contrast, and theme. We are reading several stories and working on various projects to review these skills before our Theme 4 Test on Friday.

In Writing we are starting a unit on Word Choice. We will be doing several activities with describing and then we will be revising our writing, including one in the computer lab where we listen to a painting being described and try to draw it based on the description!

Remember that there is no school on Monday the 16th. Enjoy the long weekend!

Reading: In reading, the students are reading Juan Verdades. In story study, the students are working on using character’s actions and motives to decide upon the theme of the story. In Reading/Writing/Listening, the students are writing a character sketch of Juan and a point of view journal. During Word Study, students will sort their words, write out their vocabulary, and work on sentence building with the vocabulary words. In small groups, the students will be reading different folktales and determining the theme of the stories. On Thursday, the students will take a test that works with theme, fact and opinion, narrative forms, and vocabulary.

Writing: In writing, we will be working with the trait of voice. Students will be rewriting a funny story from different points of view.

Science: Students will be with Mrs. Franklin learning about Land and Water. Students will be performing many different experiements.

Math: Mrs. Hake is teaching the students about fractions. Students have been using rectangles to find 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6, 1/8. This week the will be working with these on larger rectangles. We have introduced reducing fractions and equivalent fractions. Students will be combining fractions to equal 1.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable weekend. Remember that February 16th there is no school.

Reading: In Reading, we are continuing our Hewitt Anderson projects and working with theme. On Thursday, we will be starting our new story Juan Verdades. Our skill is theme, so we will be determining the theme of the story. Students have also been exposed to fables and have discussed themes of these as well.

Writing: Students will be have the Class Reunion on Friday the 13th. We will be listening to students from Mr.s Franklin’s class as well.

Math: Ms. Hake is starting fractions with the group! Students will be determining what a fourth looks like. Then moving on to 1/8ths. Students will be learning how 1/3 and 1/6 are related.

Social Studies: Students are still learning about the events that led to the Revolutionary War. Ms. Hake will be reviewing cause/effect situations that led to the war. Students will be taking the end of unit assessment for the war on Friday.

Reading: In reading, we are reading a fairy tale called The Great Big Life of Hewitt Anderson. We are working on the skill of theme. Trying to find the author’s message in the story. In Reading/Writing/Listening, students will be practicing their powerful paragraphs. They will be responding to a persuasive prompt. In vocabulary, students will complete their step books and work on their new word sorts. Finally, in small groups we will be finding theme in other books.

Writing: We are editing our final drafts and getting ready to publish our final copies!

Math: Students are learning to add and subtract with money. Reading word problems and determining the operation to use is a critical skill that we continue to work on. On Friday, we will be taking our end of unit test. On Monday, we will be starting our new unit which works with fractions.

Social Studies: Students have learned about King George the III. Ms. Hake is teaching the students about events that led to the Revolutionary War.

This week is conference week. Half days for the students are on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. I look forward to talking to all parents at conferences.

Reading: We are reading a story called Just Like You. It is a collection of autobiographies of famous artists. Students will be writing their own shory autobiography and drawing a picture depicting them. We are still working on fact and opinion, so the students’ autobiographies will include both. In word study, students will complete another word sort, they will also work on their vocabulary books for this story. In Reading/Writing/Listening, students will be making an adjective book. They will also be making some revisions with their reunion essays.

Math: We are reviewing subtraction strategies and addition strategies. To learn more about our math, you can view the online math handbook. To access your child’s math handbook, please click on the link below and login using this information:

Username: KathleenWilbur Password: Wilbur (case sensitive)

http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com
Students are learning strategies other than the algorithm that we learned. We will be taking our end of unit assessment next Friday. Students will need to decide to use addition or subtraction by finding clue words in word problems.

Social Studies: Ms. Hake has begun teaching the students about the Revolutionary War. Students have been given a brief introduction by watching and listening to a song by School House Rock. Studnets are beginning to experience the lives of the people of colonial times. The French and Indian War will be introduced this week as well.

Writing: Students are beginning revisions for the Reunion Essay. Look for more information about the reunion in the coming weeks!

Inaguaration Day today! Students were able to see Obama get sworn in and listen to his speech on such a historical day! Students will be receiving daily homework over the next few weeks. Be sure to check that they have completed their homework.

Reading: In reading, we are still reading So You Want to Be an Inventor?. Students are finishing up their Fact and Opinion story study projects. In our small groups we discussed the differences in fact and opinion. We learned key words that help to determine if it is an opinion. Students will become inventors this week. They will be completing a partner project in which they will develop an invention that solves a problem. Students will design an invention, create a name, and advertising as well!

Writing: We have completed our rough drafts for our reunion papers. We will be focusing on Sentence Fluency. Students will be learning new ways to start sentences, such as with a verb. They will also be learning how to create “FAT” sentences incorporating adjectives and phrases to help show a clearer picture.

Math: Students have learned several addition strategies these past few weeks. Students will be playing Close to 1000. In this game, students have to use the cards drawn to create an equation that gets to 1000 or as close as possible. Students have learned the U.S. algorithim for addition, as well as other strategies.

Science: Students have learned to create circuits to make the light bulb light. They will be getting the motors to run this week as well.