Week of 10/14/2014 - 10/17/2014

Happy Friday!  Art to Remember was due today but can be turned in next week if you still would like to make a purchase.  Don't forget!  Parent/ teacher conferences are next week Wednesday and Thursday.  Email reminders were sent out this week.  We look forward to meeting with everyone.  Also, please remember that the book fair is next week and the kids have half days on Thursday and Friday.

Reading:  We have one chapter to go in Shiloh!  This week we did some partner reading to practice reading fluently out loud.  As these partnerships develop, we are looking to build strong reading relationships in which the kids feel comfortable giving each other honest feedback, sharing ideas, and growing as readers.  Using Shiloh, we learned about what character development means, and we also learned about the 4 different types of conflict in a narrative.  Ask your kids about the different types of conflict in a story (character vs:  character, nature, self, society).  Ask what type of conflict is in Shiloh, or another movie or book they've seen recently.

Writing:  We've had some internet issues throughout the district this week, impeding our ability to type and revise our pieces.  My goal was to have these published by conferences, but realistically this date will need to be pushed back to the following week.  Stay tuned for a hard date.   Talk to your kids about the ideas they have for future writing pieces.

4th Grade Math:   We completed our second math unit this week which is on unit measurement and conversions! It was a very short unit.  This week we continued to use our conversion knowledge of the metric system and addition/subtraction knowledge to complete two step word problems.  We reviewed for our test on Thursday and had our test today.  Next week we will begin our multiplication/division unit.

• 4.MD.1 Know relative sizes of measurement units within one system of units including km, m, cm; kg, g; lb, oz.; l, ml; hr, min, sec. Within a single system of measurement, express measurements in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Record measurement equivalents in a two-column table.
• 4.MD.2 Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale.

Science:  This week we reviewed our lab from last week and discussed why water flows quickly through some areas and slower at other areas through our stream table.  We then had a very funny model lesson of watching the rain water fall on a clay model.  We learned about many different landforms and how the rain travels on them.  The students are doing very well with their knowledge of Land and Water.  They had a pre-test on Thursday in class for the quiz on Friday.  The class was very enthusiastic with their answers on the pre-test and everyone did well.  We can't wait to see how they do on their quiz today!

Social Studies: Today we had an interesting Current Events lesson from our 5 current events students.  It was very interesting to learn from them!  Ask your students if they learned anything new today.

This week we finished using our IPad's in Social Studies to make an Explain Everything project explaining the text features in our Social Studies book.  Students who did not finish their explain everything project will need to complete it by Wednesday of next week.    Ask your students if they completed their project!  If they did you can look at it on their IPad.  If they didn't, they will need to finish it at home.

Miscellaneous:

• Art to Remember is last call on Monday!