Both Mrs. Roskos' and Mrs. Weiss' homes have been hit with the lovely stomach flu that has been going around our classroom. We want to thank all of the wonderful students in room 303 for their excellent behavior yesterday afternoon and today. It's so nice to get emails from teachers that our students are doing fine with a substitute and having a good day. We both hope to be back on Monday!
Have a great week-end!
Reading: It was great to get back into the swing of things. We used short texts, mostly non-fiction articles, to work on using context clues when figuring out unknown words. We also worked on writing personal, "free" reading responses. Ask your kids about the articles we read this week: eating less pizza, living in space for a year, the debate about homework, and snowboard airbags.
Writing: Our writers continued brainstorming, drafting, and learning about a new genre: opinion/ persuasive writing. Throughout the week we built up several short, informal drafts about various "opinion" topics, and on Friday the kids chose from these ideas to use in their persuasive writing piece. They chose a topic, a point of view, an audience, and a genre. I'm so excited to see how they develop; they're very creative! Ask your child what he/ she chose as their "RAFT" assignment.
Roots: We are back to prefixes in the next set of Roots lessons. This week we studied the root "trans," which means across or change. What examples of "trans" words can your child offer?
4th Grade Math: This week we continued on with our decimals/fractions unit. We reviewed a little bit on Tuesday when we went over our math tests. We then went on and learned how to add decimals and add fractions/decimals with different place value. We then put our addition skills to test and completed word problems. Students had an opportunity to take a retest for the mid-term assessment if they wanted on Thursday. We will finish those next week and then they will go home. DOn't forget we are continuing to take 5 minute time tests on Tuesday and Thursday. Ask your child how they are doing on their time tests and what number they are on.
Social Studies: Before spring vacation the students learned about the Southwest region. We went over all of their notes on Monday and Tuesday. Then later in the week, the students began their pages in the book creator app for the Southwest. Students also received feedback to their book creator from me so they know whether the information is correct as we continue on in their book. I was so impressed with their work. They look terrific! Ask your child what their comment said for their book creator.
Great Mail Race: The students were very excited to receive our first letter for our Great Mail Race. You may remember that we wrote letters to schools in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. during the week of PARCC tests. This week we heard back from Joe's state - Pennsylvania. We were very excited to learn about their school.
Science: This trimester, our scientists are studying with Mr. Lukehart. They'll be learning about Ecosystems throughout an exciting unit, in which they'll develop experiments using mealworms, and build a live terrarium and aquarium! Ask your kids about what they planted, grew, or added to their ecosystem.
Growth/Fixed Mindset: This week we continued to work on their scripts for the iMovie. We spoke in class about filming a "situation." All of the students are making a commercial for a growth mindset. We will finish our scripts next week and then start filming the iMovie. Ask your child what they are focusing on for their iMovie.
Miscellaneous:
Great Mail Race: The students were very excited to receive our first letter for our Great Mail Race. You may remember that we wrote letters to schools in all 50 states plus Washington, D.C. during the week of PARCC tests. This week we heard back from Joe's state - Pennsylvania. We were very excited to learn about their school.
Science: This trimester, our scientists are studying with Mr. Lukehart. They'll be learning about Ecosystems throughout an exciting unit, in which they'll develop experiments using mealworms, and build a live terrarium and aquarium! Ask your kids about what they planted, grew, or added to their ecosystem.
Growth/Fixed Mindset: This week we continued to work on their scripts for the iMovie. We spoke in class about filming a "situation." All of the students are making a commercial for a growth mindset. We will finish our scripts next week and then start filming the iMovie. Ask your child what they are focusing on for their iMovie.
Miscellaneous:
- Next week is "PACK" week! Pack the color of the day in your child's lunch, and wear clothes to match!
- Keep those iPads charged and in a safe place until we return to school. Remember they may be used for academic purposes only!
