Week of Dec. 14 - 18

MATH:
Timed Test: Thursday - covering the 8s times tables.

This week we continue adding and subtracting fractions with common denominators and without common denominators. This is section A and B of chapter 10.
Thursday we will have a review of these concepts and then Friday, students will write the test.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
We will continue with our simulation.

Reminder: Friday is early dismissal. Hoping your holiday is filled with love and laughter!

HAPPY HANUKKAH!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISMUKKAH!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Christmas Colors Day Tomorrow

We will celebrate our traditional Posadas on Thursday, Decemeber 10. Students may wear Christmas colors.

Week of Dec. 7 - 11

MATH:
We have finished our unit in Fractions. Most students did fairly well on the last assessment.

We have now started a new unit in measurement. Although we finished with the fractions unit, we will continue using fractions as we explore fractional parts of an inch. This is something that most students have struggled with. We started on Friday and continued again today. This may be something students need to work extra on at home (ex: 1/2, 1/4, and 1/8 of an inch, plus measuring and rounding to the nearest 1/2, 1/4, or 1/8).

Tomorrow we look at exploring feet, yards, and miles. This will conclude our measurement unit for this chapter (9) in our text. Wednesday will be review and Thursday will be a measurement quiz.

Friday we begin Chapter 10, which further explores fractions and measurement; beginning Friday with adding fractions.

Thursday will be our regular Timed Test - this week focussing on the 7s and 8s time tables.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
Tomorrow, Diary Situation #3 (journal #2) is due at the beginning of the day. This is a 2 page reflection that they have had 2 periods to work on in class. Any work needed to be finished must now be done at home.
We have taken some time off from our simulation to review the learning we have recieved through the game, but this week will in fact return to the game.

GRADED PAPERS:
Packages should be sent home today or tomorrow, must be signed and returned to school.

LITERACY:
Students are working on presentations about the Middle Ages. These are projects they have been working on as groups in class. Presentations will take place tomorrow.

Students must continue with the daily reading and journal entries.

Ms. Leary will return to school Thursday or Friday of this week.

Social Studies Simulation Game: Applying the Game to Our Learning

Here is a copy of the overhead we read today in class, to help students study for tomorrow's quiz:

Standard 1: How does regional geography influence culture and impact change in people, places, and events over time?

Regional geography: the study of regions throughout the world in order to understand the characteristics of a particular region.

What are the different regions in our simulation game?

• The Mountains
• The Plains
• Land beside the ocean
• Land beside the river

Discuss how life is different in each of these places.

Standard 3: Compare rights and responsibilities of individuals living within a given region to those of another region or group of regions.

Rights: entitlements or permissions, usually of a legal or moral nature.

Responsibilities: things for which one is responsible; a duty, obligation, or burden

What different regions/groups do we have in our game?

• the colonists
• the Indians

What rights and responsibilities does each group have?

Standard 4: Understanding of how availability of goods, services, and technology affect a region.

Goods: a physical product capable of being delivered to a purchaser

Services: a process that creates benefits by facilitating a change in customers, a change in their physical possessions, or a change in their intangible assests.

Technology: material objects of use to humanity and the branch of knowledge that deals with the creation and use of technical means and their interrelation with life, society, and the environment, drawing upon such subjects as industrial arts, engineering, applied science, and pure science.

What goods do we have in our game? What services? What technology?

How can we use these things to help the colonists?

Navidad Sin Frio

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then just feed one."
~Mother Theresa

We discussed this quote in one of our previous class meetings. What does it mean?

We all have the ability to make a difference in the lives of others:


THE STARFISH STORY:
Original Story by: Loren Eisley

One day a man was walking along the beach when he noticed a boy picking something up and gently throwing it into the ocean.
Approaching the boy, he asked, “What are you doing?”
The youth replied, “Throwing starfish back into the ocean. The surf is up and the tide is going out. If I don’t throw them back, they’ll die.”
“Son,” the man said, “don’t you realize there are miles and miles of beach and hundreds of starfish? You can’t make a difference!”
After listening politely, the boy bent down, picked up another starfish, and threw it back into the surf.
Then, smiling at the man, he said,
"I made a difference for that one.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is the last week for Navidad Sin Frio. PLEASE remember to bring in ANYTHING you can donate to help make a difference for at least one person :)

Week of Nov. 30 - Dec. 4

MATH:
We are coming close to the end of our fractions unit. Today we reviewed the second half of this unit:

• equivalent fractions
• reducing fractions to simplest form
• comparing fractions (which is greater)
• ordering fractions (least to greatest)
• fractions of a set (what is 2/3 of 12?).

Tomorrow we will be reviewing ALL lessons pertaining to fractions. This includes the above as well as:

• identifying the numerator and denominator
• estimating fractional amounts
• converting improper/mixed fractions.

There will be a fractions test on Wednesday that will cover all of these topics. I have added a few additional websites to the blog in order to help assist in practicing for this test.

Timed Test will be Thursday as usual, and will cover the 7s times table. Students will receive 2 minutes for 30 questions.

Thursday we will begin our next unit: Using Customary Linear Measurement


SOCIAL STUDIES:
After last week's quiz, it was quite evident that many students are having a difficult time applying what is happening during our simulation to what they should be learning in Social Studies. Today we went back to the text book and looked at the same vocabulary in the text. Perhaps seeing it in a textbook will help students to connect the learning. We will be reviewing concepts again tomorrow and then there will be another quiz to follow on Wednesday. Students should be able to talk about the regional geography in the game (how mountains, rivers, and ocean differ for living - food, travel, etc.) They should also be able to talk about the rights and responsibilities of the native indians versus the colonists (who owns the land, what are daily jobs, etc.). Lastly, students should know how colonists an use the goods, services, and technology that they have (ex: trading these things with Indians to obtain land, etc.). Students will then be working on a second "Diary Situation", written as a character from their colony, on Thursday and Friday.

Week of November 23 - 25

MATH:
This week we continue with Fractions. Today and tomorrow we are looking at comparing and ordering fractions. Students should be able to convert fractions to an equivalent fraction that is easier to compare to certain other fractions. Wednesday we will be exploring a fraction of a set: ex. 1/3 of 9 is 3, 1/2 of 10 is 5. Next week when we return from Thanksgiving, students will be reviewing ALL of the fractions unit and then will have a test on the Wednesday we return. This test will include: numerator/denominator, writing/reading fractions, converting mixed/improper fractions, equivalent fractions, ordering/comparing fractions, and fractions of a set. It will be a short test with only a few questions of each, but students need to know everything we have learned with fractions thus far.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
We will continue with our simulation with our colonies. Wednesday there will be a quiz discussing how availability of goods, services, technology, etc. affects the colonies, as well as how individuals in each colony have different rights and responsibilities than the individuals in the Indian tribes.

LITERACY:

Writing:
Interactive Editing: We have finished writing a Venn Diagram on Reptiles and Amphibians.

Independent Writing: Students have written an essay comparing and contrasting reptiles and amphibians. They used the Venn Diagram as a guide and organizer.

They are now working in pairs writing a story about a book jacket given to them in class. They are using their imagination and writing skills to create amazing stories! Way to go!

Reading:
Shared Reading: We read a Thanksgiving poem, we focused on reading with expression.

Read Aloud: The BFG, we are still focusing on visualizing and making predictions.

Students have also read ths Stonecutter, independently. This activity was followed by a Reading assessment.

Students will also participate in Independent Reading and Literacy Centers!

Week of Nov. 16th - 21st

Literacy:

Read Aloud:
"The Amazing Book of Mammal Records", by Samuel G. Woods, we will focus on reading and interpreting captions and facts and opinions.

"One Hen", by Katie Smith Milway, we will focus on predicting, making inferences, and using context clues.

Read Aloud for fun: The BFG, we will focus on visualizing!


Shared Reading:
Reptiles and Amphibians

Comparing and Contrasting Reptiles and Amphibians

Diagram: An Amphibian's Life Cycle


Interactive Editing:
Reptiles and Amphibians (paragraph about reptiles)

Interactive Writing:
Vennn Diagram: Reptiles and Amphibians
We will aslo write a different ending of the story "Why Frog and Snake Never Played Together". We will focus on using qoutation marks to show dialogue between Frog and Snake.

Independent Writing:
Students will be writing the final draft of the essay "I am Grateful for..."
Students wll begin writing a different ending of the story "Why Frog and Snake Never Played Together". They will choose to write a happy ending or a sad ending.

Students will also participate in Independent Reading, Writing Cycle Groups, and Literacy Centers.





MATH:
This week we are continuing with fractions. Friday we made fraction strips in class so the students could have concrete ways to physically compare fractions. Today and tomorrow we are comparing and writing equivalent fractions. Wednesday we will discuss putting fractions into simplest forms, then Thursday we will be reviewing all concepts of equivalent fractions and simplest form. There will be a test on Friday. There are links on the blog to Math games that will help to practice these skills. Saturday we will begin comparing and ordering fractions.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
We will continue with our simulation. At this point, colonies are starting to learn that a lot of things are left up to fate. One day a plague may hit their colony and kill some of their men, while the next day their cattle may have babies and they are blessed with more food. Colonies are starting to take chances by attacking other colonies to aquire their land, and students are having to work well together with their classmates in order to make tough decisions for their colony.
Wednesday and Thursday, students will be working on a creative writing piece. Students will pretend to be one of the members of their colony and describe what life is like in the New World. As their character, they will talk about their struggles and how they are feeling. This entry will be graded.

Colors day Tomorrow!!

Colors Day Tomorrow for Lps. 5.00!

Week of November 9-13

MATH:
We have been working on Mixed Fractions and Improper Fractions, and going between the two. This was something we learned last Wednesday, continued Thursday, and reviewed today. Tomorrow will be a small quiz on these concepts. Students will need to know how to change a mixed number into an improper fraction and change an improper fraction into a mixed number.

Wednesday we will be reviewing all of the things we've learned about fractions so far, before moving onto the next concepts.

Thursday will be the start of section B in the chapter of fractions (Chapter 9). We will be looking at equivalent fractions on Thursday, Friday, Monday, and Tuesday. This will include reducing fractions to their simplest form as well. There will be a quiz on this concept sometime next week.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
We have started the actual game play of the Social Studies Simulation. All colonies have found land to settle on. This week the simulation will continue and colonies will make decisions about farming, fishing, hunting, and settling the land. Towards the end of this week, students will write a journal entry, pretending that they are the characters that have just landed in the New World. These journals of reflection will be graded for understanding of settlement.

MEETINGS:
If there are any parents who did not get a chance to meet with me (Ms. Willett) on Friday, and would still like to do so, please e-mail me (swillett@amschool.org) to set up an appointment for this week.

LITERACY:
Read Aloud:
“Why Frog and Snake Never Played Together”, by focus on Character and Plot.
“What is a Life Cycle?” by Bobie Kalman, focus on reading and interpreting diagrams and features of nonfiction text.
Shared Reading:
An excerpt from “Why Frog and Snake Never Played Together”, by focus on quotation marks.
A text about reptiles and amphibians.
Interactive Writing:
We will brainstorm ideas, write an introduction, body paragraph and conclusion for We are Grateful for…
We will write a Venn diagram to compare and contrast frogs and reptiles.
Independent Writing: Students will begin to write a five paragraph essay: I am Grateful for…
Student will also participate in Independent Reading, Guides Reading Groups, and Centers.

Class Reward!!!

Students have earned a pajama day and movie reward. They may wear their pajamas to school on Friday, Nov. 6th. Way to go 4-A!

Navidad Sin Frio

Thursday Oct.29-Friday Nov.6, 2009

o A clothing drive for children between the ages of 0-5 will be delivered to EL CENTRO DE SALUD de Nacaome. The clothes will be delivered to the Centro de Salud on Saturday, November 7.

Thursday Oct.29-Dec.4, 2009

o A general “sweater, throws, and coat” drive will take place starting this month up to the first week of December. Donations will be distributed to several homes here in Tegucigalpa. Please send a garment with your child to help with this cause.
o PTO will join in the cause and are offering two PIZZA PARTIES to the class that collects the most clothing, starting October 29th for both drives.

Holidays are for helping. Christmas is for caring.
Please assist us in assisting others. If you have ANY clothing around the house that you can donate, PLEASE send this to school with your child.
As November is the month of the American Thanksgiving, let's take this time to be thankful for what we have been provided in our lives, and help to make someone else's life a little brighter :)


"No one has ever become poor by giving." ~ Anne Frank

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Parent/Teacher conferences heve been scheduled for Friday, Nov. 6th. A sign-up sheet has been posted outside the classroom so you can sign up for the time that suits you best. The day of Parent Teacher Conferences is an early dismissal day. Students will be dismissed at 11:15 am. Please plan accordingly.

Thank you,

Ms. Leary

***Sign-up sheet for conferences with Ms. Willett has been placed in the Office. Please sign-up for one of the 10 minute slots, or e-mail Ms. Willett for an earlier meeting this week (swillett@amschool.org) ****

Week of November 2nd - 6th

MATH:
Today we had our fractions quiz. Tomorrow there will be no Math, due to the writing assessment. Wednesday we will be introducing Mixed Numbers and Improper Fractions. Through interactive writing, we will be looking at the rules and HOW to change from Mixed Numbers to Improper Fractions and from Improper Fractions to Mixed Numbers. Monday there will be a quiz on this concept. Please review this at home.
I am adding more website links on the right side of the blog, listed under Math Games. These will now include fractions. Please have students use these as well.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
We have completed Phase 1 of our simulation. Points and grades were collected through multiple mapping assignments, and students completed a vocabulary quiz based on what they learned in the assignments. This week we will be starting Phase 2 - the actual game. Today students will be starting by finishing their cargo list - planning what it is that they will take with them on the journey to the New World.

INTERVIEWS:
Ms Willett: For the interviews on Friday, I will be meeting with parents in the Science Lab (room 25, across the hall from the office). Because I am teaching 2 classes, I will be potentially meeting with 53 sets of parents. If you wish to meet with me BEFORE Friday, please e-mail me (swillett@amschool.org) to set up a time that would work for both of us. Generally, 9:10am works best for me, but please let me know a few times, as I may have multiple requests for the same time. Thank you!

LITERACY:
Book Report: Children should begin reading a new book for the next book report. It will be due Nov. 24. Please remember students must read as much as possible at home.

Read Aloud: This week we will read the book, “A Picture Book of Anne Frank”, by David A. Adler, and “The Cats in Krasinski Square” by Karen Hesse. We will focus on comprehension strategies: making connections, predicting, making inferences, and visualizing.

Read Aloud for fun: the BFG, by Roald Dahl.

Shared Reading: Excerpts from the two Read Aloud books, we will focus on the use of commas. We will be reading our homophones chart.

Interactive Writing:
We will complete a chart on the use of commas. We will list when commas are used and cite examples.

Independent Writing:
Students will write sentences illustrating each example ( the use of commas) written for IAW. They will also write sentences using the homophones chart.

Students will also participate in Guided Reading Groups and Centers.

Halloween Parade

Tomorrow we will be celebrating Halloween!! Our tradidional parade will take place on the basketball court at 1:10 pm. Students may wear their costumes to school.

Room Mothers Meeting

Just a reminder that there is a meeting for Room Mothers at 1:30pm tomorrow (Tuesday, October 27, 2009) in the multipurpose room. This will be to discuss upcoming events for the year.

Week of Oct. 26th -31st

LITERACY:

Book Report: Children should continue to read a book for the next book report. It will be due Oct. 29th. Read, read, and read at home every day!

Read Aloud: This week we will read the book, “Willy and Max“, by Amy Littlesugar . We will focus on Author’s Purpose and Analyzing Character and Setting.

We will also read the book “I Think I Thought and Other Tricky Verbs”, by Marvin Terban. We will identify Irregular Verbs, Rhyme and Alliteration as we read.

Read Aloud for Fun:" The Gatos Black on Halloween", by Marissa Montes. We will focus on using context clues to figure out the meaning of unknown words.


Shared Reading:
Poems from the book: "The Gatos Black on Halloween" by Marissa Montes. We will highlight context clues and unknown words.

Interactive Writing:
“Willy and Max“: We will write a paragraph analyzing the characters and setting of the story.
“I Think I Thought and Other Tricky Verbs”: We will write and Irregular Verb Chart: with the Present, Past, and Past with Has or Have.

Independent Writing:
“Willy and Max“: Students will independently write a paragraph analyzing the characters and setting of the story.
“I Think I Thought and Other Tricky Verbs”: Students will use the Irregular Verb Chart: with the Present, Past, and Past with Has or Have to write sentences using Irregular Verbs.

This week students will be given a homophones and other commonly confused words worksheet to be used a resource for Independent Writing. We will review homophones in depth next week.

Students will also participate in Guided Writing groups and Centers

MATH:
We have now finished chapter 2 on Number Sense and Time. We will continue to review these concepts throughout the year, so as to work towards mastery, as some students are still struggling with these concepts. Please encourage your child to continue to practice skills through computer games or even through simple daily practice. HELP AT HOME :) Elapsed time can be made into a game: when driving anywhere in your car, look at the time you leave one place and have your child remember this. Then once you arrive at the next place, ask your child how long it took you to get from one place to the other. You can also use this for homework or dinner or bedtime. Ex: "How long did it take you to complete your homework if you started at 3pm and finished at 4:15pm?", "Dinner will be in 30 minutes. At what time will dinner be?", "If you go to sleep at 9pm and wake up at 6am, how many hours did you sleep?" Simple questions like this will help your child continue practice at home.

After looking at the Plato scores (Math testing completed school-wide), our class seems to struggle most with Measurement. Due to this fact, I have decided to complete this unit next so we have much time throughout the year to address these issues. This week we will begin with fractions, as these will be built into measurement. We will also use our weekly bellwork to start to introduce geometry as well. This week the topics focussed on will be:

• Naming and Writing Fractions
• numerator, denominator
• Estimating Fractional Amounts
• Geometry: identifying shapes (2D and 3D)

Friday we will review these then Monday will be a test to see if the students are able to identify, label, and write fractions.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
We are continuing our Simulation. Today and tomorrow students will design flags using significant colours and symbols to represent their colonies.
Tomorrow there will be a mapping vocabulary quiz, based on the vocabulary listed on all of their previous mapping assignments. Students should have brought home these assignments to study from.
Towards the middle or end of this week, we will be starting the actual game, using all the points earned by each student during the previous mapping assignments.

Graded Independent Writing Samples

We have sent home your child's Independent Wriring notebook to show you his/her progress in writing. You will find a rubric on the notebook's front cover that can be used as a guide to how the writng samples are graded. The graded samples have 4 grades. I & O stands for Ideas and Organization, C stands for Conventions, H & P for Handwriting and Presentation, and S for Spelling (see rubric). Students have started working on a Personal Word Walls, which are found on the back of each notebook. Our purpose is that each student will work (especially through homework assignments) with the words he/she has difficulty with. As time goes by, more words will be added to the Personal Word Wall. Next week we will add a Homophones and an Irregular Verb Guide to the Independent Writing Notebooks as well. These are all resources the students should use when they write independently in class. Please initial each one of the Independent Writing samples and the Rubric. We encourage that your child reads aloud his/her favorite wiritng samples to you. On Monday, we will be sending a Reading packet the students have been working on in class. Thank you very much!

Colours Day: Fri., Oct. 23/09

This Friday will be colours day at school. Please bring your 5L if you wish to wear colours!

Halloween Math!

Check out this fun Halloween game to practice your multiplication facts!

http://www.smartygames.com/igre/math/halloweenMath.html

Math Homework - Oct. 20th

Students are to redo these 5 questions from a previous homework assignment, except they are to complete them with the new method that we discussed in class today.

We used t-charts: one for the hours that have passed, and one for the minutes. For some time you will only need one t-chart but for others you will need two t-charts, one for the hours and the other for minutes. Do the hour chart first. The student draws a t-chart. On top of the left side write the start time (ex. 2:20). On the top of the right side write hours. Draw an arrow pointing up if we are counting the hours up. If we are subtracting hours, draw the arrow down. Now make several horizontal lines and label the first underneath hours with 1. Now move 2:20 to 3:20. The next thing to do is create the minutes t-chart and use 3:20 as the start time.

Good luck!

1. 3:00pm - 5:25pm
2. 10am - 12:30pm
3. 6:45pm - 6:45am
4. 12pm (Tues.) - 12pm (Wed.)
5. 11:20am - 4:45pm

Week of Oct. 19th -23rd

Literacy

Book Report: Book Children should continue to read a book for the next book report. It will be due Oct. 29th. Read, read, and read at home every day!

Read Aloud
This week we will read a book about poems, “Big, Bad, and a Little bit Scary”, by Wade Zahares. We will focus on visualizing, and using context clues.

We will also read the book “Imagine a Day”, by Sarah L. Thomson. This book will be used as an introductory activity to this week’s Independent Writing sample: Imagine a Day When…

Read Aloud for fun! We will try to finish “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”, by Judy Blume.

Shared Reading:
Poem “The Shark", by Lord Alfred Douglas, we will focus on visualizing and using context clues.

Interactive Writing:

Sentences with appositives: We will use the information we have learned about China to write sentences that use appositives.

“Big, Bad, and a Little Bit Scary”, we will be writing a chart listing every animal we read a poem about and a word or phrase that describes the animal. We will be using the list later on to write sentences that include appositives so we can practice how to use commas.

Interactive Editing:

China, a Great Place: We will continue to learn about China. This week we will be writing about The Great Wall of China.

Independent Writing:

“Big, Bad, and a Little Bit Scary”: Students will be writing sentences that use appositives about the animals we read on the poems. For example: The Eel, a slippery creature, slips easily out of sight.

“Imagine a Day”: Students will respond to this writing prompt: “Imagine a day… when you could do anything you wanted…, they will describe this day starting with the morning, moving onto the afternoon, and concluding with the night.

Students will also participate in Guided Writing groups and Centers.

New Word Wall Words: when, always, appear, and decided

Week of October 19-23

MATH:
I've graded the tests of TIME. After much thought, discussion, and advice from other teachers, I decided to break the test up into 6 sets of marks: reading time, writing time, comparing time, elapsed time, calendar, and problem solving. You will notice these multiple grades on the test for each section. I decided this was best, as some students excelled at some areas of time but struggled at others.
Tonight students are to take the tests home to correct the "elapsed time" section of their tests and for you to sign them. Please send the tests back to school tomorrow signed.

Most students struggled with elapsed time so this is what we will focus on this week. We will review elapsed time and students will complete an assignment for additional marks.

Thursday we will review all sections of chapter 2 and students will write a cumulative test on Friday to cover all parts: place value, number sense, and time.

SOCIAL STUDIES:
We are continuing with our simulation of colonies settling in "The New World". Last week students chose roles such as governor, vice-govenor, recorder, banker, mapper, and trader. Group members ("colony members") shared responsibilities and worked together on their first mapping assignment. Students were allowed to assist their peers in their colony but we instructed to teach (not tell the answers) and to help (not do it for them). For the most part students worked well together and shared responsibility in order to achieve good marks on their assignments which also become their points for the game. Only in one case did one student do the work for the other student. These 2 students lost marks and points in the game (in their grades).
This week we will continue with more mapping assignments where students will earn even more grades and points for their colonies. We will also be beginning discussion on flags and their purpose, as well as designing our own. Friday students will complete a quiz based on what they have learned in Phase 1 of this simulation. It is 10 questions. Students should study by reviewing the different terms/vocabulary on each of their assignments thusfar. Next week the game will begin.

Friendly Letters and Infractions

Ms. Leary, Ms. Willett, and Ms. Aguilar have all been recently discussing the behaviour of 4A. We are very concerned about the drop in discipline since the beginning of the year.

As a team, we have decided to be more consistent in our discipline. The children need structure and often we were giving students extra chances or letting things slide. This cannot happen anymore.

We will be telling students to flip their card immediately if we see misconduct in the class. They will not recieve any extra warnings.

Also, if children receive a red card, it is their responsibility to write their name on the board and to remember to stay in at recess to write the friendly letter. We have found that we often have students who "don't remember" to stay in at recess to write it, as well. As a result of this, we have decided that students who don't stay in to write their letters, will receieve an infraction for not taking responsibility for their actions.

These are all things we have discussed with our class in our community meetings and something they are well aware of is happening. We are hoping that this will teach the students to take responsibilities for their behaviour as well as the consequences of these behaviours.

If you have any concerns, please communicate this in the assignment books. Not all assignment books are coming back signed each day. This is imperative, as this is our main form of communication between the school and home.

Thanks for your help and understanding in this situation.

Math... HELP!!!

Yesterday students wrote their Math test on "Time". I have not completed grading these papers yet, but from what I have graded, I am not happy with the results (for the most part). Some students had no problem while other students struggled greatly.

I knew when I was teaching these concepts that it was difficult for many students. I knew that elapsed time was a hard concept, which was why we spent the extra time on I assigned extra assignments. I showed the students may different approaches to solving these problems so that they could find the one that worked for them.

What I did not know, was how much the students struggled with the other aspects of time as well. Some students cannot mark a simple time on a clock. Some students can't read the time on a clock. This concerns me.

I will be completing the grading this weekend and going over the test with the students Monday. I will be sending home the graded tests (along with other papers) on Monday or Tuesday. Please review this test specifically with your child. It would be VERY beneficial to review all material with your child to make sure they understand the concept. We will be spending next week reviewing elapsed time and students will complete an Elapsed Time assignment. Then at the end of the week will be taking the test to cover all aspects of Chapter 2 (Place Value, Rounding, Estimating, and Time).

I cannot spend any longer than an extra week on this topic, so PLEASE HELP!!! These concepts will be built upon next year and if the children don't have a strong foundation now, they will struggle even more next year.

I promise to do my best this next week to drill these skills even further but practice and lessons at home to continue the learning would be much appreciated and very beneficial to your child.

Any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me:
swillett@amschool.org

Thanks,
Ms. Willett

Literacy Websites

I have published some fun and cool websites students may use at home to practice their spelling and engage themselves in exciting reading activities! On certain occasions I will ask students to play games or to read from the websites as part of their homework. Have fun! I hope you enjoy them.

Under Reading is fun! you can find great books to read on line. Some examples are: Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Callahan Cousins: Summer Begins, Camp Confidential: Natalie's Secret , and Amelia Writes Again.

Selection Shirts Tomorrow!

Tomorrow will be colours day at school in honour of the game tomorrow night. Students are able to wear their selection shirts or blue and white to show their pride!

Math Homework for Tuesday, October 13, 2009 - Elapsed Time

Please complete the following problems in your Math notebook:


Write how much time has passed between the two given times:

1. 3:00pm - 5:25pm
2. 10am - 12:30pm
3. 6:45pm - 6:45am
4. 12pm (Tues.) - 12pm (Wed.)
5. 11:20am - 4:45pm
6. 1:23pm - 5:00pm
7. 8:15pm - 8:45pm
8. 4:45am - 6:15am
9. 7:00am - 9:25pm
10. 2:05pm - 2:10am

Add or subtract the hours and/or minutes from the first time, and give me the ending time:

1. 1:15pm + 4 hours
2. 3:30pm - 2 hours
3. 5:00am + 12 hour
4. 4:20pm - 2 hours, 10 minutes
5. 12:00am - 6 hours, 15 minutes
6. 10:02pm + 4 hours, 3 minutes
7. 6:18am + 14 hours, 22 minutes
8. 11:07pm - 20 minutes
9. 2:35pm + 9 hours 25 minutes
10. 7:57am - 13 hours, 2 minutes

We will be checking for completed homework tomorrow. This shouldn't take you any longer than 30-60 minutes to complete. Remember that you may write down the hours as needed (to calculate the time) or you may use the clocks that you drew in your notebooks during class last week.

Good luck!

Don't forget to study your 4 times tables for the Timed Test this Thursday!

Week of Oct. 12th -16th

Literacy:

Book Report: Children should be reading a new book for the next book report. It will be due Oct. 29th. Read, read, and read at home every day!

Read Aloud: We will read a nonfiction text: “Look What Came from China”, by Miles Harvey. We will focus on reading and using features of nonfiction text: table of contents, glossary, and index.

We will also continue to read Weslandia, by Paul Fleischman, a story we began last week, to focus on Analyzing Character and Setting and Identifying the Main Idea and Supporting Details.

Read Aloud for fun! “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”, by Judy Blume. This week we will be reading to focus on identifying the main idea and listing supporting details.

Shared Reading: “China, a Great Place”, this is an excerpt from “Look What Came from China”.

Interactive Writing:
“Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”: We will identify the main idea and supporting details.

“Look What Came from China”: We will be writing a list of our favorite things that came from China. Then, we will write a short essay to explain how we use them, why we like them, or any interesting fact about them that we recall from the book.

Weslandia: Web chart for a character analysis.

Interactive Editing:
We will do IAE using the Shared Reading sample "China, a Great Place" .

Independent Writing:

“Look What Came from China”: Students will write a short essay describing their favorite things that come from China, why they like them, how they have used them, or any fun fact they recall.

Weslandia: Students will write an opinion paragraph telling what they liked and disliked about Walter’s civilization.

Students will also participate in Guided Reading groups and Centers.

MATH:

This week we are continuing with TIME! Today we covered problem solving with time - knowing how to organize and manage time. All lessons/concepts of time have now been covered and students should continue to practice these at home. Tomorrow and Wednesday we will be reviewing all concept of time. Thursday will be a quiz covering only the "Time" portion (section C) of Chapter 2 in their texts.

Friday we will be reviewing ALL sections of Chapter 2 (A, B, and C) and will have a test Monday covering understanding place value, building number sense (rounding, ordering), and time (both forms, lengths of time, and elapsed time).

Timed Test:

Thursday we will have a timed test as per usual. This week it will cover multiples of 4 (the 4s times table). Please continue to review with students on a DAILY basis; 10 minutes daily will mean spending less time cramming for the quiz, and a more consistant score on these tests.

SCIENCE:

We concluded our unit on Water with a final cummulating test on Friday. I was excited for this test, as I took much time to prepare it, including different types of questions (matching, multiple choice, fill in the blanks, and short answer) covering all lessons that we covered. Our review of all matter was to review all of the interactive editing and shared writing that we did as a class and to answer the questions from the text. We also reviewed all concepts (as I knew what was on the test) to ensure students knew what they needed to cover in their studying. I'm unsure if students studied or not, as I was quite disappointed with many of the results of this test. Many students received A+ and A, but many students also received A- and B. These tests will be sent home at the end of the week. Please go over these with your child, as many of these concepts should have been understood after multiple quizes and assignments.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

We will be starting our first unit of Social Studies this week. As addressed at Open House, we will be covering The United States during Social Studies this year. For this first quarter (and possibly into the next as well) we will be looking at the early settlers of the United States and Colonizing the Northeastern United States. Ms. Lofchie in 4C had access to a GREAT activity that is a Social Studies simulation that she has graciously shared with the other 2 sections of 4th grade as well. Divided into separate "colonies", teams of students will face problems typical of life in the 17th-century America and try to ensure the success of their settlements. Students will complete assignments and the grades achieved from these first assignments will determine how many points their "colony" receives. They then use these points to buy cargo and use map skills to cross the sea and select their sites. Students--playing roles as colony leaders, bankers, mappers, traders, or recorders--must make decisions concerning the division of labour, role of government, and defense against possible Indian attacks. Interaction amongst the colonies results in trades, alliances, and sometimes conflict, while Fate Cards affect each colony's success or failure. The wealthiest colony after 15 rounds of play will win. I am SO excited about this unit, as the kids will learn in a fun and interactive way!

Colour Day - Friday!

They announced this morning that Friday will be colour's day. No, 4A, I did not spell "colour" wrong. This is how we spell it in Canada! :)

Students may wear their Honduras shirts for 5 Lps.

Show your Honduran pride and support the team for the big game on Saturday!

Gadgets Added!

In an attempt to make our blog more exciting and interactive for parents and students, we have added a few gadgets to the right side of our blog!

If you look there, you will see a recent poll, links to many math websites, a quote of the day, a countdown to Halloween and an analog clock!

Please check the blog daily for updates, changes, and new things added to the blog!

Reminder: Time Test & Math Practice

This Thursday we will still be having our regular time test. Last week many students did MUCH better because they practiced all week. Please keep up this practice and don't wait until Wednesday night to do it! This week will be 3s and 4s.

There are the websites I posted last week including games and a site where parents can print off practice time tests for the students. The practice time tests on this site are 60 questions, so students should try to complete it in 2 minutes.

Start Studying!

Also, students are struggling slightly with the new concept of time. Please use to websites below for extra help:

Telling Time:
http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/BangOnTime/clockwordres.html

http://www.oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/StopTheClock/sthec4.html

http://www.primarygames.com/time/start.htm#

http://www.mathsyear2000.org/magnet/minus3/trains/index.html

http://www.time-for-time.com/game3.htm

http://www.fi.edu/time/Journey/JustInTime/telltime4.htm

http://www.bornthinker.com/ctemplate.php?body=smiley_clock&t=e

Elapsed Time:
http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/math/elapsed_time/quiz829.html

http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/math/time_word_problem/quiz704.html

Week of October 5-9

Math:
We are starting a new unit this week: TIME!
Today we introduced the concept of time - reading both analog and digital clocks. I was slightly surprised by how much difficulty students seemed to have with this. There are always at least 2 different ways to read a clock. For example: if the clock reads 4:15, this can be read as "four-fifteen" or as "15 minutes after 4" or "quarter after 4". This is something you can practice at home! Ask your child/tell your parent what time you are sitting down to dinner. Then think of an alternate way to say it.
Remember:

• 15 minutes is referred to as "quarter after"
• 30 minutes is referred to as "half past"
• 45 minutes is referred to as "quarter to"
• numbers on the first half of the clock are "after" (28 minutes after 4)
• number on the second half of the clock are "to" (10 minutes to 5)

Wednesday and Thursday we'll be discussing Elapsed Time. This tends to be a difficult concept as well. For example: "Ms. Willett goes to school at 7:15am. She leaves school at 3:00pm. How long is Ms. Willett at school for each day?"
Please go through examples like these at home as well. This will help students greatly if they are getting extra support at home. A great activity is a game called "Are We There Yet": give them two times of a potential car trip and have them tell you how long it takes. Even practice driving from your home to school. What time did you leave? What time did you arrive? How many minutes does it take you to get to school? How many minutes to your Aunt's house? The grocery store? The mall?

Science:
In Science we will continue with the water unit. We will be covering our last "formal" lesson: Usable Water, then will be doing fun activities about water pollution and conservation (which will also be on the test). Thursday we will be reviewing ALL of the Water Unit and then Friday students will be tested on all of the lessons thus far: The Amazing Molecule, Water Cycle, Water Clings, Mixing With Water, Usable Water, and Water Pollution/Conservation.

Literacy:

Book Report:

Children should be reading a new book for the next book report. It will be due Oct. 29th. Read, read, read at home every day!

Read Aloud:

We will read a nonfiction text: “Teammates”, by Peter Golenbock. We will focus on multiple problems and solutions, and cause and effect.
We will also read "Weslandia", by Paul Fleischman, to focus on Analyzing Character and Setting and Identifying the Main Idea and Supporting Details.
Read Aloud for fun! “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”, by Judy Blume.

Shared Reading:

We will be reading a poem, Oath to Friendship, anonymous, China, 1st century B.C., to focus on the characteristics of poetry and elements of exaggeration in poetry.
We will also read an excerpt from Weslandia, we will focus on Character Analysis and Context Clues.

Interactive Writing:
Teammates:
We will make a flow a chart to write what caused each one of the story’s character to act the way they did, and then follow each cause to its final effect.
Synonyms and antonyms: We will be discussing the meaning of the following words: extraordinary, launched, opponents, prejudice, segregation, teammate, apathetic, hostility, taunts, and audible, and coming up with synonyms and antonyms for all of them.
Weslandia:
Web chart for a character analysis.
Main idea and supporting detail chart.

Independent Writing:
Teammates: Student will use the cause and effect flow chart to write an opinion paragraph telling which of the three character’s actions and behavior they think was the most significant.
Weslandia: Students will write an opinion paragraph telling what they liked and disliked about Walter’s civilization, and why?


Students will also participate in Guided Reading groups and Centers.

Book Report Announcement!

Our book report is due Monday, Oct. 5th. If you haven't finished your book, don't forget to read over the weekend!

Attention Please: New Behavior Rewards !!!

Individual: Students who don't flip their cards during the day will receive an orange stamp on their assignment book. The purpose of this is to notify parents of their chld's good behavior at school. Please praise them or reward them at home for this accomplishment. This will be done on a daily basis.

Class reward: If 6 or less people flip their cards in one day, the class will earn 5 free minutes to play board games on Friday. They can earn a total of 25 minutes a week.

We will continue to send positive notes home on Fridays for those students who do not flip their card the entire week. Awards will be given when a student has earned 4 positive notes.

Science Experiment for Homework - Oct. 1

Yesterday in Science we went to the lab and did an experiment with water and an egg to see if it would float or sink.

Today we applied that experiment to a lesson called "Sink or Float" that discussed density of objects and why things float. It also talked about regular molecules versus water molecules and what happens when water freezes. Please complete this small experiment at home tonight:

1. Fill a plastic cup or waterbotttle (preferably see-through) half full with water.
2. Mark a line on the side of the cup to show where the top of the water is
3. Place the cup in the freezer until the water is frozen.
4. Where is the top of the frozen water now? Below the original line? Above the original line? The same as the original line?

Math Website to Help Study for Time Tests

The following sites can be used to assist students in practicing multiplication tables:

http://www.mrsbogucki.com/aemes/resource/apps/madmath/madmath.htm

Zap the correct answer to guide your spaceship through the hole:
http://www.playkidsgames.com/games/Tunnel/multiplyFrame.htm

This one may be hard for students who do not have significantly fast skills, but is great fun for those who are well practiced (even I LOVED playing this game myself!) You have to answer the questions to move your rocket in different directions and avoid the astroids:
http://www.mathplayground.com/SpaceRacer_Multiplication.html

This one you can choose which table you want to practice. You must use the arrows on the keyboard to move your character at the bottom and use the space bar to shoot the balloons that has the correct answer to the question. If you get a question wrong, the balloons speed up.
http://www.mathplayground.com/balloon_invaders.html

Free printable worksheets: (these are GREAT to print out as a practice Timed Test at home!)

http://math.about.com/od/multiplication/ig/Times-Tables-Worksheets/

Week of Sept. 28th - Oct. 1st

Fiesta Catracha:
Due to the fact that we have been absent from school so many days, all of the activities for Fiesta Catracha have been cancelled.

Book Report:
Our book report is due Oct. 5th, 2009. The format will be given in school and it will be completed in class.

Literacy:
Since we didn’t come to school Tuesday and Wednesday of the last week, all activities planned for those days related to Just a Dream have will be done until this week. Thursday and Friday of last week the students read City Green in class.

Read Aloud:
This week we will begin reading the story “Just a Dream”, by Chris Van Allsburg, we will focus on making inferences and predictions, and irregular verbs.

Read Aloud for fun! "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing", by Judy Blume.

Shared Reading:
Similes: We will be reading similes from the story City Green; we will focus on identifying and understanding the meaning of similes.
We will be reading the poem “Who Cares about Trees? “. We will focus on discussing poetry as a text structure:
1) Compare and contrast poetry to other text structures2) We will identify common features that we notice about poetry: stanzas, white spaces, creative punctuation, phrases units versus complete sentences, rhyme, etc.We will also make connections between the poem and the story “Just a Dream”.

Interactive Writing:
City Green: We will finish a Problem and Solution chart.
Just a Dream: We will be completing a Cause (different ways humans are harming the environment) and Effect (the consequences of our actions) chart based on what we read on Just a Dream.

Independent Writing:
City Green: Students will read and explain the meaning of similes.

Just a Dream: Students will be explaining some of Walter’s dream, explaining their cause and effect, and coming up with possible solutions.

Students will also participate in Guided Reading Groups and Centers.

New Word Wall Words:
edge, receive, believe, necessary



Math:
This week we have started the second of three sections of the place value and time unit. Section A was looking at place value. Section B is exploring comparing & ordering numbers as well as rounding numbers.
Thursday we will have our regular time test (this week based on 3s times table) followed by a Section B Quiz.
In our 4A community meeting this morning we identified the "problem of the week" was that students needed to better prepare for the Time Tests. Solutions to solve this problem included practicing for at least 10 minutes EVERY day.

Science:
We are currently doing interactive editing on the theme of "Water Mixes". Wednesday we will start the last of our formal lessons in the water unit - "Sink or Float" which should take us to the end of this week. Next week we will do some follow-up activities and then review for a test that I have yet to schedule but will most likely be at the end of next week. This test will include EVERYTHING that we have learned about water thus far. Students can start to review now using the handouts in their notebooks.

Finishing Off This Week

This week has been a bit of a different situation with all of the things that have been going on. Here is a bit of an update, as to what is happening for the rest of the week:

Math: Students continued with our "One Grain of Rice" activity. Tomorrow will be the last day to work on it (as students have had a week) and then it will become homework. Monday will be the last day to hand in this assignment.

We did not have our time test today, as I wanted to give students warning and one more day to study. Tomorrow we will be covering the 2s and 3s times tables.

Science: We finished the Mixing Water Experiment and have started to write up the Scientific Method for this experiment. Students will have time tomorrow to finish this but if it is not completed, it too becomes homework and must be handed in on Monday at the latest.

Literacy: Ms. Leary is absent this week, and will return on Monday. In the meantime, Ms. Aguilar will be covering her classes. They will be covering lessons left by Ms. Leary. Homework should continue as normal with reading and completing daily journal entries.

Progress Reports: These went home today with many of the students. Please review with your child, sign the paper, and send it back. If you wish to set up an appointment with either of us, please call the office, or indicate on the form.

No School

Due to the updated curfew, there will be no classes tomorrow.

IMPORTANT: Late start tomorrow!

Because of the recent curfew, school will be starting 2 hours behind schedule tomorrow. This means that buses will pick students up 2 hours after their scheduled times, and school will start at 9:30am tomorrow morning.

If anything changes, we will let you know.

Week of Sept. 21st - Sept. 25th

Literacy:

Fiesta Catracha!

Before the break students started highlghting important/interesting information. This week and next week they will create posters and illustrate them. Oct. 9th we will have a degustacion de comda tipica in our classroom. Students should wear a traje tipico this day.

Book Report:

Our first book report was schedule for Sept. 7th, but we were on the break that day. I do not want to assign a book report on a book the children probably read a long time ago. Therefore, please make sure students are reading a new book. The next book report will be scheduled for Oct. 5th, 2009.

These days, we have begun again our daily activities after the break and are ready to continue working and learning! This is what we will be doing this week:

Read Aloud:
-We will finish reading a book we started reading last week “The Three Questions”, based on a story by Leo Tolstoy, written and illustrated by John J. Muth. We have focused on making prediction and using context clues.
-We will begin reading the story “Just a Dream”, by Chris Van Allsburg, we will focus on making inferences and predictions, and irregular verbs.

Shared Reading:
- An excerpt from “Three Questions”, we will focus on easy steps to using context clues:
1) Identify /highlight the unknown word
2) Identify /highlight the context clues
3) Come up with a synonym of the word that you think makes sense
4) Replace the unknown word with the synonym
5) Reread to find out if the synonym sounds right!

We will be reading the poem “Who Cares about Trees? “. We will focus on discussing poetry as a text structure:

1) Compare and contrast poetry to other text structures
2) We will identify common features that we have noticed about poetry: stanzas, white spaces, creative punctuation, phrases units versus complete sentences, rhyme, etc.
We will also make connections between the poem and the story “Just a Dream”.

Interactive Writing:
We will be completing a Cause (different ways humans are harming the environment) and Effect (the consequences of our actions) chart based on what we read on Just a Dream.
Independent Writing:
Students will be explaining some of Walter’s dream, explaining their cause and effect, and coming up with possible solutions.

New Word Wall Words:
couldn’t, doesn’t, finally, already, possible

Students will also participate in Independent Reading, Centers and Guided Reading groups.

We will continue to Read Aloud for fun: “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”!

Math: Last week we read a book called "One Grain of Rice" by Demi. We will be working on an assignment that will continue to use this book as our resource. We are doubling rice every day and then calculating the totals after 30 days. This is great practice for adding large numbers, as well as place value. This week we will also be testing place value. Please be sure that your child knows how to read and write numbers up to 100 million.

Please also review the 2 and 3 times tables, as this will be our timed test for Thursday morning.

Science: Today we conducted an experiment in the Science lab about mixing water. We will continue this experiment tomorrow and students will then have a short assignment following the Scientific Method (as discussed in class). We will then be doing interactive writing on this same topic.

Literacy Assignments to be completed from Sept. 4th - Sept. 16th

The days we are not going to be attending school students will be expected to read every day and to complete a journal entry after reading. Students have been explained that they will respond to a total of 12 entries between Sept. 4 and Sept. 17th (one a day). They should choose the 12 entries from the 3 lists given to them the first weeks of school. The lists are found in their journal noteboks. Posted on this blog are two of the lists too! Just scroll down and you will find them. Please follow the Journal Entry Rubric to make certain students do a good job when completing them. All entries should have the four parts: date, title of the book, question and response. The entries should be written with at least 4 meaningful sentences, should be descriptive, and presented in a neat way.

Additional Reading: This last week of school, students read two tales in class: "Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters", and "The Three Litle Pigs and the Fox" . They shoul reread both stories at home (they are found in the Reading Textbook) to practice the reading strategies taught in class. Students took their Reading Textbooks home. A Reading Test about these two stories will be given to students the day they come back (Sept. 17th).

Students should also finish reading the book for the book report over these days. When they finish a book they should begin a new one.

Please use this time to read as much as possible. It is important that students continue reinforcing their reading and writing skills (through their journals).

Time Off From School

Due the circumstances we are facing, we have decided to assign the students additional work during the time away from school, so as not to get really behind in our studies. The students have written down their homework in their assignment books but as a reminder, the following homework has been added for my classes (Ms. Willett):

Math: In addition to the page we did yesterday in class (Pg. 57, #7-18), please complete the math workbook pg. 16-18.

Read the blog posted just before this one about my concerns for the multiplication tables. Now you have LOTS of time to practice. I expect them to be better when we return.

Here is a link to an awesome website that I found that has lots of fun multiplication games to help you:
http://www.multiplication.com/interactive_games.htm
(The edgemoor tournament is fun!)

Science: Since many students received poor marks on the testing/assignments thus far in our Water Unit, I have assigned a written report. This report should be 2 pages in length and should cover the 3 lessons learned so far: The Amazing Molecule, The Water Cycle, and Water Clings. Please use the 3 sheets from that lesson, as well as the water cycle sheet given to you yesterday. One of you forgot these 2 new sheets in class, so you may have to use extra resources on the internet or photocopy from a friend. This assignment may be completed in your Science workbooks, or you may complete it on the computer. I do not want reports that are 3-5 pages in length, so please summarize only the most important information. Think about how we did the interactive editing in class; go through the pages and find the KEY WORDS. Write the keywords on a new page and create your own sentences around them. THIS shows true understanding of the concepts. Please DO NOT copy informationstraight from the pages or the internet. You may use the internet as a resource but not to copy. I will definitely be able to tell if the words in your report are not your own (or copied) and this will be reflected in your grade. Summarize, summarize, SUMMARIZE!

Class Meeting:
Quote: "To be a star you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don't worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine brightest."

Share this quote with a family member. Tell them what it means to you and how you can apply it to your life in the future.

Never Forget: 4A is the best, and you know it's not a lie!

Concern About Multiplication Tables

As stated previously, we will be completing timed tests every Thursday morning covering multiplication facts. This truly should be review, as this is something that is introduced in 2nd grade, then mastered in 3rd grade.

Our first test last week was with 0 and 1 as factors. Most students did very well on this test.

Today was our second timed test and was covering 2 as a factor. After 1 minute of working on this test, students were stopped. I took a look at the test and was very disappointed by the results. Most students received a B grade, as they got 9 or more incorrect answers or left the questions blank and did not complete them.

Quite a few students got stuck on the equation (2x12) and so they only completed a few questions. This is very concerning. If students cannot state their multiplication facts quickly enough, they are going to have a lot of trouble when we get to division.

I've decided to consider the test today as a practice. Tomorrow we will repeat the same test and I will take that mark as the final grade. Students have been told this and should be practicing their 2-times tables tonight.

My suggestion for the future is that students practice Monday-Wednesday in order to prepare for the test that week. Each week will get harder and harder as we increase the factors.

Next week we will be working on 2 and 3 as factors. Please practice these to prepare for next Thursday. Finding time to practice these can be simple. Suggestions: while driving somewhere in the car, while walking in the mall, while shopping in the supermarket, while preparing dinner, while walking the dog, etc. It doesn't have to be something that you do for 30 minutes while sitting, as long as it's something done every day for best results.

Thanks!
Ms. Willett

Daily Journal Entries

Journal Entries for the week of:
August 31st- Sept. 4th

Journal Entries: Fiction
If you are reading a fiction text choose a prompt to respond your journal entry:

1. What might the characters in the book be doing ten years after the story takes place? Describe what their lives might be like.

2. Who is your favorite character? Would it be enjoyable to hold a conversation with him/her? Why? If you could talk to him/her what would you tell him/her? What would you ask him/her?

3. What is the conflict of your story? Predict two ways you think it might be resolved.

4. List and explain 3 events from your story.

5. What is the setting of your story? Draw a picture of how you visualized it? Explain your picture in detail.

Week of Aug. 31 - Sept. 4

Math - Friday we started a graphing assignment in class. Students had to choose a topic and then survery the class for results that they could graph. They were given all class Friday as well as all class today (Monday). They receieved a small piece of paper that told them the 6 requirements they needed to fullfill to complete the graph. If this was not completed in class, this will be homework tonight, as the assignment is due on Tuesday. Tuesdaywill be a short graphing quiz to make sure they not only know how to read graphs, but that they now also know how to MAKE graphs. This week we will be beginning our next unit in Math which will be Place Value and Time.

Science - We are still working on our Water Unit. Today they had the whole period to work on the Water Cycle assignment. If this was not completed in class, it is also their homework for tonight (Monday). If your child seems to have a lot to work on for both assignments due tomorrow, this means that they did not use their class time wisely.
Tomorrow is a small quiz for lessons 1 and 2 - The Amazing Molecule and The Water Cycle. Students have handouts in their science notebooks to help them review for this. We also discussed both at great length during class time. Wednesday we will be visiting the Science Lab for another demonstration.

Literacy:

• This week students will be taking the DRA' s, therefore, it is very important that students come to school every day, get a good night sleep and eat a good breakfast.

• We will also begin to work on "Fiesta Catracha". Our departamento is Francisco Morazan. Students will be divided in groups and will be assigned a place or topic to research about and to print pictures to decorate the posters. They will be summarizing the information in class and will create colorful posters to illsutrate and inform about their place or topic. If you have any arts and crafts that may contribute to our display please send them next week.

• Read Aloud: We will be reading an African Tale, "Mufaros's Beautiful Daughters", by John Steptoe. We will focus on using a diversity of reading strategies like: making connections, making predictions, using context clues, and visualizing.

• Shared Reading: We will be reading the poem "Ancestry Africa", by Ashley Bryan, We will focus on interpreting poems and making connections to poetry.

• Interactive Editing: We will be editing a piece about the Solar System. This is a powerful strategy that allows students to support reading comprehension through discussion, to practice summarizing skills, and to construct their own writing .

• Independent Writing: Students will write their own original piece by using the key words we selected as class during Interactive Editing to write about the Solar System. Students will also write a letter to a friend. The objective is to show that they know the parts of a letter, their correct capitalization and puctuation. They will also be writing different types of sentences: interrogative, exclamatory, declarative, and imperative to show they can identify each type and can punctuate them correctly.

• Students will also participate in Independent Reading and Centers.

• We will continue to read for fun! "Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”, by Judy Blume, is getting better by the minute. Students have a delightful time listening to all of Peter's and Fudge's adventures.

Book Report!!

Students must be reading on a daily basis the book for the book report. Our first book report is due Sept. 7th, 2009. It will be done in class.

Daily Journal Entries

Daily Journal Entries for the week of:
Aug. 24th – 28th
Journal Entries: Fiction
If you are reading a fiction text choose a prompt to respond your journal entry:

1. If a fairy godmother offered three wishes to the main character, what do you think the character would ask for? Why?

2. Who is the main character? Would you like to have him/her as a friend? Why or why not?

3. What is your least favorite part of the book? Explain why you didn’t like this part. How would you change it?

4. If you could enter the book, what kind of character would you be and what would be your role (What would you do? What would your actions be? ) in the story?

5. Draw a picture of a part you enjoyed visualizing. Write a detailed description of it.

Week of August 24-28

Math: Monday we are reviewing all of the different graphs that we learned to read. On Tuesday there will be a Test on "Reading and Understanding Graphs". Once we have completed the test on reading and understanding graphs, we will be starting the second half of the graphing unit: Making Graphs.

Science: We have been working on our Science unit: Water. We've discussed molecules and the different phases of water. We also went to the Science Lab and had a demonstration of what happens to water in its different stages. They have been given an assignment to draw and label the 3 phases that took place in our demonstration. They must include THREE senteces for EACH stage in order to recieve an A (please see the rubric for more details of the assignment).
Following this assignment, we will be moving into Interactive Editing as a class and looking more at the Water Cycle. This will conclude in another assignment to be given at the end of this week or the beginning of next week, depending on what we accomplish in class this week.

Literacy:
Read Aloud: “Big Plans”, by Bob Shea and Lane Smith. We will focus on reading with expression and making connections.

Shared Reading: We will read an excerpt from Big Plans and identify the 4 types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, imperative, and exclamatory. We will learn how to decide which punctuation marks to use in different sentences. (Language textbook pgs. 4-7 & 10-11, to be used as reference.)

Interactive Writing: 4-A will write their “Big Plans”. We will include the 4 types of sentences in our message.

Independent Writing: Students will write the “Big Plans” they have for their future. They will include the 4 types of sentences on their writing and use correct capitalization and punctuation.

This week we will introduce the first words of our Word Wall.

Students will also participate in Independent Reading, Guided Reading/Writing and Centers.

Let’s read for fun! Last week we started to read a hilarious and enjoyable chapter book in class, “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing”, by Judy Blume. Students have enjoyed it a lot! When reading it we will focus on using the reading strategies good readers use: Making, confirming and revising predictions, making connections, using context clues, making inferences, visualizing, summarizing, etc…

Tests/Quizes/Assignments:

• Tuesday - Math Test (Reading/Understanding Graphs)
• Tuesday - Science Assignment due (Water Molecules demonstration; your child has the assignment instructions as well as rubric)
• Friday - Independent Writing "Big Plans" are due.

Open House

Please be aware that Open House is TONIGHT and Ms. Leary & Ms. Willett will be starting our presentation at 4:30pm. Please be prompt, as there are lots of things to be covered and we will be starting on time.

We look forward to seeing you tonight :)

Welcome to 4A

We are so excited for the new school year to have started. We know that this school year will be a wonderful sharing experience.

We are looking forward to building a strong community and supporting each other in our learning this year.

Let's make this an enthusiastic year, and one that we will never forget!