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!