October 9, 2009

A Message from your Fourth Grade Team of Teachers             

 

Upcoming Dates:

 

• 10/9: Unsatisfactory Progress Reports sent home
• 10/12:  Columbus Day – NO School
• 10/19 – 10/23: Fall Parent Teacher Conferences – Confirmation notes or emails will be sent home in the next few days

 

Reminders:

• Unsatisfactory Progress Reports: Only students who do not consistently do successful work or have a specific weakness that needs to be improved will receive progress reports. Any questions or concerns you may have regarding these reports can be discussed with the teachers at conference time.

Curriculum Notes:

 

Reading: This past week the students read “Escape,” an excerpt from the familiar story, Charlotte’s Web. Two of the comprehension skills we focused on were cause and effect and sequencing. Next week we will read Mae Jemison: Space Scientist. This biography teaches us about the first African-American woman astronaut in space. We will discuss the fact that Mae Jemison grew up having to deal with prejudices, which made it difficult for her to reach her goal. One of the main comprehension skills that accompany this selection is the use of main ideas and details. We have been working hard in class learning about writing good topic sentences and including details that stay on topic. This work will lead to better extended response answers.

We will take a break from reading logs, and now work on some reading strategy projects. The first one will be a story pyramid. Your child will be introduced to this in class. He/she should begin to look for a good fiction book. It should be at your child's reading level, meaning there are 3-4 hard words per page to both challenge and introduce him/her to new vocabulary. These sheets will be passed out early next week. The first project is due Thursday, October 29th.

Passport to Reading has started for the fourth graders. Four days a week, for a half hour at a time, your child will "travel" to one of seven teachers. The students were screened and assessed to identify strengths and weaknesses in your child's reading. Your child is now in a group, appropriate to his/her needs, that is working on such skills as phonics, fluency, and comprehension. More information regarding this will be shared at conference time.

Writing: This week students have been publishing their personal narratives. These wonderful creations will be on display for you to enjoy during conference week.  The writers have also eagerly begun putting together their portfolios by creating a table of contents, and logging what specific skills have been learned from each individual piece. 

 

We are currently introducing a new genre, the friendly letter.  While writing from the perspective of a pumpkin in the farmer’s patch, authors will design a friendly letter just in time for the upcoming holiday. Students will be studying the art of voice when putting personality into words. We will be studying examples of this from a variety of published authors in the library. Students will also learn to use persuasion in their pieces.   Alongside this project, students will also begin drafting scary stories in their writer’s notebooks.   

 

Please Note:  We are still in need of many plastic sleeves for our 4^th grade portfolios!  If you would like to donate a box for our class, please send one in with your child to school.  Boxes of sleeves can be found at Target, Staples, and Office Max.  Thank you in advance for helping us with this cause.

 

Math: Students have started Unit 3 Multiplication and Division; Number Sentences and Algebra – Students will practice and review basic multiplication facts. These facts should be practiced to the point of instant recall. Multiplication facts will also be used to find division facts. Students will learn about general problem-solving schemes to help solve number stories and mathematical models for more complicated problems. Logic grids are used to take a specialized approach to solving logic problems. The unit concludes with extensions of some familiar algebra concepts and skills that were used in earlier grades of Everyday Mathematics.

             

Science/Health: On Thursday, October 8, students in Mr.Smith’s and Ms. Carter’s classes started a six week science block with Mrs. Ambrosino.  They will be investigating the properties of magnetism and electricity.

 

Social Studies: On Thursday, October 8, students in Mrs. Ambrosino’s and Mrs. Sullivan’s classes started a six week Social Studies block with Mr. Smith. They will be focusing on Illinois’ History.

 

Contact Info: As communication is very important, please contact your homeroom teacher with a note or an email if you have any questions, concerns, or information to share. Our emails are:

mambrosino@op97.org                  Mrs. Ambrosino

ccarter@op97.org                            Miss Carter

msmith@op97.org                           Mr. Smith

csullivan@op97.org                        Mrs. Sullivan

 

If necessary you may also set up meetings before or after school.