Here are the topics we will cover in class...
Reading
This week, we are going to practice discovering theme in fiction stories. This is a tough skill that requires a lot of inferencing capabilities. We are starting it early so that the kiddos will be experts by the end of the year. You can support this skill at home by reading short picture books with your kiddos in the evenings. Talk about what the author's overall message might be. Encourage your child to use evidence from the text to support their thinking.
Writing
We are going to start working on personal narratives. Students will create a list of memories that are important to them. They will use that list to come up with a writing topic for the week. We will practice narrowing down a 'watermelon' topic to a 'seed' topic. See the image below for examples. We will then outline our story to make sure we are getting all the important information on paper and in a logical order. We will continue working on this piece next week!
Students also have their first spelling/vocabulary homework this week. This assignment will be dueon Monday. They will also have an assessment over the words. Students will be required to spell the words and know their meanings.
Math
We are continuing to work on problem solving strategies and reviewing place value concepts. It's important students understand that each place is ten times greater than the place to the right.
Science
We did not have the opportunity to start our science labs last week. But the good news is, we did have our first one today! Students explored different properties of different types of soil. This week we will examine them under the microscope and talk about each soil's ability to support plant growth. Use this link to practice science vocabulary words at home. You never know, they may show up on our test next week! Wink, wink, wink.
Fourth Grade 411
- Our agendas came in last week! Students should be all setup and ready to go. Please ask your child to explain the importance of keeping up with our agendas and assignments during the week. The agendas are also where they receive hearts/tally marks for good/poor behavior choices. A heart will let you know that something good happened today, while a tally lets you know that maybe someone was a little chatty in class. It's just a simple way for you to keep tabs on our day.
-This year, Elsa England will not host parent information nights. Instead, you are more than welcome to watch this presentation for all the information you might need! A personalized presentation and you don't have to fight the traffic! #yesplease
-I am in need of a room parent. I am honestly very low maintenance and only ask for a room parent since PTA wants me to have one. If PTA asks me to do something, I do it. :) Let me know if you're interested!
-Speaking of our wonderful PTA, don't forget to join! You can use this link for more information.
-I found this awesome math glossary from TEA. I just thought I would share the resource with y'all!
-Finally, Bluebonnet Book season is in full swing. The students are clamoring all over each other trying to get their hands on the next Bluebonnet book. In order to help kiddos have more opportunities to read these great books, I like to stock our library with a copy of each one. You can use this link to donate a book to our classroom - we would LOVE it if you did!
-Stay up to date with our classroom happenings by checking our calendar every week!