Mr. Trinco's 4th Grade News

2/13/12 – 2/17/12

2012-02-10T07:31:00.003-06:00

February 14^th: Our classroom Valentine's Day party will be on Tuesday, February 14^th. Your child does not have to bring in Valentine's Day cards if he or she does not want to. However, if he or she does, he or she must bring in one for everyone in our class.

We are working on multi-step writing projects in English, reading, and social studies. Please help reiterate the importance of following written directions exactly, following rubric guidelines, and checking over the final product carefully before handing it in to be graded.

Reading:
In reading this week, our target genre is poetry. The students will understand the elements of poetry, and they will work with figurative language such as simile, metaphor, personification, onomatopoeia, and idioms. A poetry project will be assigned, and the students will be working on this in class and at home over the next couple of weeks. The complete poetry project is due on Thursday, February 22^nd. The poetry project packet and subsequent rubric state exactly what is required of each student. Along with poetry, the students will also be working on writing extended responses which will connect with their reading passages.

English:
We will wrap up the expository “tooth” writings.

Spelling:
The pretest will be on Monday, February 13th, and the final test will be on Friday, February 17th. Remember, all final spelling tests must be done in cursive!

Social Studies:
We will begin working in Chapter 8 in the textbook on the Midwest region of the United States.

Science:
We will continue working in Chapter 15, Lesson 1 on electricity.

Math:
This week, we will be bouncing around the text covering a variety of lessons to help prepare the students for their upcoming state tests.

2/6/12 – 2/10/12

2012-02-02T14:54:00.002-06:00

February 14^th: Our classroom Valentine's Day party will be on Tuesday, February 14^th. Your child does not have to bring in Valentine's Day cards if he or she does not want to. However, if he or she does, he or she must bring in one for everyone in our class. Please do not send in Valentine's Day cards that have food or candy attached to them. Any candy brought in will be sent home with the student who brought them in. This is a building policy.

Reading:
This week we will begin our study of poetry. We will focus on some of the elements of poetry including rhyme, sensory words, figurative language, and wordplay. The children will also begin a poetry project. In this project, the children will be learning about and writing nine different kinds of poems. Time will be given in class, but students will also need to work on this project at home. We will be working on poetry and figurative language for the next few weeks.

English:
We will begin an expository writing unit in which the students will tell about a time they lost a tooth.

Spelling:
The pretest will be on Monday, February 6^th, and the final test will be on Friday, February 10^th. Remember, all final spelling tests must be done in cursive!

Social Studies:
We will be putting together our “Just Look Books.”

Science:
We will begin Chapter 15 on making and using electricity.

Math:
This week, we will cover lessons 22.4, 22.6, and 22.7. We will also begin working on ISAT extended response problems. We will not have a Chapter 22 test until after the ISAT tests.

1/30/12 – 2/3/12

2012-01-26T15:09:00.003-06:00

A Note From the Office: There has been some confusion regarding the school calendar. Friday, February 17, was originally scheduled as a Teacher Institute. That is not the case any longer. We will be in school that day. We do have a Teachers' Institute on Tuesday, March 20. Also, Friday, May 18, (not Thursday, May 17th) is another Early Dismissal.

February 14^th: Our classroom Valentine's Day party will be on Tuesday, February 14^th. In the next few days, I will send a letter home with each student's name on it. Your child does not have to bring in Valentine's Day cards if he or she does not want to. However, if he or she does, he or she must bring in one for everyone in our class. Please do not send in Valentine's Day cards that have food or candy attached to them. Any candy brought in will be sent home with the student who brought them in. This is a building policy.

Reading:
The reading strategy that we will be studying next week is summarizing. When reading passages, it is not necessary to recall every word. Instead, we will practice using main ideas and supporting evidence to summarize a passage. While reading, a good reader finds the main ideas, whether they are stated or implied. Then, the reader must find supporting evidence to support the main idea. This support may be in the form of details, examples, explanations, or descriptions.

English:
Our Unit 5 test on capitalization and punctuation will be on Wednesday, February 1^st.

Spelling:
This will be a review week. Our pretest will be on Monday, January 30^th. In order to be in the challenge group this week, students will have to receive 100% correct on the 30 word review pretest. Any student in the challenge group will not have any spelling homework all week long! Students who receive 1 or more wrong will be in the normal spelling group, and the test will be on Friday, February 3^rd. Remember, all final spelling tests must be done in cursive!

Social Studies:
We will be working in the computer lab on our “Just Look Books.”

Science:
Our Chapter 4 test on the human body will be on Friday, February 3^rd.

Math:
We will have a test on all of the geometry lessons we covered in Chapters 19, 20, and 21 on Tuesday, January 31^st. Then we will move into Chapter 22 on measurement.

1/23/12 – 1/27/12

2012-01-19T08:26:00.002-06:00

Reading:
The reading skill that we will work on this week is the identification of character, setting, and plot. Students will fill out story structure maps as they read fiction to help them organize their thoughts and identify the main characters, setting, and plot.

English:
We will wrap up and review Unit 5. The unit test will be during the week of January 30^th.

Spelling:
The pretest will be on Monday, January 23rd, and the final test will be on Friday, January 27^th.

Social Studies:
The students will have to choose one important figure in black history from the list that was given to them. In class, they will be doing research and taking notes on this person. This will be done in the computer lab and with laptops here at school. Then each student will have to transfer his/her notes into typed paragraph form. This will become the foundation of the “Just Look Books” that we will begin creating soon. My goal is to have most of this work done in class. However, if individual students are not using his/her time wisely he/she may find some of this work assigned as homework.

Science:
We will spend the week working on our body systems project. The Chapter 4 test will be during the week of January 30^th.

Math:
We will have a Chapter 19 quiz on Tuesday, January 24^th. This quiz will cover Lessons 19.1 – 19.7. Then we will move into Chapter 20.

1/16/12 – 1/20/12

2012-01-13T07:32:00.002-06:00

Wednesday, January 18^th – My homeroom class will take our math MAP test at 10:30am.

Reading:
The comprehension skill that we will be focusing on this week is drawing conclusions. Good readers use details in a story to draw conclusions about characters and events. Students may use graphic organizers to gather details from a story to draw conclusions. They will learn that it is possible to draw more than one conclusion from the same details.

English:
We will continue working on Unit 5 Lessons 7 and 8 on quotation marks.

Spelling:
The pretest will be on Tuesday, January 17th, and the final test will be on Friday, January 20^th. Remember, all final spelling tests must be done in cursive!

Social Studies:
We will work in Lessons 2 and 3 of Chapter 7 on the people of the Southeast.

Science:
We will start to wrap up Chapter 4 on the body systems. Additionally, we will be working on a fun body system project in science class.

Math:
There is a lot of vocabulary in this geometry unit. You can find a green packet inside your child's math folder that has nearly all these vocabulary words. Please review these terms with them. This week, we will cover Lessons 19.3 through 19.6.

1/9/12 – 1/13/12

2012-01-06T07:30:00.003-06:00

A Note From the Office: Market Day volunteers are needed at Lakeview on Saturday, January 7^th at 8am. Please contact the office if you are interested or would like more information.

Reading:
This week, we will be working on the reading target of identifying the problem and the solution. Most stories involve a problem for the character to solve, and the solution to the problem may come after others have been tried.

English:
We will continue moving through Unit 5 on capitalization and punctuation.

Spelling:
The pretest will be on Monday, January 9^th, and the final test will be on Friday, January 13^th. Remember, all final spelling tests must be done in cursive!

Social Studies:
The “Greetings from the Southeast” descriptive writing activity is due on Monday, January 9th. Additionally, we will move forward in Chapter 7.

Science: We will continue working with Chapter 4 on the body systems.

Math:
The Chapter 8 test will be on Wednesday, January 11^th. It will cover Lessons 8.1 through 8.6. Then we will begin with geometry in Chapter 19.

1/2/12 - 1/6/12

2011-12-15T14:45:00.001-06:00

Reading:
This week we will be working on predicting outcomes. Readers can often guess ahead of time, or predict, what will happen in a story, based on information the author has given. Additionally, readers can change or adjust their predictions as they read.

English:
We will continue moving through Unit 5 on capitalization and punctuation.

Spelling:
The pretest will be on Tuesday, January 3^rd, and the final test will be on Friday, January 6^th. Remember, all final spelling tests must be done in cursive!

Social Studies:
We will be gin Chapter 7 on the people of the Southeast. We will also be working on a descriptive writing activity called Greetings from the Southeast. This will be due for homework on Monday, January 9^th.

Science:
We will continue working with Chapter 4 on the body systems.

Math:
We will begin Chapter 8 on interpreting and graphing data. We will move through this chapter quickly, covering Lessons 8.1-8.5 this week. There will most likely be a Chapter 8 test during the week of January 9^th.

12/12/11 - 12/16/11

2011-12-09T07:58:00.005-06:00

Winter Movie:
We will be watching a winter movie in class during the afternoon of December 16^th. If any parents would be willing to send in paper bowls, that would be fantastic. Please email me if you're interested in doing this for our class.

Reading:
In reading this week the students will evaluate the text. They will think about the author's writing and decide if he/she did a good job of helping them to understand the story. They will also review the strategies used throughout the theme.

English:
We will continue moving through Unit 5 on capitalization and punctuation.

Spelling:
This will be a review week. Our pretest will be on Monday, December 12^th. In order to be in the challenge group this week, students will have to receive 100% correct on the 30 word review pretest. Any student in the challenge group will not have any spelling homework all week long! Students who receive 1 or more wrong will be in the normal spelling group, and the test will be on Friday, December 16^th. Remember, all final spelling tests must be done in cursive!

Social Studies:
Our Chapter 6 textbook test on the Southeast will be on Wednesday, December 14^th.

Science:
We will begin Chapter 4 on the body systems.

Math:
The Chapter 7 test will be on Tuesday, December 13^th.

12/5/11 - 12/9/11

2011-12-01T08:14:00.002-06:00

Bowling:
4th graders will be going bowling on Friday, December 9th in the afternoon. Students will be eating lunch here at school. If students would like, they can bring extra money for snacks. Students are also allowed to bring their own bowling ball and shoes. For more information on the bowling trip, please visit Mrs. Cushing's BLOG.

Winter Movie:
We will be watching a winter movie in class during the afternoon of December 16^th. If any parents would be willing to send in bags of popped popcorn (not microwave popcorn), paper bowls, or water bottles, that would be fantastic. Please email me if you're interested in doing this for our class.

Reading:
Our reading strategies for this week are questioning, categorizing and classifying. Recognizing the question a story may raise is a good way to make sure you understand it. Also, as people read they wonder about the things they are reading, and they form questions in their mind. Good readers usually do this without thinking. The students will practice the questioning strategy this week. Classifying involves grouping like items, and categorizing involves naming the group. Grouping the items makes it easier to remember them. Students will also classify and categorize information in the stories they read this week.

English:
We will continue moving through Unit 5 on capitalization and punctuation.

Spelling:
We will have a spelling pretest on Monday, December 5^th and a final test on Friday, December 9^th. Remember, all final spelling tests must be done in cursive!

Social Studies:
We will continue with Chapter 6 on the Southeast region. Our Southeast states and capitals quiz will be on Wednesday, December 7^th. The Chapter 6 book test will be during the week of December 12^th.

Science:
The Chapter 3 science test will be on Wednesday, December 7^th.

Math:
We will move through Chapter 7 on collecting and organizing data. This week we will cover Lessons 7.1-7.4.

11/21/11 - 12/2/11

2011-11-18T08:10:00.002-06:00

Reading:
Over the next couple of weeks we will be reviewing the skills that we have gone over since the beginning of the year. The students will also work on summarizing and making generalizations. In writing summaries, the students will learn to pick out the main points or events of a story or passage and concisely put them in their own words. In making generalizations, the students will learn generalizations are broad statements that are true most of the time. They are based on fact or good reasons and may include words like always or most.

English:
We will continue moving through Unit 5 on capitalization and punctuation.

Spelling:
We will not have spelling during the week of November 21^st. We will have a spelling pretest on Monday, November 28^th and a final test on Thursday, December 1^st. Beginning this week, all final spelling tests must be done in cursive!

Social Studies:
We will continue with Chapter 6 on the Southeast region. It looks as though our Southeast states and capitals quiz will be during the week of December 5^th. It will be a very similar format to the Northeast states and capitals quiz.

Science:
We will wrap up Chapter 3. The Chapter 3 test will be during the week of December 5^th.

Math:
The concept of elapsed time (Lesson 6.2) can be a very difficult concept for some students to understand. We will be working diligently here in school, but if possible, please review this concept with your children at home. There will be a Chapter 6 test on Thursday, December 1^st.

11/14/11 - 11/18/11

2011-11-10T07:36:00.003-06:00

Reading:
This week, we will once again focus on the reading strategy of making inferences. Authors do not always tell the reader everything. They may give clues instead. The reader must use the clues and their own knowledge to make inferences about people and events.

English:
We will begin Unit 5 on capitalization and punctuation.

Spelling:
The spelling pretest will be on Monday, November 14^th, and the final test will be on Friday, November 18^th.

Social Studies:
We will wrap up Chapter 5 on the people of the Northeast before moving into Chapter 6 on the Southeast region.

Science:
As we move through Chapter 3, we will wrap up Lesson 1 and begin Lesson 2.

Math:
Our Chapter 5 test will be on Tuesday, November 15^th. Then we'll move into Chapter 6 on time and temperature.

11/7/11 - 11/11/11

2011-11-04T07:25:00.003-05:00

No School November 11^th – Veteran's Day

Congratulations to my homeroom students for collecting more box tops than any other 4^th grade class! For this, we will be rewarded with a pizza lunch party on Thursday, November 10^th.

Reading:
This week, we will focus on the reading comprehension skill known as sequence of events. Recognizing the order of events in a story makes it easier to understand the story. Clue words such as first, later, then, and finally signal sequence.

English:
The Unit 3 verb test will be on Wednesday, November 9^th.

Spelling:
The spelling pretest will be on Monday, November 7^th, and the final test will be on Thursday, November 10^th.

Social Studies:
We will begin Chapter 5 on the people of the Northeast region. There will not be a test over Chapter 5, as we will only cover the first lesson. However, there will be an alternative assessment in which students will be asked to recreate a Narragansett village.

Science:
There will be a test over Chapter 1, Lesson 3 and Chapter 2, Lessons 2 and 3 on Monday, November 7^th. Then we'll move into Chapter 3.

Math:
We will move through Chapter 5, covering Lessons 5.3 through 5.7 this week. Additionally, please consider the fun websites below to help your child practice his/her math facts.

http://oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/mathmagician/cathymath.html
(Great for practicing addition and subtraction, too!)

http://www.multiplication.com/
(Click the “Games” section)

10/31/11 - 11/4/11

2011-10-28T07:38:00.003-05:00

Picture retakes will be on November 3^rd.

Reading:
Mysteries will be the focus in reading for all fourth grade students next week. We will begin by learning vocabulary words that are typically associated with mysteries, such as “suspect”, “evidence” and “suspense”. All students will read & study “The Case of the Purloined Pachyderm”. While reading this mystery and other mystery stories, students will be studying the format of a mystery and using the reading strategies of monitoring and clarifying.

English:
We will wrap up Unit 3 on verbs. Our Unit 3 verb test will be sometime during the week of November 7^th.

Spelling:
This will be a normal spelling week with a pretest on Monday, October 31^st and the final test on Friday, November 4^th.

Social Studies:
Our Chapter 4 test on the Northeast will be on Friday, November 4^th.

Science:
There will be a test over Chapter 1, Lesson 3 and Chapter 2, Lessons 2 and 3 on Monday, November 7^th.

Math:
The Chapter 4 test will be on Wednesday, November 2^nd. Please consider the fun websites below to help your child practice his/her math facts.

http://oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/mathmagician/cathymath.html
(Great for practicing addition and subtraction, too!)

http://www.multiplication.com/
(Click the “Games” section)

10/24/11 - 10/28/11

2011-10-21T07:16:00.002-05:00

The Halloween party will be on Friday, October 28^th. The parade will begin at 1:00pm, and the party will begin at 1:30pm. The students must be able to put on their Halloween costume in 5-10 minutes, by themselves. They will not be allowed to go to the bathroom to change clothes, put on makeup, fix hair, etc.

Picture retakes will be on November 3^rd.

Reading:
This week, we will read the story of The Parcel Post Kid, by Michael O. Tunnel. This piece is a nonfiction story set in 1914, which tells the tale of a young girl whose parents mail her to her grandmother because it is cheaper than paying her train fare. While reading the story, students will be reviewing the strategies and skills that we have studied so far this year, with particular emphasis on predicting and making inferences.

English:
We will continue moving forward in Unit 3 on verbs. Additionally, we will use some of our English time to work on fun Halloween activities.

Spelling:
Our spelling pretest will be on Monday, October 24^th. The final test will be on Friday, October 28^th. Because this is a review week, we will do things a little bit differently. Our pretest will consist of 30 words. Only students who get 100% on the pretest will be in the challenge group this week. Everyone else will be in the regular group. The test on Friday will consist of 20 words (of my choosing) from the 30 word list that will be handed out on Monday.

Social Studies:
Our states and capitals quiz is on Tuesday, October 25^th. Students will have to correctly identify and spell each state in the Northeast region. Capitals, if identified and spelled correctly, are extra credit.

Science:
We will finish working with Chapter 2, Lesson 2 of the text on life cycles of plants. Then we will move into Chapter 2, Lesson 3 on the life cycles of animals.

Math:
This week we will move through Lessons 4.6, 4.7, and 4.8. Parents, please make sure your children are practicing their multiplication and division facts. If flash cards aren't keeping their interest, try these fun websites:
http://oswego.org/ocsd-web/games/mathmagician/cathymath.html
(Great for practicing addition and subtraction, too!)

http://www.multiplication.com/
(Click the “Games” section)

10/17/11 - 10/21/11

2011-10-14T07:38:00.003-05:00

Reading:
In reading this week, the students will focus on noting details in a story. They will learn that details may give information, explain ideas, and reveal characters' feelings. They will also work on the question comprehension strategy. Good readers ask themselves questions about important ideas as they read. The students will practice asking questions about the text that can be answered as they read the text and finish the story.

English:
We will continue moving forward in Unit 3 on verbs.

Spelling:
Our spelling pretest will be on Monday, October 17^th. The final test will be on Friday, October 21^st.

Social Studies:
We will start to wrap up Chapter 4, Lesson 2 and begin working on Chapter 4, Lesson 3. Our Northeast region states and capitals quiz will most likely be during the week of October 24^th.

Science: We will begin working with Chapter 2, Lesson 2 of the text on life cycles of plants.

Math:
This week we will cover the first five lessons in Chapter 4 on multiplication and division. Parents, you can help your children by breaking out those flash cards! The more multiplication and division facts that get memorized, the easier the students will find math.

10/10/11 - 10/14/11

2011-10-07T07:25:00.002-05:00

I am looking for a parent volunteer to send in 2 aluminum pie plates and a packet of radish seeds for a science experiment we will be conducting. If you can send in these items, please email me. Thanks!

Reading:
We will continue focusing on the reading strategy of text organization. Many non-fiction authors organize their selections in time order. They also use features such as headings, pictures, captions, and charts to help the reader better understand the information.

English:
We will continue moving forward in Unit 3 on verbs.

Spelling:
Due to the short week, we will not have spelling.

Social Studies:
We will continue moving forward in Chapter 4 on the Northeast region of the United States.

Science:
We will continue working with Chapter 1, Lesson 3 on the classifications of animals.

Math:
On Friday, October 14^th, we will have a Chapter 3 test. This test will cover lessons 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, and 3.5.

10/3/11 - 10/7/11

2011-09-30T07:23:00.002-05:00

Reading:
The reading strategy that we will focus on is text organization. Many non-fiction authors organize their selections in time order. They also use features such as headings, pictures, captions, and charts to help the reader better understand the information.

English:
We will continue moving forward in Unit 3 on verbs.

Spelling:
Our spelling pretest will be on Monday, October 3^rd. The final test will be on Friday, October 7^th.

Social Studies:
We will begin Chapter 4 on the Northeast region of the United States. Towards the end of this chapter, there will be a Northeast map quiz. The students will be given a blank map of the Northeast, identical to the one they will be given on Tuesday, October 4th. They will have to correctly identify and spell each state in the Northeast. Additionally, they will receive ¼ of a point of extra credit for every state capital they can correctly identify and spell. This quiz isn't for awhile, but students should start preparing now!

Science:
We will continue working with Chapter 1, Lesson 3 on the classifications of animals.

Math:
The following information is for parents who have children who come to my room for math class. The Chapter 2 math test will be on Wednesday, October 5^th. Then we'll move into Chapter 3.

9/26/11 - 9/30/11

2011-09-23T07:25:00.004-05:00

Thanks to all the parents who volunteered to help out with our classroom holiday parties. We're all set with volunteers!

The Halloween party has once again been moved. Our classroom Halloween party will now be on Friday, October 28^th.

At curriculum night, I told all of you we weren't allowed to hand back any tests. I'm happy to announce this policy has just recently changed. Starting now, I will be handing back tests the students take. You are welcome to keep these tests.

Friday, September 30^th is an early (11:00am) dismissal day.

Reading:
This week, we will focus on the reading strategy to determine author's viewpoint. Author's viewpoint refers to the author's opinion, ideas of what is important or attitude.
The author might give their opinion directly or you might have to infer the information by reading clues or other information that the author provides. Here is a great link to practice author’s viewpoint:
http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/o/authorsviewpointp.cfm.
The vocabulary for the week is: bewildered, surrounded, reminded, longed, homeland, and marveled. Your child can practice these
words at: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/ewordgame/index.html?grade=4&theme= 1&selection=2. We will also work on the skill of putting words in alphabetical order.

English:
We will begin Unit 3 on verbs.

Spelling:
Our spelling pretest will be on Monday, September 26^th. The final test will be on Friday, September 30^th.

Social Studies:
We will be in the computer lab working on a project that will introduce students to the regions of the United States.

Science:
Worms will go home with the students on Friday, September 23^rd. The students must bring back a worm, their completed race track, and their written work track design pink worksheet on Wednesday, September 28^th. This is the day of our worm race. Late work will not be accepted.

Math:
The following information is for parents who have children who come to my room for math class. We will continue working in Chapter 2, spending time in Lessons 2.5, 2.6, and reviewing the entire chapter. The Chapter 2 test will be during the week of October 3^rd.

9/19/11 - 9/23/11

2011-09-16T07:37:00.002-05:00

Thanks so much to Mrs. Nicholson for volunteering to coordinate our classroom parties! We're still in need of a parent volunteer to come to school to supervise games and activities on Monday, October 31^st for our Halloween party. Additionally, we're in need of 2 parent volunteers to come to school to supervise games and activities on Tuesday, February 14^th for our Valentine's Day party. If you are interested, please email me. Thanks!

Reading:
This week, we will continue to focus on story structure. The children will also explore character and setting in depth. When your child is reading at home, you can practice and review story structure by asking them to identify characters, setting, and plot (which includes the problem, sequenced events, and the solution).

English:
Our Unit 2 noun test will be on Wednesday, September 21^st.

Spelling:
The students will take a spelling pretest on Monday. If they receive 90% or higher, they will become a "challenge speller". As a "challenge speller", they will choose 10 challenge words to practice throughout the week. Any words they missed on the pretest will be included in those 10 words. During the week, they will be doing activities using their new challenge words. They will not be tested on these challenge spelling words, but this gives the children the opportunity to learn and use 8-10 new words. On Friday, they have the choice of keeping their pretest score or retaking the spelling test for a higher grade. Both challenge and regular spellers will have homework nightly, and the regular spelling test will be on Friday, September 23^rd.

Social Studies:
Our Chapter 2, Lessons 2-3 test will be on Thursday, September 22^nd. Chapter 2, Lesson 1 will NOT be covered on the test.

Science:
On Monday, September 19^th, each student will need to bring in a worm and a worm habitat. We have discussed in class how best to do this. Make sure the habitat container is deep enough to allow the worm to burrow into the soil, but not too deep as it will be difficult to locate the worm each day for our science experiments. A 2-3 inch deep Tupperware or Cool Whip container should do, and please poke small air holes in the cover of the container. All that needs to be inside is some damp soil and a worm or two of medium size. Tiny worms will be very difficult for the students to work with. If your child happens to find a few worms, please have them bring in extras. These will be used for any students who have difficulty finding worms. This unit will allow the children to learn more about and go through the steps of the scientific method. We will ask questions, make our hypothesis, form a plan, test our hypothesis, collect data, and draw conclusions based on our results. The children will also learn about variables and the need to control variables during this study. The unit will culminate with students building their very own worm race track at home, and we'll race the worms in class on Wednesday, September 28^th. Additional race track rules and information will be handed out on Thursday, September 22^nd.

Math:
The following information is for parents who have children who come to my room for math class. This week we will begin working with Chapter 2 on adding and subtracting whole numbers. One of the more difficult concepts in this upcoming chapter is the idea of rounding whole numbers to specific places. For example, 7,429 rounded to the nearest hundred is 7,400 and rounded to the nearest ten is 7,430. Many students will need to put in extra study time at home to master this concept.

9/12/11 - 9/16/11

2011-09-09T07:20:00.002-05:00

Thank you to all the parents who came to curriculum night. It was great to see you!

Reading:
This week, we will focus on story structure. We will use a story map to look at how a problem and its solution affect the story’s plot and characters. When your child is reading at home, you can practice and review story structure by asking them to identify characters, setting, and plot (which includes the problem, sequenced events, and the solution).

English:
We will be wrapping up Unit 2 on nouns. As of now, it looks as though our Unit 2 test will be on Wednesday, September 21^st.

Social Studies:
We will continue moving through Chapter 2, Lessons 2 and 3 in the textbook. We will have a test over this material sometime during the week of September 19^th. Chapter 2, Lesson 1 will NOT be covered on the test.

Science:
Next week, we will begin a worm study. On Monday, September 19^th, each student will need to bring in a worm and a worm habitat. We have discussed in class how best to do this. Make sure the habitat container is deep enough to allow the worm to burrow into the soil, but not too deep as it will be difficult to locate the worm each day for our science experiments. A 2-3 inch deep Tupperware or Cool Whip container should do, and please poke small air holes in the cover of the container. All that needs to be inside is some damp soil and a worm or two of medium size. Tiny worms will be very difficult for the students to work with. If your child happens to find a few worms, please have them bring in extras. These will be used for any students who have difficulty finding worms. This unit will allow the children to learn more about and go through the steps of the scientific method. We will ask questions, make our hypothesis, form a plan, test our hypothesis, collect data, and draw conclusions based on our results. The children will also learn about variables and the need to control variables during this study. The unit will culminate with students building their very own worm race track at home, and we'll race the worms in class during the week of September 26^th.

Math:
The following information is for parents who have children who come to my room for math class. This week we will work with Lessons 1.5 and 1.6, as well as review the entire chapter. The Chapter 1 test will be on Friday, September 16^th.

9/5/11 - 9/9/11

2011-09-02T07:11:00.002-05:00

Volunteer Needed: I am looking for a classroom party coordinator. Typically, one parent will coordinate both the Halloween and Valentine's Day parties. They'll need to contact other parent volunteers to coordinate specific treats and drinks as well as plan games and activities for the students to do during these parties. Please email me if you are interested in this fun and rewarding job! Thanks!

Please don't forget about curriculum night. I look forward to seeing all the parents at Prairieview on Tuesday, September 6^th.

Reading:
This week in reading the students will learn to use skimming and scanning skills to locate answers. During science, social studies, and reading the students will be given tasks where they have to locate answers in the text. They will practice highlighting key words in questions or clues and then skim the headlines, subtitles, captions, and passages to help them find the answers to those questions.

English:
As a reminder, students who have shown mastery of a particular English lesson on the pretest will be doing enrichment work in class during that particular lesson. As we move through Unit 2 of the English text, we will learn all about nouns.

Spelling:
The students will take a spelling pretest on Tuesday. If they receive 90% or higher, they will become a "challenge speller". As a "challenge speller", they will choose 10 challenge words to practice throughout the week. Any words they missed on the pretest will be included in those 10 words. During the week, they will be doing activities using their new challenge words. They will not be tested on these challenge spelling words, but this gives the children the opportunity to learn and use 8-10 new words. On Friday, they have the choice of keeping their pretest score or retaking the spelling test for a higher grade. Both challenge and regular spellers will have homework nightly, and the regular spelling test will be on Friday, September 9^th.

Social Studies:
We will begin the year by studying government. This week each student will begin working on a Patriotic Quest.

Science:
We will continue learning about scientific tools and the scientific method.

Math: The following information is for parents who have children who come to my room for math class. We will begin the year with Chapter 1 on place value. This chapter is essential in creating a number concept foundation that will carry us through the year. There will be nightly homework assignments. Please help me help your child by making sure he/she is staying on top of his/her homework. Our main focus this week will be on comparing whole numbers.

8/29/11 - 9/2/11

2011-08-26T07:21:00.002-05:00

Our first week was excellent! During our second week, we will begin a lot of our core classes. Parents, please make sure to check and sign your child's assignment notebook every night.

Please don't forget about curriculum night. I look forward to seeing all the parents at Prairieview on Tuesday, September 6^th.

Reading:
This week in reading the students will review and practice their reading strategies as they read the story The Pumpkin Runner by Marsha Diane Arnold. The reading strategies that we will focus on are: preview/infer, phonics/decoding, question, monitor/clarify, summarize, and evaluate.

English:
We will take our first English pretest on Monday. If your child has passed out of any of the lessons, they will be doing enrichment work. Students will need to choose what enrichment project they would like to complete during this unit. This project will be done in school. I will carefully explain this procedure to the students on Tuesday. On Wednesday, I will meet with each child to discuss their enrichment contract choice. We will begin our study of nouns on Thursday. Our lessons will include: what is a noun, common and proper nouns, singular and plural nouns, and nouns ending in y.

Spelling:
The students will take their first spelling pretest on Monday. If they receive 90% or higher, they will become a "challenge speller". As a "challenge speller", they will choose 10 challenge words to practice throughout the week. Any words they missed on the pretest will be included in those 10 words. During the week, they will be doing activities using their new challenge words. They will not be tested on these challenge spelling words, but this gives the children the opportunity to learn and use 8-10 new words. On Friday, they have the choice of keeping their pretest score or retaking the spelling test for a higher grade.

Social Studies:
We will begin the year by studying government. This week each student will begin working on a Patriotic Quest.

Science:
We will spend the week in an introductory science unit learning about science tools and safety.

Math:
The following information is for parents who have children who come to my room for math class. We will begin the year with Chapter 1 on place value. This chapter is essential in creating a number concept foundation that will carry us through the year. There will be nightly homework assignments. Please help me help your child by making sure he/she is staying on top of his/her homework.

August 22nd – 26th

2011-08-19T17:19:00.001-05:00

WELCOME BACK!

It’s going to be a great year!

I look forward to meeting each of you at the open house. Please come by between 9am and 11am on Wednesday, August 24th to check out your new classroom and your new teacher. Please bring all classroom supplies with you at this time. All of your supplies should be labeled with your name. Each student will find a checklist on his or her desk that contains a list of things to accomplish during the open house.

Thursday, August 25th is our first full day of school!