09-22-17

We are so grateful for air conditioning this week!  Recesses are hot, but the room is just right, and we managed to survive! 🙂

This week we took the second of our beginning of the year assessments, called the i-Ready test.  The tests adapt to the child as they are taking them, and give easier or harder questions as they students go along.  These assessments, along with a few others, are used to decide what needs to be taught, to whom, how, and when.  They are invaluable to us educators, even though they seem endless to students.  I am currently sitting with each child and listening to them read, and asking them questions to find what books would be their “just right” level, and if they made gains or slid over the summer.  I will have information about your child at the conferences in October.

In reading this week we looked at what envisioning while reading looks like in fourth grade and all the parts there are to doing that skill.  We also talked about growing ideas about the characters by looking for patterns then analyzing why they might act like this.

In writing we created a story arc to help plan out our realistic fiction stories into six separate scenes.  We then began writing scene one where we introduce the character and the setting. We learned that there are 4 types of sentences (Scene description, Action, Inner thought, and Dialogue) and that our paragraphs need to have some of each.  We will continue writing our stories scene by scene next week.

In math we began a new unit on adding and subtracting larger numbers.  We started by trying to do it mentally through some different techniques, then we estimated what the answer would be, and then started using the algorithm.  The toughest part can be lining up the numbers and remembering to add in what we carry to the next column.

In science this week we compared the sun, moon, and earth.  Then we created a moon phase flip book.  Finally we recreated the phases of the moon using Oreo cookies.  (Thank you for the donations!)

Important Dates

Tuesday, September 26 – Picture retakes

Thursday, September 28 – Planetarium Field Trip and Student Council posters due

Friday, September 29 – Student Council Speeches given

Wednesday and Thursday, October 11 and 12 – Parent Teacher Conferences

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