First Newsletter of 2021! Week of January 4th

Dear 4B Families,

Welcome Back!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday and that you are ready to jump into the New Year! I had a wonderful time at home with family.

On Monday we will take time to share some favorite holiday events and we will review our Zoom classroom and school procedures and rules. Reviewing routines and procedures will help us start the year off right. We will also review and possibly revise goals for the trimester that students made after conferences.

Religion: This week the students will begin their study of the Liturgical Year.  The students will learn the seasons of the Church Year and the symbolism of the colors and traditions of the Liturgical Calendar. We will spend a little extra time on Epiphany this week! The students will be filling out study sheets this week they will use to prepare for an upcoming test.  The test will take place on Thursday, January 21st

Reading/Language Arts: If you haven’t already, please check Seesaw for corrected Charlotte’s Web final tests that were taken before the break. We are moving back into our anthology this week as we begin a mini unit on Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement. This unit will lead into our larger biography unit. Stayed tuned for more!

Language Arts: Our language arts activities will focus on the parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs as well as subject/verb agreement. This will be an ongoing review all month that will tie into our writing tasks. We will review cursive forms and do a little New Years writing!

SpellingOur spelling words are the months and days…proper nouns, which means they need to be capitalized! The students will also be expected to memorize the Month Poem no later than January 29th.

Math: We are starting our new year with a new chapter! Chapter 5 will focus on accurately finding products of multi-digit numbers. We are still working on the habits of striving for accuracy and reading problems carefully. Now, more than ever, it is imperative that students continue their practice of multiplication facts. Students who know all facts quickly can focus their energy and attention on the process of multi-digit multiplication, rather than trying to find the products of simple facts. 10-15 minutes of fact practice via Xtra Math, flashcards, or any other practice is strongly encouraged.

Social Studies:This week the students will be moving into our unit on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  We will begin with the Louisiana Purchase and some background information on Lewis, Clark and President Jefferson.  Students should be reviewing for the combination NE/SE/Midwest test on January 12th.

Science: We pushed back our final project so that it wouldn’t be interrupted by Winter Break. So, this week, we will start our Brain Injury Prevention Projects! Students will be working in groups of 3-4 students. This will be a unique challenge on Zoom, but I’m anticipating that the students will embrace it with joy and creativity! The purpose of the project is to create a public service announcement to help children recognize signs of concussions and prevent them.

 

Have a great week!

Ms. Benson