Dear 4A Families,
I hope you all enjoyed the beautiful, sunny weekend. It looks like we may have a couple more nice days ahead this week!
Catholic Schools Week: This year it is from January 27th to February 2nd. On Tuesday the 29th the 4th graders will be delivering certificates of appreciation to many of the local businesses that support our school. This has been a 4th grade tradition for almost 20 years! You have even probably seen past certificates hanging in some of the businesses you visit. We need parent volunteers to drive/chaperone small groups of students as they deliver certificates on this day. Mark your calendars! Permission slips will be coming home with your children on Monday and you can also access PDF’s of the permission slips on the homework page. Please have these turned in by this Thursday the 18th, and please consider helping out on this special service project. We really need you! Thank you so much.
Reading: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement continues to be our focus this week. This unit includes reading, language arts, and social studies objectives. This unit is part of our larger unit on biographies that will culminate in the big Oral Biography Project in late March. This unit ties in nicely with the Common Core Standards of reading informational texts. As we work through this unit the students will:
- Focus on increasing the complexity of the texts students read and discuss, and developing skills in argumentative writing and research.
- Emphasize speaking and listening skills as an avenue to evaluate, integrate and present information from many sources.
- Use technology/multi-media to gather and publish information.
Spelling: The spelling list for Lesson 2 was sent home last Friday and the test will be this Friday the 18th as usual.
Social Studies: The students will be taking the West/SW State map test this Tuesday the 15th. The 50 state test will take place on Thursday, January 24th. I will send home several review sheets for the 50 state test on Tuesday this week. Our journey with Lewis and Clark will lead us through Montana as they make their way to the Rocky Mountains.
Science: This week students will look at how sails capture the wind. We will look at the different properties that will make a good sail and what the best materials might be. Then students will begin constructing their own sails out of different materials.
Religion/L.A.: This Tuesday notes for their Cool School News project are due. We will be writing the article in class. Students only need to come to school with the main information (similar to our saint project). Thank you for assisting with this! The students will be tested on the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy this Friday. They will need to write them from memory. They do not have to be in order, but if they are spelled correctly they will earn bonus points on their spelling test. In class this past Friday,the students presented their Works of Mercy posters. Each group did an amazing job! Our Second Step lesson this week will include a review of the Empathy, Listening with Attention, and Being Assertive lessons from before the break, and the new lesson on Respecting Similarities and Differences. Recognizing people’s feelings is a critical part of empathy. Students may misinterpret how someone else is feeling because they assume they feel the same as them about something. Improving students’ ability to recognize how others’ feelings may be similar or different from their own supports perspective-taking and empathy.
Math: We will be working to wrap up our chapter on multi-digit multiplication. The students are working hard to master the algorithm. When your child works on his or her homework this week it is helpful if they complete one or two problems, then have a parent check them over. If a step is being skipped or done incorrectly completing the whole page incorrectly is not ideal. It is better to catch the error early to improve accuracy. The added support you provide from home as students master these challenging skills (long division is next) is very beneficial! Thank you.
Look for math homework on Tuesday and Wednesday this week. All students should be working on Xtramath regularly until multiplication and division are passed.
Just a reminder that recorder practice is part of homework and can be a nice brain break for students.Ms. Mudge asks that students practice songs that use the notes : B, A, and G. And- they need to remember to bring their instrument to class on Wed & Fri.
I hope you all enjoy the MLK holiday next Monday. Be sure to turn in your permission slips no later than this Friday the 18th.
Have a great week everyone—despite the Viaduct closure.