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 and decade, 2020! I had a wonderful time visiting family and friends in Chicago and Milwaukee!
On Monday we will take time to share some favorite holiday events and we will review our classroom and school procedures and rules. Reviewing routines and procedures will help us start the year off right.
Religion: The Corporal Works of Mercy is our religion focus. The students will be working in groups to produce a poster that describes and illustrates one the the Seven Corporal Works of Mercy. All students have already been tested on their memorization, and they did a wonderful job!
Reading/Language Arts: Be sure to check your child’s filer this week for corrected Charlotte’s Web final tests that were 
taken before the break. Grade sheets for the Quote Posters will also be in your child’s filer. 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! Our language arts activities will focus on reviewing the parts of speech: nouns (+ pronouns), verbs, adjectives, and adverbs. This will be an ongoing review all month.
Our Spelling words this week are the months and days, which are all proper nouns, so they need to be capitalized! Students will be memorizing the Month Poem. Students should memorize the poem by Friday, January 17th.
Habits of Mind: This week, we will be focusing on the habit of Managing Impulsivity. This habit includes the following: taking time to consider options; thinking before speaking or acting; remaining calm when stressed or challenged; being thoughtful and considerate of others; proceeding carefully. This is a fancy way of working on self-control, and it is a great time to revisit some classroom expectations as we begin a new year!
Math: Chapter 5 will focus on accurately finding products of multi-digit numbers. Thank you for carefully checking over math homework for accuracy and having students correct any errors. Look for math homework Monday though Thursday this week. Starting next week, we will begin flexible groupings for math. Stay tuned for more information!
Social Studies: This week the students will be introduced to 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 16th.
Science: Before the break, students designed and tested sails. They made predictions about which properties would help the sails sail the farthest. Emme in 4A created a successful sail that was a triangle shape and made out of aluminum foil. It sailed six feet with just two gusts of wind! In 4B, Emalyn and George’s sails traveled 54 inches! George’s sail was a rectangle made out of tissue paper, and Emalyn’s was a triangle made out of foam. This week, we will begin our final lessons on building wind mills!
Catholic Schools Week this year is from January 26th to February 1st. On Tuesday, January 28th, 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 probably seen certificates hanging 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 Friday, January 10th, and please consider helping out on this special service project. We really need you! Thank you so much.
Have a great week!
Ms. Benson