Dear 4B Families,
Happy October everyone! I love this time of year, and the students will be busy with some fun projects, especially the saint report and Mass preparations. The bulk of the report will be created at school, but I will be asking for parent assistance with some preparation homework this week. Please read below.
Religion/Language Arts: We are beginning our study of saints in preparation for the All Saint’s Day Mass, which
will be held on Wednesday, November 1st. This Monday each student will be assigned the saint he or she will write his or her report on as well as portray at the Mass. All of the work for this report will take place at school except for one homework assignment that is due Thursday, September 29th. With the saint information that will be distributed, each student will create a sequenced list of important events in the saint’s life. Specific directions will come home with your child on Monday as well. (It will also be available on our website in the Saint Report tab at the top of the page). Monday night homework should only focus on reading the information and helping your child with new vocabulary. You may also choose to explore online sites for additional information. Tuesday and Wednesday nights should be dedicated to highlighting and compiling their list of facts. There will be no math homework on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday so that the students (and parents) will have enough time to dedicate to this project. Our writing lessons will be integrated with this project as the students learn to pick out relevant information, summarize and organize facts into a mini report. Please do not write a report at home, just a numbered/sequenced list of important events in the Saint’s life. This list should be in the student’s own words. Your assistance in making sure your child can understand the information they read, and in developing lists of relevant and clear facts, are the areas you will help with. Our website has links to some sites that may be helpful. Be sure this assignment is completed and returned on Thursday the 5th, as we will begin working on the project in class that day. Thank You! The material should be read over at least 3 times so that the students are very familiar with their saint. This is a good opportunity to do some oral reading with your child. As you are learning about your child’s saint, you can be thinking about costume ideas for the All Saints Day Mass.
Remember to also keep practicing the Prayer of St. Francis. Please let me know if you have any questions.
MAP Testing: This year Holy Rosary has embraced a new standardized testing system chosen by the Archdiocese of Seattle called MAP: Measures of Academic Progress. Students will take an online assessment for Language Arts, Reading, and Math 3 times this year, once each trimester, so that we can track and assess how to best support each student’s growth in fourth grade. We are excited to see what data this assessment will provide and explore how to apply it to our teaching. Below you will an online link you can explore to better understand the MAPS test. If you have further questions do not hesitate to contact me. The testing window is from September 25 – October 20. We took the first test in reading last week. This week we will take the math test, and next week the language arts test. https://www.nwea.org/parent-toolkit/.
Spelling: Spelling lists were passed out last Friday. The test will be on Thursday this week due to the in-service day for teachers on Friday. I will give extra time in class to practice/complete activities related to the spelling words in class during the week.
Reading: We continue our journey in Charlotte’s Web. Our target skills while reading include vocabulary acqusition, charater traits, themes, and oral reading fluency (expression, pacing and volume). We will also continue our work with figurative language and poetic devices which are abundant in this novel.
Science – This week the students will test the anemometers that they built last week. Students will count how many times the anemometers revolve in front of a fan. They will compare and average their counts at different fan speeds to calculate the speed of the wind generated by the fans. Their homework given on Monday will be a reflection on how they used the Engineering Design Process through this project. We will also look in more detail on what machines do and how they help us do work.
Social Studies: We have been learning about latitude and longitude in Social Studies. This week the students will apply some of this knowledge as they locate places using latitude/longitude coordinates, as well as read different types of maps including precipitation, population and elevation. The students all received a study sheet for the West/SW state map test last week. This test will take place on October 12th. Students will need to know both the locations and abbreviations, as well has several other natural features.
Math: We will be moving into our second chapter on adding and subtracting large whole numbers. Your assistance in checking over homework with your children plays an important part in building math skills. Students should make corrections with your guidance. For more challenging tasks, students should just do one or two problems and have them checked, rather than completing a whole page incorrectly. It is important that students are accurate and fluent with the less complex skills of addition and subtraction so that when we move into multiplciation and division of large numbers they have good habits and solid skills in place. We will work through some addition/subtraction fact work in class, with a focus on accuracy. It is assumed 4th grade students are able to add and subtract basic facts from memory. If I find individual students are struggling with accurate and efficient recall of facts I will contact you with options to support this skill at home. Our fact practice priority in 4th grade will be on multiplication and division. Thank you for your assistance and support at home. Corrected chapter one math tests were passed out last week be sure to look for them in your child’s filer.
It is that time again for each student to bring in their monthly $1.00 to support our Ugandan students in their 
schooling. Students are asked to bring in one dollar during the first week of each month. Thank you for your generosity of these very deserving students.
Magazine Sale: The 4th graders came in first place again last week! Thank you all for your amazing support. LAST DAY TO SELL MAGAZINES, TO BE COUNTED TOWARD PRIZES, IS OCTOBER 6TH!
Remember, there is no school this Friday, October 6th due to a teacher inservice day. Be sure to have the Saint Homework completed and sent to school this Thursday.
Enjoy the first week of October everyone!