Newsletter September 18

September 18, 2018

Dear 4B Families, 

Happy Monday everyone! I hope you all enjoyed West Fest this past weekend. It was great seeing you Friday night!

Lunch time help: I am still in need of parent volunteers during the kids’ lunchtime on Thursdays from 12:20-12:45 so that I can attend a meeting. If you are available please email me.

Social Studies: Last week the students received study sheets for a continent and ocean test that will take place this Thursday the 21st.  We will continue to review in class, but hopefully your child has asked you to quiz them as well. The test will have a word bank of the continents and oceans. Students need to know the locations. The 4A website has links to review the continents as well. Look under the “Map Study Sheets” section on the right-hand links column. The students are also memorizing the Continent poem which is in each filer and available as a PDF in the tabs at the top of the 4B website. I will give practice time in class for this, but the memorization should be practiced at home. Students will be presenting the poems next Thursday, in class as well. We will be focusing on the concept of latitude and longitude as we gain skills reading maps using coordinates

Science: This week we are beginning our first EIE kit, Catching the Wind. Throughout this unit students will identify the role of a mechanical engineer and complete real world tasks. They will be able to identify the different uses of windmills and wind turbines. We will also understand that wind energy can be harnessed to do useful work.

Religion: This week we will delve into our new religion textbooks. We will work on some opening lessons that will highlight our religion topics for this year. These are a great preview for the rest of the year. One lesson will focus on the different parts of the bible. We will also get some practice using our newly blessed Bibles to look up Gospel readings.

Reading: This week we will continue our tall tale, Stormalong. Students will learn to infer, predict, and understand point of view and character development. We will also identify and interpret figurative language examples of hyperbole, personification, simile, and metaphor.

Spelling: Our spelling words this week look at homophones. It is very important that students pay attention to the different meanings of the words because they will sound the same even though they will be spelled differently.

Math: The students have all been signed up for Mathletics. We completed our first two lessons in the technology lab on Friday. If your child did not finish their lesson in the lab they must finish it at home before Friday. Students must pass with an 80% or higher, if not they need to redo the lesson until they only get two or less problems wrong. Your children also have their user names and passwords glued into their assignment notebooks so they can access the site at home. This site is an outstanding resource and compliment to our math program. We will use the site regularly at school and students will occasionally have homework assigned from the site as well.

Our math lessons this week will focus on place value, ordering, and comparing numbers. We will also be reviewing multiplication facts most days. Quick recall of multiplication and division facts is an important and expected skill in 4th grade. We will move sequentially through the facts (2’s, 3’s, 4’s, etc.) with daily practice.

Don’t forget–-PICTURE DAY is next Tuesday the 19th. Order forms were sent home last week. More are available in the office if you need them. Students may wear uniforms or free dress for picture day.

Thank you for your support of the magazine sale. This is an important fundraiser for our school.

Online Recorder Order Form: It is time to order recorders for music class. Parents can choose to use a recycled recorder or order a new one. A NEW recorder and/or instruction booklet are $6 each.  New recorders must be ordered online by Friday September 29. Your FACTS account will be billed for any recorder charges. Please use the attached link to submit your orders online.

Go 4th Grade!

Have a wonderful week!