The Weekly Update #6

Dear Families,

Thank you to all of you for your support of your child in his/her education with homework. The kids are off to a great start! I loved seeing their reading logs and their hard work in their reading packets and math practice.

Homework:

Reading: Packets are given every Friday and due the following Friday.

Independent Reading: Students should read at least 10-20 minutes an evening or 60 minutes a week. The kids have selected books from the library. Reading together or having your child read aloud to you is still a really great practice in 4th grade. Student reading logs are due every Friday.

Math: Math practice is typically given 3-4 times a week, and is due the next day. If a student is late or forgets the homework, please encourage him/her to turn it in. I DO accept late work.

A HUGE THANK YOU to our PTO! On October 22nd students will get to view live animals and learn about their adaptations and habitats. Even though PTO has paid for the program parents MUST still give permission on My School Bucks to participate. So please click on the provided link to sign your child up for this great program: Nature Educators Animal Program

Here is a brief look at our learning targets and what we did this past week:

Learning Targets:

I can read fluently and comprehend nonfiction texts.

I can sequence a story and understand sequence nonfiction text structures.

I can understand text features of nonfiction and a story.

I can write a summary of a text and apply sequencing skills.

I can write in complete sentences consistently.

I can accurately add, subtract, multiply, and apply place value.

I can learn and understand how we use longitude and latitude.

I can learn and understand about our changing Earth and how humans respond to it.

I can learn and understand about plate tectonics and its effect on Earth.

Social Skills: Students learned about perseverance and the importance of hard work and effort.

We also discussed kindness, understanding that different people may need different things, and that an attitude of gratitude strengthens our feelings of joy and happiness.

Reading: We started leveled novel groups. We are reading: Poppy, Mercy Watson, The Giraffe, Pelly and Me, and The Fantastic Mr. Fox. All of these stories have a food web element to them and literary elements. Students will be working on building knowledge of literary elements, vocabulary, and comprehension skills. I started reading The Tale of Despereaux to the kids as a model for recognizing literary elements, building comprehension skills, and understanding thematic elements.

We also continued to focus on sequencing skills. We practiced these strategies with nonfiction and fiction texts.

Writing: We continued to learn about written responses to questions and how to construct sentences. We focused on understanding subjects and predicates. We will work on this for a few weeks.

We are working on applying our sequencing skills to writing a summary. The kids have made good improvements. We will continue with this next week.

Math: Students worked on addition and subtraction skills. This week we worked on estimation, using the opposite operation to check our work, and word problems. We hope to test on this chapter next week.

Here are some ways you can help your child in math at home:

1. Have your child practice multiplication facts.

2. Encourage consistent homework completion.

Social Studies: Students have been reading about various points of interest in Colorado. They have selected a few places that they would like to visit. Students have begun work on creating a brochure about these fun places.

Science: Students learned more about plate tectonics. We also learned about the layers of the Earth this week. The kids were very interested in learning about these concepts. Next week we will learn more about all of these ideas and how they relate to volcanoes.

I hope you all have a great weekend.

Don't forget that there is no school for students on Monday, September 21st.

Best wishes,

Hope Crawley

Reminders:

September 21 - Professional Development Day/ No School

September 23 - SAC Meeting

September 25 - Multicultural Night

September 28 - October 02 - Book Fair

October 02 - Popcorn Friday

October 05-09 - Parent Teacher Conferences

October 12-16: Fall Break