This week, we will continue on with procedural learning and practicing how to be a 4th grader in Mrs. Grewell's class. Along with that, we will dive into our academics.
Math: Place value to the billions place. Kids will write numbers in standard, expanded, and written form. They will also be able to identify the place value of a given digit along with its value/worth. We may make it to rounding…we will see how it goes. :0)
Lead 21/Reading: We will begin Unit 1 in the theme reader. Students will learn all about cultures and heritages. We will work on a variety of reading strategies such as visualization, compare and contrast, predicting, summarizing, and others. We will also do our first reading comprehension sheet with a RACE response question on the back. RACE is a format of paragraph writing. It stands for Rewrite the question, Answer the question, Cite evidence to support the answer, and Expand by using an example. We will do the first two or three of these together. Then they will become independent seat work.
Spelling: Unit 1. Test will be this Friday. We will do bookwork together all week long. Soon, this will be independent practice. A skill sheet will be sent home this week for homework to practice the words we are learning in class.
Language: We will begin to identify the four types of sentences:
Declarative: General statement or idea.
Imperative: States a specific command or order.
Interrogative: Asks a question
Exclamatory: Shows strong emotion and ends with an exclamation mark.
Students will read sentences and identify the type of sentence it is.
Science: We will begin our weather unit. We will review the water cycle, then go into wind, then into hurricanes, and eventually end up with other storms. All the while, we will be implementing vocabulary, tools, and hands on experiments.
Social Studies: We will begin our mapping skills unit. Students will learn where in the world they are from universe to school locations. They will practice cardinal directions along with latitude and longitude skills (which will also help tremendously when we track hurricanes). We will also practice using a key and a scale.
MT History: We will begin our interactive notebooks. These are just fun, fun, and more fun! This is all hands on learning and all about our wonderful state!
Fly Time: We will continue our journey through the 6 pillars of character. We will take a quick review of the two we learned last week: citizenship and responsibility. We will then move onto caring next. I will be introducing Rusty from schooltoolstv.com as well. Rusty does a one minute show on character each day. This week he is doing the 6 traits. Perfect!!! We will also do a creative craft where kids will make themselves into actual superheroes and write about a time they were proud of themselves!
Last week, we finished up some fun projects in class. Remember when I teased you with those pictures the other day and said hmmm…what could we be up to? Well, here is a picture of our wall displays.
The first one is The Best Part of Me. This was done from a book with the exact same title. Kids picked their favorite part of their bodies and wrote why it was their favorite part. Man these were adorable. They will stay on display thru open house. Please take a better look then.
The second one is their Super I Am poem. Students did a great job on these. I then took their pictures in their favorite superhero pose and then cut them out and attached the picture to their final draft. It was our first time writing in pen, so some don't look quite as good as I imagined, but as they get used to slowing down and really focussing with a pen they will get better and better! These will also be on display thru open house. Enjoy!
Our birthday board is also updated. It was fun to have our first birthday last Friday. I hope she had a wonderful weekend celebrating! She sure did make some cash selling those birthday treats! Yummy brownies!!! Thanks girly girl!
Last week at Fly Time we also studied the trait of citizenship. We can also call this being patriotic. I asked the class if they knew what the word indivisible and allegiance were. No one knew!!! I asked them how they had been saying it from Kindergarten, but never knew what they were saying when they said the pledge every day. So we took apart the pledge using the flip up sheet below. Now, your kiddos should know what those big words mean in 4th grade language. Kids finished up the lesson by writing what it meant to them to be patriotic or a good citizen AT SCHOOL. Many shared that they could really look at the flag when saying the pledge, think of soldiers while saying the pledge, wear red, white, and blue with pride, and to follow rules set by schools and teachers to keep them safe.
This brings me to our dinner discussion table question for tonight. Ask your kiddo what indivisible means. If they tell you: cannot be divided then they are correct! Write the word INDIVISIBLE in the planner for $10 bonus money on Tuesday during check in time.
Once we learned the pledge, we followed up with a story about how our flag came about. We went back all the way to the times of the revolutionary war and traveled through history to now. I am lucky enough to have many of the flags described in the story. So, I had a couple of kiddos hold those up for the class to see when we got to those parts. We even discussed the confederate flag and why our nation split. The class was really interested in this lesson. I have some history buffs in here for sure!
After lunch on Friday we went to library class. Kids had a lesson on internet safety. They also checked out their first books. I do require kids to keep one of their books at school to read when they finish other work or during silent reading time. Many kids wanted to take them home for the long weekend, which I said was fine as long as they promised to bring them back. A test of their responsibility trait! :0) Please help remind them.
We finished the day off with a fun science lab. I wanted to just introduce the scientific method to them. We went all the way through the method when answering the question: Can you tell the difference between Sprite and 7-up? I was surprised how many of them knew right away which one was Sprite. Each student, along with myself on the front board, wrote a science lab report. Again, just a quick and fun way to introduce a concept we will be using all year long!
Next week there a few things that I really need help with. One is tomorrow. Every week, as you know, Tuesday folders are sent home. I am in need of a mom or dad or whomever, to come to school every Tuesday before 3:00 and stuff our folders. It is a quick and easy job, but one I often don't have time in the day to do. If you can do this, starting tomorrow, could you give me a call or throw me a text/email. I would LOVE you forever!!! :0) Second, this Friday is our Family Fun Night/Ice Cream Social. Mr. Pertuit and I volunteered to spearhead this event. We are in need of some strong guys that could help carry inflatables from a trailer to the playground and then unroll them and set them up. This has to happen right after school on Friday so they are ready to go by the 5:30 start time. We also need moms or dads to help man the inflatables. Hour shifts are available. We also need people to pass our pizza and ice cream. Again, shifts are available. So, here is the deal…If you can volunteer for any of these please write YES in the planner. If you can't please write NO in the planner. If you write one of these, your child will earn $50 at check in tomorrow. Please, please, please consider helping. It is going to be so much fun for all families! Thanks!
Lastly, I am in need of a group of moms to do our Saturday Live basket. Out theme is going to be Gift Cards. Students will bring in the cards from all different places, but I need some people to make the basket and design a letter that can go home soon to explain it. Please email or text me if you can do this from home. I will explain it all to you. Thank you!!!!
Well, I think that about sums up our last week and the upcoming one. You have such absolutely amazing kids and I am so lucky to be in their lives! By the way, many of the kids have mentioned soccer and other sports/events coming up. Please send me schedules or dates and I will really try to attend some functions. My kids and I LOVE to do this!!!! Seriously, we LOVE it! I am not just an 8-5 teacher. I love being in kids lives inside the four walls and out. :0)
Have a wonderful Sunday.
Mrs. Grewell (a.k.a. One of the Superhero Teachers! :0))
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