November 30, 2015

Monday, November 30, 2015

Winter is upon us.  Please make sure that your child has boots, gloves, snow pants, a coat and a hat with them each day.  Here are a few of our classmates enjoying the winter weather we had before Thanksgiving. 

The class will be completing their NWEA mid-year assessments during our testing window from Dec. 2nd to Dec. 16th.  Please try to make sure your child is in school on our selected testing dates; however, if your child is sick or absent they will be allowed to make-up the test during the school day on another day.

NWEA testing dates for our classroom

Friday, December 4th, NWEA Reading test 9:15 - 10:45 a.m.

Wednesday, December 9th, NWEA Math test 9:15 - 10:45 a.m.

Important Dates 

12/2 Scholastic Holiday book orders are due

12/4 NWEA Reading Testing 9:15 - 10:45 a.m.

12/9 NWEA Math Testing 9:15 - 10:45 a.m.

12/11 TBA student-run credit union 

12/17  Santa gift shop and Santa visit

12/22 Holiday Classroom Party and school-wide sing-a-long 

12/23 to 1/3 NO SCHOOL for students

Math

This week we will continue to practice strategies for solving 2-digit by 2-digit and 3-digit by 2-digit multiplication problems.  Students are using area models, break apart method and standard algorithm methods to solve for products.  

Reading

We began a new nonfiction reading unit today.  Students will read nonfiction books for main idea and details, text structures and more.  We are excited to begin a new reading unit.  Students may read either nonfiction or fiction for nightly reading requirements.  It is encouraged they do a bit of both.

Spelling

Due to the short time frame for new spelling words, the students have a shortened list of number words this week.  They will practice these words in class through our spellingcity.com website. We will take an assessment over these words on Thursday, Dec. 3rd.  

twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety, hundred, thousand, million, billion, trillion

Science

We completed our unit over electricity and magnetism last week. Students built closed and parallel circuits.  We tested objects to determine whether they were conductors or insulators.  We added resistors to our circuits.  The students enjoyed all the hands-on experiments and practice.  

Social Studies

This week we will continue to learn about the Northeast region of the United States.  Students will take a train tour through the region stopping at various locations along the way to study each location in more detail.

Have a wonderful week!

Mrs. DePlaunty

November 13, 2015

November 13, 2015

Math: 

We began our new math chapter this week.  Students will begin by learning and applying strategies to solve multiplication problems (2-digit times 1 digit and up to 4-digits times 1 digit with and without regrouping and 2-digit times 2-digit). Students will be asked to use repeated addition, rectangular arrays, area models and standard algorithm as strategies.

Questions you can ask your child:  

How can you use repeated addition to solve 213 X 4?

How can you use an array to solve 213 X 4?

How can you use an area model to solve 213 X 4?  

Reading:  

This week in reading we continued to dig deeper into our narrative stories.  We began to look beyond the characters in our story looking at other story elements, such as setting, important objects, plot, mood and feelings, and how parts of our story connect together?  

Reading Logs:  

We are now using weekly reading logs that require students to respond to their reading in writing once per week.  All logs and writing requirements are due on Monday each week.

Questions you can ask your child:

Did you enjoy the book Crenshaw?  Why do you think that Jackson created Crenshaw?  What was a reoccurring object in the book? What do you think it would be like to be a child that is homeless?

Science:  

This week we began building electrical circuits.  We learned what a closed circuit is and how to make a light bulb light by creating a closed circuit.  Students learned about the parts of light bulb and wrote an explanation of how Thomas Edison contributed to our scientific world.  

Questions you can ask your child:  

What is a closed circuit?  Where does the power come from that lights the lights in your home? How did Thomas Edison contribute to our scientific understanding.

Social Studies:  

Students began to learn about the geography of the Northeast region of the United States.  They located geographic features on maps.  We will continue to learn more about his region next week.

Questions you can ask your child:

What are the eleven states that make up this region of the United States?  What is the capitol of our nation?  What mountain range runs through this region?

Spelling words:  people, twinkle, noodle, simple, sparkle, bubble, wiggle, whistle, sample, freckles, puddle, little, tickle, middle, castle, bottle, nickel, poodle, apple, able

Important dates/upcoming events

11/19 Picture retake day

11/24 La Senorita gives back fundraiser night

11/26 and 11/27 - No School - Thanksgiving Break

Have a great weekend!  

Mrs. DePlaunty

DePlaunty's Blog - Room 83

October 25, 2015

Hello Families,

Wow!  We had a successful and fun week this week in fourth grade.  We all made pledges to be defenders and take a stand against bullying at Westwoods Elementary.  The children attended an OLWEUS assembly on Friday and created a pledge link for our school chain.  This chain will be on display in our front entrance area.  

We completed our study of mapping skills and an introduction to the regions of the United States this week.  Students worked with partners to locate specific information and locations on specialty maps.  

The students all worked to HELP HARRY on Friday.  Students were given time to plan, build, and test a perch (structure) that would support Harry! Students evaluated themselves on their team skills and engineering accomplishments.  

Questions you can ask your child this week?

How hard was it to work with your group to build a perch for Harry?

Did all group members participate equally?

If you were to design your perch again, would you do it differently?

What is the narrative story you are writing about? 

How are Rob and Sistine complicated characters?  What evidence do you have from the story to support your theory?

What is the difference between a factor and a multiple?

Classroom Halloween Celebration

When:  Friday, October 30th, 8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.

Where:   Room 83

What:  Children will wear costumes (follow school guidelines), eat a yummy breakfast and watch a     Halloween video 

Who:  Everyone in our class and parents are welcome to join!

If you would like to help out with our party, please email me a deplauntsh@tcaps.net.  

Important Upcoming Events and Dates

10/27 and 10/29 Parent/Teacher Conferences

10/29 Spelling Assessment and spelling packets are due

10/30 HALLOWEEN CELEBRATION 8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. (please send in your child's donated item on or before October 30th)

11/4 Incredible Moe's Family Night - see link below for more information

https://tinyurl.com/tcwwfamily

11/19 Picture Retakes

11/24  La Senorita Gives Back - Westwoods fundraising event

Math

This week in math we will focus on multiplying a 2-digit number by a 1-digit number using an array model and an area model.  We will review information presented in Chapter 2 and take an assessment over Chapter 2 late in the week.  Students should continue to practice multiplication and division facts to improve their speed and accuracy (snap fast)!  

Reading

We will discuss how different readers have different viewpoints about books.  Students will develop evidence-based arguments for or against theories in The Tiger Rising.  We will begin to look beyond the characters in our stories and focus on other story elements such as setting, recurring objects and images and plot.  

Writing

This week students will work on drafting the heart of their narrative stories.  We will review and study published texts to write strong leads, work on showing the place and time for our story settings, and continue to weave together actions, thoughts and dialogue throughout our stories.  

Spelling:

Spelling words:  zebra, chose, tease, buzz, zero, cheese, wise, crazy, lazy, fuzzy, prize, froze, freeze, zoo, puzzle, sneeze, surprise, lizard, zipper, size

Halloween challenge words:   frightful, scary, Halloween, skeleton, jack-o'-lantern, costume, pirate, ghoul, cauldron, haunted

Have a fantastic week!  

Mrs. DePlaunty

Mrs. DePlaunty's 4th Grade - October, 16, 2015

Math: 

Our focus in math this week was using estimation to check sums, differences and products for reasonableness.  Students did many hands-on activities in groups using basic multiplication facts to find factors and multiples.  They broke down whole numbers into factors or multiplied them to get multiples.  Students used this information to determine whether a number was a prime or composite number.  Next week, we will revisit these math concepts and multiply larger numbers using array models.  

Questions you can ask your child?

What are the factors of 18?  Is this a prime or composite number?  How do you know?  What are the first 12 multiples of 5?  

  

Language Arts:

This week in reading, students practice ways to help grow their ideas about characters in the stories they are reading.  

* The learned to read intensely to notice patterns in the characters actions and use them to      form ideas about them.  

* While reading think about how a character's new actions fit or change with those ideas.  

* While reading think about why the character might be acting this way.  

* Think about the characters desires and how they are trying to achieve them.

Next week, students will be reading intensely and paying close attention to details in their stories. 

Questions you can ask your child:

What inner strengths does Rob have in The Tiger Rising.

How are his inner strengths different from Sistine's inner strengths?

Why do you think Rob and Sistine have become friends?

What is your prediction about what Rob and Sistine will do with the tiger?  Will they let him go or what else do you think could happen in the story?

Why doesn't Rob cry in the story?  

Social Studies:

This week students worked to locate specific locations and information using specialty maps. Next week, our class will review the information and notes presented in Chapter 2.  Students will take an open book/note chapter assessment over Chapter 2 on Wednesday.  

Questions you can ask your child?

What is a specialty map? 

What is the name of the major river that runs from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico?

 Why are the Great Lakes in the Midwest region so important?  

Halloween Celebration

Our classroom Halloween celebration will take place on Friday, October 30th from 8:45 a.m. to 9:45 a.m.  We will be having a "Spooky" breakfast in our classroom.  Students may wear costumes to school.  Costumes must be friendly, so that they are appropriate for all age groups. Children may not wear masks of any kind or have any pretend weapons that go with their costume (swords, guns etc.)  Your child may bring a change of clothes to put on after our party. Children should bring in a bag to take their costume home in.  We are still in need of 2 more party helpers.  If you would like to join us and help serve breakfast, please send me an email or a note.  Helpers will need to arrive in the classroom at 8:15 a.m.  Your child will bring home a note next week notifying you of the item that they have chosen to contribute to our party.  If you cannot donate the item for our party, please let me know and I will make other 

arrangements.  

Spelling Words:  

knee, knight, quilt, question, knot, knuckles, quite, square, knock, quack, quiet, squeeze, know, quick, queen, squeak, knife, quit, quarter, squirrel

Important Upcoming Events/Dates

October 21st - Social Studies - Ch. 2 TEST and Parent/Teacher Conferences 5 - 8 p.m.

October 22nd - Spelling Packet due and Spelling Assessment over KN and QU words

October 23rd - Wear blue - BULLY Prevention Awareness and Popcorn Day

October 27th - Parent/Teacher Conferences 5 - 8 p.m.

October 29th - Parent/Teacher Conferences 5 - 8 p.m.

October 30th - Halloween Celebration 8:45 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.

November 4th - Family Night at Incredible Moe's

November 19th - Picture retakes 

November 24th - La Senorita Gives Back night

Have a wonderful weekend and stay warm!  

Mrs. DePlaunty

deplauntsh@tcaps.net

October 9, 2015

Mrs. DePlaunty's Classroom

October 9, 2015

Math:  This week in math we began chapter 2 about using estimates to check to see that the sums, differences, products and quotients we find as answers are reasonable.  We reviewed rounding to the nearest 10 and 100 before learning about rounding using front-end estimation.  Your child received a family newsletter this week explaining the concepts and skills your child will develop throughout the unit.  Our multiplication fact review next week will focus on 5's, 10's and 3's.  Please encourage your child to practice facts to be able to recall them "snap" fast. 

Questions you can ask your child:  What is the difference between traditional rounding and front-end estimation?  Show me how you round a number to the nearest 10 or 100. 
What is Frontrow.com?  

Reading:  This week we continued to learn strategies strong readers use to read intensely.  Students began to practice synthesizing as a form of retelling.  We have currently increased our class independent reading time stamina to 35 minutes.  After reading, students are responding about the books they read in their reading notebooks and sharing their thoughts about the books they read with partners.  Our new book order was delivered and the class is enjoying all the great books we were able to purchase.  We received over 40 books for our own classroom library.  Some of the books were the entire series of Harry Potter, Percy Jackson's mythology collection, the I Funny series, Fourth Grade Angels and many more.  The kids have immersed themselves in these great books!  It is so exciting to see them sharing their opinions and recommendations with each other. 

Questions you can ask your child:  What is the difference in a chronological retelling and a synthesis?  Which is easier for you to do after reading?  What book are you currently reading?  What are some strategies you are using as reader to read intensely? Have you been recording your reading time at home in your new reading log?  What are some ideas you can think of to help you get more reading time in at home? 

Social Studies and Science:
This week we have begun our study of the regions of the United States of America.  Students are learning mapping skills that are needed to locate important information on various types of specialty maps.  We will begin our new science unit next week about heat, electricity and magnetism. 

Questions you can ask your child: 

What are cardinal and intermediate directions?  What is a compass rose?  What geographical features make Traverse City special? 

Spelling word list:  doubt, enough, county, country, brought, thorough, dough, tough, through, fought, bought, trouble, ought, thought, double, though, drought, cough, rough, throughout


Important Upcoming Events and Happenings

Thursday, October 15th - spelling packet due and spelling assessment
Friday, October 16th - Popcorn Day
October 21, 27 and 29th (4:00 - 8:00 p.m.) - Parent/Teacher Conferences
October 30th - classroom Halloween celebration 8:50 a.m. - 9:50 a.m.


Classroom Halloween celebration will be held on October 30th at 8:50 a.m. - 9:50 a.m.  Children may wear their costumes to school.  Students may not wear masks, violent costumes of any sort or carry pretend weapons to accompany their outfit.  We will begin our day with a spooky breakfast.  We are looking for parent volunteers who will help cook pancakes and serve breakfast.  If you are willing to volunteer, please email me or send me a note in your child's planner. 

We are still in need of a PTO representative for our classroom.  If you would be willing to help our class by being our representative, please email or call me.

Have a wonderful weekend,
Mrs. DePlaunty

deplauntsh@tcaps.net

Classroom Update - October 2, 2015

Mrs. DePlaunty's Fourth Grade

October 2, 2015

 

Math: 

 

This week in math we spent several days adding and subtracting large numbers to 100,000.   The students worked as partners to review computation skills and solve for sums and differences.   We will continue to practice adding and subtracting throughout the school year, but this is a skill that many of the children still need continued practice with at home.  Our class played games, such as Close to 100,000 with partners to make learning even more fun!  Students completed a chapter assessment today.  They will reflect on the progression of their learning next week and develop a plan for future growth of these concepts.  Next week, we will begin our unit about using estimation to evaluate whether sums, differences, products and quotients are reasonable. 

 

Questions you can ask your child: 

How do you think you did toward meeting learning goals and demonstrating that on your assessment?  What do you think you may still need to work on to master the learning goals in math?  How did you grade yourself on the learning scale in math (1, 2, 3, or 4)? 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading: 

 

This week in reading we worked on reading intensely.  Students are learning that every part of a books is important and our books make us stop and do work to comprehend what we are reading.  Students learned to reread, stop and jot at parts of your book that you want to talk about later, and to put yourself in the book.  We also discussed how to select the books we WANT to read and are at a reading level that are helping us grow as a reader.  We are currently reading aloud the book The Tiger Rising.  We are anxiously awaiting what will happen to Rob?  How did the tiger get in the middle of the woods?  Will Rob ever be able to open his suitcase and let out his emotions.  We are hooked!

 

Questions you can ask your child: 

What characteristics to realistic fiction stories have?  What realistic fiction book are you reading in class?  Do you like the book The Tiger Rising?  Explain why or why not.  Are you growing as a reader?  How do you know?  Are you reading as much at home as you can?  Are there extra times in your day that you could read just a little more (in the car on the way to soccer or dinner)?

 

Writing:

 

We finished a fun writing project called The Best Part of Me.  We can't wait for you to read our stories and see our project on display during conferences later this month.  We worked on how to write a well-developed paragraph and edited our work with our peers using rubrics. 

 

Questions you can ask your child: 

What is the difference in a common and proper noun?  What are some important parts of a well-developed paragraph?  What did you write about for your The Best Part of Me story?  Do you think you are using your best penmanship in class?  

 

Social Studies:

 

We completed our study of social scientists this week.  We did a fun, hands-on activity with the artifacts the children brought in on Tuesday.  We saw old stamp collections, records, sales receipts, copies of the Constitution of the United States, report cards of our parents in elementary school, etc.  It was so much fun!!  We began our new unit about mapping skills and the regions of the United States.  Students created a birds-eye view map of their home and divided into four regions based on common characteristics.  Again, we had a great time sharing these with our classmates.

 

 

 

 

Important Dates and Upcoming Events

Thursday, October 8th - spelling packets due and spelling assessment

Friday, October 9th - Move-A-Thon for literature

October 21, 27 and 29:  Parent/Teacher Conferences

October 30:  Halloween celebration

 

Move-A-Thon for Literature:  Children received pledge sheets for our annual fundraiser last week.  The teachers at Westwoods are very excited to help raise funds for purchasing books and items to support reading in our building.  Please encourage your child to try to obtain pledges, so that they can help earn awesome literature for our school from our Move-A-Thon. 

 

We are still in need of a classroom representative for PTO.  If anyone would be willing to represent our class, please email or jot me a note in your child's planner.  We would really love your help!

 

deplauntsh@tcaps.net

 



Week of September 25, 2015

Happy fall! 

Math:  This week students worked on strategies for ordering and comparing large numbers.  They also worked with partners to determine a rule for a pattern of given numbers and extend the pattern.  They played a card game to reinforce this skill with their classmates.  To further enhance their math skills, students have been using Frontrow and Sumdog on our Chromebooks,    Next week, our class will be reviewing how to add and subtract large numbers with and without regrouping.  We will complete our first chapter in our math book and take an assessment toward the end of next week,  All students completed their NWEA math testing this week.  These test scores will be used to monitor their growth over the course of the school year. 

Questions to ask your child:  What are some strategies you can use to find a rule for pattern?  Can you read this number 43,678?  Can you write 25,693 in expanded form, word form and standard form?  What is the value of the underlined digit in this number 65,453?

Reading:  We have been working on reading strategies to help us comprehend, remember, the stories we read.  One strategy we practiced this week was creating a mental image "mental movie" in your mind as you read.  Students practiced this skill with several short stories and compared their results with their reading partners.  We have been working hard to build our reading stamina and are now reading independently for 30 minutes!  Thank you to all the families that ordered books for your child from Scholastic.  We earned over 2,500 bonus points from the order.  Not only do your children get to read some fantastic books they selected, but our class will be getting over 20 books for our classroom library for all of us to enjoy!  I appreciate your support and motivation to help our fourth grade readers soar!  The letters of encouragement you wrote your children brought a tear to my eye.  It is apparent how much you all love and support your children.  Thanks for encouraging them to read, read, read for our 40 Book Challenge!!!!!!

Questions to ask your child:  What book did you read this week?   How do you select books that are a "good fit" for you?  What kinds of books have you selected for your reading bin?  What has happened in the book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing?   What is your opinion of Fudge? 

Social Studies:  This week we continued our study of chapter 1.  We have been learning what social scientists study.  Students will be looking for artifacts this weekend for a social studies project.  They are to bring in their collected items on Monday in a baggy.  We will be doing a culminating activity with these artifacts on Tuesday. 

Questions to ask your child:  What are the four types of social scientists you have learned about?  What is an artifact?  Can I see the artifacts you collected for your homework assignment?  Can you tell me what type of social scientist might use each of your artifacts to study a group of people?

IMPORTANT DATES AND REMINDERS
9/29 Tuesday - artifacts due for social studies project
10/1 Thursday - spelling packet due and spelling assessment
10/2 Friday - picture day and popcorn day - $0.25 per order
10/9 MOVE-A-THON (fundraiser to support literacy at Westwoods)

STUDENTS NEED TO BRING IN AN OLD T-SHIRT OR BUTTON DOWN SHIRT TO LEAVE AT SCHOOL FOR ART

Our class is in need of a parent to be our PTO representative.  If you are interested in this position, please email me at deplauntsh@tcaps.net.

Mrs. DePlaunty's 4th Grade

Math:  We began our first chapter in math this week.  We are working on reading and writing numbers to 100,000 in standard, word and expanded form.  This week we also reviewed even and odd numbers and how to use the number in the ones place value position to determine if a large number is even or odd.  Next week we will continue our study of large numbers.  We will compare and order numbers to 100,000 and add and subtract numbers using standard algorithm.   

Questions you can ask your child:  

What numbers are even and odd and how can you determine if a large number is even or odd?

Using all the numbers 8, 6, 4, 3 and 1, make the largest number you can make, make an odd number, make an even number, make the smallest number possible.

Reading:  We worked hard this week to build good reading habits.  We set reading goals for ourselves this week, set up our Readers' Notebooks, began our 40 Book Reading Challenge, and took our reading NWEA test.  The students are now reading for stamina as a class and are able to read 23 minutes without losing focus as an entire group!  We are finding some great books and are sharing our findings and opinions about the books we read with others.  

Scholastic Book orders are due Thursday, Sept. 24th.

Questions you can ask your child:  

What books are you currently reading?

Have you completed reading any books and what were they?

What was a reading goal you set for yourself and what were some ideas you have for reaching your goal by the end of fourth grade?

Social Studies/Team Building:  We spent a day learning how our textbook is arranged.  For Constitution Day, students created an accordion booklet and learned about what the Constitution is and what it does for our government and all American citizens.  Last week, students performed and experiment called Saving Fred.  They worked as partners and discussed the scientific process.  The children had to develop a plan and and test it out to help rescue poor Fred.  It was a lot of fun!

Questions you can ask your child:

Why was the Constitution written?

Do you think the United States of American needs a Constitution?  Explain why or why not?

How did you and your partner rescue Fred?  What was your plan?  What worked best and what did not work?

Writing: We are working on writing and collecting short paragraphs about personal small moments that have happened to us in our own lives.  We created a heart map with some emotional and meaningful moments from our own lives to help plan for our writing.  Next week, students will revisit the structure of a paragraph and complete a special writing activity about themselves.  

Spelling Words (Homophones):  allowed, aloud, hair, hare, route, root, bear, bare, paws, pause, board, bored, fur, fir, hoarse, horse, course, coarse, chews, choose

Spelling packet is due Thursday, Sept. 24th.

Spelling assessment is Thursday, Sept. 24th.

Important Dates/Reminders:

9/22 Tuesday - NWEA Math Assessment 9:30 a.m - 11:00 a.m.

9/24 Thursday - Spelling packet due

9/24 Thursday - Spelling Assessment 

9/25 Popcorn Friday 

Have a great weekend!  

Mrs. DePlaunty

Welcome to our blog!

Dear Fourth Grade Families,

We are happy you have found our classroom blog.  The blog will be updated every Friday.  Pictures will be added when I receive your child's photo permission slip for our classroom blog.  Have a great week.

This week's important dates:

Tuesday, September 15th, NWEA reading testing 9:30 -11:00 a.m. and clothing order is due
Thursday, September 17th, Spelling packet is due and weekly spelling assessment
Monday - Friday, September 14th - 18th, students should be reading 25 minutes each evening and recording their reading time on their September reading calendar

Mrs. DePlaunty

September 27, 2015

This is a test!