January 25, 2016

January 25, 2016

Reading:

We really learned a great deal about extreme weather the past two weeks when researching subtopics about weather.  On Friday, everyone present taught others about what they had learned from a poster they created to use as a teaching tool. 

  

                                                     

This week we will begin our Book Clubs.  Students are reading Holes, A View From Saturday,

 Chasing Vermeer and Because of Winn Dixie.  Mrs. Charland and I have assigned the students to a Book Club based on their Lexile reading level from their winter NWEA scores.  We are excited to discuss our books and share our ideas with each other.  In addition, students will focus on Greek and Latin roots for word work this week (corp, pop and art).  When students have independent reading time, they may read their book for Book Club, read self-selected stories on Raz-kids.com and read other books they choose.  

Math:

Today, we finished our chapter in math about tally tables, picture graphs, bar graphs and line graphs. Students will take a chapter assessment this week and we will begin our next math chapter about data.  In chapter 5, students will find the mean, median, mode and range in a set of data, create and read stem and leaf plots and predict outcomes.

Writing:

We are beginning our new unit writing opinion essays.  It is always exciting to write about something you feel passionate about and want to express your opinions.  I have already heard students say they will write stories to their parents to try to convince them to get a pet, to a teacher to stop giving homework, to a principal to change how much time students are given for recess.  It should be a great unit!  I am looking forward to hearing the fourth graders' opinions and reasons that support their ideas. 

WINTER CARNIVAL BASKET

We are collecting items for our fourth grade classroom basket for the silent auction at our Winter Carnival on Friday, February 26th.  The theme for our classroom basket is "Traverse City".  Please send in any items you would like to donate to our basket this week.  

Upcoming Events and Happenings

* Friday, January 29th - field trip to Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore 

 - students must bring a sack lunch and drink

- dress in warm layers

- we will leave the school at 9:15 a.m.

- we will return back to school at 3:00 p.m.

- chaperones should arrive at 9:00 a.m.  -  please plan to follow the bus to the location

2/2/16 Darkness to Light Parent Presentation

2/9 PTO meeting

2/16, 2/18, and 2/24 Parent Teacher Conferences

2/26 Westwoods Winter Carnival

2/29 Kindergarten Roundup Parent Meeting

Homework and Spelling Packets are due back on Thursday! 

January 5, 2016

Welcome Back!  

We had a wonderful time celebrating the holidays!  We would like to thank all the parents who organized and worked so hard to make our holiday party a success!  

NWEA reports and MSTEP reports

This Friday your child will bring home a copy of their fourth grade winter NWEA test results and a copy of their MSTEP test results from third grade.  Please take the time to review these results and keep in mind that these are just one tool that educators use to assess your children and their learning growth.  If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me or discuss the results at our next parent/teacher conference.  

Our classroom is very excited about reading!  Each week, many students finish reading books and share their recommendations and thoughts about the book with their peers through Book Talks.  

MATH - Long Division

We have completed our current study of long division this week.  Many students are using standard algorithm to solve division problems with and without remainders.  This has been a challenging concept for many of us, but we have been determined learners.  We will continue to practice this skill throughout the year until we have mastered this concept.  We will begin our new unit over tables and line graphs this Friday!

Reading

We have been working hard on developing good habits and using strategies to read nonfiction texts.  Students will begin a group nonfiction reading project next week researching a weather topic and teaching their peers about the information they have learned.  

We are in need of items for our classroom basket for the school carnival.  Our theme is "Traverse City".  If you would like to donate an item for our basket, please send it in before the end of January.  We are also in need of a parent to put our donated items in a basket to be put on display at the school carnival.  If you would like to help out, please send me an email.

Important Upcoming Events and Dates 

Monday, January 18th - No School

Thursday, January 21 - Half Day for Students

Friday, January 22 - No School

Have a fantastic week!

Mrs. DePlaunty