Activities for the week of Aug 30th to Sept. 3

Hello parents and students:

Here's an outline of the activities we'll be doing in fourth grade this week:

Reading:  We'll be talking about what it means to be thinking and reading at the same time.  To do so we'll be writing down the connections that we can find between ourselves and the books that we're reading.  We'll also write our first 'book letter' to Mr. Rose.  The letter will be about everything that the student is thinking about while reading their book.  Such as what they like or dislike about the book, the connections they find, predictions for the rest of the book, things they like/dislike about the author's writing, etc.

Writing:  We'll be talking about what to do when we think we're done writing.  (hint: we're never done!)  We'll also be continuing our read aloud, Judy Blume's 'Superfudge' and analyzing why we like the book so much.  (realistic storyline, funny dialogue, etc.)  We will work on imitating Blume's style by writing our own dialogue in our notebooks.

Math:  MATH TEST WEDNESDAY!!!!   Our first chapter test of the year comes Wednesday.  Tuesday will be review day, and I will send home a practice test that will mirror the actual test given Wednesday.  Afterwards it's on to addition and subtraction in chapter two.

Social Studies:  We will finish our study of our final two continents, Africa and Australasia.  On Tuesday and Wednesday we will begin a map/research assignment that will ask the students to choose a country, create their own map, and find some information about that country online.  THE STUDENTS WILL NEED TIME TO SEARCH ONLINE AT HOME AT THE FOLLOWING WEBSITE:    

www.kids.yahoo.com/reference.world-factbook  

This is a quality website with tons of maps and interesting geography facts.  I would like for each student to get used to searching for information online effectively.

Grammar:  We will be talking about how to write effective and interesting sentences using ADVERBS and ADJECTIVES.  Everybody's two favourite parts of speech!

Character Studies:  Discussing the meaning and importance of Honesty in and outside of the classroom.

Finally to all the parents reading this is my first request for help with our grade four classroom:

NEXT FRIDAY, AUGUST THE 10TH IS OUR INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION HERE AT THE SCHOOL.  OUR CLASS WILL BE CREATING A FLOAT FOR OUR PARADE THAT WILL BE DEDICATED TO THE DIFFERENT ETHNIC GROUPS IN HONDURAS.

Unfortunately I know nothing about the ethnic groups of Honduras at the moment, so any assistance or advice would be welcomed.  Please email or call if you would like to help in any way.

Thanks again,

Jordan Rose