Activities for the last week of September

Hello Parents and Students:

I hope everyone's well and enjoying our weekly class blog posts.  I am curious to know how many parents and students are able to check this blog, so if you could please do me a favour and write a short comment at the bottom of this post with your name so that I have an idea of who is and isn't reading this.  Thanks very much!

This is an exciting week in grade four.  We have begun our first Science unit and will be conducting our second experiment of the year.  We will also be having our second chapter test in Mathematics and our first Grammar quiz.

Here is an overview of what we will be learning in grade 4 this week:

Math


We will be continuing to learn about algebraic equations and the use of variables.  Tuesday and Wednesday will give us a chance to review and then Thursday we will have our CHAPTER 2 TEST.  The test will cover the work we have done in addition, subtraction, word problems, and algebra.  Friday will mark the start of Chapter 3 on Multiplication.  So parents if you have a minute next weekend please check the state of your child's basic multiplication facts.  (what's 6 X 7?  what's 5 X 9?  etc.)   Also, as usual there will be a practice test going home Wednesday before the test if you would like to see if your child is prepared for the Chapter 2 Test.

Reading

We will be working on getting into the routine of handing in our weekly 'reading letter' at the appropriate time, with the appropriate content.  Each student's letter will either be due every Tuesday or Wednesday, depending on their group number.  The students will need to manage their time in and out of the classroom independently to make sure this work gets done and handed in on time.

We will also be starting a new novel for our guided reading period.  The novel is called 'Stone Fox' and this week we'll be working on reading for comprehension, and understanding the reading skill of identifying the steps in a process.

Writing


We will be continuing with our sensory descriptive writing.  This week we'll focus on imagining and describing our favourite sound and smell in the world.  I can almost smell and hear it now.

Grammar

We will be having our first grammar quiz of the year.  The students will need to use their knowledge of nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs to identify and differentiate these four parts of speech.

Science

Following the success of our first Science experiment, we will be learning about the water cycle and complete an experiment that asks the students to create a model that recreates the formation of streams.
This science unit is titled 'Land and Water' and focuses on how the earth is shaped by the continuous flow of water in all of it's states.

Spelling

Our focus is on two syllable words with two short vowels sounds.  The words are:   windmill, cannot, dentist, until, solid, cactus, contact, success, product, within, comment, napkin, suggest, insect, invent.

Character Studies

This weeks character trait that we'll investigate is: Trustworthiness  


Here's to an excellent week in Grade 4!!  And remember if you are reading this could you please write in a short comment with your name.   Thanks very much,

                                                                       Jordan Rose

Class Activities for the Week of September 20-24

Hello parents and students,

Here's an overview of what we will be learning in fourth grade this week:

MATH:

In our math lessons we will be working on fully understanding the relationship between addition and subtraction.  We also be working on understanding word problems that require addition and subtraction.  To do so we will need to review our math vocabulary and how to properly read and interpret word problems.  By the end of the week we will move into creating math expressions from word sentences and introducing the idea of algebraic expressions.  Yes indeed....it is time for Algebra!!!

READING:

We will be working with 'thinkstrips' during our reading periods this week.  Thinkstrips will help us remember exactly what were thinking about when we're reading, and will make it easier to write interesting 'reading letters' every week.  We will also review the procedures for writing and proofreading a quality 'reading letter' once more, and I plan to spend time conferencing with the students during independent reading time to check to see how everything is going with their self selected reading.

WRITING:

In writing we will review all of the many reasons to write.  We will focus one lesson on writing to express feelings and emotions, and the cathartic joy that can come as a result.  We will then work on writing a journal entry in this fashion.  Later in the week we will be working on writing descriptive notebook entries using our five senses.  Our focus this week will be on the sense of touch and hearing.

GRAMMAR:

Having learned about Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, and Adverbs we will work on identifying these parts of speech in a piece of text, and talking about how we use these parts of speech in our writing.

SCIENCE

Our theme periods have been switched from Social Studies to Science!  This week we will be introducing the 'scientific method' and some of the terminology that the students will need to understand for November's Science Fair project.  We will then move into our first science unit on Land and Water.

CHARACTER STUDIES:

This week's focus will be on the importance of responsibility.

SPELLING

Our spelling words this week will focus on the long u sound.  The words this week are:

rescue, few, view, move, due, true, drew, crew, boost, proof, troop, suit, fruit, juice, bruise

Please help your child think of as many different words with that long u sound, and the different letter combinations that can make the sound.



Thanks to all the parents who check this blog.  I will be sending a group email soon about ideas that I have for field trips in the future.  If you have any ideas or questions in the meantime feel free to email me at my discovery school address: jrose@discoveryschool.hn.edu

Here's to a great week!
 

Short Week of Sept. 16th and 17th

Hello everybody,

I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday over the past 5 days.  I'm happy to see that all 15 students were in class today, ready to learn.

Thanks to all the parents who came out and celebrated Honduran Independence Day with us last Friday.  The celebration was a big success, as was our float and our awesome rendition of 'La Cancion de Mi Pais'.

Classroom Activities For The Week


Math:  We will be continuing to work on our mental math skills for addition and subtraction.  We will also be practicing adding in columns with three or more numbers and subtracting in columns with two different three and four digit numbers.  If you're interested in practicing mental math skills at home ask your child to show show the 'close to 1000' game.  It's played with two dice and gives the student a chance to practice adding and subtracting in their head while having a bit of fun.


Reading:  We will be editing our second 'Reading Letter' in class.  Remembering what important steps we have to take when proofreading and editing.  We will also be doing some guided reading together in our National Geographic magazines.

Science:  We will have our first science class of the year.  I will be introducing the students to the fun of science and the concepts of the 'scientific method' that they will need for their science fair projects later this quarter.

Grammar:  Because this is a short week we will wait til monday to continue our spelling lessons.  Instead on Friday we will review adverbs and follow up on an activity that we began last week.

Here's to a fun few days and then our Class Lunch on Saturday!!

Independence Day Float Update

Thanks to Mrs. Virna Mendoza we have a plan for our Independence Day float.  We will be combining with the grade 2 classes here at Discovery School to sing a song and decorate our Honduran cultural float.  Our job in grade 4 will be to try to find some native dress that we can wear this Friday, and to help decorate the float with pictures that represent Hondurans Native culture.

If you have the time and resources to spend some time with your child searching online for and printing out pictures of Honduran Native culture that would be very helpful.  And of course any Native dress that they might wear would be excellent.  For those that do not have anything such as that may I suggest wearing a Honduran Soccer team shirt, or perhaps jeans and cowboy hats for boys.

Thanks again and if you have any questions please contact me.

Jordan Rose

Oh and I almost forgot: if you are curious about our Spelling words this week we will be focusing on the long I sound.  The words are:       knight,  supply,  mild,  grind,  type,  pirate,  mighty, find,  mile,  slight, pilot,  blind,  flight,  style,  midnight.

Class Activities for the Week of Sept. 5th to Sept. 10th

Hello Parents and Students!

I hope everyone is looking forward to a great week and then a bit of time off for our Independence Day holiday.

This week in MATH we will be learning new strategies for adding and subtracting numbers in our heads, and getting lots of practice with our 'mental math'.  By the end of the week we will be moving into adding three or more numbers at a time using the classic algorhythm method.  

This week in READER'S WORKSHOP I will be conducting our A-Z reading assessments in order to have an idea of each student's personal reading level at this early stage in the school year.  We will also be working on creating the guidelines and expectations for our 'Reader's Letter'.  The 'Reader's Letter' is an activity that each student will be responsible for once a week where they will write me a letter that discusses anything and everything that they think about while reading their current book.  There is a full outline of this activity in a letter from me that can be found glued into the students' Reader's Notebook.  

This week in WRITER'S WORKSHOP we will be having a proofreading lesson using their first 'Reader's Letter'.  We will go over the things each student should do when it comes time to proofread and edit a piece of work, specifically their weekly letter.  Later in the week we will be continuing with the students' experiments with writing dialogue in the manner of our read-aloud book "Superfudge", by Judy Blume. 

This week's GRAMMAR lesson will focus on adverbs.  We will learn what an adverb is and how it is different from an adjective, how it is similar to an adjective, and how it can make storytelling a whole lot more exciting.  We will then practice in pairs creating an adverb laden piece of writing to share with the class.   

This week's SOCIAL STUDIES lessons will be used to prepare our Independence Day float.  We are still in need of a lot of assistance on this one from parent's and students.  Again the focus is on Honduran Native Culture, so if our families have any materials that could be used as decoration or costumes or a wagon of some kind, could you please send them in with your child in the next few days.  Any assistance would be much appreciated.  Thank you!

Also the school is asking for a 100 Lempira per family donation for our Independence Day celebration to be used for decorations and examples of local food for all the children.

And speaking of money:  if you have not yet sent in 500 Lempiras for your child's classroom yet, could you please do so soon.  This money goes towards purchasing school supplies and educational materials for our room and the art room throughout the year.  Thank you.

I hope we all have a great week.  All the best,   

Jordan Rose