Please take a moment to read about what is happening with the in 4^th grade...

Upcoming Dates:

·         October 27^th: Jogging Club Starts

·         October 30^th :  Scarecrow Day

·         November 3^rd  and 4^th - Conferences

·         November 6^th :  Picture Retakes & Math Olympiad Begins

·         November 9^th :  Veteran’s Day Assembly

·         November 11^th- No School- Veteran’s Day

·         November 13^th :  Genre Quilt due (for 1^st Trimester)

·         November 25^th: Report Cards go home

·         November 26^th and 27^th: No School

Conferences:  As you know, conferences will be on Tuesday, November 3^rd and Wednesday, November 4^th .  Your child will be in charge of leading the conference to show their accomplishments and achievements so far this year.  The conference will last for 20 minutes and it will be a great opportunity to let your child know how much you support their efforts at school.  If you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me.    You can find your schedule time on our class webpage under the important date’s section on the main page. 

Scarecrow Day- We have our traditional fall festival, Scarecrow Day, coming up this Friday, October 30th. Thank you to the parents who prepped the scarecrows and for all the donations that have been coming in.  Also, a big thank you to Jeana Weng, Kim Plowman and Jackie Chartier for helping organize this event. J

Curriculum Info:

→       Reading:  We have finished The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. The students did a great job of answering comprehension questions, summarizing and using context clues.

We will begin our next novel,  A Horse’s Tale, the week of November 9th , which ties in perfectly with our theme unit.  It is a story of a wooden horse that travels through time in the state of Washington starting in the 1890s through the 1990s.  In each decade a historical event is talked about. 

→       Writing: We are focusing on expository writing and learning different methods for prewriting by using graphic organizers.  
 

→       R.A.W.W.: During our R.A.W.W. time (reading and writing workshop) students are reading their independent novels and responding to the text by making a personal connection, reflecting on the story elements and summarizing.  Students will also be participating in teacher-led reading groups during this time. 

→       Genre Quilt: Just a reminder that Genre Quilts are due November 13th!  I have been checking in with each student and most are well on their way to earning a 3 or a 4.  Please encourage your child to use their free time to read, read, read!  I look forward to seeing their 1st Trimester accomplishments.

→       Math:  We are continuing to work on our multiplication/division facts.  Please continue to practice these at home. This week we will be solving number stories and using parentheses in number sentences.   Our Unit 3 assessment is currently scheduled for this Thursday, October 29th.

Next week, we will begin Unit 4 of math.  In this unit we will be studying decimals, which will include place value through the thousandths, addition and subtraction.  We also will be reviewing metric units of length. 

I have put together math “readiness” activities to prepare students for this upcoming unit.  If you feel this extra practice would be beneficial to your child, you can find this packet on our class webpage, as well as the newsletter for this unit.

→       Theme: This week we are starting our social studies unit on Washington State, in which the students will be studying Washington history, geography and forests.  First we will start with our state history.

During this unit, students will have their next long-term project (like the Egg Drop).  They will be researching a historical figure of our state and be participating in a 4^th grade “Wax Museum” by taking on the role of the historical figure.  This project involves research, note-taking, writing a speech and creating a timeline.  Guidelines and due dates can be found in your child’s binder as well as on our class webpage. This is an at home project; students will have minimal time in the class to work on this. 

 

Note regarding the Veteran’s Day Assembly:

The assembly will be following the same format as in past years, except that the video is taking a year off this year. J All students are singing, with special appearances onstage by 5^th grade narrators and sign language specialists, 4^th grade “What Freedom Means to Me” paragraph readers and “America the Beautiful” singers, and Kindergarten singers on the front steps. All family members, neighbors, special friends are invited to attend, especially those who have served in the Armed Forces.  We would love to introduce those special guests and give them the recognition and thanks they deserve.

Have a great week! Trent Neugebauer