Welcome to 4th grade. I am so excited to start a new year with each of you. Please join us for "Meet the Teacher" on Tuesday, August 15th from 6:00-6:30. I look forward to seeing you there and meeting each of you!
What's going on in Mrs. Angel's Class .... Writing - In writing students have been working on informational text and writing biographies. The class wrote biographies about Martin Luther King Jr. as a guided practice, and they are now working on their famous Missourian. You should have seen a note come home about a take home project your student should complete. The note is attached below. This project is due Friday, February 24. Please let me know if you have any questions, and I look forward to seeing everyone's creativity! Reading - In reading we have been working on reading literature. Students have been busy identifying common themes found in literature and identifying story elements. If your student is in my STAR Reading group, we have also started literature circles. Math - In math we are finishing up Topic 8. Students learned about finding equivalent fractions and comparing fractions. We took our test online on Tuesday. You will not have a paper copy come home, but your student should bring home a little slip of paper from Mastery Connect showing how they did. Don't forget you can always log on and check too! Today we will be starting Topic 9, and students will be learning about adding and subtracting fractions. Please watch for all the homework pages to come home. Remember these are not a requirement, but they are great extra practice for your student (especially if you notice your student struggling with a specific skill). I will not be grading each page, but have your child return them as they finish. I will glance over the pages they complete and they will earn participation dojo points! Science/Social Studies - We just finished up our unit on electricity in science. You should see a short performance assessment come home with this your child. Students had fun learning and playing with the electrical circuits. This week we are starting our social studies unit on government. This is an exciting unit, as it always prepares us for our field trip to Jeff City. 4th grade teachers are in the process of working on plans for the field trip. As we get more information, we will be sending some notes and information home. Please watch for this in the future. As of right now, our field trip is planned for May 4, but this is subject to change. Important Dates
*Feb.6 -10 - Change a Life Fundraiser Penny Wars! *Feb. 6 - 10 - Student Council Valentine Sales - Blow Pops $ 0.50 Jumbo Pens $2.00 *Friday, Feb. 10 - Valentine Party 8:45-9:30 (please send the note back if you plan on sending anything) *Friday, Feb. 10 - Early dismissal at 12:30 *Monday, Feb. 20 - Make up snow day - School WILL BE in session this day *Wednesday, Feb. 22 - Super Tiger at 2:30 *Friday, Feb. 24 - Biography Bottle Projects due! A special thank you to Mrs. Julie Gottbehuet for making delicious "Missouri" cookies, and to all the parents who sent in supplies for us to decorate our cookies with. The kids loved using what we have learned the past couple of weeks in social studies to make Missouri maps out of the cookies. We will have the following spirit days to celebrate Red Ribbon Week October 24-October 28. Join in the FUN! Monday- Backwards Day ("Our clothes may be backwards, but our life is headed forward.") Tuesday- Stuffed Animal Day ("Choose hugs not drugs.") Wednesday- Hat Day ("Put a cap on drugs.") Thursday- Team Jersey Day ("Team-up against drugs.") Friday- Pajama Day ("Your choices are the key to your DREAMS.") What we are learning: Reading - As we start 2nd quarter, students will be learning about reading nonfiction text. This week we focused on nonfiction text features, and next week students will be finding the main idea of nonfiction articles. Writing - Students have started to learn about opinion writing. We are currently writing opinion pieces related to animal behaviors. Ask your student what they are writing about, and how they are supporting their opinions. Math - We just finished up Topic 3 in math. Please watch for your child's assessment to come home. As we begin Topic 4, students will continue to be multiplying larger numbers. They will learn how to multiply two digit numbers by another two digit number. Please watch for homework pages to come home as extra practice. Not all of them need to be returned, just simply use them as you would like. However, if a homework assignment is assigned and due back the following day, your child will know about it ahead of time. Also, please make sure your child is practicing multiplication facts at home. If they do not know their facts and have them memorized, our math will continue to be difficult for them. It is hard to multiply multidigit numbers if you don't know your basic facts. Social Studies - We finished up our unit on reading, understanding, and constructing maps. Students will begin learning about Thomas Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase, and the Lewis and Clark expedition. Important Dates: * Red Ribbon Week - October 24-28 *Wednesday, Oct. 26 - Super Tiger Assembly at 2:30 *Friday, Oct. 28 - Classroom Fall Parties *Tuesday, Nov. 1 - Parent Teacher Conferences *Thursday, Nov. 3 - Parent Teacher Conferences *Friday, Nov. 4 - No School - Fall Break *Monday, Nov. 7 - No School - Fall Break *Tuesday, Nov. 8 - No School - Fall Break - Teacher Work Day * November 23-25 - No School - Thanksgiving Break Writing -In writing students have been working on writing narratives and personal narratives. Students wrote a story about a special moment in their lives, a story about a scarecrow that came to life, and they also completed the writing process on their own to complete the district writing prompt for first quarter. As we move towards second quarter, students will be starting to write persuasive essays.
Reading - 4th graders have been working on reading literature in 4th quarter. We worked on inferences, story elements, and summarizing. This week students will take the end of the quarter reading assessment online. Second quarter will focus on reading nonfiction text. Math - In math we are finishing up our unit on multiplying multi-digit numbers by one digit numbers. Students will review at the end of the week and take their Topic 3 test next Monday. Please watch for homework to come home periodically. We are finding that some students are finishing their assignments in class, or they are needing extra practice to continue onto the next lesson. Also, it is essential that students know their multiplication facts. On nights that there is no math homework, students should be practicing their facts somehow. If you need me to print flashcards, I am more than happy to send those home. Just let me know. There are also lots of resources under the "Student Resources" tab on our blog. Social Studies - Students have been learning about reading and making maps in social studies. They will take a test over map skills on Wednesday. Next week we will be learning about the regions of Missouri. We have a fun edible activity planned for this. Thank you so much if you sent in supplies for this! We really appreciate it, and I think the kids will have a lot of fun with it. Important Dates *Monday, Oct. 10 - PTO Meeting at 6:00 *Thursday, Oct. 13 - Student council voting *Friday, Oct. 14 - Half Day - Dismissal at 12:30, End of First Quarter, Reading Counts celebration *Monday, Oct. 17 - PTO Fall Carnival!!!! Come join the fun!!! GAMES, FOOD, and INFLATABLES 6:30-8:00 *Wednesday, Oct. 26 - Super Tiger Assembly at 2:30 *Friday, Oct. 28 - Classroom Fall Parties We have had a busy few weeks! Things in 4th grade are going great, and students are starting to get into their routines. A couple reminders.... * Students should be filling out their dojo points each day, and bringing them home. If they get a signature or initial they earn dojo points. This is any easy way for your child to get some positive points. * Also, students should be reading at least 60 minutes a week. They should be keeping track of it on their calendar in their binder, and parents should initial where their student read. Students also need to be working towards their Reading Counts goal of 6 books/quizzes. *Students bring most of their papers home on Friday. However, please ask your student to show you their binder daily. This is where you will find important notes and reminders as well as graded papers. We will begin STAR reading on Monday. Students will be rotating to a different teacher during this time. Their STAR teacher is recorded in the tiger binder. In math we will continue working on adding and subtracting multi-digit numbers. Students will take their test over Topic 2 on Wednesday. Please watch for a study guide to come home Monday or Tuesday night. Student have been busy writing a personal narrative during writing. We have worked on writing a strong hook to grab your readers attention, strong endings, and sensory details. In science we have been learning about ecosystems, food chains, and animal defense mechanisms. Students participated in a scavenger hunt to find camouflaged objects. They found the easiest to find were the yellow and red objects, and the hardest to find were the green objects. Important Dates :
Sept. 28 - Tiger Pride Assembly at 2:30 Oct. 14 - Early Out - Dismissal at 12:30 Nov. 1 - Parent Teacher Conferences Nov. 3 - Parent Teacher Conferences We have had a great first couple of weeks back to school, and we are beginning to get into the groove of our daily routines. In reading we have been practicing Daily 5 routines and students have been completing DRA's. In writing we have been busy getting our writer's notebooks going. Students have been writing about different ideas they have had. We have gathered ideas from observations, memories, questions, the history of names, and students have even been generating their own writing idea lists. Last week in science we learned about the scientific method, and students completed a couple of fun experiments to go along with it. They observed walking water (pictures below), and they also observed what happens to Everlasting Gobstoppers when you put them in water and separate them by color. We have a new math curriculum this year, and hopefully you found the parent letter that came home on Friday about our first topic in math. Please watch for other graded papers to come home. I will sometimes mark if the students need extra practice on a skill, or if they need to redo something. In the future, students will also be getting a log in code, and they can log in to their math site at home to complete extra practice. Other information:
***Please check with your child to make sure they have a pair of headphones or earbuds at school. We use them on a daily basis, and these should stay at school. If your child needs a pair, they usually have them at Dollar Tree for a dollar. A couple of parents donated some to our classroom, but we are already out. Thank you to the parents who sent those in. The extra pairs always come in handy. ***Friday, Sept. 2 - No School ***Monday, Sept. 5 - No School - Labor Day ***Sept. 7 - Picture Day The First Week
We have had a great first few days! We have learned routines, expectations and are getting to know each other. Next week we will begin digging into 4th grade must knows: spelling, writing, reading strategies, and math basics. Highlights:
Tuesday, August 9th- Meet the Teacher 6:00-6:30: K-2 6:30-7:00: 3&4 Thursday, August 11th- First Day of School Friday, August 12th- $$ and order form due for additional WOW shirts Friday, Sept. 2- No School for Students (teacher work day) Monday, Sept. 5- No School (Labor Day) |