January 23 - 27th, 2012

 

• Science Project:  A final project in our Solar System unit is due Thursday, February 2nd and is as follows: Students will design a spacecraft to land on one of the planets of their choosing. The goals of the mission are:
1. Land safely
2. Travel to different parts of the planet
3. Gather samples to bring home 
4. Return samples to earth
• The spacecraft must also take into account:
1. The conditions on the planet (temperature, gravity, atmosphere, surface features)
2. Distance from the sun (how long will it take to get there?)
3. How long will a day last on the planet? (rotation)
4. What is the size of the planet? (how long will it take for them to explore the planet?)
• Students are expected to continue working on their multiplication tables at home until completely mastered!  Many students have studied for the in class test, and then have forgotten their facts during math!  As we work on division and fractions in our math unit, a complete recall of multiplication facts is critical for success!
• Valentines Day Parties, February 10^th, 2:30-3:30. If students are planning on bringing in valentines for friends this day, they must bring in a valentine for each member of our class.  Please see the list of students added to a note in the Friday folder regarding the party. Students may create a valentine bag or box to bring to school on the 10^th.  Prizes will be awarded to the top three creative boxes.
• Scholastic Book Orders (sent home in Friday folders on 1/20/12) are due back next Friday, January 27, 2012.
• Monday, February 20^th, no school, presidents’ day.

1.  Please complete the fraction problems below and turn in next Friday, January 27th.

2. Play the following game on Range, Median, Mode:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ks2bitesize/maths/data/mode_median_mean_range/play.shtml

3.  Science:  Remember a great deal of work for your space mission must be completed at home. Supplies, research, planning and samples must be gathered as homework.  A written assignment will include details about your mission. Please see the list in the news above for a resource.  This project is due Thursday, February 2nd.

January 17th - 20th, 2012

• Friday, January 27th, Flex Day/Assessment.  The fourth grade team will be working with students in two groups.  Your son/daughter brought home a form with their time slot listed, either 9:00 – 11:30 or the 1:00 – 3:30 time. If you have any questions, please contact me at the below phone number, or I will plan to see your son/daughter at the times designated.
• Our field trip to the Denver Museum was a wonderful success. Thank you to all of parent volunteers that helped this day run smoothly.
• No School: Monday, January 16th for Martin Luther King Day.
• Early release:  Wednesday, January 25^th at 1:10
• Spelling Bee:  Monday, February 6^th
• Valentine Parties: Friday, February 10^th

1.  Math 

This week we will be learning about probability, practicing our multiplication and division algorithms, continuing mountain math, and working in our new Math Writing Workbooks. 

If you would like to practice some probability problems visit the website below.  It will take you to the IXL website.  You can have about 15 free minutes a day, so don't bug mom and dad about subscribing to the website.

http://www.ixl.com/math/grade-4/calculate-probability

2.  Writing

Look at the image below. Use the picture for inspiration.  Write 100 words or more using the image as a visual prompt. This writing can be a story, using rich descriptive words.  Have fun, use your imagination, and be creative. 

January 9th - 13th, 2012

January 9th – January 13th, 2012

• Happy New Year! Due to the short week, no reaction sheet.

• Denver Museum of Nature and Science field trip is Thursday, January 12^th from 9:10 to 1:30. Permission slips were sent out before the holiday break and are due back immediately if students are planning on attending. Still will bring a sack lunch to school that day and a snack. Due to limited space on our buses and cost savings, we are asking parent volunteers to car pool to the museum. Each class was permitted three parent helpers. Names were placed in a hat and the following parents were selected:  Mrs. Kelley, Mrs. Barnard, Mrs. Nash.

• Friday, January 27th, Flex Day/Assessment Day.  The fourth grade team will be working with students in two groups. The first group will attend school from 9:00 a.m. to 11:30 and the second group of students will work from 12:30 – 3:00.  Given the small number of students in each block of time, I plan to work with students on individual math needs. If you have any questions, please contact me at the below phone number, or I will expect see your son/daughter at the times listed.

• Early Release Day:  Wednesday, January 25^th, 1:10 dismissal.

• No School, Monday, January 16th for Martin Luther King Day.

Suzanne Nisely        (303) 982-1108             email: snisely@jeffco.k12.co.us

1. Students will need to play one game of Sparkle at home. Students should challenge themselves on numbers that they are ready for. Either two digit by two digit, or even higher values. We practiced this in class this week, so each child should be prepared. The game is four cornors math. Students choose double digit numbers and write one on each corner of a paper. Then, they have to come up with six subtraction problems using those numbers. Students then check their problems with addition.  This sheet of paper will be due Friday, January 13th.

2.Click on the following link to play the mean, median and mode game. Try weather, sports and food practicing your math skills.

 http://e-learningforkids.org/Courses/EN/M1001/launch.html

3.  Check out these two science video's on the solar system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BS88G5WBcfQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_RAEESmsrs

December 12-16, 2011

• Holiday Gingerbread houses: We still need supplies to create our houses, such as white frosting, graham crackers and candy decorations.
• No math club this week!  We will start up again after break on January 12^th, 2012.
• No Take Home Note/ or homework next week. Students will still be expected to read over the winter break and fill out two reading logs. Happy Holidays!
• Student Supplies needed:  many students have used up or no longer have some of the essential supplies they started the year with, such as pencils, erasers, glue sticks, scissors, dry erase markers, colored markers and colored pencils. Our school does not have the funds to purchase these supplies for students and many students do not even have pencils.
• Winter Break:  December 20^th- January 3, 2011. Student’s return Wednesday, January 5^th, 2011!

2.  Complete the math worksheet below using the lattice method of multiplication.

Language Arts

Print off and complete the worksheet below.  The focus of the worksheet is INFERENCING.  You will need to be a detective and search out clues that will help you answer the questions correctly.  There is one correct answer for each question.  This is due by Wednesday morning.

December 5th–December 9th, 2011

· Needed: DRY ERASE Markers. We have depleted our supplies! Students use dry erase markers several times a day on small white boards during math, science and reading.

· Field Trip to Peck Elementary: Friday, December 9th from 11:00-1:30. We will be spending time with our pen pals. Students need to bring a sack lunch and drink.

· Holiday Gingerbread houses: we will be making these houses to compliment our Area and Perimeter math lesson. Students will be designing and calculating the area and perimeters of their holiday houses. Supplies needed: Graham crackers, white frosting, M & M’s, Dot’s, Tootsie Rolls, small candy canes, pretzels, Smarties, and any other candies for our little houses. We also need two or three parents who would have some extra time to glue graham crackers to small student milk cartons. (glue houses – Monday, December 12th. Students measure, design and create houses on December 15th.)

· Grandparent’s Day: was a wonderful success this year. Thank you for all the treats donated by parents.

· Night at Barnes and Noble: Thursday, December 8th, Denver West from 4:00-9:00. This will be a fun night. Part of the proceeds from this evening will come back to Van Arsdale Elementary.

· Winter Break – December 19 – January 4. Only reading log homework will be assigned over this holiday break.

· January 3rd – no school for students. Teacher workdays.

· Students return on Wednesday, January 4th, 2012. Student Supplies needed: many students have used up or no longer have some of the essential supplies they started the year with, such as glue sticks, scissors, dry erase markers, colored markers and colored pencils.

1. Welcome to ZooDesigner! You have been hired to design 5 enclosures for the animals at a local zoo. After successfully creating these enclosures, you will be given a certificate. Please print these certificates and turn in to class on Friday, December 9! How many certificates can YOU earn?! [Note to Parents: if you are unable to print at home, please provide a hand-written confirmation with signature.]

Click here to begin designing!

2. Constructed reading response: We have been working hard at responding to text in class. Here is a chance to show me what you know! Remember, read the text, and in your written response, include a topic sentence, 3 supporting details from the story, and a strong concluding sentence. Read the question and text below and write a constructed response:

QUESTION: Why do researchers believe dogs have the inborn talent for reading humans, thus making them people's choice for a pet? Give at least three examples from the text.

A Dog’s Life From Wild Wolf to Friendly Fido

How does the family dog know from the look on your face that he or she is in the doghouse? Believe it or not, your pooch did not learn from experience. There was no need. A recent study has found that dogs have an inborn talent for reading humans, and ability that may explain why they were one of people’s first commonly kept pets.Scientists have known for some time that dogs are descendants of wolves. But they didn’t know why some wolves were able to be domesticated, or tamed to live with or be used by humans.Researcher Brian Hare says that he has a pretty good idea. He found that dogs outscored both wolves and chimpanzees in tests to see which animal could best read human gestures and facial expressions to find hidden food. The conclusion? Dogs are born with a remarkable ability to read people, making a human-dog relationship very natural.Humans put dogs to good use, too. They used their new sidekicks to help them hunt, for protection, and for companionship.Hare believes that wolves developed this people-reading skill as a way of survival. The wolves that became domesticated were the ones that could read humans well enough to find scraps of food. The better those wolves got at reading humans, the more food they found, which increased their chances of survival. Over thousands of years, those wolves turned into today’s dogs.