December 3rd - 7th, 2012

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 17th. Students measure, design and create houses on December 19th.)

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

Early Release Day:  Wednesday, December 5th, 1:10

Night at Barnes and Noble: Wednesday, December 12th, 93rd and Sheridan 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 24 – January 8th. Only reading log homework will be assigned over this holiday break.

· January 7th and 8th– no school for students. Teacher workdays.

Students return on Wednesday, January 9th, 2013.

 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.  MATH:  Watch this youtube link and then solve the three division problems listed below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwa9YZzSj9c

a.  261 divided by 3      b. 142 divided by 2     c.  372 divided by 4


2. 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 7! 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.]



http://mrnussbaum.com/zoo-play/

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.

November 12th-16th, 2012

• No blog or homework over our Thanksgiving holiday break!  Enjoy.

• Writing:  Thank you for having conversations with your son/daughter regarding the writing they have completed in the classroom and at home.  I have included these graded writing pieces in their Friday folders. I was pleased to see so many students are using strong descriptive words, had a clear beginning, middle, and end to their writing, and took the time to edit and revise. On reading responses, we are working on including a topic sentence, supporting details from the text and including a strong conclusion. These are all strategies we are working on in class.
• Math writing: please see student work in Friday folder. Having a conversation with your son/daughter about their math writing will help them process and improve.

• Report cards will be sent home on Friday, November 16^th. Please sign and return the outside envelope after our Thanksgiving break.

• Grandparents Day:  Friday, November 16^th. Students are working on a special computer presentation  in our classroom and plan to share these with their special guests on Grandparent’s day. Students are encouraged to dress up on this day in order to represent our school and show respect to our guests.

• Thanksgiving Holiday:  No school November 19th - 23rd.

• 2. Turkey writing:

  This Turkey Needs Dressing!  In your Friday folder I sent home a turkey copied on card stock.  Cut out the Turkey, use scraps of cloth, paper, foil, glitter, and your imagination for a spiffy he or she.  Be sure to name him or her and then write a story about your terrific turkey. Your dressed turkey, and turkey story are due Wednesday, November 14th. Remember to use a circle and flee map to focus your thinking before you write.  These maps will be due with your turkey.

Great Graphic Novel on line:  Check it out on line:     http://www.wormworldsaga.com/ 

Math

Task #1

This week we will be exploring DIVISION!  Let's practice. Show all your work.  Drawing a picture might help you solve these problems.

1. Mary has 12 apples.  She wants to sort them equally into 3 baskets.  How many apples will she put into each basket?

2. Bob was 24 cookies.  He wants to divide them equally in 6 ziplock baggies.  How many cookies will be in each baggy?

3. Mom made 30 cupcakes.  She wants to arrange them equally onto 6 platters.  How many cupcakes will be on each platter?

4. Carmine has 40 bottle caps.  He wants to arrange them in 4 equal rows.  How many bottle caps will there be in each row?

5. Carson has 25 skateboards.  He wants to gift them equally to his 5 friends.  How many skateboards will each friend receive?

6. Maggie cat had a litter of 21 kittens!  She wants to share the kittens equally between herself and 6 friends.  How many kittens will each girl get?

Task #2

Play the Hoodamath division game below and practice your division facts.  Remember division is the reverse or opposite of multiplication. 

http://hoodamath.com/games/dragracedivision.php

November 5th - November 9th, 2012

• Report cards will be sent home on Friday, November 16^th. Please sign and return the outside cover.

• Our Fall party was fantastic!  One of the best Ever.  Thank you to all the many parents that donated their time, supplies, money and their creative ideas to make this afternoon so fun and special.  A huge thank you to our room moms!
• Early Release:  Wednesday, November 14th, 2012

• Grandparents Day:  Friday, November 16th.

• Thanksgiving Holiday:  No school November 19th-23rd.

• Snacks needed for Grandparent’s Day:  To provide a welcoming, social environment, we will again be serving simple snacks to our grandparents and other special guests. A light finger food such as cookies, brownies, pastries, breads, or mini muffins are needed. All the snacks from fourth grade will be served in the main hallway outside the C pod. Please email or call Michelle Lopez if you can donate food for this special day or if you have any questions.

1.  Math Writing:  Please write a math paragraph for the following problem:  Sandy collected 42 sea shells at the beach.  She wanted to give an even number of shells to each one of her seven friends.  How many shells does each friend get to keep?

Sentence stem:  To solve this problem I need to___________. I know this because_______________. First, ______________. Then, _______________Finally,___________________. The answer to this problem is_____________________. (plus include a picture that would help you solve the problem)

2. Turkey writing:

This Turkey Needs Dressing!  In your Friday folder I sent home a turkey copied on card stock.  Cut out the Turkey, use scraps of cloth, paper, foil, glitter, and your imagination for a spiffy he or she.  Be sure to name him or her and then write a story about your terrific turkey. Your dressed turkey, and turkey story are due Wednesday, November 14th. Remember to use a circle and flee map to focus your thinking before you write.  These maps will be due with your turkey.

October 29th - November 2nd, 2012

• Halloween Fall Festival, Wednesday, October 31st - parties 2:15-3:40. Students may bring a costume to school on the morning of the 31^st and will be given 15 minutes to change before the school-wide parade begins. Please no masks or pretend weapons. This is a school rule.
• BOOK ORDERS DUE:  This Friday, November 2nd.
• Hearing and vision: November 7^th.
• Grandparents Day, November 16^th, 10:50 to 11:50.
• Early Release: Wednesday, November 14th, 1:10.
• Report Cards:  Friday, November 16th,
• Please remember that the Banana Costume and writing are both due Monday, October 31^st

1.  Don't Forget:  Your Banana Writing piece and display is due this Wednesday, October 31st!  Can't wait to see your masterpieces.

2.  We've been working on writing and showing our thinking in Math.  Please read the example below and then complete a math writing on the problem given. This is due Friday, November 2nd.

Example Problem #1

Mary is crazy about books! She has a bookshelf in her room with 7 shelves. Each shelf holds 46 books. How many books does Mary have in her "library" altogether?

Example of Math writing to the above problem:

     To solve this problem I knew I needed to multiply because I saw the clue words altogether, each, and how many. Then I multiplied 6 x 7 = 42 then I mulitplied 40 x 7 = 280. Then I knew to add zero to equal 280. Next, I added to 280 + 42 = 322. That is how I got the answer 322. That's how I know Mary has 322 books on her shelf.

                                         40         6

                                       x  7     x  7

                                      ____    ____

                                       280  +   42   =   322  books

#2 Your problem:

      Sally collected sea shells each morning for a week while she was visiting her grandmother.  By the end of the week she had collected 5 buckets of shells. In each bucket she had 42 shells.  How many shells does Sally have altogether?



(Use the following sentence stems to complete problem number 2):


     To solve this problem I knew I needed to_______________. I knew this because__________________________________________________.
First,____________________________________________________.
Then,____________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________.
Finally,___________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________.
The final answer to the problem is________________________________
_________________________________________________________.

Show your math work:

                                          

October 22nd - 26th, 2012

• Early Release day: Wednesday, October 24th. 1:10 dismissal.
• Halloween Fall Festival, Wednesday, October 31st - parties 2:15-3:40. Students may bring a costume to school on the morning of the 31^st and will be given 15 minutes to change before the school-wide parade begins.  Please no masks. This is a school rule.
• Banana Costume and writing are due October 31^st.
• Hearing and vision: November 7^th.
• Grandparents Day, November 16^th, 10:55 to 11:55.
• Please note that the Van Arsdale PTSA (News & School Happenings) and school cafeteria lunch menu links have both been added under the “Classroom Resources” at the top left of this blog.
• November 16^th – Report Cards go home.
• In place of the reading comprehension sheet this week, students will find a writing prompt.  I have also attached a rubric to help guide students on fourth grade writing expectations.  This writing piece and the rubric are due on Friday, October 26th.  Please take the time to read through your son/daughters writing and encourage quality final drafts. Many students need to be reminded to use the flee map, revise and edit; adding those rich descriptive words, and correct spelling and grammar errors.
• 
  

1.  Please read the following prompt and respond in a one page, paragraph form. Remember to construct interesting, and detailed sentences! You must use a circle and flee map.  The final copy, flee map and circle map will be due next Friday, October 26th.  Share with your parents!

If you could choose one food to never eat again, what would it be? Why?

2.

MATH

Let's practice our math facts!  Play the game below for 15 min. 3 times before Friday.  Here's the clencher...you have to click all the clouds!  Have mom or dad sign in your planner that you fulfilled the requirement and I will pay you 5 PAWS.

 

http://www.multiplication.com/games/play/flying-high