February 3rd - 7th, 2014

• Spelling Bee:  Saturday, February 1st, 2014. Good luck to the student's participating!
• Class Pictures:  Tuesday, February 11th.

•     Valentines Day Parties, February 13^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 13^th.  Prizes will be awarded to the top three creative boxes.
• Special Valentines Update:
   The PTSA is sponsoring a project for Children's Hospital, "From Our Heart to Yours".   During the Valentine's Day party we will be helping the class prepare craft kits for the patients at Children's Hospital.   Each grade level will be preparing kits for the children at the hospital to enjoy during their stay.  The class will be assembling the materials, but will not make the projects. The project is specific, with detailed instructions to follow due to guidelines for safety.
   Parents interested in hosting and helping out for the valentines party are welcome, and a sign up genius is available at:   
  
  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0A4AA9AF2BA31-valentines

• Early release:  Wednesday, February 26th at 1:00.

No School:  Friday, February 14th (teacher work day) and Monday,February 17th (President's Day).

1.  Science:  click on the following link and answer these questions:

http://astro.unl.edu/naap/lps/animations/lps.swf

a.  The moon goes through one cycle of phases each time it orbits earth.  How does this model show evidence of this?  Explain.  Hint use what we learned about lunar phases to defend your answer.

2.  Writing:   Student's are given in class time to take notes on president reports on Mondays.  These notes need to be taken home, a rough draft written and brought back on Wednesday for in class revision.  Revised writing pieces will be sent home for final copies to be written and turned in on Friday.

January 27th - 31st, 2014

• 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!
• Spelling Bee:  Saturday, February 1st, 2014.
• Class Pictures:  Tuesday, February 11th.

•     Valentines Day Parties, February 13^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 13^th.  Prizes will be awarded to the top three creative boxes.
• Special Valentines Update:
   The PTSA is sponsoring a project for Children's Hospital, "From Our Heart to Yours".   During the Valentine's Day party we will be helping the class prepare craft kits for the patients at Children's Hospital.   Each grade level will be preparing kits for the children at the hospital to enjoy during their stay.  The class will be assembling the materials, but will not make the projects. The project is specific, with detailed instructions to follow due to guidelines for safety.
   Parents interested in hosting and helping out for the valentines party are welcome, and a sign up genius is available at:    
  
  http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B0A4AA9AF2BA31-valentines

• Early release:  Wednesday, February 26th at 1:00.
• Science Fair:  Wednesday, January 30th.
• No School:  Friday, February 14th (teacher work day) and Monday,February 17th (President's Day).
  
  
  

  

  
  
  Math:   I will be using ixl.com as a math review tool for your students. So, even though we are currently working on algebra and word problems in Math Expressions Unit 4, you might not see this concept in the ixl.com exercises. 
  
  
  

  The purpose of ixl.com is to strengthen skills and review concepts.  ixl.com is an important component of your weekly math homework practice.

  
  

  
  

  Please Visit ixl.com, sign in, and work on the following skills in the 4th grade MATH section:

  
  

  4th Grade Level

  
  

  M.2

  M.4

  M.6

  M.7
  
  *You will need scratch paper

  
  

  After you practice your assigned skills, you may practice in any area of ixl.com, but please try to stay in the 3rd, 4th, or 5th grade areas.

  
  

  Other Information:
  

  • Your child's username is their first and last  name, lowercase with no spaces and 929.  Example: johnsmith929

January 21 - 24th, 2014

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 13^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 13^th.  Prizes will be awarded to the top three creative boxes. PTSA is sponsoring a project for Children's Hospital, "From Our Heart to Yours". During the Valentine's Day party we will be helping the class prepare craft kits for the patients at children's hospital. Each grade level will be preparing kits for the children at the hospital to enjoy during their stay.  Our class will be assembling the materials, but will not make the projects. More information will follow this blog.

Monday, January 20th  Martian Luther King holiday. No school.

Friday, January 24th, Flex Day by appointment. See note  attached to student planner last Monday. 

Early release:  Wednesday,February 26th, 1:00.

Science Fair:  Wednesday, January 29th.

No School:  Friday, February 14th (teacher workday) and Monday, February 17th (President's Day).

1.  List the author's purpose for writing the following piece. Constructed Response:  In the text, Wildlife Refuge, give three examples why the writer thinks it's a good idea to take a field trip to the Wildlife Refuge.

Wildlife Refuge* Field Trip

Dear Mr. Smith and Mrs. Nieto,

We have a problem. The wildlife here in the city is very limited. There is not a lot of opportunity to learn about conservation and wildlife preservation. If we took a field trip to The Wildlife Refuge our problem would be solved. Trenton, Diego and I would like to take our class for a great learning experience. In addition, we will provide a study guide to students to identify the animals and provide information about conservation of endangered wildlife.

If we went on a field trip, we will learn about the wildlife from around the world and how rivers provide a natural habitat for them to live and breed. This information would help us to understand the importance of science in our day to day life. We would use math to make a budget and figure out a way to earn money. These skills will be very useful again and again. We will learn how to make a schedule with target dates. This will provide us with a plan that covers the entire project from start to finish. The preparation of the study guide will require lots of research and organization of information. The first thing to do is research, research, research! Next, we will choose a fund raiser (with your approval, of course). This will earn money for the field trip. The parents will hopefully chip in their time and money, if we don't get enough. We will prepare a plan schedule. This will provide the dates that team members will need to accomplish the steps toward our goal. My competent adult model is the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World. It shows us step by step how to plan a trip and what to see. Now, you are asking why should I approve a trip to The Wildlife Refuge ? How does this improve student learning? Besides the fact that the project planning, fund raising, budgeting and reporting will provide an excellent learning opportunity, it will provide education. It will also provide awareness of wildlife and the importance of conservation. This project will be evaluated by its successful planning and its ability to involve our class in wildlife conservation. The trip will be evaluated by the student participation on the trip and a plan of conservation that identifies what we can all do to protect and respect wildlife so they will still be around when we have children.

Sincerely,

Your student

2. MATH

Visit the link below for a cool interactive math dictionary.

http://www.amathsdictionaryforkids.com/

Look up the following math words.  Draw a picture of each word and write a short definition.

point

ray

line

line segment

perpendicular lines

parallel lines

intersecting lines

parallelogram

rhombus

trapezoid

Click on the two links below and play the geometry games.

http://www.kidsmathgamesonline.com/geometry/angles.html

http://www.kidsmathgamesonline.com/geometry/transformation.html

Have mom or dad sign off in your planner on the day(s) you play.

January 13th - 17th, 2014

• Monday, January 20th , No school. Martin Luther King Day.

• Friday, January 24th FLEX Day.  An individual assessment appointment has been scheduled for your child. The purpose of this assessment if to help us obtain information on your child's reading progress. Notes will be sent home Monday in your son/daughter's planner indicating assessment times.

• Spelling Bee:  February 1st.
• Class pictures:  Tuesday, February 11th.
• Valentine Party, Thursday, February 13th.
• No School:  Friday, February 14th
• No School:  Monday, February 17th.

1.  Math Homework:   Students need to log onto IXL.Com, sign in and complete fourth grade long division.

                                    also, almost daily homework practice sheets are assigned to students and due the                                         next day. This additional practice directly supports our work in class.

2.  Reading:                  Students will need to continue to complete their weekly at home reading and record                                       and turn in their reading minutes each friday.  150 minutes of reading is required to                                         meet fourth grade standards.

3.   Science:                 Watch the science videos below.  Think about the question we tried to prove in                                            science class this week:  Whose day is longer, Earth or Jupiter?  Write an explanation                                    of how you know the answer to the question.

http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch?v=hmeSpI48Nw4

http://www.cleanvideosearch.com/media/action/yt/watch?videoId=FJVNUFBgRmM

December 16th - 20th, 2013

No take home note or reaction sheet next week!  The only homework over winter break required from student's is the reading log.  Enjoy your holiday break!

• Students continue to impress me with their writing and taking the time to brainstorm, plan, edit and revise both their in class writing and their weekly president's reports.  Thank you for the continued support.
• IXL has been purchased for our fourth grade continued use.  Student's now must log in with their student id and still :  (first and last name and 929)  billsmith929       nisely04.       Minutes and scores will now be saved to a class roster for more accurate record keeping.
• Wednesday, December 11th, Barnes and Noble night.
• Thursday, December 19th, Geo Bee, Van Arsdale library, 2:00.
• Tuesday, December 17th, 4th grade musical, 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
• Winter Break:  December 23rd-January 3rd.
• Students return:  Wednesday, January 8th.

Student's need to bring in an orange to school before Thursday.

1. Science:  Please watch the following YouTube videos about the rotations of the planets in the solar system.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BT49AiYFV98&noredirect=1

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

2.  President's report:  Student's are required to take notes in class on Mondays on the class president.  From now on students will write their rough draft at home on Monday and Tuesday and bring their writing piece back to school for revising on Wednesday.  Spending time in class to revise will help prompt that beautiful language and rich vocabulary students are required to use in their writing.

3.  Math:  In addition to random days of math homework work practice, students are required to log into IXL and work through the division problems given.  As they log in, I can monitor their work and their time spent on this task.  Log in is as follows:

IXL.  Student's now must log in with their student id and still :  (first and last name and 929)  billsmith929       nisely04.