Happy New Year & Welcome Back!
First, I'd to thank all of you so much for all of the kind and thoughtful Christmas gifts and contributions to our Christmas Around the World party before break. I was so proud of the kids for being adventurous and trying foods that were new to them!
In Reading...
We will begin historical fiction book clubs focusing on the Civil Rights Era. Students will be mixed up with other 4th graders and may be with another teacher during this time. Our class will stay together for our read aloud, The Watson's Go to Birmingham-1963 This is one of my favorite books to read aloud because it helps make history interesting for them and the author is very good at using age appropriate humor to keep them engaged. I encourage you to ask them each day what happened and what they think of the book. The book was recently made into a movie for the Hallmark Channel, if you happen to have it please save it until after we finish reading the book :)
In Math...
At the end of last quarter we began looking at very basic properties of division. We used manipulatives to model and see what it means to break 2 digit numbers in to equal groups and what happens when there are leftovers (remainders). Next we will start division with larger numbers. We will be learning 2 different methods for greater number division. Most likely neither of these methods will look like the long division method that you remember. I know this can be frustrating and confusing for parents, but I am asking that you trust that these methods will help your child to truly understand what happens to numbers when they are divided, rather than just help them memorize steps in a process (divide-multiply-subtract-bring down). In my 7-8 years of teaching division this way I have become a HUGE fan of these methods because of the success ALL students are able to have in math, even if they aren't already strong in math.
In Writing....
We will begin looking at persuasive writing. We will start with defining the word opinion and practice finding evidence to defend an opinion and persuade others to agree. By the end of the quarter students will go through the writing process (plan, draft, revise, edit) and create a persuasive essay and a literary essay.
In Social Studies....
We will be starting our unit focused on Government. Our first topics are:
- what is government?
-why do we need? government?
Next we will look at Colonial and other early American influences on government.
**NEWS ABOUT HOMEWORK**
This 9 weeks I'm implementing 2 new components to our homework routine- don't panic yet, it's not that bad :)
Reading for 20 minutes and writing for 10 minutes each night will remain the same.
Beginning this week your child will being home a reading log. Each night, please help them fill out the chart with the info about what they read, how long, etc. I will take these up each Friday and return them on Monday. They will be on bright card stock and will hopefully survive back and forth in backpacks.
Beginning next week (Jan 11) I am asking that they spend 30 minutes PER WEEK on TenMarks. Most of what they will do at home should be 'jam sessions'. These are fluency practice and review of things we've already learned. They may also complete 'do-overs' and amplifiers at home, but assignments and assessments will be completed in class. It is completely up to you to decide how it works best with your schedule to complete the 30 minutes, but I suggest at least 2 separate times rather than one 30 minute chunk. If you need another copy of the directions to access Tenmarks from home, please let me know.
Classroom needs:
-pencils
-baby wipes
-colored post it notes
important dates:
January 4-25 mid year reading level assessments
January 6,7 Orange County benchmark assessments, reading and math
January 18 No School, MLK, Jr day
January 21 PTA meeting
February 10 Early Release, 11:35
March 9 Early Release, 11:35
March 11 End of 3rd 9 weeks
As always, please feel free to email me anytime you have questions or concerns!
