Happy New Year & Welcome Back!
I hope everyone had a
wonderful holiday season and a fun and relaxing winter break!
Thank you so, so much
for all of the kind and thoughtful gifts that you shared with me!
Here is an overview of
what we will be working on for the next few weeks in 4th grade:
Reading & Writing:
This quarter the 4th
grade will be reading and studying non-fiction texts in the context of
historical events, as well as historical fiction in its application to
real-world events. This unit offers the opportunity to combine ELA and Writing
standards to maximize student engagement and take-away. The 4th grade uses the
Civil Rights Movements of the United States from the Restoration Era to the
1960's as the content vehicle to deliver these lessons, focusing on major historical
figures and events that contributed to the Movement. Students will begin
learning about the real-world history of the Civil Rights Movement by reading
non-fiction historical texts; we will be reading both 1st-hand and 2nd-hand
accounts to give students factual background knowledge about the environment
and factors that contributed to the Civil Rights Movement, identifying and
ordering events and their consequences. Some of the events we will be reading
about include:
- The Greensboro 4, and the Sit-Ins
- The Birmingham Riots
- The Selma March
- Martin Luther King, Jr., and
his non-violent protests and influence
- Montgomery, Alabama
- The Washington, D.C. March and
the I Have a Dream Speech
Math:
Week 1: Basic
Fractions 3rd Grade Review
Week 2: Fractions (Equivalent,
Unit Fractions)
Week 3: Fractions
(Comparing)
Week 4: Fractions
(Comparing)
Week 5: Decimals
Week 6:
Fraction/Decimal Conversion
Week 7:
Adding/Subtracting Fractions & Decimals
Week 8:
Adding/Subtracting Fractions & Decimals
Week 9: Review &
Assessment
Science:
We will begin the
quarter with our brief but interesting unit about phases of the moon. This
small unit focuses on the cause of day and night and how the appearance of the
moon changes.
A few reminders:
PLEASE remind your
child to charge their computer each evening. Most days we use computers in
class for at least one or two activities and things run much smoother if
everyone has a working computer.
Please also help your
child to remember to bring a sweatshirt or jacket each day. Unless it is
extremely cold or raining we will be having outdoor recess.
Beginning this quarter
there will be a slight change in our classroom behavior policy. For the first
half of the year students who did not earn a strike (the yellow slips used as a
consequence/home communication for breaking a classroom rule after being
reminded of the rule) each day earned a dum dum at the end of the day. Now
students who make it to the end of the day without getting any strikes will get
a “Dolphin Dollar”. Over the next few weeks the students as students begin to
accrue money they will help me determine a list of things to spend their
Dolphin Dollars on. Some possibilities include:
- Wearing a hat for a day
- Working with their shoes off
- Sitting with a friend from
another class at lunch
- Working in my reading chair
- Exemption from a lap at recess
