This Week
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March 2-6, 2020
**Spring Pictures will be Tuesday March 10**
There will be no school Thursday March 12 and Friday March 13
Spelling Skill: Closed Syllables
Spelling Words: basket, rabbit, napkin, letter, invite, bedtime, mammal, number, fellow, chapter, follow, problem, chicken, butter, Sunday
Reading: Analyzing Nonfiction Text Structure – Cause/Effect
Math: Comparing Fractions and Representing a Fraction on a Number Line
Science: Environmental Traits
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February 24-28, 2020
Spelling Skill: /f/ sound spelled f, ff, ph or gh
Spelling Words: golfer, felt, farmer, full, feelings, family, cough, enough, roof, rough, forgetful, fashion, photograph, tough, phrase Bonus Words: paragraph, difference
Grammar: adverbs
Reading: This week we will be doing an Artful Reading unit in which we focus on investigating. Students will NOT have a comprehension test this week.
Math: Our fraction unit focuses on continuing to lay the foundational knowledge of partioning shapes into equal parts. Later this week we will begin to compare fractions. We will start to use fraction strips to help us learn to compare.
Science: Inheritance and Variation of Traits unit continues.
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February 17-21, 2020
**NO School Monday Feb. 17**
Spelling Skill: Inflectional endings y to I
Spelling Words: tries, tried, trying, dries, dried, drying, hurries, hurried, hurrying, studies, studied, studying, plays, played, playing Bonus: obeyed, worrying
Grammar: Adverb review and pronoun usage.
Reading/Writing: Analyze Text Structure
Math: Introduction to Fractions
Science: Inheritance and Variation of Traits
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February 10-14, 2020
**No School next Monday Feb. 17**
SpellingSkill: Compound Words
Spelling Words: airplane, daytime, birthday, daylight, hairdo, notebook, birdhouse, barefoot, headlight, sometime, someone, newspaper, sidewalks, basketball, stagecoach
Bonus: somebody, handwriting
Reading
Strategy: Summarize Skill: Main Idea
Math
Math Test Tuesday over our final multiplication unit. We will complete and check a practice test together in class Monday. This will come home with students and they should use this as their study guide.
*Please note* Although we will begin our Fraction Unit on Wednesday, students should continue to practice their multiplication/division facts at home. We will continue our classroom multiplication and division challenge for at least another month as an effort to encourage and motivate students to know their facts. It is VERY important that they know all facts fluently for fourth grade.
Science
Inherited Traits
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February 3 – 7, 2020
Spelling Skill: soft c and g
Spelling Words: cell, gems, age, place, gyms, city, cents, price, space, nice, giant, changes, pages, gentle, message
Bonus: giraffe, celebrate
Grammar: Irregular Verbs
Reading: “Out of This World”
Genre: Biography (Ellen Ochoa)
Skill: Sequence
Math: Continue to practice patterns to multiply numbers by 9; Interpret the unknown in multiplication and division to model and solve problems. (Quiz Thursday)
Solve two-step word problems involving all four operations and assess the reasonableness of solutions; Solve two-step word problems involving multiplying single-digit factors and multiples of 10.
Social Studies: We will continue to learn about different types of governments in different communities around the world.
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January 27 – 31
Spelling Skill: homophones
Spelling Words: sale, sail, beat, beet, rode, road, rowed, its, it’s, your, you’re, there, they’re, peace, piece
Bonus: seen, scene
Reading – This week we will be reading an excerpt from “Ramona and Her Father” as we focus on the text structure of problem/solution in fiction. We will also focus on theme.
Genre – Humorous Fiction
Vocabulary: anxious, cross, managed, alarmed, pretend, unfortunately
Academic Vocabulary: monitor comprehension, problem/solution, verb, narrator, dialogue
Writing: We will continue our “perfect paragraphs” on respect in our school and begin to put our paragraphs together for a complete writing piece.
Math – Our multiplication and division unit will focus on associative property, identifying patterns, and our 8s and 9s facts.
Science - Wrapping up our Adaptations unit.
Social Studies - We will learn about different types of governments in different communities around the world.
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January 21– 24, 2020
*No School Monday January 20*
**MUSIC TEST TUESDAY*** All students have their Music Study Guide in their binders.
7s Multiplication Facts Quiz WEDNESDAY
Spelling Skill: variant vowels aw, au, al, alt, ou, al
Spelling Words: yawn, taught, salt, lawn, halls, hauls, hawks, squawk, bought, bawls, drawing, caused, paused, crawled, coughing
Bonus: walrus, autumn
Reading: “A Growing Interest” Skill: Problem/Solution
Genre – Informational Text
Vocabulary – awareness, pollution, emphasize, utilize
Math – Our multiplication unit continues. This week we will focus on using parentheses, associative property, and distributive property. In addition, there will be a 7s facts quiz on Wednesday as well as a mid unit check on Friday.
Science: Adaptations
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January 13 – 17, 2020
No School Next Monday January 20, 2020
Spelling Skill: Plural words
Spelling Words: years, twins, trays, states, ashes, foxes, inches, flies, cities, ponies, bunches, alleys, lunches, cherries, daisies,
Bonus: heroes, libraries
Grammar: Review forms of be; Introduce linking verbs
Reading: “Nacho and Lolita”
Genre: Folktale
Skill: Theme
Writing: Review organization of informational writing
Math: – Interpret the unknown in multiplication and division to model and solve problems using units of 6 and 7.
*6s Facts Quiz Monday*
Science: Adaptations
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January 6 – 10, 2020
Happy New Year and Welcome Back!
Spelling Skill: Diphthong ou, ow
Spelling Words: found, town, shout, owl, couch, bow, scout, round, plow, crowd, proud, clouds, ground, louder, bounce Bonus: outline, snowplow
Grammar: Present tense forms of verbs be, do, have
Reading/Writing
"Seven Spools of Thread"
Strategy: Visualize
Skill: Draw Conclusions
Genre – Fable Vocabulary: beamed, argued, possessions, fabric, purchased, quarreling
Math: Multiplication and division resumes. We will begin a new unit as we start to focus on multiplication and division of 6-9 facts as well as properties.
Social Studies: Physical Geography Unit
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December 16 – 20, 2019
Last Day before Christmas Break: Friday Dec. 20
Spelling Words: snowman, wreath, reindeer, Christmas, Santa, holly, angel, carols, snowflakes, winter, elf, sleigh, merry, lights, candle
Bonus: presents, mistletoe
Grammar: commas and quotation marks in dialogue
Reading/Writing: This week we are working on character traits and how to reveal them through dialogue and a character's actions.
Math: Geometry Unit – Polygons, lines, segments, rays. We will be completing a project to demonstrate our learning.
Science: Social Groups Unit
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Dec. 9-13, 2019
MAP Testing for our class is THIS Wednesday and Friday to help us determine academic growth in Reading and Math. We will be testing first thing in the morning on those day, so please make every effort to have your child here on time.
Spelling Skill: double consonants
Spelling Words: spill, berry, happy, really, messy, lettuce, carrot, puzzle, traffic, pizza, errand, litter, address, collect, happen. Bonus: successful, necessary
Reading: In addition to our MAP testing, we will use our other days to finish up an Artful Reading unit activity on civilizations.
Math: Continue our work on multi-step word problems using multiplication and division. Ask your child to tell you about RDW (Read, Draw, Write).
Science: Our Social Groups unit continues.
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Dec. 2 – 6, 2019
MAP Testing for our class will be NEXT week on Wed. Dec. 11 and Friday Dec. 13
Spelling Skill: variant vowels /u/
Spelling Words: : loop, rude, look, clue, spoon, tube, shook, blue, cubes, goose, mules, gloom, true, shoe, stew
Bonus: classroom, childhood
Reading: This week and next week we will break away from our typical reading routine to explore Weslandiaand Roxaboxenas part of our Artful Reading unit. Both of these books explore and inspire imaginative civilizations and the wonderful world of childhood play and games.
Math: Our multiplication and division unit continues as we focus on distributive property and multi-step word problems. There will be a quiz Tuesday.
Science: Animals in Social Groups
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Nov. 25-26
No School Wednesday, Thursday, Friday this week.
Reading: We will be doing an author study on Eileen Christelow this week. She wrote the main selection we read last week titled “What Do Illustrators Do?” as well as many other books. We will be reading several of her titles, researching her background, and them summarizing and recording our findings.
Math: Distributive Property
Social Studies: Our American Heritage
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Nov. 18-22, 2019
Please sign and return the parent signature page on the front of your child's progress report.
Spelling Words: coy, soil, foil, toil, coins, point, noise, loyal, boiled, spoiled, enjoys, voice, choice, soybean, joyful
Bonus: noisy, checkpoint
Grammar: future tense verbs; colons in time; quotation marks
Reading/Writing
Finish "Thankful" writing activity
Main Selection: What Do Illustrators Do?
Skill: Sequence
Genre – Expository
Vocabulary: instance, illustrate, style, textures, sketches, suggestions
Academic vocabulary: text structure, sequence, sentence clues, future tense verbs, audience, complex sentence, conclusions, historical events, italics, cause/effect
Math
Multiplication and division unit continues
3s Facts quiz Monday; 4s Facts quiz Friday
Social Studies: Population Map Skills and Our American Heritage
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Nov. 11-15, 2019
Spelling Skill: r-controlled vowels ar and or.
Spelling Words: bark, shorts, sharp, sore, hard, storms, yard, sport, sharks, porch, pour, story, chore, wore, carve, first, third, nurse
Bonus Words: orchard, artist
Grammar: Action Verb review; Present-tense verbs
Reading
Genre: Fiction Selection: Dear Juno
Character/Setting/Plot
Summarizing and retelling the plot of a fiction story
Math: Determine the unknown whole number in a multiplication or division equation relating three whole numbers.
Social Studies: Our American Culture
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Nov. 6-8, 2019
Spelling Skill: Prefixes re, un, pre, mis
Spelling Words: unfair, unwanted, unhappy, undone, unload, retold, recall, recycle, misfile, misnumber, misread, mistreat, precut, preplan, presale, hard, porch, carve,
Bonus: retold, preplan
Grammar: Past Tense Verbs
Reading - Text Structure: Cause/Effect
Math: Multiplication and Division Unit Continues
Your child has resources in his/her binder to practice facts and should be doing so every night.
Science: Concluding our Life Cycles Unit
Social Studies: Introducing new unit: "Our American Culture"
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Oct. 28 - Nov. 1, 2019
Red Ribbon Week!!!
Monday - Pajama Day
Tuesday - Denim Day
Wednesday - Crazy Hat and Sock Day
Thursday - Halloween Costumes
Friday - Southgate Red/White Spirit Wear
(No School NEXT MONDAY/TUESDAY Nov. 4th and 5th.)
Reading - Main Selection: "Author: A True Story"
genre - autobiography skill - author's purpose
Spelling Skill: r controlled vowels er, ir, ur
Spelling Words: turns, first, herds, learn, purr, third, earn, nurse, perch, girls, firm, word, world, serve, worth
Bonus: perfect, Thursday
Grammar: Action Verbs
Math: Multiplication
*Relating multiplication to the array model
*Interpreting the meaning of factors - the size of the groups or number of groups
Vocabulary: array, equal groups, factors, product
Science: Life Cycles
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Oct. 21-25, 2019
Reading: Our main selection, Castle on Viola Street, will focus on theme.
Writing: Perfect Paragraph on Halloween Safety
Spelling Skill: contractions
Spelling Words: he’d, she’d, that’s, what’s, won’t, there’s, you’re, wasn’t, we’ll, isn’t, we’re, couldn’t, I’ve, didn’t, they’re
Bonus: shouldn’t, wouldn’t
Math: Beginning multiplication unit
Science: Life Cycles
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Oct. 14 & 15, 2019
**Parent/Teacher Conferences are Wednesday Oct. 16th**
NO SCHOOL for students Wednesday, Thursday, Friday Oct. 16-18.
**Field Trip to Ed-Mar Dairy Farm in Walton, KY. PLEASE DRESS ACCORDINGLY.
No new spelling skill this week.
Math Test Monday (Multi-step word problems)
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Oct. 7 - 11, 2019
*Be on the lookout for a permission slip coming home Monday. We will be taking a field trip Tuesday October 15 to Ed-Mar Dairy Farm in Walton, KY.
Spelling Skill: homophones
Spelling Words: ant, aunt, there, their, they’re, brake, break, your, you’re, beat, beet, sail, sale, bare, bear
Bonus: clothes, close
Grammar: Possessive Nouns
Reading: We will be completing an Artful Reading unit this week. There will NOT be a comprehension test this week.
Math - Multi-step word problems. (Test next Tuesday Oct. 15.)
Social Studies - Why do people and countries trade with one another? How has new technology changed businesses?
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Sept. 30 - Oct. 4, 2019
Picture Day Tuesday Oct. 1
Parent Conference Sign Ups were sent home Friday. Please review our time slots and return your preferences as soon as possible. I'm looking forward to meeting with all of you!!
Spelling Skill: Digraphs tch, ch, sh, th, wh
Spelling Words: Spelling Words: chick, much, pitch, teacher, lunch, hatch, cheese, stretch, thick, truth, whales, fish, what, them, pathway,
Bonus: sandwich, weather
Grammar: Irregular Plural Nouns
Reading Skill: Author's Purpose
Math: Subtraction Strategies; Later in week: Review of addition and subtraction algorithm
Social Studies: Working in Our Community (Workers and Consumers; How Business Works)
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September 23 - 27, 2019
Math
Addition strategies for adding large numbers mentally
Writing: Perfect Paragraph
Reading:
Main Idea and Details
Main Selection: Go West Genre: Expository
Comprehension Test Thursday. (NO studying at home is required.
This test is open-book, as students are required to look back at the text.)
Spelling Skill: three letter blends
Spelling Words: thread, scrubs, spree, screams, street, scratch, spread, throne, three, screens, spray, throw, strong, scraped, strength,
Bonus: streamer, scribble
Grammar: singular and plural nouns
Spelling Test Friday. This test includes a grammar check component.
Science: Forces and Motion: contact forces, non contact forces, friction, gravity, balanced/unbalanced forces
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September 16-20, 2019
Progress Reports were sent home Friday Sept. 13th. Please be sure to review your child's report, sign and detach the signature page, and send the signature sheet back to school with your student.
Math
Rounding and Estimating Sums and Differences
Test Friday
Reading:
Summarizing and Sequencing
Main Selection: Boom Town
Genre: Historical Fiction
Comprehension Test Thursday. (NO studying at home is required.
This test is open-book, as students are required to look back at the text.)
Spelling Skill: long e
Spelling Words: heel, seal, weak, week, bean, creek, speaks, team, free, green, clean, cream, street, freeze, field
Review: right, pie, child Bonus: sixteen, peanut
Grammar: Common and Proper Nouns; Capitalize Proper Nouns
Spelling Test Friday. This test includes a sentence correction component.
Grammar: Predicate Review; Compound Sentences
Science: Force and Motion
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September 9-13
What We’re Learning This Week
Math
Rounding to the nearest hundred; Introduce estimating to add or subtract
Reading:
“My Very Own Room”
Strategy: Make and Confirm Predictions
Skill: Compare and Contrast
Genre – Fiction
Vocabulary: separate, determination, storage, exact, ruined, luckiest
Comprehension Test Thursday. (NO studying at home is required.
This test is open-book, as students are required to look back at the text.)
Spelling Skill: Long I, multisyllabic words
Spelling Words: mild, sky, pie, might, find, fight, tied, right, fry, tight, child, flight, bright, buy, dye
Bonus: wind, children
Spelling Test Friday. This test includes a sentence correction component.
Grammar: Predicate
Social Studies: Continue our unit on communities
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September 3-6, 2019
NO SCHOOL MONDAY SEPT. 2 (Holiday)
**Our first "Early Release Thursday" is this week! School will dismiss at 2:00 Thursday Sept. 5.
Math
Rounding numbers to the nearest ten and nearest hundred
Reading
Strategy: Generate Questions Skill: Compare and Contrast
Genre – Fantasy
Vocabulary: passion, bothering, admire, concentrate, ached, splendid Reading Comprehension Test Thursday. (NO studying at home is required.
This test is open book as students are required to look back at the text.)
Spelling Skill: Long o
Spelling Words: gold, bowl, soak, sold, snow, loaf, roast, coast, scold, coal, slow, grows, show, float, blow
Review: snail, plain, gray Bonus: window, program
Spelling Test Friday. This test includes a sentence correction component.
Grammar: Subjects, predicates
Science and Social Studies will be covered on an alternating schedule. This week we will begin our study of communities in Social Studies. We will learn what what a community is, what makes communities different, and we will use map and globe skills to locate communities near and far.
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August 26 - 30, 2019
[email protected]
Upcoming Important Dates:
MAP Testing Tuesday Aug. 27 and Thursday Aug. 29
Labor Day – NO SCHOOL Monday September 2
Have you joined Class Dojo? Your child brought home a set of instructions for the app Class Dojo and a code to join our class. Many of you have joined are know the benefits of parent/teacher communication this app offers. It's free! :) I encourage you to join.
What We’re Learning This Week:
Math
Review Place Value; Use place value to order 3 and 4 digit numbers; Begin new unit on rounding to the nearest ten and hundred
Reading
Strategy: Generate Questions Skill: Main Idea and Details
Genre – Nonfiction
Vocabulary: donate, unaware, members, contribute
Reading Comprehension Test Thursday.
(NO studying at home is required.
This test is open book as students are required to look back at the text.)
Spelling Skill: Long a
Spelling Words: fail, bay, pail, ray, plain, tray, trail, may, braid, sway, gray, plays, paint, snail
Sight Word: great Bonus: lady; afraid
Spelling Test Friday. This test includes a sentence correction component.
Grammar: Subjects
Science and Social Studies will be covered on an alternating schedule with each unit lasting approx. two weeks. This week we will continue our Science unit on objects and motion.
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August 19 - 23, 2019
Welcome Parents!
The first two days of school were great! Your kiddos were ready to go bright and early Thursday morning! Thank you! Not only were they ready, they were prepared! Everybody had so many supplies from the list! If there is anything you still need, please be sure to let me know! I thank you also for the many additional items you sent in like tissues, pencils, baggies, and wipes. This is so helpful and I greatly appreciate it!
Homework
Students will typically have homework in math and/or spelling 2 to 3 days a week. Occasionally, they will also have homework in another subject area. *** I have made it very clear to student that they should ALWAYS take any homework home to explain to parents, even if they finished it at the end of the school day. *** It is my belief that students gain more knowledge from discussing and explaining assignments. If they can’t explain it to you, then they will need your help completing the assignment.
Planners
Our planners have not yet arrived yet, but when they do, I’ll ask parents to sign student planners each night. By initialing at the bottom of the column for the corresponding date, I can see that your child has taken the time to show you his/her planner and what the assigned homework is for that night. This is a habit I'd like to help students form so that they are telling you about what goes on at school. :)
Snacks
Remember that students are encouraged to bring a small, healthy snack.
Email is always the best way to contact me.
[email protected]
**I'm also in the process of setting up Class Dojo for our class. Many parents are connected, but it will take a little time for us all to connect. Eventually I will be using this to communicate as well.
Here’s what we’re learning this week:
Math – Numbers to 10,000; Place Value
Vocabulary: word form, standard form, digit, place-value chart, place-value strips, expanded form, greater than, less than, least, greatest, rule, number line.
Reading – “Amazing Grace”
We will have a reading comprehension test each Thursday of our weekly selection, but it is NOT the type of test that would require your child to bring home his/her reading book. We will cover this material in class thoroughly.
Strategy: Analyze Story Structure
Skill: Cause and Effect
Genre - Fiction
Vocabulary: auditions, adventure, exploring, sparkling, fantastic, success
Additional Academic Vocabulary: Elements of fiction: setting, character, plot, conflict, climax, theme
Spelling Skill: Words with final e
Spelling Words:
1. date
2. fine
3. rose
4. lake
5. life
6. home
7. safe
8. rice
9. globe
10. plane
11. wise
12. smoke
13. grade
14. smile
15. come
Bonus:
sneeze
escape
Grammar: Commands and Exclamations
We will be setting up our notebooks in math, reading and writing this week. These notebooks will be a big part of our learning, but will be kept in the classroom at all times.
Thursday – Reading Comprehension Test (no studying required at home)
Friday – Spelling Test and Grammar check (Study words)
Friday – Math check on place value
Throughout the week I will also be doing informal assessments in math and reading fluency to set a baseline for student achievement and goals.
Specials Schedule: Monday - Practical Living; Tuesday – Music and Library; Wednesday – PE; Thursday – Music; Friday - Art
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