Our class is just finishing From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler. We will watch the movie version next week and write a compare and contrast essay. As you know, we are creating our own museums, which are due in school on May 5. On May 6, we are inviting parents and Unquowa students to visit our room from 9-10:15 to share the museums. We will leave them in the classroom to share on Grandparents Day. After our trip to the Fairfield History Museum to study museum collections, we came away with some new ideas for our museums. Our next literature selections are The Ghost of Fossil Glen, Earthquake Terror, and Trouble River. The students have free choice to read the book that interests them the most.

In math we have just finished up an extensive study of fractions, using the Keys to Fractions series. Measurement is our next unit of study and we will use Keys to Measurement. This series starts off with basic review skills and progresses through measuring curves and round objects. Changing between inches, feet and yards is explored.

We are moving WEST in social studies. The students have created vocabulary word rings and are practicing with their classmates. Flip books, maps and cutaway diagrams will also be created during this unit. The Mountain State is our first area  of focus. If anyone has visited our western states and would like to share pictures, etc. please let me know and we can arrange a time for you to visit our class.

Upcoming Events:

ERB Testing April 26-29 Make up day is Friday, April 30

April 29 is our After School Social with 5th grade

May 4 Aldrich Museum

May 5 Museums due

May 6 Parents invited to see museums 9-10:00

May 7 Grandparents Day

May 11 OCEANS movie

May 28 Field Day - noon dismissal

June 3 Sturbridge Village

Welcome Back!

To begin the new year, we will be reading Dear Mr. Henshaw by Beverly Cleary. This is the story of Leigh Botts, who has been author Boyd Henshaw’s number-one fan ever since he was in second grade. Now in sixth grade, Leigh lives with his mother and is the new kid at school. He’s lonely, troubled by the absence of his father, a cross-country trucker, and angry because a mysterious thief steals from his lunch bag. Then Leigh’s teacher assigns a letter-writing project. Naturally Leigh chooses to write to Mr. Henshaw, whose surprising answer changes Leigh’s life.

Multiplication will continue as we add division facts to our daily practice. Lattice multiplication was a great success, as it enabled students to work out long multiplication problems in a simplified format.

Moving SOUTH for social studies we will explore the region in three separate sections : Atlantic Coast and Appalachian states, Southeast and Gulf states, and South Central states. Our Time Reader selections include Sites of the Civil War, At the Center of the Earth, and The Cajuns.

Language Arts

We have just completed reading Chocolate Fever. Our next literature selection will be the Newbery Award winner, Shiloh , by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor. When completed, we will view the movie version and write a compare and contrast essay. Our grammar focus this trimester will be on sentence types and structure. We will continue to develop vocabulary as related to literature selections and from direct instruction.

Math

We have begun multiplication. After a quick review of the basic facts, we will complete daily “speed races”. Each race has 30 basic facts, and our goal is to accurately complete each in one minute. Two and three digit multiplication will be explored in the traditional way, as well as in a lattice box structure. More on this as the trimester progresses.

Social Studies

The students completed learning about the New England region and created wonderful projects. We have a covered bridge, lobster traps, timelines, and beautiful art work, among others. We are moving into the Middle Atlantic region.

This month in fourth grade, we will explore animal growth and adaptations. Students will discover many different species and recognize the adaptations they have to survive in their respective habitats. We will discover that all animals have 5 basic needs; climate, environment, oxygen, food and water. Fourth graders will learn about instinct and learned behaviors of animals, such as migration of the monarch butterfly and pacific salmon.  Later in the month, we will also investigate plant adaptations, where like animals, plants also have evolved to survive in their own environments.

In a recent lab, fourth graders investigated the size and shape of various birds’ beaks to determine the best beak for picking up an assortment of foods.

Language Arts

We begin the new year with our first literature selection, Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLaughlin. It is a gentle story of how Sarah came to join a family in the Midwest. After completing the book and watching the movie, the students will write a compare and contrast essay. This will be a guided writing experience.

Spelling pretests are given each Monday morning. We begin with twenty basic words, increasing the number to thirty by Halloween. Students will complete an entire lesson each week, focusing on a specific spelling pattern. There is a writing piece due each Friday.

Grammar, punctuation and spelling are reinforced with guided lessons and Daily Language exercises using our Smartboard. All of these skills are incorporated into writing using the 6 + 1 Writing Traits approach.

Math

Initially, we will review place value to the millions. The students will also review writing numbers in different but equivalent forms. Students will compare and order numbers through 999,999,999. They will round numbers to the millions and make logical estimations. Students will count money, make change, and use money to get an introductory understanding of decimals.

Social Studies

Fourth grade focus is on the geography of the United States. We begin with an introduction to the great variety of land forms, natural resources and regions of the United States. We learn how to set up a notebook and how to use it as a study tool.

Activity to Try

Ask your child to select four cities located in different parts of the USA. With your child, look in a newspaper, on television, or on the Internet to find weather forecasts for each city. Compare the weather conditions in the different cities and discuss how the weather likely affects people who live in each city.

We have totally enjoyed reading the Newberry Medal book The Twenty-One Balloons, by William Pene du Bois. This exciting fictional story is about Professor Sherman and his hot air balloon adventure which leads him to the island of Krakatoa. In learning about the real island of Krakatoa, we watched a PBS video. The students experienced the violent eruption through reenactments, interviews with modern day scientists and other primary sources. They even got to discuss Krakatoa during their science investigation of sound and how it travels.

Subjects and predicates, both complete and simple, have been our focus in grammar. We will begin simple diagramming of sentences in the very near future.

Today is our last day traveling throught the Mountain states on our way West. We will be traveling through the Southwestern and Pacific states for the remainder of the school year. In collaboration with the art department, the students will create Native American sand paintings.

ERB Testing will take place next week.

Language Arts

We are almost finished reading There’s a Boy in the Girl’s Bathroom with small literature groups. Students have specific “jobs” to complete for each section of the book. Complete and simple subjects is our focus in grammar this month. We have written a Family Fun essay and composed a number of couplets.

Social Studies

The Great Lakes region is complete. Each student created and “Economic Profile” poster for one of the states in this region. We are moving on to the Plains region where we will learn the differnces between the Great Plains and the Central Plains.