Tuesday, April 29th

Who needs power to learn? NOT US!!!  We had a busy and productive morning, even with the lights off.

Students worked diligently to summarize a nonfiction read aloud about Harriet Beecher Stowe.  They worked to provide details from the text, as well as give their opinion about Harriet Beecher Stowe's work.

We practiced again with protractors today.  Students worked to measure acute, obtuse, and reflex angles.  We also practiced drawing the angles ourselves.

It was getting rather warm in our classroom with no air conditioning, so we took a break outside for some independent reading.

Students began working on a close read about the Seneca Falls Convention....ask your child to tell you more!

We then played a review game for Social Studies.  Students enjoyed competing against each other and discovered that they have some studying to do this evening.  Students should read their social studies study guide this evening.

I hope you all have your power restored and are safe again as storms roll through this evening.  See you tomorrow for our last day of CRCT testing and another great day!

Field Trip May 6th

Our class will be taking a field trip on Tuesday, May 6th!!!!  This will be an all day event at Welcome All Park.  We will board the busses in the morning and return in the afternoon.

Permission forms were sent home today.  Please return them as soon as possible.

Also, I am in need of one or two parent volunteers to chaperone this trip.  Please contact me at csanders@csdecatur.net if you are interested.

Thank you!!

Monday, April 28th

Happy Monday!

We had a busy morning testing.  Tomorrow will be our final day CRCT testing.

We continued our day with a Jeopardy review game for CRCT Social Studies.  Students should read through and study their social studies guide that was sent home last week.

We took a look at Ain't I a Woman, a famous speech made by Sojourner Truth.  Students enjoyed reading and watching this speech being read.  We analyzed this speech by answering some response questions with our tables and as a class.  Students also wrote a brief opinion of the speech and it's impact then and now.

Check out this great reading of Ain't I a Women by Kerry Washington.

Ain't I a Woman

We also looked at the characteristics of a biography.  Students are encouraged to check out biographies from the media center.  They will be asked to write a biography for a portion of their end of the term summative.

See you tomorrow!

Homework: Read over social studies CRCT guide.

Thursday, April 24th

We had another busy morning of testing.  Students completed the English-Language Arts portion of the CRCT this morning.  They will be taking math tomorrow.

For reading tonight, students can read through some of the math practice papers that were sent home earlier this week.  They can review problems, check for accuracy, and work out problems.  It is not necessary that they complete all of the assignments sent home.  Please spend no more than 30 minutes looking over this material this evening.

We measured angles today!!!  Students were introduced to protractors and practiced using them to measure angles.  We discussed the importance of using our knowledge about angles to help us determine the appropriate measurement (ex: an acute angle is less than 90 degrees, therefore 120 degrees would be an incorrect measurement).  Ask your child to tell you more!

Thank you for coming to school on time every day!!!  Continue to get plenty of rest, and eating a healthy breakfast.

See you in the morning!!

Wednesday, April 22nd

Happy Wednesday and happy CRCT!!!

We had a busy morning of testing.

We followed up with lunch and recess and then headed back to the classroom for some work with sentence fragments, phases of the moon, and women's suffrage.

Students analyzed a political cartoon from the women's suffrage movement.  They looked for characters or objects that could be symbols, important words or phrases, and the message of the cartoon. Ask your child to tell you more!

See you in the morning!  Don't forget to read a few things from your papers that were sent home to practice tonight.  This can be your 30 minutes of reading.

Monday, April 21st

We had a busy morning.  Students worked to define, identify and draw perpendicular lines this morning.  They utilized their knowledge of angles, and their right angle template to create, and measure their own perpendicular lines.

We have begun a new read a loud called The Hope Chest.  Students took a closer look at some unfamiliar words and figurative language used in chapter 1.  They then worked to answer some inferencing questions and create a chapter 1 summary.

We continued our discussion of democracy today.  We took a closer look at the goal of democracy to provide for the common good and what that means.  Students worked briefly to come up with some things at our school that people may disagree about.  They shared a few of the problems that they came up with.  These problems were put into a container and each group pulled at random one of the problems.  The groups were challenged to come up with a solution to the problem for our school community (students, teachers, staff, parents).  They were given the following guidelines when creating their solutions:

1. The solution must do what is best for the majority of people.
2. The solution must not be unfair to others.
3. The solution must be possible.
4. The solution must not discriminate against particular groups of people.

Students gained a new perspective on the challenges faced by a government working to promote the common good.  Ask your child to tell you more!

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, Math, Spelling (due tomorrow, test tomorrow)

CRCT Dates

4/23 - Reading
4/24 - English-Language Arts
4/25 - Math
4/28 - Science
4/29 - Social Studies

Thursday, April 17th

What a busy and great day!  I love coming back from my planning meeting to find a wonderful note from my substitute!!  WAY TO GO SUPERSTARS!!!

We worked with lines, rays, and line segments today.  Students were challenged to draw, identify, and label each.  They should be able to explain the difference between these three terms, as well as how they are all related.

We had a great discussion to lead us into our study of democracy, civic duties, and the women's suffrage movement.  Students were posed this question:

They reflected and wrote their answer on a notecard.  They were then asked to discuss if several laws are reasonable or unreasonable laws to follow.  This was a great and eye opening discussion.  Students revisited the first question at the end of our discussion and added to or changed their opinion in some way.  Ask your child to tell you more!!

We began our read aloud for term 6.  The Hope Chest is a book the ties directly to our UOI and our social studies standards for this term.  We are almost finished with the first chapter.  Students will be completing activities and assignments relating to our book.

Have a great evening!!
Homework: Spelling, Math, Read for 30 minutes.

Tuesday, April 15th

Welcome back and happy Tuesday!

We have already been super busy this week and it's only our second day back.  We have been reviewing fractions and word problems in math.  We also began looking at geometry today.  Students worked with lines of symmetry to determine what they are and how to find them.  We explored the different attributes of shapes and how those can effect how many lines of symmetry they have.

We took a trip back to August a revisited ecosystems.  Students worked hard to discuss what ecosystems are, why they are important, and why having food chains and food webs to balance ecosystems is an important part of our environment.  Students completed an exploration activity on food webs and took a look at predator/prey relationships.  They also explored extinction, how/why it can occur, and how that changes an ecosystem.

We took a look back at our Native American Tribes.  Students discussed the importance of the their regional location and resources.  We also began discussing abolitionist, activists, and women's suffrage.  We explored Harriet Tubman and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and their important contributions to America.

We have practiced some test taking strategies, such as, bubbling on a practice scantron, eliminating answers, underlining or circling on our test booklet, and more.

It has been a packed week so far with more to come.

See you tomorrow!!

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, Math

Friday, April 4th

Thank you is not enough.  I can not express my gratitude for all of the birthday cards, gifts, and treats today.  It was truly unexpected and made my entire break.  I appreciate that you all thought of me.

We had a wonderful day!  Our day started with a visit from Dr. Lola, and experimental scientist who studies cancer.  She walked us through her journey to become a scientist and did a great job answer questions from the 4th graders.  Students took their math and social studies assessments.  We also watched the iMovie trailers that students created for their reading contracts.

To end our day, students were given a scenario about a student at our school that needed assistance getting around the school utilizing simple machines.  Students worked with partners to solve three problems.  They were creative and did a wonderful job solving these problems.  Ask your child to tell you more!

If you are traveling, I hope you have a wonderful and safe trip.  If you are staying here, I hope you have a restful and fun break.  I can't wait to see you all in a week!

Thank you again for all of the birthday wishes!  Have a wonderful spring break!!!  Don't forget to read!

Thursday, April 3

Happy Thursday!
We worked with creating and analyzing line plots today.  For many students this was somewhat of a review.  Students enjoyed creating line plots for the birthdays and siblings in our class.  They were able to find the mode, the range, give their line plot a title, and answer specific questions about their data.

We looked at three more inventions that changed America during the time of westward expansion (see the link below).  Students took notes about these three inventions and we had a great discussion on the positive and negative impacts.  This information was added to their information about the cotton gin.  Ask your child to tell you more about these four amazing inventions.  Students will be tested over this information tomorrow, so practice will be helpful.

We took another look at how authors provide evidence in their writing to support the point/purpose for writing.  Students utilized a nonfiction text to determine the author's point/purpose and provide evidence to support their purpose.  We were reminded that sometimes the purpose is inferred.

We are looking forward to a science assembly tomorrow morning!

See you tomorrow!

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, Math practice

Inventions

Telegraph, steam boat, steam engine

Tuesday, April 1st

I can not believe that April is here already!

We started with word problems and work with measuring area and perimeter.  Students were given several practice problems for homework tonight.  Don't forget: A=LxW and P = 2 (LxW).  Students will be assessed tomorrow.

Students were assessed over their knowledge of simple machines and the Oregon Trail.  I will be working to have those assessments graded and returned by the end of the week.

We are completing reading contracts and writing.  Many students have already completed at least one or both of these task and are ahead of the game.

We took another look at prepositions and prepositional phrases today.  Students were to work independently to identify each in several sentences.  This was more challenging than expect.  We completed the task together.  Independent practice was provided for homework.
We reviewed complete/incomplete sentences today.  Students discussed the difference between fragments and run-on sentences and were able to identify each.  Ask your child to tell you more!

DRESS CODE:  This morning, we were reminded by Mr. Roaden of the importance of following the dress code as the weather is warming.  All shorts, skirts, and dresses should be no shorter than three inches above the knee.  Thank you so much for your assistance with this matter.

Homework: Read for 30 minutes, math, prepositional phrases