Friday, February 27th

Happy last school day of February!

We worked to identify the main idea of each paragraph in our reading about territorial expansion.  This linked to our inquiry lesson in Social Studies.  Students were asked to match pictures to their descriptions today and put them in sequential order.  They were then asked to identify the driving force behind each description/picture.  The pictures surrounded the events of the Louisiana Purchase and Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Students also looked at a variety of pictures in Science.  They were asked to first identify the movement/action occuring in each picture.  They then sorted the pictures into the categories of push, pull, or both.  Ask your child to tell you more!

We also continued our work to prepare for student-led conferences.  Conferences have been rescheduled to next Thursday, March 5th.  Your scheduled time has not changed.  If you have a conflict on that day and need to change your time, please e-mail me or send me a note.  I will reschedule your conference to a new time slot if it is available.

The Village Gathering has been rescheduled to Monday, March 2nd at 8:00 in the multipurpose room.

We hope you can join us on March 12th for the 4th grade spring luncheon.  Students received an RSVP paper today.  Please RSVP as soon as possible, so the cafeteria staff can prepare for this event.  Our lunch time may change for the luncheon, so stay tuned for our scheduled time.
Luncheon Invitation

Have a wonderful weekend!

SNOW DAY UPDATE - Wednesday, February 25th

Due to school's closure tomorrow, the Village Gathering and Student Led Conferences will be rescheduled.  I will let you know the date as soon as I hear from the school.  I plan to leave your scheduled time the same, unless you have an issue and need to reschedule.

Thank you for your understanding as we work to reschedule these important events.

See you Friday!

Tuesday, February 24th

We had a wonderful day!

Students worked to analyze the driving force behind different decisions made at F.AVE and in City Schools of Decatur.  They are making the connection that behind every movement is a force that causes it.

We were very fortunate to have a presentation by Ms. Yang today.  She joined our class this afternoon and taught us all about Chinese New Year.  The class eagerly listened and watched short video clips.  We learned some Mandarin and enjoyed fortune cookies.  Thank you so much for joining us today and for donating a book to our class!

Stay tuned to the weather for updates about Wednesday.
Have a great evening!!

Monday, February 23rd

Welcome back!  I hope you enjoyed a restful week off.  I enjoyed hearing the stories about travel and other exciting things that were done last week.

Students worked to reflect on their goals for term 4.  They added this reflection to their portfolios for student led conferences this week.  If you have not yet signed up for a time, I placed a sign up sheet in your child's red folder.  Please return it tomorrow.  I would like to finalize the schedule.

Our new Unit of Inquiry, where we are in place and time, was introduced.  Students worked to analyze and rewrite our central idea.  They did a great job!

We have a busy week ahead!!  See you tomorrow!

Friday, February 13th

We Mustache You a Question....


Are you ready for winter break?!?

Our great kids worked so hard today.  We had a day filled with end of the term assessments and a bit of fun.  Thank you for all of the sweet Valentines.  I hope you have a restful week off!

See you February 23rd!

Thursday, February 12th

What an amazing field trip we had today!!

We loaded the busses at 9:00 and headed to Atlanta and The Fox Theater.  We enjoyed an amazing performance from the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater.  Students were well behaved, excited, and great at following directions!

After returning, we enjoyed lunch in our classroom.  We then began to work on our UOI Summative writing piece for this term.  It has to do with the Bill of Rights.  Ask your child to tell you more!

Please, please, please send in your Math-a-thon pledge collections.  They are due TOMORROW.

Have a great evening!

Tuesday, February 10th

Students worked hard today.  They continued working to write and publish their myths.  I am excited to see how they turn out.

We looked at different perspectives from the War of 1812.  Students were able to identify if each person was for or against the war and provide evidence as to why.

We also continued our work with fraction patterns.  Students worked to create fraction patterns and use strategies, such as grouping together fractions that add to equal one whole, to help them determine the sum of the units.

Tomorrow and Thursday:
I will not be in the building tomorrow.  Students were reminded today as to whether or not they chose to bring their lunch for our field trip on Thursday.
Students have been asked to dress nicer for our field trip on Thursday.

Thursday will be a fun day!  Thank you for your interest in joining us on our field trip.  Due to a limited number of tickets, we are not able to accommodate any more parent volunteers.  Please volunteer in the future!

DON'T FORGET TO SEND IN YOUR MATH-A-THON PLEDGES AND STUDENT-LED CONFERENCE FORMS.

Monday, February 9th

Happy Monday!!

We had a great start to our week!  We began discussing first and second hand accounts.  This was an important discussion about primary and secondary sources.  We will work to analyze these accounts tomorrow.

Students began writing their own myths.  We used our knowledge of mythology, and students began the prewriting process for planning their myths.  Ask your child to tell you about their myth!!

Students worked in sound stations today.  They rotated through and explored pitch and vibration.  They are able to understand what changes are made to create a change in pitch and also which material sound travels through the fastest.

We continued our work with line plots today and rotate through our last math station.  We also worked to discover fraction patterns.

Schedules for student-led conferences were sent home in red folders today.  Please sign up for a time that works with your schedule.  There are six slots available during each block of time.  They will be filled on a first come, first served basis.  This will be a conference with your child, not with me. :)

As we continue through this week, we have a ton of things going on.
1. Please send in your Math-a-thon pledges.  These are due by Friday.
2. We are excited for our field trip to the Fox Theater on Thursday to see the Alvin Ailey Dance Group.  Students have been asked to dress nicely for this event.
3. Valentine's Day is on Saturday.  We will not have a class party, but students are welcome to bring Valentines to exchange with our class.  This is NOT required.  If you choose to send Valentines, please send enough for each student in our class to have one.  We have 28 students.  A list of names was sent home in red folders.

Friday, February 6th

What a week!
Students worked exceptionally hard this week. We continued analyzing myths today and took a look at a poem today.  Students were able to read a poem and identify unknown words.  They used a picture from the poem to increase their knowledge and understanding of the poem.

Table groups were given scenarios today.  Students read their scenarios an decided if it violated one of the amendments in the Bill of Rights.  If so, they were to determine which amendment was violated.  Ask your child to tell you  more!

Thank you for your participation in the Math-a-thon.  Don't forget to collect and send in your pledge money.

I hope you have a restful weekend!  We are looking forward to our Alvin Ailey field trip next week.  We also have a busy week with end of term testing.

Wednesday, February 4th

I had a wonderfully productive planning day with my colleagues to prepare for term 5.  I know the Superstars had a great day!

Don't forget to log in and work on Sumdog.  Math homework assigned yesterday is due tomorrow.

See you in the morning!

Tuesday, February 3rd

Happy Tuesday!

Students began working in reading and math stations today.  They are working in stations to that support their knowledge of verbs, reading comprehension, and analyzing myths.  The are also working with equivalent fractions, 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication, and division.  They completed two stations today and will have completed them all by Friday.

After several days of exploring articles and examining research questions, students began the writing process for their next opinion piece.  Ask your child to tell you more!

Keep up that Sumdog!!  I hope you're having fun!

Math homework is not due until Thursday!
See you tomorrow!