Friday, December 18th

THANK YOU SO MUCH!  Ms Ehmer and I can not thank enough for your generosity and support.  Thank you so much for coming to our Learning Celebration today.  We wish you a wonderful holiday break.  We'll see you in January!

Thursday, December 17th

Happy Thursday!

We began our day taking our math assessment.  Students worked hard to classify angles, determine the measurement of a given angle based on their knowledge of benchmark angles, and determine lines of symmetry.

We then worked on a symmetry activity involving our names.  Ask your child to tell you more!

Students enjoyed watching a collection of short films during our Cultural Arts Assembly this morning, and we completed our day with our Science assessment and preparing for our Learning Celebration tomorrow.

Students will be taking their Social Studies assessment tomorrow.

We are looking forward to seeing you at 1:30 tomorrow.  You should arrive through the front door of the school to check in with Ms. Baker.  You will then make your way to our classroom.
Have a great evening!

Wednesday, December 16th

Another busy day!

This morning, we inquired into the properties of symmetry.  Students explored rectangles, squares, and circles by folding and manipulating the shapes to determine the lines of symmetry.

We had a great time previewing properties of light and sound with Ms. Theisen.  We will complete the remaining stations after the break.  Ask your child to tell you more!

We had a productive afternoon revising and edit our opinion pieces.  Most students are beginning to finish their pieces.

We are looking forward to a cultural arts performance tomorrow morning at 9:45 in the multipurpose room and our Learning Celebration on Friday at 1:30.  We hope you can join us for both activities!

Tuesday, December 15th

I had a wonderful and productive day of planning with my fellow 4th grade teachers to prepare for term 4.  I know that the Superstars worked hard and had a great day too.
Looking forward to another busy day tomorrow!!

Monday, December 14th

Welcome back!
We had a great start to our week!  Students worked to utilize their knowledge of benchmark angles (right and straight) to determine the measurement of an unknown angle.  They were able to create equations to support their thinking.

We enjoyed playing games and doing puzzles after checking out books in the media center today.

Students are working to create profiles for our important people of the American Revolution.  They are able to demonstrate understanding of the contributions of their person or group of people and how they supported or effected the Revolutionary War.  Ask your child to tell you more!

We are looking forward to a Cultural Arts Assembly on Thursday morning at 9:45 in the multi-purpose room and our Learning Celebration on Friday afternoon at 1:30 in our classroom. You are welcome to join us for both events!!

See you tomorrow!!

Thursday, December 10th

Another great day on The Ave!

We started our morning with our second day of MAP testing.  Students will be taking their final test tomorrow.  If students have not completed a portion of their tests, they will be able to complete them early next week.

We began looking at angles in relation to circles today.  Students examined a clock and how perpendicular lines create four quadrants on the clock.  They were able to connect that rotating a 180 degrees from 12 would mean that the minute hand is pointed at the 6.  We also previewed some activities with determining the measurement of an unknown angle using the characteristics of the angle and a given measurement.  We will continue building on these concepts in the coming days.

Students continue to work to move through the writing process with their opinion pieces.  Many students have begun publishing, although edits and revisions can still be made.

Thank you again for everything that you do to support your children, our classroom, and our school!  I am looking forward to celebrating with you next Friday at 1:30.

Have a great evening!

Weather Study Guide Link Updated

I apologize if you attempted to access the weather study guide link below and were unsuccessful.  I have used the correct link and updated in my previous post.

Wednesday, December 9th

Happy Wednesday!

We had our first morning of MAP testing.  Students worked hard and tried their best.  We will take the reading portion tomorrow!

Ms. Theisen continued our inquiry into weather and climate.  Students are exploring the long term effects of weather and climate changes.  They are working to illustrate their findings.

During math this afternoon, students examined parallel and perpendicular lines.  They worked to identify them and name them in 2-dimensional shapes, as well as common objects.

Thank you so much for sending in donations for our Custodial and Cafeteria Staff.  You may continue to send them.

I have attached the Science Study Guide with the answers, and students received their Social Studies study guide today.  They can use these for reading, and quizzing themselves at home.  Tests will be taken next week (likely Wednesday and Thursday).
Weather Study Guide

We hope that you can join us next Friday for our Learning Celebration.  It will be held in our classroom at 1:30.  Light refreshments will be served.

Have a great evening!

Tuesday, December 8th

Whew!  We had quite an eventful afternoon.

After a busy morning working with protractors to construct and measure angles, rounding competitions, and practice with Compass Learning/Khan academy, we enjoyed working with Senora Souki during Spanish.

Students were working to take a reading quiz, when we had a bit of a problem with the intercom in our classroom.  Not to worry though, the Superstars handled the situation with smiles!

Students will receive their Social Studies study guide tomorrow.  The science and social studies guides are their homework for the rest of the week.

I hope that you can all join us for our Celebration of Learning!  We will hold the celebration on Friday, December 18th at 1:30 in our classroom.  Students received an invitation today, and it is attached here.  We are looking forward to seeing you!
Learning Celebration Invitation

Don't forget to send in your donations to help us honor our Custodial and Cafeteria Staff.  If you are interested, we are asking for $1.  Thanks in advance for you kindness!

MAP Testing begins tomorrow morning and will go through Friday.  Thanks for arriving to school on time!!
See you in the morning!

Monday, December 7th

Happy Monday!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

Students explored angle classifications and protractors today.  For homework, they are working to classify angles based on the observations.

We also enjoyed a visit from Dr. Root.  She completed a lesson about bullying with our class.  Ask your child to tell you more!

Students received a study guide for science today and will receive social studies tomorrow.  These guides are not meant to be turned in, but are a tool for studying and reviewing the concepts we've discussed this term.  We will NOT be taking our science or social studies tests this week.  Those will occur sometime next week (likely Wednesday or Thursday).

See below for important happenings in school.  Have a great evening!

Honoring our Staff
Custodial and food service workers work behind the scenes and are often unappreciated for the hard work that they do keeping schools clean and well maintained and keeping students and teachers well fed.These people are an important part of the success of our school because a clean, well maintained and operational building is a reflection on the school itself. During this holiday season we want to show F.AVE's student, teacher and family appreciation of our wonderful custodial and food service personnel by presenting each of them with a monetary gift.  In order to do so, we would like to ask each student to bring in a $1 or more to donate to this gift. Before we leave for the December break, we will present a gift to each person (custodial and food service) on behalf of the F.AVE school community.

Here's how you can help:

• Place your monetary donation in an envelope and send to teacher
• Teachers will turn in donations to Ms. Baker at the front office
• Please send all donations by Wednesday, December 16th.

Thank you for considering joining us in this appreciation!

A letter from Senora Souki

Hola a todos!

On 12/9 and 12/10 our 4th graders will take the Spanish listening and writing summatives for Term 3.

To be prepared for the test, please review and practice our  vocabulary on Quizlet, make your own flash cards and games, or tell someone the stories and use the vocab words while telling them.

Quizlet

Friday, December 4th

Happy Friday, y'all!!!

What an unbelievably great week!  We have accomplished so many things this week.  I am so proud of the hard work the Superstars are putting in everyday!

We continue our inquiry into weather maps and data to make decisions about the weather.  Students were challenged to sort the characteristics of climate and weather on the tables.  We discussed their sorts and moved things around as necessary.

Many students were able to begin drafting their opinion pieces today.  We modeled this process and demonstrated how to incorporate our understanding of the central idea and lines of inquiry throughout our opinion pieces.  Students were able to plan and make decisions about the conclusion of their pieces by restating their opinion, reviewing their reasons and giving a final thought on the subject.

I heard wonderful things about our F.AVE Chorus performance at the Decatur Tree Lighting.  I am so proud of you!!

Don't forget:
December 8th is Book-Out for F.AVE at Little Shop of Stories.  Proceeds will benefit the F.AVE Media Center.
Orders for F.AVE Spirit Wear Sweatshirts are due on Monday.

I hope that you have a restful weekend.  See you Monday!

Thursday, December 3rd

We introduced our geometry unit this morning.  Students passed a string across the tables and then worked to label anything that they noticed.  Many noticed shapes, types of angles, and classified lines.  We worked to learn and add new vocabulary to our math journals.

We continued our inquiry into utilizing past weather data to make decisions about future weather.  Students examined weather maps and symbols.  They worked to ask questions about the maps and added the symbols to their IB journals.  We will continue to look at these symbols tomorrow and connect them to weather prediction.

Students worked to make inferences during our reading block.  They happily made the connection to our central idea that using knowledge from our past and information from the text will help us make decisions about our new understanding of our text. :)

Don't forget that F.AVE Spirit Wear order forms are due by Monday.
We will have a busy week next week with MAP testing at 7:55 on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

Have a great evening!

Wednesday, December 2nd

Another wonderful Wednesday on the AVE!

I am thrilled to announce our class elected Superstar of the Month for November is Maddy!  We are so proud of you!

Students worked with Ms. Theisen to inquire into the use of weather data to organize weather maps and make predictions about future weather events.  Ask your child to tell you more!!

Here's a peek into PE with Coach Hallman.  Our class was working to improve their agility and focus!

We enjoyed exploring The Declaration of Independence today.  As the colonist organized into the 2nd Continental Congress, they declared themselves free from King George III and England.  Students utilized a Brainpop to take notes on the topic, focusing on its purpose and important people.  We will continue our inquiry tomorrow, utilizing reading passage and working to interpret the meaning of the preamble.

Students who have Genius Hour with myself and Ms. Ehmer were able to present the PSAs this afternoon.  They have worked hard this term to organize for a cause and use their knowledge/research to make decisions about their PSAs.  They did a great job!

Don't forget the the Decatur Tree Lighting Festival will be at Little Shop of Stories tomorrow night, and the F.AVE Chorus is performing.  Also, on December 8th, Little Shop of Stories is hosting Book Out for F.AVE.  Purchases made at the store that day will benefit our school library!!

Have a wonderful evening!

Tuesday, December 1st

Happy Tuesday!

We had a busy morning utilizing tape diagrams to model multi-step word problems.  Students worked to "take it one step at a time" when solving their problems.  They did a wonderful job and were able to apply metric conversions to complete their equations.  We will have a short assessment over our metrics unit tomorrow.

Students inquired into the utilization of past knowledge to organize for decision making when reading weather instruments.  They completed an exploration on their Discovery Education app and make connections to our central idea.

We continued exploring dramas as a form of literature.  Students examined the characteristics of a drama about a Native American myth.  After reading this drama as a class, we were able to locate the same text feature that we find in our fictional books, such as characters, setting, plot, and more.

As we progress in our opinion writing, students began inquiring into organizing their opening paragraphs.  We connected our paragraphs to movie previews.  We want to hook our readers, give them enough information to keep them interested, but not so much that they don't "buy the ticket" to read the rest of our pieces.  Students who were ready, started planning and making decisions about their opening paragraphs.

Whew!  I'd say we had a successful day!!
Flyer came home today for F.AVE spirit wear hoodies.  If you wish to order a hoodie, the forms are due by December 7th.

See you in the morning!