Ronnie's Rascals: October 2012

Hi Parents!
This is a long newsletter but there have been some great things happening in room 19! We have a new Rascal to add to our group. Jorge joined us on Monday and we’re so happy to have him as part of our class!
Tomorrow is the Harvest party and we’ll start at 1:30 if you want to swing by and help with the centers. Kids and adults are all allowed to wear their costumes!
Here’s a breakdown of what we’ve been up to and where we’re headed:
Math: We are finishing up chapter 4 which has been on decimals. We’ve added and subtracted decimals, identified place value of decimals, converted decimals, wrote decimals as fractions and models, and dealt with money and decimals. We’ll test this Thursday and then move on to chapter 5 starting Monday. Chapter 5 is HUGE! This is when we’ll start multiplying double and triple digit problems. The kiddos MUST know their multiplication facts in order to be successful. We’ve been practicing them all year to get ready for this chapter. Let me know if you want me to send home any extra sheets for practice.
Reading: We’ve been working on a novel unit on the book, Sing Down the Moon. This story follows a Navajo Girl and her tribe through the time of the Long Walk. It is an amazing story that goes hand in hand with our Social Studies unit. We’ve focused on our comprehension, point of view, author’s purpose, vocab, character analysis, etc. We’ll be finishing up the book this week and taking our test. To culminate the book we’ll be making Navajo Tacos! We’ve also continued to work with Story Works on fiction and non-fiction stories, problem and solution, text connections, mood, etc. The latest book report went home last week. The criteria and materials were with it. Please make sure your kiddo is reading their book. This is due on November 19.

Hats off to our class for the most AMAZING biography book reports I’ve ever seen! I hope you had a chance to see the blog so you had an idea of what they put together. Unbelievable! This class is so outgoing and theatrical, if you couldn’t already tell at the Cruisin’ AZ performance. I’m biased but I think our class nailed that performance. They make my job so fun!

Language Arts/Writing: We’ve had two weeks of Greek/Latin root words and the kiddos are really getting it! Each week they get a new word list and they need to study the definitions. We do activities in the class during the week to understand each one as well. They test on the roots every Friday. This Friday they are doing a review of the roots –ped and –manu. This will help them with their reading and writing a great deal. We’re continuing with parts of speech, homophones/graphs, 4 types of sentences, correctly using commas, etc. We’ll be starting our second persuasive essay next week. This topic will discuss if it’s worth it to spend money on things like designer brands. We also started my FAVORITE writing assignment of the year! The kiddos are writing a creative story, focusing on word choice, conventions, and point of view, about the day the Scarecrows got loose. So far they are so creative and so funny. When they’re finished with their final drafts they will build their own scarecrows that look like themselves.
Social Studies: We are finishing up our study of the modern Native American tribes in Arizona. We’ll test on Friday and then move into Spanish Exploration of Arizona in the 1500s. This chapter will cover the beginning stages of the development of our state. It gets really interesting and there’s so much to see right here in Tucson since this was a hub for the Spanish explorers and missionaries.
Starting tomorrow the kiddos will be researching the two presidential candidates and picking a candidate that they support and writing the reasons why. We’re working on Arizona government and how it is tied into the national government as well as the importance of being an informed voter. They are allowed to say they don’t care for a certain candidate or love him but they have to be able to give reasons why. I don’t tell the kids who I do or don’t support because we talk about how votes are private. I just guide them to understand the process and to be informed. It still doesn’t stop them from trying to pry it out of me! I’ve been told by some kids that I just look like a republican and another kiddo said he knows I’m a democrat because ALL teachers are democrats. It’s been quite fun listening to them reason and justify what Mrs. Ronnie is or is not. On Tuesday, our class will be voting on our next President because after putting in the work to be an informed voter they deserve the right to cast a vote! I’m sure you’ll get an earful of who won our class election on Tuesday.
Science: We finished up our unit on famous scientists and their contributions to science. The kiddos came up with some fabulous presentations on these people. We’re working on the water cycle right now. Ask your kiddo to sing you the Water Cycle song, they’ll never forget it! From here we’ll go right into our study of caves to get ready for Kartchner. We’ll learn about the role water and carbonic acid plays in the development of cave systems. It’s a really fun unit! We’ll start Natural Disasters after Thanksgiving.
Please remember to sign the planners every night and sign the reading calendars that are due on Thursday. The volunteer calendar went home two weeks ago. It is done through December. If you want to come in just check the calendar online and let me know. We love volunteers and welcome you any day!
Papa John’s pizza night was a huge success! I had so much fun delivering pizzas to you all. I loved being welcomed into the homes to see the kiddos’ rooms, Lego collections, honor roll collections, etc. We lost the pizza party by one order but we’re winners my book so we’ll celebrate with Navajo Tacos next week.
Milers is going every Tuesday and Thursday. Our class is tied with another class for first place in fourth grade. The kiddos have been working hard. Guest walkers/runners are always a big help. Come any day and be sure to put Ronnie on your paper so our class gets credit. Thank you to all of the guest runners we’ve had this year. Mrs. Moshkriz has been out there every time so hats off to her!
This time of year is getting hectic so below are a few of important dates you might want to put on your calendar:
St. Jude’s envelopes are due-October 31

Reading Calendars are due-November 1

Mustache Day-November 9

Veterans Day(no school)-November 12

Spelling Bee-November 15 @ 9:15

Kartchner-November 16 @ 7:15

Book Reports are due-November 19

Friendship Stew preparation-November 19

Friendship Stew eating/party (parents are encouraged to enjoy with us) -November 19

Gingerbread Houses-December 18

Pajama Day-December 20

Winter Break Starts-December 21

Do you feel all caught up now!? Be sure to check the website and blog for the most current info. As well as see the latest posts by the kiddos. Thanks for your continued support with our class. We have a special group this year. As always contact me with any questions you might have.

Mrs. Ronnie