Latest and Greatest from the Rascals!

Welcome back! The kiddos came back refreshed and charged from the break and ready to tackle the third quarter. Here’s an idea of what’s going on in the classroom as well as some updates:

Upcoming projects: The Recycled Snowman is such a fun project that incorporates science, social studies, and writing. The rubrics and directions were sent home on Monday. Both the snowman and creative story are due on January 23 but can always be turned in earlier.

The next book report is the cereal box report so save your next box! The kiddos should have already picked or will pick a book by Friday. Their book must be a chapter book in their lexile level. The directions and templates will be coming home tomorrow. The cereal boxes are due on January 30. The “commercial” presentations will be presented on January 31-February 1. Let me know if you need any supplies sent home to help create your child’s cereal box.
Winter MAP testing: We are in the process of taking our mid-year MAP tests. We took our Reading MAP test today and the kids did AMAZING! There was a ton of growth. Be sure to ask your child what their score and new lexile number are. Let them brag! They should have put these in their binders. I don’t send the print out home since it’s the mid but if you would like one just let me know and I’ll send it home with your child.
Volunteers: Thank you for all the help you have given our class this year. We wouldn’t be able to do all of the wonderful things without you. I sent the January and February calendars home before the break. Every other Tuesday will be open now starting with the 15th. If there’s a day that is open and you want to come in just send me an email and I’ll add you. We’d love to have you!
Junior Achievement: Our class is looking for someone who would be willing to teach 5 Junior Achievement lessons to our class in May. We’ll work around your schedule. The teachers are not allowed to teach the lessons so it has to be a parent, a relative, a volunteer who wants to hang out with us for a few hours, etc. The fourth grade lessons are about the economy and how businesses run in our country. You will get a case with the entire lesson scripted for you (but you can throw in your own flare!). If you’ve done it before or would like to give it a go please let me know!
Math: We are working on chapter 6. This chapter has been a big one. It has included long division, measuring angles, grid plots, and estimation. Long division is incredibly important. Extra practice at home on paper or logging on to the Everyday Math site for added practice can always help. Some kiddos have even been doing problems with 3 and 4 digit divisors! We follow the DMSBR method. Ask your kiddo was it means! Today we started using circular protractors to measure angles which was really fun. We’ll wrap up this chapter next week and test on the 17th or 18th.

Math facts are still being tested weekly. With big digit multiplication and long division it’s essential to know their basic facts. Every kiddo should be scoring in the 90s on multiplication and division. This grade is recorded under Math Fact Fluency on the report card. If you would like some practice tests sent home just let me know. With chapter 7 we’ll be heading into the land of fractions and decimals. We’ll be adding and subtracting and multiplying both. We’ll also be working with mixed numbers.
Reading: We’re continuing with fiction and non-fiction stories in Story Works and some of the skills we’re focusing on are conflict and resolution, text connections, author’s craft, inferencing, identifying theme, analyzing characters and poetry etc. We’ll begin our next literature study on the book, Holes by Louis Sachar. It is such a great story that usually gets the kids hooked and it does a fabulous job at teaching foreshadowing and flashbacks. Please make sure your kiddo is reading 30 minutes every night and filling out their reading calendar.
Language Arts: We continue to work with the Greek/Latin root words. 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 have the root –port (to carry). Please make sure your child is studying these EVERY week along with their spelling words. This will help them with their reading and writing a great deal. We’re on unit 15 for spelling so they are responsible for 75 words on their tests. We’ll be writing personal narratives next week. This month’s persuasive essay is on about Manners and if it’s good to have them or not.
Social Studies: We’ll begin chapter 6 this week. We’ll learn how Arizona was originally part of Arizona, the Gadsden Purchase, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, mountain men, and the Mexican War. This is the chapter where they see how Arizona came to be. Next chapter we’ll learn about Arizona as a territory and how it was acquired by the United States. This will lead to Arizona becoming a state. Arizona’s 101st birthday is on February 14th. We’ll be celebrating it on the 13th so it doesn’t conflict with Valentine’s day.

Science: We’ve started our unit on Magnets and Electricity! This unit is “electrifying” and an important part of our fourth grade curriculum and AIMS. We start with magnets and then move into electricity where the kiddos will be building their own circuits that will operate a motor and multiple light bulbs. We’ll also be building an electromagnet. Some of the other concepts we’ll cover are magnetic fields, repel and attraction, induced magnetism, insulators and conductors, series and parallel circuits, static electricity, etc.

To kick off our unit we had a very special visit from TEP today. Payton’s dad, Jeremy Young, taught us about electrical safety, insulators and conductors, electrical paths, etc. It was awesome! In late February we’ll move on to weather so if you have any weather connections let me know!
Milers: Milers is going every Tuesday and Thursday. 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. You can bring little ones with you……..even if they’re in a stroller!
Be sure to check the website and blog for updates. The kiddos still blog so stop by and see their comments. They’ll make you smile. I was just rereading what they were writing to each on the November 7 Election post and it made me chuckle all over again and it showed me how much they really understood about the topic. They’re amazing!
I think that’s it! Hopefully you found this helpful. Thanks again for your continued support and for sharing your kiddos with me. This group holds a special place in my heart!
Upcoming Dates:
January 11: Report Cards come home
January 14: MAP Math test
January 17: MAP Language test
January 18: Student Store and Sports Day
January 21: MLK-No School
January 23: Recycled Snowmen due
January 30: Cereal Book Reports due
January 31-February 1: Commercials presented
February 2- Sweetheart’s Dance (tickets on sale now)
February 13: Arizona’s b-day celebration (a day early)
February 14: Valentine’s Day
February 21-24: Rodeo Break