Week of 11/27

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Math: We return from Thanksgiving break, and refresh our memories from what we've been learning and reviewing in Topic 4. On Tuesday, students will take their Topic 4 test. After our test, we will begin to explore our Topic 5 concepts: multiplying by 1-digit numbers!

Religion: The countdown till Advent has begun! To prepare for Advent, we will discuss the Liturgical Year's calendar this week. Students will be able to recognize the different seasons and special ways we celebrate Jesus' life during each time. 

Reading and Language Arts: Our essential question in RELA this week is: What helps an animal survive? We will be reading nonfiction texts to explore this question. As we read, we are looking to identify the main idea and supporting details in order to help us summarize the text. 

Science: We continue our Waves Unit this week with the topic of: Magnets! Students will read about and complete hands on activities in order to explore more about magnets.

Social Studies: Students have now explored the Eastern region of the United States! Before we "pack our bags" and head West, students will complete a culminating activity of our Eastern region studies. Students will be working on creating a "travel brochure" for an Eastern state of their choosing. At the end of the week we will do a gallery walk, and learn more about specific states in the East! 

Week of Thanksgiving!

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Though this week is a short week, it is full of excitement and thankfulness, as well as plenty of learning! 

Math: We will be spending Monday and Tuesday reviewing concepts and skills we have been focusing on in Topic 4. When students return from Thanksgiving break, they will have their Topic 4 test on Tuesday, 11/28.

Religion: We are wrapping up Chapter 5 this week, which focuses on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. We will be doing some review of the main ideas of chapter 5, and taking an open book test on Tuesday. 

Reading/ Language Arts: We have some fun Thanksgiving activities planned during our reading time this week! Students will be doing some writing from the perspective of a turkey! Their goal is to persuade all the Thanksgiving hosts to cook something else as the main course for Thanksgiving dinner! 

Students will also be working hard to complete their final drafts of their how-to articles! We have been learning a lot from each other, by reading students' articles on how to complete a task or make something new! 

Social Studies: On Monday, students will take their Southeast Region test! They have been reviewing in school, and studying at home with their booklets! I know they will do great!

And of course, it's all about Thanksgiving this week! We will spend time learning about the First Thanksgiving, and complete festive activities along the way! 

Announcements:

• Tuesday morning students will participate in our annual Turkey Trot! Students should wear their PE uniforms and the appropriate outerwear to stay warm outside! 
• On Tuesday afternoon the school will come together for a Thanksgiving Celebration! We will sit with our buddies to enjoy a snack and watch a presentation from the student council! 

Week of 11/13

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Math: This week we continue our topic on adding and subtracting whole numbers. We will use our knowledge of place value to add and subtract numbers up to the thousands. We will spend some extra time practicing how to subtract across zeros. 

Religion: We are moving into Chapter 5 this week, focusing on the Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation. In Chapter 4, students learned about forming their consciences. In this chapter, they will learn about the peace that comes from receiving God's love and forgiveness through Reconciliation. In addition, students will be introduced to the "Keep Christ in Christmas" poster contest. We will go over the expectations, and even begin creating our posters (can you believe it's already that time of year?!)

Reading and Language Arts: We will continue with last week's essential question: how are all living things connected? We will continue to read narrative nonfiction stories about our environment and different ecosystems. While reading, we are on the lookout for identifying the main idea and supporting details of the text. 

In Writer's Workshop, students are gearing up for final drafts of their how-to articles. We begin conferencing to prepare our papers for publishing! 

Science: We will continue with our Science Weekly Five topic of Force and Motion this week! Students have enjoyed exploring the effects of speed and acceleration with their ramp building last week. This week we will review and summarize our findings. 

Social Studies: We are wrapping up our explorations of the Southeast Region! We will be spending time reviewing this week. Our Southeast test will be next Monday, the 20th. Students will be bringing home their study guides in the next couple of days. 

Announcements:

• Our annual Race for Education is THIS FRIDAY! Our Race festivities begin at 11:30 AM. Students should wear their race shirts,sweatpants and tennis shoes, and the appropriate outerwear. 
• On the horizon... Southeast Region test will be on 11/20

Week of 11/6

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Math: This week we will begin by continuing our review of place value concepts. On Tuesday, students will take their Topic 3 math test, which focuses all on place value concepts such as expanded form, place value relationships, and rounding. After our test, we will begin to use our knowledge of place value to add and subtract large whole numbers. 

Religion: We will be wrapping up Chapter 4 this week. Students have been working hard to prepare skits that will demonstrate their understanding of how our consciences work in helping guide our decisions. We will also spend some time reviewing the main ideas from Chapter 4 and take our chapter test this week. 

Reading and Language Arts: Our essential question in RELA this week is: How are all living this connected? We will be reading narrative nonfiction stories to help us explore our question. While reading we will build our comprehension by focusing on finding the main idea and supporting details of our text. 

In Writer's Workshop students are working on their rough drafts of their "how-to" articles, and will begin to revise and edit their pieces this week. 

Science: This week in science we continue our Waves unit by exploring the topic of Force and Motion. Students will read, identify new vocabulary words, and conduct experiments related to force and motion. 

Social Studies: We honor Veterans this week, by participating in a variety of activities related to learning more about veterans and thanking them for their service. We will also begin to summarize our explorations of the Southeast Region this week. 

Announcements:

• This Friday is a half day for students. Our Open House will also take place on Friday. Spread the word! 

Week of 10/30

Happy Halloween Week! The Halloween spirit has been in the air for some time now, and the students and I are excited for the celebrations we have this week! Though there is much excitement and sugar in the air, we will try our best to continue on with our learning as well ;) 

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Math: This week in math we are continuing to explore all things place value! We will build off our previous lessons this week, and use our knowledge we've learned so far to help us round whole numbers and complete problem solving problems related to place value. On the horizon...our next math test will be Tuesday of next week.

Religion: Students have been doing a great job contributing to class discussions all about forming and examining our consciences! Towards the end of last week we had a beautiful time of prayer where we did an examination of conscience and prayed the act of contrition. Students really showed maturity during this prayer time! This week we will continue to focus on our consciences. We will put into practice what we've learned, and work in groups to write and perform skits showing how our conscience works! 

Reading and Language Arts: Our essential question in RELA this week is: How do animal characters change familiar stories? We will be reading familiar stories, with a little bit of a twist this week. While reading we will focus on finding the theme of the story. 

In Writer's Workshop, students are continuing to work on their "how-to" articles. They have chosen topics they believe to be experts in and want to share their knowledge with the class! 

Science: We will be wrapping up our Light and Sound weekly five topic this week! Students have enjoyed conducting experiments demonstrating how refraction works, and using old fashioned "telephones" to explore sound waves. 

Social Studies: Our Southeast region explorations are picking up! This week we will focus on the states and capitals of the Southeast! 

Announcements:

• Tuesday is Halloween! Students will participate in a Fall Walk/Run in the morning. Students may wear orange and black dress down attire. Please make sure students wear comfortable shoes for the walk/run. We will be having our class party in the afternoon! 
• Wednesday is All Saints Day, and a Holy Day of Obligation. We will celebrate Mass as a school at 9 AM. Please join us if you can! 

Have a Blessed Week! 

:)

Mrs. Drury

Week of 10/23

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Math: This week we begin Topic 3: all about Place Value! We will explore different ways to represent numbers, such as standard form, expanded form, and using base ten blocks. We will also start to look at the relationships between place values and order and compare numbers. 

Religion: We will begin Chapter 4 this week, which expands on what we learned about in Chapter 3. This week we will focus on recognizing our consciences as our guide when making decisions in our daily lives. 

Reading and Language Arts: Our essential question in RELA this week is: What are some messages animals have to share with us? We will be reading folktales this week involving animals and identifying the moral of the story in our tales! We will also be focusing on the comprehension strategy of recognizing clues that lead us to finding the theme! 

In Writer's Workshop we are ready to begin our next writing piece: Explanatory Writing! Students will begin the brainstorming and prewriting stages for creating their "how-to" articles. 

Science: We begin our Waves Unit this week! Our first topic in our Waves unit will be Light and Sound! Students will explore how light and sound move through the air and are produced. Students will be able to experience some hands on activities to make these concepts more concrete! 

Social Studies: We continue our explorations through the Southeast Region this week! 

Week of 10/16

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Math: After finishing up Topic 2 focus lessons, and informally assessing students towards the end of the week, I have decided to postpone our Topic 2 test until Thursday (10/19). This week we will be continuing our practice with patterns and problem solving. We will practice in and out tables, being able to identify rules for the tables and extend the tables. We will also take a look at a few more problem solving word problems. 

Religion: We will be finishing up Chapter 3 this week. We had some amazing discussions throughout our readings in Chapter 3; I know the students really retained a lot of the information we learned! Students will have an open book assessment of Chapter 3 this week. We are also beginning to gear up for All Saints Day! Later this week students will meet with their Kindergarten buddies to complete a Saints activity. Prior, 4th graders will be doing some research related to an assigned Saint!

Reading/ Language Arts: Last week we finished our first unit in our Wonders Reading Series. This week students will take a unit assessment. This assessment is not something students can study for, or need to worry about at home. We will take a couple days to read stories, and answer comprehension, vocabulary, and grammar questions related to those stories. After our assessment, we will begin to get in the Halloween spirit! We will doing some spooky drawings and storytelling! 

Science: Students will have their first science test this week on Wednesday, 10/18. We began our review last week and will continue for the first part of this week. Our test is on our unit Processes that Shape the Earth's Surface. In this unit we studied Landforms, Slow Changes to Earth's Surface, and Rocks and Fossils. Students were given a study guide last week for this test! Be sure to encourage your child to continue studying at home this week. 

Social Studies: We are packing our bags again for our next trip! Next stop: The Southeast Region of the United States! We will begin to explore the Southeast's climate, geography, and economy! 

Announcements:

• Science Test 10/18
• Math Test 10/19
• There will be no spelling or reading homework, due to our shorter week and our tests taking place. 
• Reminder: No school for the students this Friday, 10/20 due to Parent Conferences taking place.