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. 

Week of 10/9

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Math: Last week we began our Topic 3 in the math! This topic is all about patterns! This week we will continue, and finish, this unit. We will focus on number sequences and in and out tables. Students will need to look for rules and find patterns to continue the pattern. 

Religion: Towards the end of last week we began Chapter 3: Sin in Our World. Students were introduced to the term Free Will. We had some great discussions about temptations, and the difficult process it can be to make good choices all the time. This week we will continue those discussions. Students will be able to recognize that God gives us the freedom to choose, and sin leads us away from God. 

Reading and Language Arts: Our Essential Question in RELA this week is: How can starting a business help others? Our comprehension strategies we will focus on while reading this week are rereading for understanding, and finding the main ideas and key details in our text. 

In Writer's Workshop students are wrapping up the revising and editing stages of their personal narratives. They will begin to conference with me, and then start their final drafts! I am excited for you to see their hard work soon! 

Students can not get enough of our class novel, James and the Giant Peach. We are laughing our way through the story so far! This week we continue our novel and novel study. 

Science: This week we will continue our Science Weekly 5 topic of Rocks and Fossils. This is our last topic in our Processes that Shape Earth unit. We will begin review of our unit this week, and students will be tested on the unit next week. Be on the lookout for a study guide coming home! 

Social Studies: We have also wrapped up our Northeast Region unit! We will be "unpacking" from our tour this week, and reviewing all we have explored. Along with in class review this week, students have created their own study guides, and will be bringing those home on Monday. Our Northeast Test will be this Friday. 

Announcements/ Upcoming Test Dates:

• 4th grade will be leading school Mass this Friday! We hope you can join us for this special time of prayer and community! 
• Race for Education packets went home with students on Friday! We are looking forward to another fun and successful race! 
• Spelling Homework will begin this week! Just a reminder that we are starting a new spelling program called Words Their Way. Be on the lookout for your child bringing his or her Spelling Notebook home with the homework inside. 
• We are finishing up several units in the near future and have some tests coming up. I always provide students will review in class, but also want students to start building study skills at home. I tried my best to space out the tests, but also not wanting to wait too long after we already finished the unit. If you're child is struggling with concepts or studying please reach out to me, and I will plan accordingly! 
• Northeast Region Test: Friday, 10/13
• Topic 3 Math Test: Tuesday, 10/17
• Processes that Shape Earth Science Test: Wednesday, 10/17
• Chapter 3 Religion Test: next week, date TBD. This test will be open note due to other tests going on around the same time. 

Have a Blessed Week! 

Mrs. Drury

Week of 10/2

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Math: This week in math we are preparing to take our first math test. We began reviewing last week, and will continue on Monday. On Tuesday students will take their Topic 1 test to assess their understanding of concepts we've focused on so far in the school year. Encourage your children to maintain a growth mindset as they prepare for the test! 

Religion: We will be finishing up Chapter 2 this week, and taking our Chapter 2 test later in the week. I really enjoyed the conversations we had last week all about the Beatitudes, and we will continue to focus on the Beatitudes as we review for our test. After we complete Chapter 2, we will begin Chapter 3 which focuses on the free will God gives us.

Reading/Language Arts: Our Essential Question we will explore during our Daily 5 Reading time this week is: How can science help us understand how things work? We will be reading a narrative nonfiction story about forces and motions, all taking place at an amusement park! 

In Writer's Workshop students are continuing their rough drafts of their personal narratives! 

In Class Novel we are continuing to read James and the Giant Peach! Students are really enjoying our story so far! 

Science: Moving right along in our unit: Processes that Shape the Earth's Surface, this week we are learning all about Rocks and Fossils! Students will explore the different types of rocks, and identify the ways fossils have helped scientists throughout history! 

Social Studies: We are just about finished traveling through the Northeast Region of the United States! Students have explored geography, climate, popular attractions, and natural resources throughout our beautiful region. This week we will bring together all we have learned, and summarize and review our findings. 

Have a blessed week! 

Mrs. Drury

Week of 9/25

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Math: This week we will be finishing up our first math topic! We will explore more with division this week, understanding how multiplication and division are inverse operations. We will use our knowledge of our basic multiplication facts to help us learn some basic division facts. We will also begin to review what we have focused on this topic in preparation for our first math test, next week. 

Religion: Students did really well on their Chapter 1 Religion tests last week! I was very proud of the students for reviewing and studying! This week we will begin Chapter 2: Jesus Leads us to Happiness. We will focus on the Beatitudes, and how they lead us down a path of happiness.

Reading and Language Arts: Our Essential Question is: How do people respond to natural disasters? This question is very relevant to us, as so many people have suffered from the recent hurricanes. We will also read nonfiction articles about tornados and earthquakes as we explore natural disasters and their effects. 

In Writer's Workshop students have decided on a memorable event in their life that they wish to write about.  We are beginning to organize and sequence our ideas for our personal narratives.

During Class Novel time we will begin reading James and the Giant Peach! I am excited for the students to have this opportunity to dive into a great book! 

Science: Our focus this week will stay on Slow Changes to the Earth's Surface. We were unable to get through all our stations and activities related to our topic last week, so we will spend this week exploring this topic as well! 

Social Studies: Students continue their travels and explorations through the Northeast Region of the United States! 

Have a great week! :)

Mrs. Drury

Week of 9/18

This Week in Fourth Grade...

Math: This week in math we will be continuing Topic 1: Multiplication and Division- Meanings and Facts. We will explore basic division facts, and take a look at how division can be represented as repeated subtraction. We will relate multiplication and division to see how they are inverse operations, and we can use the multiplication facts we know to help us with division. 

Religion: We will finish up Chapter 1 this week in our We Believe program. We have been focusing on Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life and recognizing ways in which He calls us to live. This week we will use that prior knowledge to identify ways the Church spreads the Good News of Jesus Christ today. We will also emphasize how we are disciples of Jesus, called to spread the Good News. Students will have their first Religion test towards the end of this week on Chapter 1. 

Reading and Language Arts: During our Daily 5 Reading Rotations, students will explore the essential question: How do your actions affect others? They will read stories closely, explore new vocabulary words, and write about our essential question. 

We will begin Writer's Workshop this week! Our first workshop project will be personal narratives! Students will be introduced to the features of a personal narrative, and begin the brainstorming and prewriting stages of their narratives this week. 

In our Class Novel time, students are continuing to explore our "Notice and Note Signposts". These signposts will be helpful tools we refer to throughout the year while reading. 

Science: Continuing on in our Unit titled "Processes that Shape the Earth's Surface", we will focus on Slow Changes to the Earth's Surface this week. Students will move through our Science Weekly 5 stations to read information, gather data, draw diagrams, and complete hands on activities related to our topic. 

Social Studies: We are gearing up to begin traveling through the Regions of the United States! First stop on our tour: the Northeast Region! We will explore major landforms and landmarks, as well as some of the economy in the Northeast Region. 

Announcements!

• Be on the lookout for information about the students' reading log homework coming home on Monday. Students will be asked to complete their first Reading Log for homework this week. 
• Pretesting for our new spelling program, Words Their Way, will begin this week. Students scores will be evaluated, and I will begin developing spelling groups. 
• GENIUS HOUR! begins this Thursday, September 21st! Be on the lookout for a catalog of classes being offered during this trimester for your child. Do you have any interest in hosting a genius hour class? We would love for you to share your gifts and talents! Contact Mrs. Ball  for more information!