READING: The fourth graders began the school year with Readers' Theater. This was a time for students to merge their reading skills with their creativity skills. In order to do this, they collaborated with group members on a short play that was later performed for their classmates. SPELLING: We have a pre-test on Mondays and a final test on Fridays. Those who score 100% on Monday's pretest will work with a challenging, alternate list. WRITING: The students are currently working on poems titled "If I was in Charge of the World." Afterwards, the class will work on business letters and narrative writing. MATH: The fourth graders started working on topics from chapter 2: adding and subtracting facts, estimating, adding and subtracting greater numbers, and word problems. A test will follow and we will then begin chapter 3. Math homework is assigned Monday through Friday, including Fact Helper. SOCIAL STUDIES: In our first unit, we will be studying the prairies and the state of Illinois. We will then expand on that by studying the 50 states and capitals of the United States.