4th Grade News
Mount Carmel Academy
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Math:
This week, we have been working on fractions. We have learned how to add, subtract, and make equivalent fractions.
Study guides for the math quizzes on Fridays should be any homework, notes, and class work from the week. I will not be giving out study guides for the quizzes on Fridays.
Please have your child continue to practice their math facts at home. We have been practicing here at school with skip counting, drill, and math fact door exercises. Anything you can do at home will help support us here at school. Division is here!
Social Studies
We have been learning about economics. Each student has created, with a partner, their own business. They have gone through pretend scenarios that real businesses could potentially go through. We have been graphing their profits on a line graph in class. We took our test over the economics unit yesterday in class.
How to study for a social studies regions test: In addition to our book content, the students must study all the states, capitals, and abbreviations. On the test, states and abbreviations must be spelled correctly. State capitals do not need to be spelled correctly, but I must be able to sound them out. On the test, you must be able to locate and label all these states, capitals, and abbreviations correctly. There will not be a word bank.
Science:
We have been learning about the planet and our solar system. We just finished this unit today with an open book test. Our unit will close with a field trip to the Planetarium. The third and fifth grades will be joining us.
Religion:
Our focus this week in Religion has been on Lent. We have discussed our Lenten Promises and written them down. We will be finishing up studying the Beatitudes and then focusing on our Easter season.
Writing
• During the year and for the rest of the year, we have been and will be learning about the writing process: how to brainstorm, rough draft, revise, edit, conference, and publish a paper. This is a gradual process, and we will be adding parts to each step all year long.
• This quarter each child is required to turn in to me a free write paper and an autobiography. Each paper will go through the writing process and should be turned in with the following items: graphic organizer, self/edit revise sheets, rough draft, conference sheets and final copy.
• These papers have been done in class. The only time your child might have this writing homework, is if it is not done yet since the deadline is on Friday.
• When free writing, each child is allowed to select his/her own topic.
• The 3rd quarter Autobiographies have been going on for a few weeks now. Students are to follow these general steps listed below. Usually Monday is for writing our notes and graphic organizers. Tuesday is to finish the graphic organizer and start to write the rough draft. Wednesday is to finish the rough draft and self revise/edit their papers. Thursday is to peer conference and the conference with me. Friday is to start publishing their papers. Each chapter is due on Monday of the following week.
Third Quarter Writing Process Steps:
Free Writes and the Autobiography
1. Fill out notes
2. Make graphic organizer
3. Write a rough draft
4. Self revise
5. Self edit
6. Peer revise/edit
7. Peer Conference
8. You may need to go back to self-revise/edit after you have a peer conference. After, you may go directly to conference with Ms. Kukurza. You do not need to go back and have another conference with your peer.
9. Conference with Ms. Kukurza
10. You may need to go back to self-revise/edit after you have a conference with Ms. Kukurza. She will tell you what you need to do after you meet with her. If she wants you to come back for another conference, she will circle the spot on the sheet that tells you to come back for another conference.
11. Publish your paper.
Guided Reading
This week we have been review all of our guided reading strategies we have covered over the year: fact vs. opinion, point of view, author’s purpose, main idea/details, summarize, infer, conclude, predict, cause vs. effect, compare & contrast, and sequence. To do this, we have been reading short passages and then answering the questions that go with them.
Working with Words:
-Our next working with words test will be Thursday February 26, 2009.
-We will be cheering, clapping, and chanting these words in class. We will also be talking about prefixes, suffixes, and root words and discussing how they can change a word’s meaning.
-Even though we are moving on to new words next month, we are not done with the old words! Your child will be required to spell the old and new words correctly for the rest of the year. They will be posted on the word wall for them to look at all year.
-Please see the section on the website labeled “working with words” for a complete list of this month’s words.
This week:
2/23 Mass Practice
2/24 Burning of Palms at 10AM
2/25 Ash Wednesday Mass at 12PM
2/26 No School- Teacher Inservice
Upcoming Events:
3/2-3/6 Terra Nova and InView Testing
3/6 Field Trip to Planetarium
Miscellaneous Items:
• If anyone has bookshelves they are willing to donate, we are in need of them for our classroom! We would greatly appreciate it.
• Please make sure you are checking your child’s binder every so often. Please make sure they have all their papers in the correct tabs. Your child will experience more success in school if they are organized. They should be keeping everything in their binder. This includes all homework, worksheets, and class work.
• Please turn in your signed report card envelopes
• All progress reports and behavior reports went home today. Please be sure to look them over and talk to your child about them.
GOD BLESS