*****Updateded May 1*****
Welcome to Fourth Quarter!
WOW! We only have 7 weeks left until fourth grade will be over and your hard
working students will officially be FIFTH GRADERS! Unbelieveable :)
The fourth quarter lends itself to celebrating what we have learned
throughout the year with many fun and hands on culminating projects as well
as performances and creative expression. While sad that our time together is
almost up, I look forward to the next few weeks with your children and all
the excitement that this time of year brings. As always, I thank everyone
for their continued support :)
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**Be sure your child is bringing home CHAPTER books to read. Our Media
Specialist encourages students to pick “JUST RIGHT” books. Fourth graders are
allowed to check out 3 books from the Media center. AT LEAST 1 of those books
should be at or above their reading level. This also ensures that students
have an appropriate independent reading book for class time.
**What Makes An Excellent Retell On The Nightly Reading Log?
A clear beginning, middle, and end to what they have read.
Descriptions of the characters, setting, and problem.
Retell should flow smoothly without any prompting for more information.
An excellent retell takes about 5 minutes.
Thank you for signing the reading log every night and encouraging excellent
retelling skills!
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CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS:
*READING/WRITING:
This quarter we will be reading and performing drama. We read and
performed "Horton Hears A Who" and will be adding John Henry in Reader's
Workshop. Later in the quarter, students will read a shortened version of
the classic novel, Cricket in Times Square, and turn it into their own
dramatic interpretation. We will also be focusing on researching a topic and
learning how to use research and write a report. We will continue Literature
Circle groups again to read more novels and complete book projects. It is
important the students come to their weekly Literature Circle group with the
role sheet filled out, ready to participate. Time is given in class to
complete this assignment.
In writing there will be more emphasis on report writing this quarter. The
students will be guided through the research writing process as they gather
important information on their county at home on the index cards. In class
the students will take the information from their index cards, form relevant
paragraphs, and restate it in their own words to write their report. Special
attention will be given to the revising and editing steps. It is important
the students are able to re-read their writing with a purpose to improve
organization, word choice, and focus.
*SOCIAL STUDIES/SCIENCE:
For detailed information and dates about County Fair, please see the County
Fair page. As you already know, the students have been assigned a North
Carolina county and are awaiting a return letter with information on their
county. Most of the information requested from the county Chamber of Commerce
has arrived to Highcroft. We will be setting up index cards based on the
requirements for the written report to organize the research into manageable
categories. The children had an opportunity to tour last year’s fourth grade
county fair and are very excited to be a part of this fourth grade tradition.
In Science we will begin our last unit in food chemistry. The students will
test foods and liquids for starch, glucose, fats, and protein through hands
on investigations. They will become very aware of nutritional information on
packaging and labels. As with the last three Science units, students will be
expected to keep a detailed and organized inquiry based Science Notebook. The
predictions and conclusions they make throughout the unit help deepen their
understanding of the concepts being taught.
*MATH:
Our fourth quarter in math begins with division. I will teach the children
two strategies. One is the traditional method we all learned, and the other
is called the “forgiving method.” We will spend the first two weeks of this
quarter learning and practicing both methods. As with multiplication, the
students ultimately decide which method works the best for them. Team time
will be spent reviewing fractions and word problems. The students will be
grouped according to their need for review or extension as determined by a
pre-assessment. Later in the quarter we will study probability and patterns.
