What we have been studying in November:
Reading: In reading the students will study biographies and the nonfiction
genre. We will learn about how biographies tend to go. We will study
character traits, time lines, accomplishments, early struggles, experiences
or events who affected the character, and famous quotes made by the
character. I will be reading aloud Walt Disney's biography in class and
discussing these lessons with this book as well.
You can help you child at home. Encourage your child to
read often and log his or her minutes each time. This month your child
should be reading biographies, but he or she should continue to read fiction
as well. I tell the students to read biographies for 3 days and fiction for
two days. Take your child to the local library or book store to check out
the biographies of famous people your child is interested in learning more
about. Share your enthusiasm for books as well and your interest in
biographies.
Writing: For the next few months we will be writing essays. We will begin
by collecting ideas for essays by looking at ordinary objects and letting
those objects spark ideas. Students will then write a thesis sentence and
build a five paragraph essay based on this thesis statement. We will learn
how to organize each thought into separate paragraphs, how to use transition
words and sentences, and how to write introductions and conclusions. We will
also review how to revise and edit our work as we go through the writing
process.
You may wonder how you can help your child to prosper as a writer this year.
The first thing I want to remind you is that for most of us, writing can be
frightening. Please encourage your child by helping your child realize that
daily life brims with stories that deserve to be told. When your family
hears a noise behind the wall and you use a flashlight to find that the
noise comes from a squirrel who has been living there, remind your child
that this would make a great entry in his or her writer’s notebook! When
you get the chance to see some of your child’s writing, for now, it would
really help if you give that child what every writer needs above all: an
interested, appreciative reader. Read the child’s writing not as a judge,
but as a reader, paying attention to the content. If you do this, you will
make your child feel like an author, and you’ll make it much more likely
that your child will care about writing and will be ready to invest in the
hard work required to grow as a writer.
Word Work: Your child will participate in Words Their Way. Each child will
be placed in a spelling group according to his or her ability. The
students will be
given word sorts to practice with their spelling buddy and will be given a
test every Friday.
Math: During the month of November we will begin reading and writing
decimals and fractions. For many children I notice that this is a difficult
concept. Many 4th graders have a difficult time understanding the basic idea
that decimals are numbers that come between whole numbers.
How you can help your child be a dynamite with decimals:
Remind your child that we use money all the time and money written out is a
decimal ($7.83). This will help your child when it comes to ordering
decimals. You can also review the basic idea of decimals by asking your
child to name numbers that are between whole numbers ("Name numbers that are
between 3 and 4.", or "Name numbers that are between 3.5 and 3.6.") You can
also try these fun activities and talk with your child about how they relate
to the concept of decimals: 1) Have your child track the sports statistics
of a favorite athlete. 2) Have your child compare prices of items in the
supermarket. 3) Help your child create and use new personal reference
measures.