8/27 News

 BOUNCING INTO FOURTH GRADE!

 

We really enjoyed bouncing into the school year. Our first day we had lots of fun exploring with bubbles. We used scientific observations to learn about the different bubble solutions. We also talked about how a bubble is a lot like a person's feelings. It's much easier to pop them than it is to keep them up. I hope you enjoy the pictures of our fun!  

  

  

 

 

 

 

       
     
In reading this week we focused on our reading book. We discussed the stories in each unit and previewed them. After getting through the entire book we rated the stories. The rating sheet allowed the students to decide the stories we will be reading this year. It also helps me decide in what order we will read them. Throughout the year we will be reading many other stories and chapter books, but this helps us to get started.  
  We also began our independent reading in the classroom. Every day we silent read a story we have chosen from the classroom library. During this time I will be conferencing with the students about their story. We will discuss the story and work on various skills that have been introduced during reading instruction.
Our first science unit is weather. First, we reviewed some important weather vocabulary with a new game RIVET. Then we began observing the wind. We created our own weather instruments to measure wind and utilized them in our observations. We will be charting and observing the wind and temperature all during our unit.  
  In language arts we took a really long spelling pretest over more than forty words. This will help me determine where to begin with our spelling words. Our spelling tests this year will include ten spelling and vocabulary words. The tests will not begin until the first full week of school, Monday, September 8th. The first pretest will be Thursday, September 11th and Friday, September 12th will be the first test counted for a grade. There will be a letter coming home next week about our spelling procedure, which will include our words for that week.
We also reviewed the parts of speech, beginning with nouns. We learned that nouns are people, places and things. Nouns are also animals, ideas and feelings. We read some fun stories to help us learn these concepts. We also wrote our first paragraph. We shared our favorite and least favorite things.  

 Thanks for helping our first days of school run smoothly!

Enjoy the extra long weekend!
Mrs. Stratton