The Last Week of November!

Welcome back from Thanksgiving break! I hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends. The kids come back to a shortened week with only 4 days of school. However, we have LOTS to pack in! Here's a look at our week ahead:

The 4th grade teachers had originally planned to have a live chat with the kids Tuesday, November 30th. THIS HAS BEEN CHANGED! Our next live chat will actually be Tuesday, December 14th. By that time, the kids will have their final projects to reflect on and will learn about multiple tribes through presentations. The teachers figured that this would allow for a richer conversation. We are also working with Ms. Csensich to have the LMC open the night of our live chat for anyone that is not able to connect to the internet from home.

This week is a review week for Treasures. This means that we will work on reviewing the material we've learned throughout the past 5 weeks. The kids will review fact/opinion, making inferences, understanding the author's purpose, and main idea vs. details. We will review the past vocabulary and also review skills such as figurative language, using primary sources, and base words/prefix/suffix. Lots to review!!!!

Since this is a review week, there will be only ONE spelling test that will include words from the past 5 weeks. This test will require the kids to identify the misspelled word in a sentence. There will be spelling work this week that will require your child to do one activity at home. It will not be due until Friday and the kids will have this in their Home Folders on Tuesday.

We finished the novel groups before break. We will take the next 3 weeks to work on inquiry skills in our small reading groups. We will work to become more aware of our reactions when reading, develop a sensitivity to language, and value our curiosity. The kids will work on organizing details from a story, drawing inferences, analyzing characters, motives, and finding the main idea of a passage.

In math the kids will work to finish up Unit 4. We will spend Tuesday reviewing measurement and working on metric conversions. Wednesday and Thursday will be review days over the entire unit, and Friday will be the final test. The kids will receive a study guide and will have all of their study links and worksheets from class to help them prepare for the test. A parent letter explaining our next unit will go home the beginning of next week.

The kids will work on their final project for their Native American Units. The kids will find out information about what groups they will be working in and various formats they will be able to share the wonderful information they have found so far. A work contract will come home with your child on Wednesday that will explain this in more detail. Please take some time to review this contract, sign it, and send it back with your child. This contract also has important dates in December to mark down.

The kids will continue to work with narrative writing skills in WEX. We will work on combining sentences to show sequence, as well as cause and effect. The kids will then pick a narrative that they have written to "polish up". We will talk about the importance of an essay, the proper way to format your writing, and how to write an interesting introduction and conclusion.

As we being our 2nd trimester of 4th grade, the expectations of the students grow. If student work does not look like your child's best effort, it will be given back and have to be redone. This may require your child to take it home for homework. There will also be a note attached to the sheet that needs to redone so that you are aware. We want to make sure the kids are showing all they can since they are now comfortable with classroom routines and curriculum.

I think that covers everything. If you have any questions or concerns, please let me know. Have a great rest of your week and Happy Hanukkah to those who are celebrating!