Ms. Burton’s Fourth Grade Class 2008-2009

Important Dates;

1/ 18 No school for students, teacher professional day
1/21 No school Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Wednesday 1/30 Room 107, Long Comp Practice Day
I will give the children a prompt to write about to simulate the MCAS Long Comp. This activity will give the children the opportunity to practice writing a long comp in one day. They will write a plan, first draft, and final draft using all of their best writing practices.

Language Arts: We are back to our regular routine for reading, spelling and writing. This week we have been working on a special writing piece with Mr. McGuinness. He has been coming in each day and having us write an anecdote making sure that we have very interesting action, lots of show descriptions of characters, objects and settings, many interesting word choices, dialogue that seems real, and full sentences with correct punctuation. We also started our new class novel, Frindle by Andrew Clements.

Math: We are finishing Unit 5 and will be testing by next week. The students have been working in groups to answer open response writing questions and will be presenting their solutions to the class.

Science: Our science lab report on rocks has been our focus for the past week. The children have been using their rocks to practice measuring length using metrics, measuring mass using a balance, testing the hardness of the rock, and using vinegar to indicate the presents of calcium carbonate. In computer lab we used Inspiration to label and outline facts about the layers of the earth.

Social Studies: This week the children rotated through three centers about the West. The first center was about reading regional poetry with the West as the topic. The second center was to view photography from the West and to write poetry about a photograph. The final center was to read about the Native Americans from the West and record notes.

REFLECTION QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What center activity did you enjoy in social studies this week, and what did you learn at that center?

Happy Holidays to Everyone!!

Math: The students took the Unit 4 Assessment and did a fantastic job! We started Unit 5 and have had fun doing the lattice method of multiplication and playing multiplication wrestling.

Language Arts: The children have finished reading Charlotte’s Web and we watched the movie. Everyone did a fantastic job keeping up with their spelling, literature circle, and reader’s notebook responsibilities during this exciting week.

Science: We have been finishing our Plant and Animal unit by sharing our Prehistoric Creature projects. After vacation we will begin our next unit, Rocks and Minerals.

Social Studies: The students spent the week sharing their state projects. Ms. Ames was very pleased by the effort of the students. These projects will be displayed in the hallway after vacation.

REFLECTION QUESTION OF THE WEEK: The holidays are such a wonderful time of the year to spend with family and friends. We often have family traditions during this season. What wonderful family traditions do you have?

Important Dates:

MES Holiday Concert 12/18

Our classroom holiday celebration 12/21 @ 1:30
Thank you to Mrs. Sanborn for coordinating this event, please contact her if you would like to help.

No School Dec 24th -Jan 1st

School starts again on January 2nd

Christmas arrived early in room 107!!! Our Smart Board is up and running!

Language Arts: We have been reading about different holiday celebrations around the world. The children ask a lot of questions and share what they already know.
Each child has been doing a fantastic job working on their reader’s notebooks and literature circle jobs. Each week they just keep getting better and better at it!

Math: We have been very busy practicing measuring using the metric system. For the next few days we will be reviewing unit 4 and will be taking the assessment by the end of next week.

CONTINUE PRACTICING MULTIPLICATION FACTS

Science: You should of seen your child’s fossil come home the other day. They have been learning about fossils and will be starting a class project called “Creating a Prehistoric Creature”.

Social Studies: The state projects are coming along great. The children have been using class time and computer lab time, but they also should be working on this project at home.
Check out our link to Ms Ames blog site.

REFLECTION QUESTION OF THE WEEK: I am so excited about having our new Smart Board and I hope you are excited too! We are going to be able to use it for every subject in school. I want you to think about ways we can use the Smart Board in class. Make a list of any ideas you have.

Important Dates:

Holiday Fair at SAE 12/1

MES Book Fair 12/3-12/7

Holiday Concert: 12/18 7:00 p.m.

No School: Dec 24th through Jan 2nd

Language Arts:Each child has been writing letters to me in their Reader’s Notebook. They are writing about what they have been reading on their own. Each child has a specific day that their letter is due. They are also using the topic list in their Reader’s Notebook to help them write detailed letters.

This week the students started to write a long composition about their Thanksgiving weekend. They began with a graphic organizer to help them plan their composition. The children then learned about writing strong introductions to grab their audiences attention.

Math:The children have been practicing working with decimals, tenths, hundredths, and thousandths. The also have been adding and subtracting money while balancing a bank book. The children have a good understanding of deposits and withdrawals.

STUDY MULTIPLICATION FACTS! Students need to know their multiplication facts. Parents I need your help. Make sure your child is studying their multiplication facts. It is written in the agenda book each day.

Social Studies:The children learned about the western states by labeling a map and reading about the geography of the western states.

Science:The children are continuing their studies of Plant and Animal Changes by learning about fossils and theories.

REFLECTION QUESTION OF THE WEEK: On Friday we watched a video called Fossils: Remains to Be Seen. What facts about fossils did you learn from the video?

Important Dates:

Half days for conferences: 11/19 & 11/20
Half day for Thanksgiving Break 11/21
No School 11/22 & 11/23, for Thanksgiving
No After School Activities the week of 11/19

No blog next week, I’ll be eating turkey instead!!!!

Language Arts: The children have been placed in Literature Cicle groups and are meeting on Friday to discuss the first chapter of their book. Also, this week the children are starting to write letters to Ms. Burton in their Reader’s Notebooks. The children will be writing letters about their assigned books and have selected a day to hand in their notebooks. This regular routine will start the week after Thanksgiving. Ask your child what day their notebook is due.
We have also been practicing using quotation marks. The children are using them in their spelling sentences and will be writing stories using dialog.

Math: We just finished Unit 3 assessment which Ms. Burton will share with parents at the fall conference. Unit 4 is about decimals. The unit 4 family letter is going home today.

Social Studies: The northeast native american projects were fantastic. The children showed enthusiasum and dedication to this project.

Science: We are continuing our studies of plant and animal changes.

REFLECTION QUESTION OF THE WEEK: Today we saw fantastic northeast native american projects. What are some facts you learned from the other groups?

Important Dates:

No School Monday 11/12 Veteran’s Day

Half days 11/19 & 11/20 Parent/Teacher Conferences

Half day 11/21 Thanksgiving
No School 11/22 & 11/23 Thanksgiving

1st Term Report Cards go home Friday 11/16

Afterschool Activities start next week-students will find out this Friday which activity they will be in

Language Arts: The students have been writing letters to me about the Winn-Dixie movie and book. They also have been writing letters to Veterans.
The children learned their last literature circle job, The Summarizer. Next week they will begin their small group literature circles.
Mr. McGuiness, our consulting teacher of reading, will be working with the students the next few Fridays on a writing workshop project.

Math: We are finishing unit 3 in the next few days and will have the assessment next week. The children took their first timed mult quiz this week and learned how to graph their progress. They are expected to be studying each night so they can improve each week. The following students made the M ultiplication Hall of Fame already!!! Josh, Jake, Lily, Haley

Social Studies: The students have been working on their Northeast Native American projects during class. They are now expected to complete their work at home and be ready to present their project next Thursday 11/15. A letter is going home from Ms. Ames today.

Science: We started our unit on Plant and Animal changes. This unit describes theories of how the earth, plants and animals began, and evolved over time.

REFLECTION QUESTION OF THE WEEK: You have been working on your social studies Northeast Native American project all week. What is your job in your group, and what are you learning about the Northeast Native Americans?

Important Dates:

November 9th: Mobile Dentist and Fire Safety Day

Monday November 12th, no school Veteran’s Day

November 13th: Picture Retake Day

November 19th and 20th: Half days for students, parent teacher conference days

November 21st: Half day for Thanksgiving/Turkey Trot in the morning!

November 22nd and 23rd: No school for Thanksgiving

Thank you to all parents for responding to my conference schedule!

Language Arts:During this week we completed reading Because of Winn-Dixie and watched the movie. The children are working on a writing piece where they are comparing the book to the movie. The children also learned a new literature circle job called the Discussion Director.

Math:This week the children have been practicing using good strategies when answering numbers stories, identifying true and false number sentences, and using parentheses in number sentences. We will be starting multiplication facts quizes next week. Your child should be practicing their mult facts for quick recall.

Science:This week we finished up Heredity with a vocabulary packet. The next unit in science is called Plant and Animal Changes.

Social Studies:The children have started to work on Northeast Native American group projects. Ask your child which group they are in and what their responsibilities are.

Reflection Question of the Week: We just finished reading Because of Winn-Dixie and watching the movie. This is a beautiful story about relationships with adults, friendships and love. In the story Opal finds out 10 things about her mother and thinks of 10 things about Winn-Dixie that she never wants to forget, think about someone you love and make a list of 10 things that you never want to forget.