Week of 9/7/15

Highlights for the Week of 9/7/2015

in Mrs. Bell's Classroom!

Spelling - Words Often Misspelled #2
This week's list will consist of a second list of words that are often misspelled by fourth-grade students. Students will be taking a pretest consisting of 20 words on Tuesday. Daily homework will be assigned. The  final TEST is scheduled for Friday, 9/11. 

Reading - "Casey at the Bat" - Close Reading

I am so pleased with the work that students have done while conducting the close read of the poem, "Casey at the Bat". Their enthusiasm for the material coupled with their perseverance with the challenging text is a pleasure to watch.  We didn't get quite as far as I had planned this week, so we will continue with the poem after Labor Day. Below are some of our classroom archeologists "Digging Deeper" into the text while close reading the poem.

English - Introduction to Paragraphs

Writing topic & closing sentences will be our focus this week. Students will begin writing paragraphs about their summer vacations using the pictures and details from the first activity in this unit. We will also begin discussion of how to assess your writing.

Social Studies - The Beautiful Northeast

Our journey across the U.S. A. begins with a look at the Northeast region. Students will create their own maps of the region, labeling states and bodies of water. Then we will take a look at the geography and climate of the states in that area.

Math - Mrs. Bell's Math Class

Volume and multiplication will continue to be our focus this week. Ask your child how we developed the formula for volume by creating boxes for shipping baseballs. On Tuesday, students will independently complete a graded checkpoint that will cover expressions. Reviewing the homework in the Bridges Student Book and the "Write and Evaluate Expressions" worksheet will be helpful to prepare for the checkpoint. I hope you enjoy these pictures of your children exploring factors and multiplication by playing The Product Game, and working with Omnifix cubes to explore volume.

FYI...

The CHROMEBOOKS will be sent home on Tuesday, 9/8. It will be your child's responsibility to have a fully charged device at school every day. This will be especially CRUCIAL when we are MAP testing on 9/9 & 9/10. Thanks in advance for your help with this :-)

MAP testing in fourth grade will take place on Wednesday, 9/9, and Thursday, 9/10. Students will take the tests on their Chromebooks. Please see that your child is well rested, and has a healthy breakfast both days. 

On September 22nd,  4th grade is taking a field trip to Brookfield Zoo. Watch for the field trip permission slip to come home on 9/4. Permission slips and the fee for the trip are due on 9/11. On the day of the trip, students will have to bring a completely disposable lunch, dress for the weather, wear comfortable walking shoes, and bring a watch with a second hand.

Enjoy your holiday weekend!

Mrs. Karen Bell