Week of 10.15.18

Highlights for the Week of 10/15/2018
in Mrs. Bell's Classroom

Spelling -  Unit 8 - Grade Appropriate & Domain-Specific Vocabulary
This week's spelling/vocabulary list will include a variety of words that are appropriate for 4th-grade students. Instead of studying a spelling rule, we will focus on the definition of these words and how they might be used in reading and writing. Part of this week's lesson will also highlight how to use reference materials such as a dictionary, thesaurus, atlas, and encyclopedia. The final TEST is scheduled for Friday, 10/19.

Reading - Unit 1 - "Courage"

At the beginning of the week, we will write our first reading response as a group. Then, we will spend time looking at the text structure of cause and effect. Text structured as cause and effect explains the reasons why something happened or the effects of something. An effect is what happens. To determine the effect, students should ask “What happened?”. A cause is why something happens. To determine the cause, students should ask “Why did it happen?”   Ask your child how we used the picture book on the left to discuss this type of text structure.  Once we have reviewed this concept students will revisit the story of "Happy Birthday Dr. King" to discover how cause and effect are used throughout the text.

English - Capitalization & Punctuation
Capitalization of places and things, abbreviations, and commas in a series are our topics for next week.

Social Studies -  The Northeast / The Narragansett
The rough draft of the Northeast descriptive writing project is due on Monday, 10/15. After working in class to proofread and edit, the final copy will be typed in Google Classroom and will be due on 10/16. 

Last week was our Northeast Feast in which students had the chance to enjoy resources from the region, including grape juice, cranberries and maple syrup. Based on the pictures, I think they enjoyed it!

Logan leads us in a game of Northeast Tic-Tac-Toe as we wait for the food to be prepared.

On October 11th we held a "writer's workshop" (pictured below) during which students worked on turning their brainstorming organizers into paragraphs. I am very impressed with the enthusiasm that they expressed for this project, and can't wait to read what they have written!

We will complete our study of the NE region with a look at the Native Americans of the area, the Narragansetts. Our focus will be on the culture and traditions of the group and how they have changed over time.

Mrs. Bell's Math Class - Unit 2 - Adding & Subtracting Fractions

Problem-solving with fractions will be our focus for the rest of this week. Students will continue to work with partners (pictured below) to create a poster of a hiking trail that is divided into sections based on fractions that they are given. They will then use their poster to problem solve. 

On Tuesday, we will introduce the final strategy for adding and subtracting fractions with unlike denominators...the "Double Number Line". We will also look at the concept of the "better buy". Look for the next fraction CHECKPOINT to be scheduled for the week of 10/22.

FYI...

Homeroom parents...don't forget to sign up for a conference on 10/23 or 10/24. Please click on the following link for the schedule...https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0f4aa4af22a5f85-october23

Happy Friday!

Mrs. Karen Bell