4th Grade Reading 9/25-928

Reading: This week  we learned about protagonist and antagonist in a story. We also started our Latin/Greek words. We will have a test this Thursday. Next week, we will introduce first and third person point of view. We will also be starting our reading groups next week. 

We have noticed that some of the students that are struggling with spelling. Last week, we gave an initial spelling assessment to determine who would benefit from studying spelling. Some students will have a spelling list distributed to them on Monday. The next spelling test is 10/12.  If your child doesn't receive a spelling list, they were not identified as one that needs to continue with spelling at this time.

Homework: Read 20 minutes every day. Study Latin/Greek words for assessment on Thursday. Study spelling list for assessment on 10/12/17 (for applicable students).

Writing with Mrs. Duarte

Students have been patiently revising their personal narratives this past week as we learned about 4 different types of leads - emotion/feeling, action, dialogue, and description.  They are in the process of typing their first draft and will continue to make revisions as we delve further into transitions and endings next week.   They shared their stories with their peers and gathered feedback.  In addition to Language Review each week, students also complete two journal prompts per week.  They wrote some very thoughtful memories of when they first met their best friend and conveyed some important questions in response to "I wonder..."    

Week 3

     This past week we started research for our first project.  We are researching who the first settlers of Nevada were.  Each group is assigned a different group of people who came to Nevada.  We are looking for what their lifestyle was like, what interactions they had with other people, the conflicts and compromises they had, and the contributions they made to Nevada.  These kids are working hard, there is lots of reading to find the information that they need. I am impressed with what they have found and how hard they are working.  They make great historians!  We also had a guest speaker, Mrs. Laca, who taught us about the Basques and why they came to Nevada.  Our class showed great attentive listening and respect to her as she presented.

This week Elsie and Ruby purchased show and tell.  They brought in their dog to share with us.  

What a great looking class!

Math update with Mrs. Neal

Hello fourth grade families,
This week we focused on place value, writing numbers to the hundred thousands using standard form, word form, expanded form, and with place value discs. We have also worked on using our place value knowledge to compare numbers. The homework for this week will be as follows:
Monday- IXL A.8
Tuesday- Place value page
Wednesday- Practice test, evens
Thursday- Practice math facts

Thanks and here are some pictures of a TRIBES activity with Mr. Carrol:

9/18-9/21/17 4th Grade Reading

Reading: This week in reading we continued to Read to Self, but added in Word Work and Work on Writing. We also learned about context clues. The students worked on packets with several made up words within a paragraph. They were assessed for understanding on context clues on Thursday. Next week, we begin introducing our Greek/Latin prefixes and suffixes. We will also be discussing protagonist and antagonist in stories.

Homework: Read 20 minutes a night.

Writing Update with Mrs. Duarte

Writing class incorporates a variety of writing experiences!  Students are exposed to grammar review, journal prompts, read aloud of a mentor text to introduce a writing strategy, and practice at writing their own personal narratives. This week we focused on writing strategies related to:  using sensory details, writing about a small specific moment in time, and including an emotional hook.

Google Calendar

Hello all!
Just a reminder that every day in class we put your student's homework into their google calendar. We chose to switch to google calendar instead of printing out all of the assignment pages a few years back to save paper. That is where they should be checking to find their homework assignments. Then if there are days that I push save instead of publish (whoops, sorry!) on the blog post, you can still find the homework! We do this every day at the end of class so unless your student is absent it should be there. If you need help figuring out how to access your student's google calendar feel free to ask me and I can help you. Thanks!

Math update with Mrs. Neal

Hello all!
Last week in math we focused on reflectional symmetry and rotational symmetry. We dug deep into finding and counting all lines of symmetry and found real world examples of symmetry. We also took a test on symmetry which will be coming home this week. The homework for this week will be as follows:
Monday- IXL A.1
Tuesday- IXL A.2
Wednesday- IXL A.3
Thursday- IXL A.4
Thanks and have a wonderful week!

Week 2!

In projects we started the week off with a presentation from Donna Cossette about early Native Americans in Nevada.  The kids were impressive with their behavior and attentive listening.  I was proud of them for their first presentation.  We started our first project about Nevada with a Nevada symbols quiz.  We logged onto our computers and started researching using our chrome books as we learned about many of Nevada's symbols.

I introduced Masters of Geography to them and some of them have already taken off with it.  Its fun to watch them show excitement for geography!  We continue to work with tribe activities as we focus on mutual respect, no put downs and appreciations.  They are demonstrating fabulous attentive listening using the slant technique.  We really have a great class.

This week we will be dividing into groups and assigning the tasks each student will take on as they study early Native Americans and pioneer settlers of Nevada.   We will be studying their lifestyles, contributions to our state, and conflicts and compromises that occurred between the different settlers.  We also will be documenting important dates on a class time line.  I am looking forward to working with these kiddos and learning all about early Nevada!

9/11-9/14 4th Grade Reading

I am enjoying this group a lot. They enjoyed the books we read to discuss plot structure and really grasped this week's topics. 

Reading: This week in reading we continued to Read to Self and build our stamina. By Thursday, we were able to add in Work on Writing in writing journals. We also continued learning about plot structure, specifically the rising events, climax, falling events and resolution. Next week, we will look at context clues. 

Homework: Read 20 minutes everyday. 

Writing Update with Mrs. Duarte

We have continued to build our understanding of what it means to write a personal narrative this week, using mentor texts as examples of what elements should be present in a personal narrative. Students have begun writing multiple personal narratives about various experiences they are passionate about.  Soon they will pick one that they will build on and refine as we learn new techniques.  Next week we will be adding in journal writing and Daily Language Review into our routine.  I am impressed with the level of creativity and writing ability of this incredible group of 4th graders!

Math update with Mrs. Neal

Hello 4th grade families!

We had a wonderful first week! It's been great working with all my former third graders as well as working with some new faces!
This week we started with a getting to know you project where we used math facts. They came up with questions about themselves that could be answered with a number then created a math fact for the answer. For example: How many cats do I have? 9-7. We also started learning about symmetry. To incorporate symmetry into our getting to know you page, I took pictures of each student's face and then cut them in half along the line of symmetry. They had to complete their faces by drawing the missing half. These posters are hanging in the hall if you happen to stop by school and want to see them (they are pretty fun!).
Home work this week will be the following:
Monday- IXL Y.1 and Y.2 if extra time (Y.1 should go very quickly)
Tuesday- IXL Y.3
Wednesday- Practice test evens
Thursday- Practice math facts (we will be taking a test this day)

Thanks!
Holly Neal

What a great first week in projects!

It was a good week.  I have loved working with and getting to know these fourth graders better.  What a great group of kids.  I have especially enjoyed reading the get to know you papers you filled out for me.  It looks like we have a class full of kids who really care about others and want to do good things.  I can't wait to see what is in store this year!

Our first day was filled with procedures, expectations, and get to know you activities.  On Tuesday and Wednesday we explored the tribe agreements with discussion and group activities.  We have talked about Mutual Respect, Attentive Listening and Appreciations/No Put downs.  These agreements aren't so much rules, as behaviors we agree to demonstrate to make our classroom the best it can be.  I have already noticed appreciations being used among the students.  It warms my heart.  We did acrostic poems of our names to decorate our binders with.  We found its hard to come up with adjectives that start with certain letters! However, we have pretty creative minds in our room and we were able to come up with some pretty great descriptors.

This next week we are starting our first project.  The focus this trimester will be Nevada.  I can't wait.  I kind of love Nevada!

Our specials for the next 9 weeks is Youth Positive with Mr. Lennon.  I'm not sure what this all entails, but if its anything like last year the kids love it.  On Thursday they were sent home with a fingerprint poem paper.  I believe they were asked to write about themselves filling in the spaces that will create the image of a fingerprint.  I have seen these done before and they are pretty cool looking.  Please don't feel pressure to have these completed, just do the best you can.

Also, picture day is tomorrow!  I sent picture packets home on Thursday.  I know there are few extra in the classroom if one is needed.

Please let me know your concerns or if you have questions.  I am looking forward to getting to know you parents also!

This is just a little video from the first day of school.

4th Grade Writing with Mrs. Duarte

We spent the first two days getting acquainted and working on a fun personal narrative about our summers.   During the week of September 11-14, we will be doing an on-demand narrative with a prompt and begin work on developing ideas for work on a personal narrative.   The on-demand writing assignment will provide the teacher with an opportunity to understand each child's strengths and areas for growth within the writing process.

4th Grade Reading 9/5-9/7/17

Reading: This week in reading we reviewed Read to Self and how to pick a good fit book.  Then, we started building stamina while reading.  They did a great job at this!  We also started learning about plot structure, specifically the exposition or hook in a story. We will continue to learn about the rising events, climax, falling events and resolution next week. 

Homework: Please have your child read 20 minutes everyday.