Math update with Mrs. Neal

Hello all!
We are still digging deep into fractions! We are continuing to work with equivalent fractions and moving to comparing and ordering fractions with uncommon denominators. The homework for this week is as follows:
Week of 1/29
4th grade:
Monday- Comparing fractions page
Tuesday- No Homework- MATH NIGHT!
Wednesday- IXL P.16
Thursday- IXL P.17

Thank you and see you all at math night!

Week 18

This week the students of room 11 have been working so hard!  On Monday we sorted plant and animal structures, both internal and external, according to their function: growth, survival, behavior and reproduction.  We found that some structures fall under more than one function.  They then had to develop an argument for why they think that the structure they chose has that specific function.  They worked together as tables to come up with these arguments.  It led to some great discussion.

On Tuesday we started our animal senses slide show project by learning about how animals use their senses to survive.  We learned how to make a slide show interactive.  On Wednesday and Thursday we started researching our animal and finding facts about their different senses.  I am hoping this week to finish up research and come close to completing our slide shows.  If they work as hard this week as they did last week, we should be right on track.

Thanks for sharing such great kids with me!

Reading update with Mrs. Luyt 1/22-1/25/18

Reading: This last week we reviewed commonly confused words such as their, there, and they're and to, too, and two. Students took a spelling test on 1/25/18 and I sent home the results on Thursday. This week, we will introduce text features in non-fiction reading. We will introduce new spelling and vocabulary words for a spelling test on 2/8/18.   Latin/Greek test on Thursday 2/2/18.

Homework: Read 20 minutes a day and study Latin/Greek words for test.

Writing Update with Mrs. Duarte

Students have been learning many interesting facts about their assigned animal for their research-based informational reports in writing class.   They learned about 4 different ways to organize their information into paragraphs, including:  Compare and Contrast, Cause and Effect, Sequence, and Description.   We also reviewed that adverbs tell us how, where, or when and completed journal prompts.  Their diary entries as an animal of their choice were very creative and descriptive!

Week 17

We had such a fun week!  These kids have worked hard this week.  We started off with our colored celery and carnation experiment.  I'm sure you have all heard about what happens to celery when you put it in colored water.  We went through all steps of the scientific method and found out what happens when we put celery in colored water!  We learned about different plant structures, both internal and external and we ended the week with a dissection of the celery we colored.  The kids loved identifying the xylem and discovering where the water goes inside of this plant.  They were terrific scientists! This week we are looking forward to starting our animal slide show project.

On Thursday, Zandar brought in his two puppies (they didn't look like puppies to me!) to show the class.  It was definitely a fun afternoon.  

Math update with Mrs. Neal

Hello 4th grade families,
This week in math we started working with fractions. We reviewed the parts of a fraction, comparing and ordering fractions, equivalent fractions and reducing fractions. The homework this week will be as follows:
Week of 1/22
4th grade:
Monday- IXL P.9
Tuesday- IXL P.7
Wednesday- Practice test, evens
Thursday- Practice math facts

Thanks and have a great week!

Reading update with Mrs. Luyt 1/22-1/25/18

Reading: This last week we reviewed commonly confused words such as their, there, and they're and to, too, and two. This week, we will continue to  review commonly confused words. Spelling test on Thursday 1/25/18.

Homework: Read 20 minutes a day and study for test.

Writing Update with Mrs. Duarte

Students were assigned a specific animal for their projects with Mrs. Sorensen in the afternoons and we are doing further research on the same animals in our writing class, as we practice our research and informational essay writing skills.   This week they were introduced to their assigned animal, began looking for applicable websites, and learned how to organize and take research notes.  They will be writing on 3 subtopics related to:  habitat/ food, physical description, and survival/behaviors.  It is exciting to see how engaged they are in the process!

Math update with Mrs. Neal

Hello all!
Last week in math we learned all about multiplicative comparison and how to solve word problems involving multiplicative comparison. This week we will be moving on to fractions. The homework will be as follows:
Week of 1/15
4th grade:
Monday- No School
Tuesday- IXL P.13
Wednesday- IXL P.5
Thursday- IXL P.10

Thanks and have a great week!

Reading update with Mrs. Luyt 1/8-1/11/18

Last week, we looked at the story the Tortoise and the Hare in both written and cartoon format. We compared and contrasted the setting, characters, plot and theme. This week we are reviewing commonly confused words such as their, there, and they're and to, too, and two. We will be doing several activities to help the students understand when to use each form of the words. 

Latin and Greek test on Thursday!

Homework: Read 20 Minutes and study for test.

It's been awhile. . .

Hello!  I hope everyone had a nice break and wonderful holiday season.  I enjoyed staying at home, relaxing, watching movies and spending time with my family.  We had a fun Christmas party on the last Thursday of school.  Thank you Carrie Sheldon-Davis for planning and putting on such a great time.  She printed out pictures of the class that will be coming home this week.

The students of room 11 finished their map project of Nevada before the break.  I was impressed with how these maps turned out and how well the presentations went.  Here are pictures of the maps that the students created.

We started our Plants and Animals: How do they do that? project this past week.  We will be exploring how the different structures in plants and animals provide the functions necessary for life and how animals use their senses to process and respond to information it receives.  Mrs. Williams dissected a frog for us, it was incredible to see the different structures found inside the frog!  This week we are looking forward to some experiments with celery and carnations and choosing our animals that we will be studying for our project.

Writing Update with Mrs. Duarte

It was delightful to be back in the classroom this week and have the opportunity to reconnect with our amazing 4th graders!  Students started the week by learning about New Year's Resolutions and writing 4 of their own.  Next, students worked on writing informational essays about snowflakes, drawing details from two different written texts on the subject.   In addition to grammar practice and journal topic writing, students will soon begin an in-depth research Informational Essay on the topic of a specific animal.  This will connect with their science project in the afternoons, allowing students to go deeper in their research.

Math update with Mrs. Neal

Hello 4th grade families,
I hope everyone had a fantastic break! The homework for this week will be as follows:
Week of 1/8
4th grade:
Monday- Multiplicative comparison page, back
Tuesday- Word problem page, back
Wednesday- Practice test, evens
Thursday- Practice math facts

Thanks and have a great week!