Fourth Grade Newsletter
Feb ruary 2016
Goshe n Ele me ntary School
Volume 5, Is sue 4
8701 Warf ield Roa d Gai ther sbu rg, M D 20882
Phone: (301) 840-8165 * Fax (301) 840-8167
Upcoming Events
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February 5th :
TASS Award Assembly
@ 10:30
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February 5th:
Field Trip Permission
Slips and $7.50 due!
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February 10th:
Report Cards Home
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February 12th:
Valentine’s Day Party
@ 2:45
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February 15th:
NO SCHOOL:
President’s Day
February 26th: Early
Release @1:20
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Announcements and Reminders
 Look for your child’s white Goshen Grizzly folder every day. It will
have homework and other important notices/flyers. Please return
the folder the next day and please discuss your child’s behavior with
him/ her and sign the assignment book nightly.
 Your child has homework every weekday night (Monday-Thursday).
This will include reading a “just right” book for 20-30 minutes, a
spelling bingo activity, and a math worksheet (which will typically be
1 sheet for the entire week). Your child will also complete and return
their monthly Tic-Tac-Toe reading assignment. Your child’s weekly
homework sheets should be returned every Friday. Students should
also practice their basic math facts.
 Your child’s assignment book contains his/her nightly homework
assignments, as well as their behavior color. Your child’s teacher
signs each agenda book to ensure that homework was written down.
 Please remember to keep your child’s lunch account up-to-date. Do
not send money in daily. Instead, send in a check weekly, bi-weekly
or monthly. Also, don’t forget to write your child’s pin number on
the check!
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February 29 :
February Tic-Tac-Toe
Due
Please make sure that your child is coming to school dressed for the
cold weather! WEAR LAYERS! 
Thank you for your cooperation in these matters as we work
together for the success of each child! 
Since we are beginning a brand new semester, this is a great opportunity to
replenish your child’s school supplies. Please ask your child if he/she
needs new pencils, erasers, notebook paper, highlighters, etc. Many students
could also use new folders (red,yellow,blue,orange,green,homework) as their
old ones are falling apart.
Fourth Grade teachers would also GREATLY appreciate boxes of tissues and
donations of pretzels!
Valentine’s Day Parties
Valentine’s Day Parties will be held on Friday, February 12th During the time of the party, students
will have Valentine’s Treats and participate in various activities. They will pass out Valentine’s cards
to their friends during this time. Please make sure that if your child brings in Valentine’s Day cards,
they bring in a card for each child in his/her respective classroom. Class lists will be sent home for
your convenience. If you plan on sending items to help support your child’s classroom party, make
sure the items are store bought and properly sealed. Thank you for all your generous support!
Page 2 of 4
Fourth Grade Newsletter
Goshen Elementary School
A Quick Blurb From Our Specialists!
Mrs. P (Computer Lab): Fourth-Collaboration with Writing & Information Literacy in the Media
Center
Fourth-Collaboration with Writing, Reading & Information Literacy in the Media Center
This inquiry requires that students analyze media messages and their impact on young consumers to
become critical and effective users of the Internet as a resource for information. In February, students
will view print and digital advertisements and television commercials to analyze the content for authors
and audience, messages and meaning, representation and reality. Along with the fourth grade team, I
will help guide them to generate researchable questions as they analyze and think critically about
advertising. You may notice your children becoming educated consumers and sharing what they believe
the advertisers do to persuade us at home! In March, we look forward to leading them to guiding
students in choosing an ad and explaining how they would redesign it to make it have responsible
marketing towards children. Until then, have fun analyzing print, online and multimedia ads with them
at home!
Mr. Reynolds (PE): In PE, fourth grade students will be finishing their volleyball unit in addition to
starting their rhythms and dance unit.
Mrs. Hoehn (Holden): Fourth grade will be working on notating short rhythmic phrases from
dictation. We have practiced this skill using stick notation, but will be transitioning to using
standard notation. Students will also be listening to and describing examples of music from a
variety of musical styles and traditions. We will be focusing on the elements of music to guide
our discussions about music.
Mrs. Raker (Art): In February, Fourth graders will continue our landscape paintings that show both
visual and tactile texture. We began the lesson by ‘drawing’ our landscape with glue. Now that that’s
dry, we will use flat brushes to paint our pictures showing lots of visual texture. For our next project
will continue to work with paint.
Social Studies
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Analyze the difficulties encountered in the early settlement of Jamestown
Define the social, political, and religious components of Jamestown settlers
Analyze the religious beliefs of early Plymouth settlers and their motives for migration
Provide examples of how interactions between Native Americans and early Plymouth
settlers resulted in borrowing and sharing of traditions and technology
Analyze how the influx of immigrants led to economic growth or cultural diversity in the
early settlements
Describe the social, political, and religious components of St. Mary’s City
Describe unique and diverse cultures of Maryland Native Americans
Define how cultures influences people
Science
 Observe and describe seasonal weather conditions
 Identify weather conditions using data collected from weather instruments for technology
 Describe weather conditions (temperature, wind, precipitation)
Page 3 of 4
Fourth Grade Newsletter
Goshen Elementary School
Reading
In school, your child will . . .
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read a variety of literature to identify the
characteristics of myths and fantasies.
use background knowledge and information from
literature (myths and fantasies) to make
inferences.
describe characters in depth using support from
the text.
What does the character say? What does the
character do?
make connections between written and visual
presentations (picture, movie clip, skit, etc.) of
myths.
explain how a setting can affect a character’s
actions.
compare the same theme within different stories.
use reference materials (digital and print
dictionary and thesaurus) to determine the
meanings of key words and phrases.
explore and explain the meaning of common
idioms within a text. For example:
o ‘I smell a rat!’
o ‘It’s raining cats and dogs!’
At home, your child can . . .
 read books every night (myths, fantasies, and
traditional stories).
 use digital materials to support learning of myths and
fantasies.
o www.aaronshep.com/rt/RTE.html
o www.pitt.edu/~dash/folktexts.html
 reinforce understanding of myths and fantasies by
watching shows and/or movies based on myths and
fantasies. (e.g. Hercules, The Hunchback of Notre
Dame, Tale of Despereaux, Ratatouille, etc.)
 practice metacognition by thinking about how you go
through a process and how it can be applied to other
situations.
Examples:
o Describe the process you use to select your clothes
in the morning.
o Describe a process you use and have a family
member guess what process you’re describing.
(Make it a game!)
 practice the skill of evaluating. For example, create a
skit for a commercial that compares two books and
tells why one is better than the other.
 engage in activities to deepen understanding of
idioms.
o Go to the public library and check out books
on idioms.
o Draw pictures to match idioms and explain the
actual meaning.
o Create a list of favorite idioms.
o Play a game with a friend to recall the most
idioms.
 choose a new word from your reading, look it up on an
online dictionary and record it in a vocabulary log.
Fourth Grade Newsletter
Goshen Elementary School
Page 3 of 4
Mathematics
At home, your child can . . .
In school, your child will . . .
use rectangular arrays to find factors of a
number to determine whether a number is
prime or composite.
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Example: 3 is prime because the only arrays
that can be made are…
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1x3
3x1
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identify equivalent fractions, compare fractions,
and compose and decompose fractions using
various strategies such as number lines, pattern
blocks, and models.
Example:
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organize data that includes fractions using a line
plot and answer questions about the data.
Example:
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practice multiplication and division facts 0-10.
find factors of a number. Example: Use a set of 24
objects. Show all the ways 24 can be divided to make
equal groups.
explore multiples of 6 using a six-pack of water. Ask
how many water bottles are in 1 pack, 2 packs, 3
packs, etc. (6, 12, 18…)? Expand this by using other
products at the grocery store.
ask questions about comparing fractions. Example:
“Is the fraction greater or less than one-half? Is the
fraction greater than one or less than one? How do
you know?”
discuss equivalent fractions using pizza, sheet cake,
or pie.
Example: Given a pizza with a total of 8 slices of
equal size, discuss that one-half of the pizza is the
same as four of the eight slices. One-fourth of the
pizza is the same as two of the eight slices.
practice doubling or tripling the amount of
ingredients needed for favorite recipes that have
fractional measures.
measure ten objects (shoes, cups, tables, books, etc.)
to the nearest , , or inch. Arrange the objects in
order from shortest to longest and record the
measurements on a line plot.
Page 5 of 5
Fourth Grade Newsletter
Goshen Elementary School
Page 4 of 4
Goshen Elementary School
Fourth Grade Newsletter
Writing
During this marking period, students learn how to use an inquiry process to locate information and ideas for an
opinion piece, and create a multimedia product for their presentation.
Driving question: How can the media responsibly advertise products and services for children?
Opinion
 State an opinion in an introductory paragraph
 Create an organizational structure in which related ideas are grouped to support the opinion
 Draft body paragraphs and link opinion using words and phrases
 Develop a concluding section of an opinion that draws an inference related to the information presented
Process, Production, and Research
 Gather relevant information from print and digital sources
 Gather notes and categorize information from print and digital sources to support opinion
 Organize notes to support opinion writing
 Evaluate reasons for clarity and coherence
Use of Language
 Covey tone and point of view
 Recount an experience using facts and details related to the topics
 Edit for frequently confused words, and for sentence fragments/run-ons
 Revise writing to use punctuation for effect
Katie Techtmann
Lauren Huntt
[email protected]
Alyssa Johnson
[email protected]
Amanda Perera
[email protected]

[email protected]
Betsy Balicao
[email protected]
Ann-Marie Wickson
[email protected]
We want to hear from YOU!
We would love to get feedback from you on what you like about the newsletter, what you would like
to see changed, ideas you have, questions you have, etc. Please fill out the bottom of this slip and
return to your child’s homeroom teacher
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