The Farmland Fourth
Fourth-Grade Newsletter: Third Quarter 2014-2015
THE 2nd SEMESTER IS HERE!
It’s hard to believe that we are already
halfway through the school year. As the second
semester begins, here are a few schedule notes
and reminders:
 All fourth-grade students will now have
recess and lunch together. Recess begins at
12 pm, followed by lunch at 12:30 pm.
 Thank you for bundling up your children for
these cold winter days. Please be sure to
label all coats, hats, and gloves with your
child’s name so that lost items can be
reunited quickly with their owners.
 Valentine’s Day parties will be on Friday,
Feb. 13. Your teacher will send home a class
list in advance. Your child
is not required to bring in
Valentines, but please note
that if he/she chooses to do
so, one must be given to
each child in the class.
PARCC IS ON THE WAY, TOO
Looking ahead, we wanted to let you know
that fourth graders will take the new PARCC
(Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for
College and Careers) tests in March. These are
computer-based assessments in Math and
English Language Arts/Literacy. The
assessments are designed to give teachers,
schools, students and parents information on
how well our children are being prepared for
college and career success. Your teacher will let
you know specific testing dates in the coming
weeks. In the meantime, if you’d like more
information about PARCC – including sample
test items – visit www.parcconline.org.
We have been preparing for PARCC in class
all year by following the Montgomery County
Public Schools curriculum. Teachers will be
reminding students to work carefully and use
their best test-taking strategies:
 Read each question carefully.
IMPORTANT
DATES
Feb. 13
Valentine’s
Day class parties
Feb. 16
Presidents’
Day:
NO
 Read ALL possible
multiple-choice
answers before
selecting a response.
Eliminate the answers
that don’t make sense.
 Go back to the text
to find support for
responses.
 Check your work
if there is time
remaining.
SCHOOL
Feb. 27
Early
release:
1 pm QUESTIONS & TASS
UNIFYING
dismissal
Each marking period, students work toward
developing responses to a series of “unifying
(Teacher
questions”
that apply to all subject areas. During
grading/planning)
the third marking period, the questions are:
 How do I select and test possible options to
make 26 End of
decisions?
March
Third
HowQuarter
do
I know when
continued on
a learning strategy is
back
working
March
27and what do I
do if Teacher
it’s not?
Professional
Which criteria
Day:should
we use to justify
NO a
choice or solution?
SCHOOL
 How do I use new
information
April
3-10 when it
conflicts
with my thinking?
Spring
Break:
How NO
do I determine which information,
facts,
or claims to trust?
SCHOOL
 How can I monitor the effectiveness of my
thinking?
CONTACT
US
Also during each marking period, teachers
By e-mail:
provide
explicit instruction on important
Christina_M_Peters
Thinking
and Academic Success Skills (TASS)
@mcpsmd.org
that will help students thrive not only in fourth
Terrie_L_Powelson@
grade
but in college, throughout whatever career
mcpsmd.org
they choose, and as a contributing member of
Jeffrey_S_Trachtenbe
society.
This quarter’s TASS skills are
[email protected]
evaluation (weighing evidence, examining
Ashley_G_Weissenb
[email protected]
By Phone:
claims, and questioning facts to make judgments
based upon criteria) and metacognition
(knowing and being aware of one’s own thinking
and having the ability to monitor and evaluate
one’s own thinking).
READING
During the
first few
weeks of this
marking
period,
students will
read Greek
myths and
describe the
relationship
between characters and the setting of a story.
They also will compare the treatment of similar
themes in myths, and make connections between
the text and visual representations of a myth.
Next up is a perennial favorite of students: the
fantasy genre. Students will read a novel and
explain how the story matches the characteristics
of this genre. They also will summarize events in
the novel using key details, and discuss how the
choices a character makes can reveal themes.
Later in the marking period, students will
paraphrase and summarize informational
text, including information presented in various
media formats. They also will integrate
information from two texts on the same topic and
make inferences based on the texts..
Finally, students will explore Greek and
Latin roots and affixes to help them determine
the meanings of new words, along with the
meanings of common idioms.
You’ll find more information about learning
goals and measurement topics in reading in the
attached parent newsletters from MCPS.
WRITING
For the first two weeks of the quarter,
students will be working concurrently on two
different assignments:
 Finishing up their persuasive essays on the
Washington Redskins football team’s
controversial name; and
 Working with a partner to create an
informative newsletter about calcium, based
on knowledge gleaned from several texts.
Next, students will begin an exploration of
the persuasive techniques used to advertise
products to various
audiences. They will
evaluate existing
advertisements
(including some classics
from the past) and create
their own, all the while
maintaining an
awareness of the need
for responsible
advertising. Our
advertising study will include some lessons from
Mrs. Gleeson in the Media Center.
Toward the end of the quarter, students will
reflect on a personal experience to compose a
memoir.
Throughout the marking period, students will
follow the process of gathering ideas, drafting,
revising and editing, and finally publishing.
continued on
SPELLING
next page
Our spelling program continues with a
biweekly cycle in which students in each
spelling group learn new patterns and master
their spelling words through a variety of
activities. These include sorting their words by
patterns, identifying syllables, using their words
in sentences, writing them in different ways, and
completing a practice test with a parent/guardian.
Generally, spelling tests are given every other
week.
MATH
Students will begin the quarter by learning the
terms factor and multiple. They will
decompose numbers to find factor pairs in order
to see that a whole number is a multiple of each
of its factors. Students also will classify numbers
as prime (having only itself and 1 as factors) or
composite (having more than two factors).
Next, students will extend their understanding
of fraction equivalence and ordering from third
grade by modeling and generating equivalent
fractions. They will learn that multiplying or
dividing the
numerator and
denominator of a
fraction by the
same number will
yield an
equivalent
fraction. The study
of fractions will continue with a focus on adding
and subtracting fractions with like
denominators, and then multiplying fractions
by a whole number.
As in previous quarters, students will apply
their computational fluency to solve a variety of
word problems.
In the last week of the quarter, students will
begin a unit on geometry by describing and
identifying points, lines and line segments in
two-dimensional figures.
You’ll find more information about learning
goals and measurement topics in math in the
attached parent newsletters from MCPS.
SCIENCE
The measurement topics of Earth Space
Sciences, Physical Sciences, and Engineering &
Technology are combined in this marking period
to form a unit of study on matter, the water
cycle, and weather. A variety of hands-on
investigations will help students classify
substances as a solid, liquid, or gas, and then
develop the understanding that matter can
change forms – for example, from a solid to a
liquid – without losing mass. Observing the
weather will help students understand the
changes of state evident in the water cycle.
Finally, they will examine how engineering
design is used to develop the technology
required to observe, measure, and communicate
information regarding weather patterns and
conditions.
SOCIAL STUDIES
Students will add to their timeline of early
United States history by focusing on the cultures
of five early European settlements: St.
Augustine, Roanoke, Jamestown, Plymouth, and
St. Mary’s. Motives for migration, effects of the
environment, and the social, political, and
religious character of these settlements will be
discussed, along with interaction among the
settlers and Native Americans.
Toward the end of the quarter, students will
turn their attention to Maryland’s society today
by discussing the influences of both individuals
and groups. Identifying and sharing family
ancestry, traditions, and customs will help
students identify cultural characteristics of
groups of people in Maryland.