Fourth Grade Newsletter
September 14, 2012
Hola Fourth Grade Families,
DATES & REMINDERS
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Tuesday, September 18
6:30pm Skate Night
Thursday, September 20
6:00pm West House Curriculum Night
Tuesday, September 25
Individual School Photos Taken
Wednesday, September 26
Individual School Photos Taken
Thursday, September 27
Individual School Photos Taken
5:30pm Prek Curriculum Night
6:00pm East House Curriculum Night
Monday, October 1
Annual Fund Campaign Begins
Tuesday, October 2
Annual Fund Campaign Begins
Wednesday, October 3
Annual Fund Campaign Begins
Thursday, October 4
Annual Fund Campaign Begins
Friday, October 5
Annual Fund Campaign Begins
Another great week is under our belt! I am truly enjoying
my students. I am so proud of the progress made thus far.
I have been thinking of different ways to help my students
with their Math facts. I wanted this type of “rote” learning
to be FUN! So we have been trying different activities and
have been using different educational websites to help us
through the process. I would like to share two websites
with you:
 multiplication.com
 mathplayground.com
Math Playground is an action-packed site for elementary
and middle school students. It allows students to practice
Math skills, play logic games and so on. It also allows
students to build their keyboarding skills! There is even a
cool video that goes through the „tricks and trade‟ of
learning multiplication facts. Please check it out!
As we move through the school year I will be adding more
fun websites to our list.
Curriculum Night next week…
Please make every effort to attend West House Curriculum
Night next Thursday, September 20, 2012. If you are
unable to do so, please let me know so that I can prepare a
package for you. The packages will be placed in your
child‟s communication folder (Friday Folders) on Friday
September 21st. Hope to see you all.
Thank you for your continuous support. If you have any
questions or concerns, please email me at
[email protected]. Have a wonderful
weekend… see you Monday!
The Week in Review
Fourth grade students:
Mathematics
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completed their first unit.
began the yearlong World Tour Project by traveling from their
hometown to Washington DC. They identified uses of numbers
in the tourist information on Washington DC provided in the
Students Reference Book.
used numbers written in number-word notation.
compared uses of estimate and exact counts
located points on a letter-number coordinate map.
extended numerical patterns.
read and wrote numbers up to 1,000,000,000
identified the value of digits
wrote numbers in expanded notation.
practiced and maintained skills through Math Boxes
Language Arts
Grammar Blast!
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identified and corrected sentences with two or more errors.
Literature Circle
Bud, Not Buddy tells the story of a young boy who lives in Michigan
during the Great Depression. After living in an orphanage and
escaping from a foster home where he's forced to sleep in a shed,
Bud travels on his own to find a musician, Herman E. Calloway,
who he believes is his father. On his way, Bud finds Hooverville, a
city made up of the homeless and jobless, where people treat him
well. He also meets a kind limousine driver, who warns Bud about
the dangers of a black person traveling alone. When Bud finally
meets Herman E. Calloway, he is welcomed by Herman's entire
band. Herman, though, isn't so sure how he feels about this boy who
claims to be his son. Herman and Bud are both in for a surprise
when they find out that Bud isn't Herman's son, but his grandson.
While reading Bud, Not Buddy, the students:
Writer’s Workshop
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discussed the core concepts of narrative
writing (story creation) through the use of
characters, setting and plot.
 began using the Process Writing Approach to
create narratives.
Read Aloud
 participated in a Directed Reading-Thinking
Activity during Literature Circle.
Social Studies
Map work Skills (cont‟d)
 defined topography
 identified the symbols used in topographic
map
 discussed Florida‟s topography
 began working on our big Florida Map:
identified and colored Florida‟s Three Zones
(highlands/ridges/uplands plains, lowlands
and coastal zones.
Computer
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used word processing editing tools to revise a
document (e.g., cut and paste, tabs and
margins, font size, font style, delete and
undo, selecting, spell check, click and drag)
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read, interpreted, analyzed and discussed literature.
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Science
Stories in Stone
began keeping track of the events in this novel; as they happen
students will use note-taking charts to help summarize
important details.
Session 3: The Shape of Mineral Crystals
Vocabulary
 used context clues and text structures to determine the meaning
of unknown vocabulary.
 located and used context clues to aid comprehension and
vocabulary development.
 constructed paper models to enhance their
observations of the class samples of rocks
and minerals.
 used the knowledge gained in making the
model crystal shapes to identify the crystals
they‟ve grown as either quartz or halite.