Sulima's Scoop - Week of October 4

Weekly Reminders:

*Spelling pretest on Monday.

*Spelling test on Friday.

*Taffy Apple orders are due Friday.

Plan Ahead:

*No school on Monday, October 11 - Columbus Day.

*Movie Night on Friday, October 15.

*Early Dismisssal on Wednesday, October 20.

*Book Fair the evening of Thursday, October 21.

*Halloween Parties on Friday, October 29.

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Exciting News: Our class earned a homeroom party! If your child has a G rated movie that he/she would like to share with the class, please have them bring it on Thursday. We will vote on our favorite. I thought it would be nice to have some popcorn with our movie. If anyone would be willing to send in popcorn, please let me know. We have 25 students.

Homeroom Happenings:

Science - We will move onto chapter 2. In lesson 2 (we are skipping lesson 1), we will learn about the life cycles of plants. This lesson will take more than one week. The quiz on this lesson will be sometime during the week of October 11.

Social Studies - Each child has chosen a state to research. Children will be using the Internet, encyclopedias, and trade books to find out as much as they can about their state. Each child will also have to choose how they are going to present their information. A list of choices will be given to the students on Monday.

Spelling - We will be working with a spelling list that parallels our weekly story. The words contain short u, /yoo/, or /oo/.

English - Our study of verbs will continue. Our lessons will include: Subject-Verb Agreement, Spelling the present tense, Spelling the past tense, The Past with Helping Verbs, and Irregular Verbs.

**We will finish our Verb unit on Wednesday, October 13. Our test on Unit 3 will be on Monday, October 18. All enrichment work will be due the day of the test.**

Reading - Next week our story is “Finding the Titanic” by Robert D. Ballard. The reading strategy that we'll focus on is text organization. Many non-fiction author's organize their selections in time order. They also use features such as headings, pictures, captions, and charts to help the reader better understand the information.

Accelerated Math Menu:

Monday - Estimating Decimal Sums using Rounding. HW: Workbook pg. 94.

Tuesday - Adding More Decimals. HW: Workbook pg. 95.

Wednesday - Subtracting Decimals. HW: Workbook pg. 96 & "Check Your Progress" quiz tomorrow.
Thursday - "Check Your Progress" Quiz. HW: None.
Friday - Estimating Decimals Differences using Rounding. HW: Workbook pg. 97 (if not finished in class).

**We will finish chapter 8 on Tuesday, October 12. Our chapter 8 test will be on Friday, October 15.**

Sulima's Scoop - Week of September 27

Weekly Reminders:

*Short and Long "i" and "o" spelling pretest on Monday.

*Last Magazine turn-in on Tuesday.

*"How to Eat Fried Worms" movie permission slip due by Wednesday.

*Picture Day on Thursday.

*Short and Long "i" and "o" spelling test on Friday.

*Cozzi Corner District Eat-out on Thursday through Sunday. Click here for more information: http://www.ccsd66.org/PTO/FundRaisers/cozzi.pdf

Plan Ahead:

*No School on Monday, October 11 - Columbus Day.

Homeroom Happenings:

Science - We will begin our first unit in Life Science. The children will explore how we classify animals. On Friday, we will take an open-book quiz on chapter 1, lesson 3.

Social Studies - We have now completed our study of Government and U.S. Rights and Responsibilities. This week we will do an overview of the United States before we start our journey through the 5 regions.

English - On Tuesday, we will begin our next unit on Verbs. You may view your child's pretest and contract in their English pocket. Please return it to the pocket after viewing. The children look at their contract each day to see whether they are with me for the lesson or independently working on their enrichment project. The lessons for the week are: action verbs, main verb & helping verb, and present, past, & future verbs.

Spelling - The children will be working on a spelling unit that parallels our weekly story from our reading anthology. The words this week will have short or long i or o. We will take our pretest on Monday. If your child receives a 90% or higher, they will choose challenge spelling words. Throughout the week, they will do activities using their challenge words. On Friday, they can keep their pretest score or retake the test for a higher grade. If your child does not get 90% or higher, they will be practicing the weekly words with workbook pages.

Reading - The fourth graders will be reading Grandfather’s Journey by Allen Say. They will focus on the reading strategy to determine author's viewpoint. Author's viewpoint refers to the author's opinion, ideas of what is important or attitude. The author might give their opinion directly or you might have to infer the information by reading clues or other information that the author provides. Here is a great link to practice author’s viewpoint: http://www.studyzone.org/testprep/ela4/o/authorsviewpointp.cfm.

The vocabulary for the week is: bewildered, surrounded, reminded, longed, homeland, marveled. Your child can practice these words at: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/ewordgame/index.html?grade=4&theme=1&selection=2.

We will also work on the skill of putting words in alphabetical order.

Accelerated Math Menu:

Monday - Chapter 8 begins. Decimal sense. HW: Workbook pg. 91.

Tuesday - Decimals and Place Value. HW: Workbook pg. 92.

Wednesday - Add Decimals. HW: Workbook pg. 93 & "Check Your Progress" quiz tomorrow.

Thursday - "Check Your Progress" quiz. HW: None.

Friday - No math today.

Sulima's Scoop - Week of September 20

Weekly Reminders:
*Review spelling pretest on Monday.
*Magazine turn-in on Tuesday.
*Race Tracks & worms due on Tuesday.
*Soccer test on Wednesday.
*Chapter 1 Accelerated Math test on Wednesday.
*Chapter 2, lessons 2 & 3 only Social Studies test on Thursday.
*Review spelling test on Thursday.
*No School on Friday - Teacher Institute.

WORMY RACE RESULTS:
All the children did a wonderful job creating their race tracks and choosing variables to encourage their worms to travel as fast as possible to the finish line. We had some close races!
Our winners were:
1st Place : Kyle W.
2nd Place: Sarah
3rd Place: Erin
We had an exciting race day! Congratulations to all students for their hard work, great sportsmanship, and creativity!

Plan Ahead:
*Last Magazine turn-in on Tuesday, September 28.
*Picture Day on Thursday, September 30.
*Check your child's grades on Friday, October 1.

Gym: The PE study guide for the soccer test went home Friday. Have you seen it yet? If not, please ask your child about it. The PE soccer test will be Wednesday. Please help your child review for this test.

A Note from the PTO: Ultra Foods is inviting you to take part in Ultra's Smart Shopper Program, an Educational Rebate Program that generates cash back to us for educational needs. It's easy! Shop your local Ultra Foods store from September 1, 2010 through December 31, 2010, save your register receipts, and have your child drop them in the specially marked depository boxes located in our school office. At the end of the program, Prairieview will submit a grand total of all receipts collected, and Ultra will remit a check for 5% of that total back to Prairieview.

Homeroom Happenings:

Science - The children will use what they have learned from our wormy investigtions to design a race track for Tuesday. We will race our worms in the morning. Please make sure your child brings their track and worm on Tuesday. They should also bring their "Worm Race Rules" packet to school on Tuesday. May the best worm win! Our next science unit will be on how animals are classified.

Social Studies - We will fill out our "how to study" sheet on Tuesday. The children will need to write at least 2 ways they studied and get a parent's signature. If they attach this to the back of their test, they will earn 2 bonus points. The test will be on Thursday. It will cover chapter 2, lessons 2 and 3 only.
Items to know for test:
*Explain what the Constitution is and why it is important.
*Identify three levels of Government.
*Describe the responsibilities of each of the three branches of Government (study your Patriotic Quest).
*Explain how the Constitution can be changed.
*Identify two ways that a person can become a citizen of the U.S.
*Identify three types of services that are paid for by taxes.
*Identify at least three responsibilities of U.S. citizens.
*Explain why voting is an important responsibility in the U.S.
Here are some links to help your child prepare for the test:
http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/usa_game/government/index.htm
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/games/interactive.html
http://www.kids.gov/
http://www.congressforkids.net/games/threebranches/2_threebranches.htm

English - The students will receive their Noun tests back on Monday. We will go over the answers at this time. On Tuesday, the children will take their next pretest. They will receive their pretests & contracts on Wednesday. On Thursday, I will meet with each student to review their contract choices.

Spelling - Due to the short week, we will be doing a review spelling list. The list will include words from "words often misspelled #1", "words often misspelled #2", and Akiak words. If your child gets 100% or 20 out of 20, they will get the week off from spelling. If they miss one or more, they will do 2 activities to practice the 20 words and retake the test on Thursday. Challenge words will not be chosen this week.

Reading - This week, we will finish reading Akiak by Robert Blake. We will continue to focus on story structure. The children will also explore character and setting in depth. When your child is reading at home, you can practice and review story structure by asking them to identify characters, setting, and plot (which includes the problem, sequenced events, and the solution).

Accelerated Math Menu:
Monday - Fill out "how to study" sheet. Mini-lesson on Roman Numerals. HW: Study for Chapter 1 test on Wednesday.
Tuesday - Review for test. HW: Study for Chapter 1 test tomorrow.
Wednesday - Chapter 1 test. HW: None.
Items to know for test:
*Read and write whole numbers through billions in words, standard form, and short word form.
*Write numbers in expanded form.
*Read and write decimals through thousandths.
*Read decimals with values greater than one.
*Compare and order whole numbers and decimals.
*Round whole numbers, decimals, and money to the greatest place value.
*Apply addition properties and rules of subtraction.
*Estimate sums and differences using rounding.
*Add three or more addends.
*Subtract whole numbers and money amounts with zeros in the minuend.
*Add and subtract larger numbers and money.

Here are some links to help your child study for the test:
http://www.gamequarium.com/placevalue.html
http://www.mrnussbaum.com/placevaluepirates1.htm
http://themathgames.com/our-games/decimal-games/place-value/decimal-place-value-math-game

Thursday - Chapter 8 pretest & problem solving activity. HW: None.
Friday - No School : Teacher Institute.

Sulima's Scoop - Week of September 13

Weekly Reminders:

*Wormy habitats due on Monday.

*Short and Long a and e spelling pretest on Monday.

*Magazine Sale Kick-off on Monday.

*Beginning Band Parent Meeting on Monday at 7:00.

*Chapter 1, lessons 6-10 "check your progress" math quiz on Wednesday.

*Beginning Band Conferences on Wednesday and Thursday.

*Short and Long a and e spelling test on Friday.

*Unit 2 - Noun test on Friday.

*First magazine turn in on Friday.

Plan Ahead:

*Worm race tracks due on Tuesday, September 21.

*Second Magazine Turn-in on Tuesday, September 21.

*PE Soccer Test on Wednesday, September 22. (Look for study guide on Friday, September 17)

*No School on Friday, September 24 - Teacher Institute.

*Last Magazine turn-in on Tuesday, September 28.

*Picture Day on Thursday, September 30.

Homeroom Happenings:

Science - Our Worm Study will begin on Monday. Please have your child bring in their worm habitat on Monday. This unit will allow the children to learn more about and go through the steps of the Scientific Method. We will ask questions, make our hypothesis, form a plan, test our hypothesis, collect data, and draw conclusions based on our results. The children will also learn about variables and the need to control variables during this study.

Social Studies - We will finish our government unit this week. The test on chapter 2, lessons 2 and 3 will be sometime during the week of September 20. Lesson three focuses on the rights and responsibilities we have as U.S. citizens.

English - Our study of nouns will come to an end with two days on Plural Possessive Nouns. On Wednesday, we will fill out a "how to study" sheet. Since many children get home and have no idea how to begin studying for a test, we will brainstorm as a class at least five ways the children can prepare for this test. If your child writes how they studied (at least two ways) for the test and has a parent sign their sheet, they will receive two bonus points on their test. We will review on Thursday. The children will take their first English test on Friday.

The test will cover the following lessons:

*What is a noun?

*Common and Proper Nouns

*Singular and Plural Nouns

*Nouns Ending in y

*More Plural Nouns

*Singular and Plural Possessive Nouns

Spelling - The children will work on their first spelling unit from our reading series. This first list reviews words with short and long a and e. We will take a pretest on Monday. If your child passes with a 90% or higher, they will choose challenge words for the week. They will do activities with their challenge words in their spelling spiral. If your child does not pass the pretest with 90% or higher, they will be working on workbook pages from our reading workbook. Regular spellers, and any challenge speller that would like to raise their pretest score, will take the spelling test on Friday.

Reading - This week, we will read a story called Akiak that is written by Robert Blake. Akiak is about a world-famous Iditarod Race that takes place in the Alaskan wilderness. While we are reading, we will focus on story structure. We will use a story map to look at how a problem and its solution affect the story’s plot and characters. The children will also be working with the following vocabulary: blizzard, checkpoint, courageous, experienced, musher, and rugged. You may want to have your child review these key words with the e-game at http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hmr06/gr4/gr4_th1_sel1.html.

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Accelerated Math Menu: (This "menu" is subject to change!)

Monday - Estimating Sums and Differences. HW: Workbook pg. 8.

Tuesday - Adding Three or More Addends. HW: Workbook pg. 9 & "check your progress" quiz tomorrow on lessons 6-10.

Wednesday - "Check your Progress" quiz on lessons 6-10. HW: None.

Thursday - Subtraction with Zeros. HW: Workbook pg. 10.

Friday - Larger Sums and Differences. HW: None.

Sulima's Scoop - Week of September 6

Weekly Reminders:

*No school on Monday - Labor Day.

*"Words Often Misspelled #2" pretest on Tuesday.

*Curriculum Night on Tuesday.

*"Words Often Misspelled #2" test on Friday.

Plan Ahead:

*Beginning Band Parent Meeting on Monday, September 13.

*Beginning Band Conferences on Wednesday, September 15 and Thursday, September 16.

*No school on Friday, September 24 - Teacher Institute.

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Curriculum Night:

Please join us on Tuesday, September 7 from 6:30-7:30 for our Fourth Grade Curriculum Night. The evening will begin in the gym. Mrs. Schultz will give a brief presentation. Parents will then have the opportunity to visit their child's classrooms and sign up for parent-teacher conferences (in homeroom only). I will be available for questions, but please remember this is not a conference night. Hope to see many of you on Tuesday evening!

Homeroom Happenings:

Science - We will finish our study of scientific tools and move onto the Scientific Method.

Social Studies - Our Government unit will continue. The children will begin a Patriotic Quest this week. The quest will use the skimming and scanning strategies we will be learning about and practicing in reading. We will also continue looking at the roles of each branch of Governement.

English - Nouns, Nouns, Nouns. This week we will learn about irregular plural nouns, singular possessive nouns, and plural possessive nouns. Singular & Plural Possessive nouns would be great concepts to review at home too. These seems to be a bit tricky for many students.

Spelling - We will do one more week of "Words Often Misspelled". The homework routine will be similar, but due to a four day week the children will only complete 2 activities.

Reading - This week in reading the students will learn to use skimming and scanning skills to locate answers. During science, social studies, and reading the students will be given tasks where they have to locate answers in the text. They will practice highlighting key words in questions or clues and then skim the headlines, subtitles, captions, and passages to help them find the answers to those questions.

Accelerated Math Menu:

Monday - No School.

Tuesday - Students will receive their "check your progress" quizzes. Please look in your child's math pocket to find out their score. Comparing and Ordering Numbers. HW: Workbook pg. 5. Review X6, X7, X8, & X9.

Wednesday - Rounding Numbers. HW: Workbook pg. 6. Review X10, X11, & X12.

Thursday - Addition Properties/Subtraction Rule. HW: Workbook pg. 7. Review X10, X11, & X12.

Friday - Estimate Sums and Differences. HW: Review X10, X11, & X12.