Sulima's Scoop - Week of December 17

Reminders:

*No spelling lesson this week.

*Holiday Concert on Monday at 1:15.

*Fourth grade goes bowling on Tuesday, 9:00-11:00. We will be back for lunch.

*Third book club discussion on Tuesday.

*Unit 2 Noun test on Thursday. Enrichment due day of test.

*Holiday wear spirit day on Friday.

*Pizza lunch on Friday OR bring sack lunch.

*Polar Express field trip on Friday.

*Winter Break during weeks of Dec. 24 and Dec. 31.

Weekly Review -

English: We will finish our unit on Nouns this week. Our focus will be on singular and plural possessives. We will review on Wednesday and take our test on Thursday.

Reading: The children should finish their Peg Kehret book this week and fill out the third and final book club discussion sheet. We will have our book club meetings on Tuesday afternoon.

Science: We will work on experiments in our Electricity unit. The children should review key vocabulary and share what they learned in class each day.

Social Studies: Our study of the Southeast will continue. We will focus on the people and events that shaped the southeast.

Math: On Monday and Tuesday, we will explore space figures (3-dimensional objects). On Wednesday, the class will take a checkpoint review on all the concepts we have covered to this point. The children will be allowed to use their notes and text on this graded review. On Thursday and Friday, we will be involved in activities to practice our multiplication facts.

Website of the week:

Learn about the Cherokee at:

http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/specex/cherokee/cherokee.htm

Sulima's Scoop - Week of December 10

I would like to thank you all for your generosity this holiday season. Karla and her family will have a wonderful holiday with all the gifts and goodies. Your donations to LutherBrook will also help make the Christmas season more merry for these needy children.

Reminders:

*Lesson 14 spelling pretest on Monday.

*Chapter 4 science test on Tuesday.

*Our 3rd session of Jr. Achievement (Dollars and $ense)

*Second book club discussion on Wednesday.

*Lesson 14 spelling test on Friday.

*Chapter 6 social studies test on Friday.

*Movie Night on Friday at 6:30.

English:

We will continue our unit on nouns on Tuesday. This week we will cover how to make nouns plural by adding "s" or "es," make nouns that end in "y" plural, and make irregular nouns plural. Students will work on their enrichment project in class on the days they have passed out of lessons. Their noun contracts are in their English pocket.

Reading:

We will have our second book club on Wednesday. The students will fill out another book club discussion sheet. Each discussion day is worth 20 points, 15 points for their discussion sheet and 5 points for participation in their discussion.

Science:

On Monday, we will play a game to review for our chapter 4 test, which will be on Tuesday. While studying, the children should focus on the many key words from this chapter. On Wednesday, the children will receive a safety contract. This contract will need to be signed by parent and child before the child can participate in the hands-on activities in our next unit - ELECTRICITY. I hope to begin this unit on Thursday.

Social Studies:

We will finish discussing the Southeast environment by discussing climate. The children will fill out a "how to study" sheet on Tuesday. We will play a review game on Thursday to help prepare for the test. Our chapter 6 tests will be on Friday.

Math: (Mrs. Sulima & Mrs. Swaekauski's class only)

Our main focus is now GEOMETRY. This week we will begin by learning about points, lines, line segments, and angles. We will also learn about circles, whether shapes are congruent or similar, symmetry, and slides, flips, & turns. The children should also continue practicing their multiplication and division facts. ALL CHILDREN should be on their division facts by now. If your child is not, please help them study 15-20 minutes each night.

Website of the Week

Read student reviews of the 2008
Rebecca Caudill Nominees at:

http://www.rebeccacaudill.org/

Sulima's Scoop - Week of December 3

This school year is flying by. Wow! Can you believe it is already December?

Parents, I would like to thank all of you for your support throughout this school year. I enjoyed meeting with each of you this past week for parent teacher conferences. Let's continue to work together throughout this second trimester to help the children reach their goals.

Reminders:
*Lesson 13 spelling pretest on Monday.
*Yearbook orders due on Monday.
*English pretest on Tuesday.
*Second Jr. Achievement session on Tuesday. (Dollars and $ense program)
*Gifts and donations for our family and LutherBrook are due on Wednesday.
*Chapter 4 Math Test on Wednesday.
*Lesson 13 spelling test on Friday.
*Wear red on Friday for our Character Counts Spirit Day.
*Please send in bowling permission slips and report card envelopes.

English:
The children will be taking a pretest on Nouns on Tuesday. On Tuesday night they will need to choose their enrichment options. We will begin our noun unit on Wednesday.

Reading:
The children will begin "book clubs" this week. On Monday they will find out which book they will be reading. They will also meet with their book club group to make a reading schedule. Much of their reading will be done at home. They can also use relaxed reading time and some of their reading time to complete their reading assignment. The children should not read ahead. Our first book club discussion will be on Friday. Each child will need to have their discussion sheet filled out by Friday.

We will also continue our expository essays this week. The children already have their introductions complete. This week we will work on our body paragraphs and conclusions.

Science:
We will finish our adaptations unit this week by studying pollution, endangered and extinct animals, and fossils. On Thursday we will fill out our "how to study" sheet. We will review for the test on Monday, Dec. 10. Our test will be on Tuesday, Dec. 11.

Social Studies:
Our focus this week will be on the resources of the southeast. Agriculture is important to the southeast. The children will write a short story from the perspective of a cotton, orange, peach, or peanut farmer. They will need to research their crop & where it would be grown in the southeast. We will be visiting the lab throughout the week to complete this research.

Math: (Mrs. Sulima's math students only)
We will review all of chapter 4, as a class, on Monday. On Tuesday we will play a review game to prepare for our test which will be on Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday we will begin our next unit on geometry.

Website of the Week:

Research your Southeast crop at:

http://home.comcast.net/~ssulima/social_studies.htm

Sulima's Scoop - Week of November 26

Reminders:

*Lesson 12 spelling pretest on Monday.

*Parent-Teacher Conferences on Monday, Tuesday, or Wednesday. Times are listed below.

*First Jr. Achievement Session (Dollars and $ense program) on Tuesday.

*Report Cards go home on Tuesday.

*John Lynn Appalachian Trail Presentation on Wednesday.

*Lesson 12 spelling test on Thursday.

*Library check-out on Thursday.

*No school on Friday.

*Yearbook orders due Monday, Dec. 3.

Holiday Service Project:

Each year Prairieview runs a service project around the holidays. Our efforts will benefit two organizations: a cancer family and a children's shelter. Each classroom at Prairieview has a family or an individual that is in need at this time. In addition to the cancer families, we will also be making donations to LutherBrook, a shelter for less fortunate boys and girls.

This year our class has a very special family.Our family includes:
~Karla (cancer patient) -12 years old female

~Mom

~Dad
Sadly, Karla has cancer. Not only does this family struggle with the stress of treatments and illness, but they are less fortunate than us financially, too. In order to make this a special holiday, we have “adopted” them. If you could send in a NEW, not used, present for one or more of the family members, that would be appreciated.

Directions:

*Please wrap the gift. (Food items should not be wrapped.)

*LABEL the item with what it is and who it is for, with a post-it.

Some ideas for NEW (not used) gifts include, but are not limited to:

Karla (age 12): age appropriate games/toys, books, crafts, winter hat/gloves, jewelry, etc.

Mom: bath and body, perfume, jewelry, candles, kitchen accessories, picture frames/albums, gift certificates,gift baskets, slippers, etc.

Dad: book/magazine, wallet, socks, cologne, slippers, scarf/gloves, gift certificates, etc.
Family Gifts: a couple strands of Christmas lights, ornaments (the class thought it would be nice if we each brought in one ornament), popcorn tins, candy canes, food gift pack, a family game, home supplies, gift certificates, etc.

Gift certificates to consider: Jewel, Best Buy, Kohl’s, Wal-Mart, Target, Toys R Us, K-Mart, Sears, JC Penney’s, Chili’s, TGIFridays, Subway, McDonalds, Burger King, etc.

These gifts will be delivered before Christmas along with a freshly cut tree donated by Strong Landscaping.

Gifts for LutherBrook: We are accepting Cash or Target gift cards in any denomination. This goes towards gifts on the children's wish list and toward a special holiday party! This is greatly appreciated! Thanks for your support!

Parent-Teacher Conferences:

Monday, Nov. 26th-

3:00 -3:15 Sean

3:15-3:30 Evan

3:30-3:45 Ryan

Tuesday, Nov. 27th -

11:10-11:25 Lisa

3:00-3:15 Claudia

3:15-3:30 Max

3:30-3:45 Michael

Wednesday, Nov. 28th-

3:00-3:15 Taylor

3:30-3:45 Jackie

3:45-4:00 Natalia

4:15-4:30 Sam

4:30-4:45 Kevin M.

4:45-5:00 Ali

5:00-5:15 Jeff

5:15-5:30 Andrew

5:30-5:45 Matthew

6:00-6:15 Lara

6:15-6:30 Megan

6:30-6:45 Michelle

6:45-7:00 Dana

7:00-7:15 Mackenzie

7:15-7:30 Nikitha

English:

We will continue working on our expository essays. The children are writing an essay about a place they would like to visit if they could go anywhere in the world. On Tuesday, we will work on writing our introductions. Our focus will be to catch the readers attention in the first couple sentences. On Wednesday and Thursday, the children will write their body paragraphs and conclusion. Final drafts will be done on Thursday. Next week, we will begin our next English unit. The children will take a pretest on Tuesday, Dec. 4.

Reading:
This week we will be reading and working with a story called Chasing After Annie. This story is written in a diary format. The two main characters are Richie and Annie. When Richie tries to get Annie's attention by replacing her lost dog, Fritz, with a look-alike, he gets more trouble than he bargained for. This is a humorous and enjoyable story.

Science:

We will continue chapter 4 this week. The children will learn about living in groups, taking care of young, migration, hibernation. All of these are adaptations that help animals survive in their environment.

Social Studies:

This week we will learn about the land in the southeast. We will draw a diagram to help us understand the different elevations in this region. Our Southeast map test will be on Tuesday. Spelling will count. The children will be given a blank map. They will need to fill in the state names. Optional: The children can fill in the capitals before the state names (ex. Springfield, Illinois) to earn an additional 1/4 point for each correct capital. John Lynn will bring in a slide show and the stories about his personal adventures on the Appalachian Trail.

Math: (For my math students only)

We will continue our unit on graphing and probability. Our lessons this week will cover stem & leaf plots, line graphs, probability, and spinners. The children should continue practicing their multiplication and division facts. They should be on division facts by now!

Website of the Week:

Learn more about the Appalachian Trail at:
http://www.fred.net/kathy/at/atstate.html

Sulima's Scoop - November 19 & 20

Reminders:

*No spelling unit this week.

*A Family Apart test on Tuesday.

*Continue studying the southeast states and capitals. Our test will be on Tuesday, Nov. 27.

*Tuesday is the end of the first trimester.

*No school on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.

YEARBOOK:

Now’s the time to place your orders. Yearbooks are $9.00 and the deadline for your orders is Monday, December 3, 2007. No orders will be accepted after that date. Please make checks payable to Lifetouch. Please make sure your student’s name, teacher’s name and grade level are marked on the order form. Yearbook order forms went home with your child on November 15th and there a few extra envelopes available; please try not to lose them. If your child loses it, you can send an envelope with the following information on it: student’s name, teacher’s name and grade level along with a check made payable to Lifetouch for $9.00. It is very important that you put the information on the envelope; Lifetouch does not know who your child’s teacher is.

Holiday Service Project:

Each year our school collects gifts and donations for cancer patient families and Lutherbrook. Lutherbrook is a home for children who have been removed from abusive homes. A note will be sent home soon with more information regarding this collection. Please watch our blog for information on ages and genders of members of our family. Our goal is to make this family's holiday season a bit merrier. Donations for the Lutherbrook home are being taken in the forms of Target gift cards, checks, or cash.

English: Continue working on expository writing.

Reading: We will finish A Family Apart and take an open book test on the book on Tuesday.

Science: We will work on chapter 4. This chapter introduces plant and animal adaptations.

Social Studies: Our focus for the two days will be Jamestown, Virginia.

Math: We will learn about ordered pairs & create a "mystery picture" using ordered pairs.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday.

Animal Adaptation Links

Links for Chapter Four Animal Adaptation Project

Professor of Protective Coloring

Colorful Disguises: http://members.aol.com/Art1234567/Camo.html


Critter Camouflage- Disruptive Coloration: http://www.saczoo.com/3_kids/20_camouflage/camouflage_disruptive.htm

Critter Camouflage- Mimicry" http://www.saczoo.com/3_kids/20_camouflage/camouflage_mimicry.htm

Evolution of Camouflage: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/01/1/l_011_03.html


Foxes: Camouflage: http://teacher.scholastic.com/dirtrep/animal/foxes.htm


If You Can't Run You've Got to Hide!: http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/education/projects/webunits/adaptations/camou1.html

Insect Camouflage and Mimicry: http://www.thewildones.org/Animals/camo.html


Specialist of Structural and Behavioral Adaptation

Reasearch many different animals at: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/coloring/


Visit Kratt's Creatures at: http://pbskids.org/krattscreatures/login.shtml
Username: igroup
Password: adapt


Master of Migration and Hibernation

Migration Basics: http://www.nps.gov/akso/ParkWise/Students/ReferenceLibrary/general/MigrationBasics.htm

Learn about animals that migrate at: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/coloring/migrate.shtml

Learn about animals than hibernate at: http://www.enchantedlearning.com/coloring/Hibernate.shtml


Hibernator vs. Deep Sleeper at: http://chattanooganaturecenter.org/ask_naturalist.htm

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KENNEDY SPACE CENTER FOR KIDS

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forkids/kidsclub/flash/index.html

Sulima's Scoop - Weeks of November 12 & 19

Reminders:

*Lesson 11 spelling pretest on Monday, Nov. 12.

*Lakeview Character Counts Club will visit our classrooms on Thursday, Nov. 15.

*Wear your favorite sports team spirit wear on Friday, Nov. 16.

*Lesson 11 spelling test on Friday, Nov. 16.

*End of first trimester on Tuesday, Nov. 20.

*No school on Nov. 21-23. Gobble, Gobble!

Writing:
We will work on writing expository introductions this week. An introduction should begin with an attention getter. We will review using sound effects, action, dialogue, or a question to gain the attention of the reader. An introduction should also include our main topic, which we will refer to as an "argument."

Reading:

We will continue to read A Family Apart. Throughout the book we will work on summarizing, making connections, visualizing, and character traits.

Science:

We will begin the week by completing our Inspiration food webs. If time allows, this week, we will also begin chapter 4 on surviving in our environment.

Social Studies:

We will begin our study of the Southeast region this week. The children will be bringing home a Southeast map this week. It will be labeled with the capitals and state names. They should study this map. Our Southeast map test will be on Tuesday, November 27. The children will not have a word bank of state names or capitals. If your child learns the capitals, they will earn 1/4 point per correct capital. Spelling will count.

Math: (Mrs. Sulima's Math Students Only)

We will begin a new math unit this week on Data and Probability. We are not going to take a pretest. This week we will collect data, find the mean (average), median, mode, and range, make a bar graph, and make a pictograph. This is an enjoyable unit for children (and their teachers).

Website of the Week:

Read about plant and animal adaptations at:

http://library.thinkquest.org/J001644F/

Sulima's Scoop - Week of November 5

Reminders:
*Lesson 10 spelling pretest on Monday.
*English Unit 1 test on Tuesday.
*Roller Skating Party on Tuesday.
*Lesson 10 spelling test on Friday.
*Chapter 3 science test on Friday for both Mrs. Sulima's & Mrs. Cavoto's students.

BIG THANK YOU!
I would like to extend a BIG thank you to all the parents who made our Halloween Party a huge success. The children had a wonderful time and loved the snacks & drinks!

English:
The children should be studying for the Unit 1 test which will be on Tuesday. On Friday, the children brought home the Unit 1 check-up. They should look over this review while studying for the test.
This week we will also begin a mini-unit on expository writing. We will not be doing a unit from the English book until we are done with this mini-unit.

Reading:

This week we will begin our next novel study. We will read a wonderful piece of literature called A Family Apart. This (historically accurate) heroic tale follows the adventures of the six children who are sent out west on the Orphan Train by their impoverished mother in hope that they will find better life. Frances Mary, the eldest of the Kelly children, shepherds her siblings through the Orphan Train trip and struggles to find them good homes. Frances Mary and Petey are adopted by the Cummings’ and find themselves involved in the Underground Railroad movement. This book, as well as the accompanying activities, will challenge your students in various ways. Be sure to ask about this story!

Science:

Mrs. Sulima's Class - We will finish chapter 3 this week with a Food Web project. The children will work in groups to create a food web on a computer webbing program called Inspiration. They will be assigned an ecosystem. The groups will need to research, using trade books and the Internet, to find at least 2 producers, 3 consumers, 1 scavenger, 2 decomposer, and non-living things in the ecosystem. They will then show how these connect and rely on each other for survival and energy. On Tuesday, we will fill out our "how to study" sheet. The chapter 3 test will be on Friday.

Mrs. Cavoto's Class - This will be the last week I will be teaching science to Mrs. Cavoto's students. Soon we will be starting our science kits. The time I have been meeting with this class is not long enough to do a thorough job of covering all the concepts in our kits. Mrs. Cavoto and I decided it would be best if we covered the rest of the science units with our own classes. I have enjoyed getting to know and teaching each of the children in this class! On Monday, we will watch a Bill Nye movie on Food Webs. On Tuesday, we will fill out the "how to study" sheet. On Wednesday and Thursday, the students will work in groups to create a food web with at least 1 producer, 3 consumers, 1 scavenger, 1 decomposer, and a non-living thing. These food webs will show how the living and non-living things connect and rely on each other for survival in an ecosystem.

Social Studies:

Please read Mrs. Cavoto's Blog at http://ccavotoccsdorg.blogspot.com/ to find out what is happening in this last week of social studies with Mrs. Cavoto. I will begin teaching our class social studies next week. We will begin our study of the Southeast.

Math: (Mrs. Sulima's Math Students Only)

Students should be practicing their multiplication facts each and every night. Watch your child's Target to see how they are doing on their timed target tests. This week in math we will go over the rules of division, using manipulatives, thinking multiplication, and repeated subtraction as ways of solving division problems. On Wednesday, we will do a problem solving activity together. They will then use what we did in class on Wednesday to do an assessed problem solving activity on Thursday. Mrs. Swaekauski and I have decided that we will not be taking a formal test on this chapter (since we will continue multiplication & division target tests throughout the school year). Instead we will take a checkpoint review on Friday. The children may use notes and their textbooks during the checkpoint.

Website of the Week

Learn more about the Orphan Trains at:

http://www.kidskonnect.com/content/view/274/27/

Northeast Reading Celebration

Reading Across America

We will have our first reading celebration on Friday, November 2. The children brainstormed ideas for the party & voted on their favorites. The winner was a "pajama party" with movie & popcorn. Children may wear appropriate pajamas or "lounging around" clothes on Friday. They may also bring a blanket and stuffed buddy. If you have a G rated movie (approx. 1 hour) that you think the class would enjoy, please bring it in on Friday. Again, we will vote for our favorite of the choices brought in. Congratulations to those who brought in their Northeast Reading Log! **Please remember that these reading logs will be counted as a reading grade.**

Sulima's Scoop - Week of October 29

Reminders:

*No school on Monday, Oct. 29 - Teachers' Institute.

*No spelling lesson this week.

*Picture Retakes on Tuesday, Oct. 30. Students must have their original picture packet with them to receive retakes.

*The Northeast Reading Map (reading incentive) is due on Wednesday, Oct. 31.
*Halloween Parade will be at 1:15 on Wednesday, Oct. 31.

*Halloween Party will be at 1:30 on Wednesday, Oct. 31.

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HALLOWEEN NEWS:

Halloween costumes should be brought to school in a bag. The children will only have about 5 minutes to change into their Halloween costumes. Their costumes should be simple. If possible, they should bring a costume that can slip over their clothing or works with the clothing they wear to school. They will not be dressing in the washrooms. The boys will be dressing in one classroom and the girls will be dressing in another classroom. Mirrors will not be provided.

Please remember we are trying to limit the number of sugary sweets in our school. If you are planning on sending in treats for your child to pass out to their classmates please refrain from sugary sweets - non-edible goodies would be a great substitution.

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Fourth Grade Field Trips/Presentations:

A permission slip for "all" our fourth grade field trips/in-school presentations will be sent home on Tuesday. One payment for all these wonderful experiences is requested. Details on each field trip will be on the district website. Please read through the information online and mark these important dates on your calendar. I will post reminders on my blog, and your child will write reminders in their assignment notebook closer to each date.

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English:

This week we will cover simple predicates and correcting run-on sentences. All students are with me for both of these lessons. If your child has not finished their English enrichment, they will need to finish during relaxed reading, if they finish work on time, or for homework. We will fill out our "how to study" sheet on Thursday. The test on Unit 1 - Sentences - will be on Tuesday, November 6.

Reading:

We have now finished reading Charlotte's Web. Early this week, we will watch the musical version of Charlotte's Web. We will make comparisons to the book throughout the movie.

Throughout the school year, we will work on reading responses (like those found on the ISAT test). We will work on a reading response as a class, based on Charlotte's Web, on Thursday and Friday. Your child worked on reading responses in third grade using a "hamburger" model. We will use the same model in fourth grade.

Science:

This week we will be exploring food chains and food webs. We will only have science 2 days this week due to Teachers' Institute on Monday and Halloween on Wednesday. Next week we will finish chapter 3 by discussing changes and human influence on food webs. We will also fill out our "how to study" on Wednesday, November 7. Our chapter 3 test will be on Friday, November 9. Mrs. Cavoto's students will take the test in their own class.

Social Studies:

Visit Mrs. Cavoto's Blog for the latest and greatest Social Studies news. Mrs. Cavoto will be finishing the Northeast in early November. I will start the Southeast with the class when she concludes the Northeast study.

Math: (Mrs. Sulima's Math Students Only)

We will continue to take a target test each day in math. It is very important that your child studies their facts each and every night. They can take their target test in whatever order they would like to.

On Tuesday, we will relate multiplication and division facts using fact families. On Wednesday, we will have a special activity due to Halloween. We will also learn hints for X9, X7, X8, and X12 this week. This hints are wonderful strategies to use to figure out the answer to a multiplication problem, but the quickest way is to memorize the facts.

Website of the Week:

Carve a Halloween Pumpkin online at:

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/pumpkin_sim.html

Helpful Sites - Charlotte's Web Test

Here are a few sites to help in the studying process for the Charlotte's Web Test on Friday.

Charlotte's Web - Chapter Summaries

http://www2.lhric.org/pocantico/charlotte/summaries.htm

Charlotte's Web - Study Guide/Chapter Summaries

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-charlottes-web/

Charlotte's Web Activities

http://www.gamequarium.com/charlottesweb.html

Charlotte's Web Online Quiz

http://www.familyeducation.com/quiz/0,1399,22-14762,00.html

Charlotte's Web Quiz

http://www.quia.com/quiz/157462.html

Charlotte's Web Mystery Quotes

http://www.pocanticohills.org/charlotte/quiz.htm

More Online Quizzes

http://www.geocities.com/ljacoby_2000/charlottequiz.html

Hope these will help!

"I" group does not take this test. Their Character Diary will be due after reading on Friday.

Sulima's Scoop - Week of October 22

Reminders:
*Students need recorder for music class on Monday.
*Soccer test will be on Monday.
*Wear your slippers to school on Friday.
*Unit 8 Spelling Test on Friday.
*Charlotte's Web Test on Friday. ("I" group does not take.)
*Character Counts Assembly will be on Friday afternoon.
*No school on Monday, Oct. 29 - Teachers' Institute.
*Picture Retakes on Tuesday, Oct. 30. Students must have their original picture packet with them to receive retakes.
*The Northeast Reading Map (reading incentive) is due on Wednesday, Oct. 31.
*Halloween Parade will be at 1:15 on Wednesday, Oct. 31.
*Halloween Party will be at 1:30 on Wednesday, Oct. 31.


HALLOWEEN PARTY NEWS:
Halloween costumes should be brought to school in a bag. The children will only have about 5 minutes to change into their Halloween costumes. Their costumes should be simple. If possible, they should bring a costume that can slip over their clothing or works with the clothing they wear to school. They will not be dressing in the washrooms. The boys will be dressing in one classroom and the girls will be dressing in another classroom. Mirrors will not be provided.

Please remember we are trying to limit the number of sugary sweets in our school. If you are planning on sending in treats for your child to pass out to their classmates please refrain from sugary sweets - non-edible goodies would be a great substitution.

Spelling:
This week is a review week in spelling. We do not take a pretest on review weeks. The children will have a spelling activity for each evening. On Friday, we will be taking a special kind of test. This test will ask the children to choose the word that is misspelled out of a list of words. The test will assess whether or not your child understands the rules we have covered in lessons 1-7. The words on the list, sent home on Monday, are not necessarily the words that will be on the lesson 8 test.

English:
We will continue our Sentence unit. This week we will cover commands & exclamations, subjects & predicates, and simple subjects. Many children have started their English enrichment projects. The students will be graded on their use of classroom time, quality of project (content), attractiveness of projects, and mechanics (capitalization and punctuation).

Reading:
On Monday, we will finish our first novel, Charlotte's Web. The children have been working on understanding some of the interesting vocabulary E.B. White used throughout Charlotte's Web. They have also worked on comprehension and visualization. On Tuesday, the children will begin a flap book project. This project will ask the children to identify the Title, Author, Setting, Main Characters, Problem, Solution, and their feelings/opinions about the novel Charlotte's Web. A grading rubric will be in your child's reading pocket. This project will be due on Friday. We will be taking a test on Charlotte's Web on Friday.

Science:
This week we will begin our unit on Ecosystems. We will discuss the living and non-living things found in an ecosystem. This week we will also discuss how these things interact with each other. The main concepts covered will be photosynthesis, producers & consumers, and scavengers & decomposers.

Social Studies:
Please visit Mrs. Cavoto's Blog to find out what the children will be learning in social studies.
http://ccavotoccsdorg.blogspot.com/

Math:
We will begin chapter 3 on Monday with a pretest. The children spent a great deal on multiplication and division in 3rd grade. We are giving the pretest to find out if any students need enrichment throughout chapter 3. This week, we will also begin "Target Tests." A letter will be sent home on Monday regarding "Target Tests." Please read through this letter with your child to help them understand our expectations regarding the memorization of multiplication and division facts. In class we will go over the properties of multiplication, using arrays to represent multiplication facts, and hints for X2, X4, X5, X10, X3, X6 and X11. The children should practice their multiplication facts each night.

Websites of the Week:
Checkout the Ecosytems/Biomes on Enchanted Learning at...
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/

Review the vocabulary for the Charlotte's Web test on Friday at...
http://www.wordcentral.com/home.html

Worm Race Results...

Both classes have now had their "worm races." The children did a wonderful job using what they learned from our worm observations and their own personal observations to create winning race tracks. Evan and William's worms were the first place winners. Thank you to the parents for their support during our worm study. From digging for worms to helping your children create their race tracks, your support has made this a successful learning experience.

Sulima's Scoop - Week of October 15

Reminders:

*Lesson 7 spelling pretest on Monday.
*Mrs. Cavoto's Worm Races are on Monday.
*Early Dismissal on Wednesday - 11:00.
*Book Fair on Thursday from 6:45-8:00.
*Lesson 7 spelling test on Friday.

English:
We will begin Unit 1 this week on sentences. We will discuss what is needed to make a complete sentence. On Thursday, our focus will be on statements and questions. This should be a review since we already worked with these 2 types of sentences during our punctuation and capitalization unit.



Reading:
We will continue our novel study - Charlotte's Web. This week we will be reading chapters 11-20. Throughout the week, we will work with some of the unique vocabulary that E.B. White uses in the novel. We will also do a visualizing activity. Please watch your child's assignment notebook - most evenings they will need to read a chapter for homework.


Science:
Mrs. Sulima's Class - We have now completed our Worm Study. The children used the scientific method throughout this unit. We will be using this process throughout other units this school year. Our class will be taking the first half of the week off from science to allow Mrs. Cavoto's class time to catch up with us. At the end of the week, we will begin our study of ecosystems.
Mrs. Cavoto's Class - We will begin the week with our "Worm Races." Let's the best worm win. Throughout the rest of the week, we will be working on our "wormy wonders" research. I was planning on a quiz on Thursday, but I don't think we will be ready for it. Instead, the children will complete the quiz at home. It will be due on Monday, October 22. They may use their notes, the Internet, or tradebooks to complete this at-home quiz.

Social Studies:
Please continue to check out Mrs. Cavoto's Blog for the latest news in Social Studies.

Math: (Mrs. Sulima's Math Students Only)
On Monday, we will fill out our "how to study" sheet. The test will be on Friday, October 19. The children will also complete a checkpoint review on Monday. On Tuesday, the class will work together to complete a word problem and T-chart. The children should look over this problem before the test on Friday. They will have a problem on the test that will be similar to the one we do in class. We will allow the children to look at the sample we did in class during the test. We will review for the test on Thursday. Please help your child study for this test. Remember to write down how your child studied and sign the "how to study" sheet to receive 2 free points on the test.

Website of the Week
Have some Halloween fun at:

http://www.billybear4kids.com/holidays/halowen/games.htm

Sulima's Scoop - Week of October 8

Weekly Reminders:
*Lesson 6 Spelling Pretest on Tuesday.
*Check your child's grades online - we are half way through the trimester. (Please note: Some grades have not been posted yet.)
*Lesson 6 Spelling Test on Friday.
*Wormy Wonders Quiz on Friday.
*School Spirit Day on Friday.


English:
We will be taking our next English pretest on Wednesday. Our next unit review correctly writing sentences. The children will bring home their contracts on Thursday. They will need to choose their enrichment by Friday. We will begin our sentence unit on Tuesday, Oct. 16.

Reading:
Oink! Oink! This week we will begin our first novel unit - Charlotte's Web. The children will be involved in vocabulary, visualizing, questionning, and word study activities throughout this novel. This week we will be reading/listening to chapters 1-10. Some of this reading will need to be done at home. Watch your child's assignment notebook for assignments.

Science:
Mrs. Sulima's Class- What an exciting race we had on Friday. Those worms were just squirming along. Our winning worm was Evan's worm, followed by Jeff's worms, and the third place prize went to Dana's worm. I was very impressed with how the students used what they learned in our observations to make an effective race track.
This week our class will work on finishing our wormy wonders research. We will have a quiz on this information on Friday.
Mrs. Cavoto's Class - This week we will finish our worm observations. We will find out whether our worms like moist or dry areas and whether worms can detect odors. The class will also work on beginning our wormy reserch. On Thursday, I will share the guidelines for our worm race tracks. The children's track will be due on Monday, October 15. We will have our races on Monday. Our "wormy wonders" quiz will be on Thursday, October 18.

Social Studies:
Mrs. Cavoto will continue the Northeast Study with the children. Visit her blog at http://ccavotoccsdorg.blogspot.com/ to find out more.

Math:
On Tuesday, we will review how to subtract across zeros. Mrs. Swaekauski and I will be splitting the class to cover this difficult concept. On Wednesday, Mrs. Swaekauski will teach the children a game to practice the concepts of adding and subtracting with regrouping. On Thursday and Friday, we will practice the concept of making change. One day we will focus on making change by counting coins. The other day we will use subtraction to make change. Our checkpoint review will be on Monday, October 15. This will cover subtraction with regrouping (2 through 5-digit numbers), subtracting across zeros, and making change. Our test on chapter 2 will be on Friday, October 19.

Website of the Week

Have some "oinking" fun with these
Charlotte's Web Learning Games.

http://www.gamequarium.com/charlottesweblearning.html

Sulima's Scoop - Week of October 1

Welcome October!



Weekly Reminders:
*Mrs. Cavoto's students need their worms on Monday.
*Lesson 5 spelling pretest on Monday.
*Final magazine turn-in on Tuesday. Will our class earn a pig? Will the 4th grade teachers serenade the fourth graders...in their pajamas?
*Unit 5 English test on Tuesday.
*Lesson 5 spelling test on Friday.
*Worm Race Tracks due Friday. (Mrs. Sulima's Class)
*No school on Monday, October 8 - Columbus Day.

English:
The children will take the Unit 5 English test on Tuesday. A "how to study" sheet was sent home on Thursday. The concept that seems to be tricky for some is quotations. Please practice correct use of quotations with your child. The rest of the week, we will use our English time to work on our picture books. We will take our next English pretest during the week of October 8th.

Reading:
This week our focus will be on the four types of questions. On Tuesday, we will review "right there" questions. The answers to these questions are found right there in the text. We will also discuss "on my own" questions. These questions can usually be answered by using your own personal knowledge. On Wednesday, we will work with "think and search" questions. The answers to these questions are found throughout the text not just in one place. On Thursday, our focus will be "author and me" questions. These are inference questions. The reader needs to use there own personal knowledge plus information the author gives in the text to answer this type of question. We will be using these 4 types of questions throughout our first novel unit which we will begin during the week of October 8.

Science:
Mrs. Sulima's Class - We will continue our worm observations this week. The questions we will focus on this week are: Can a worm detect odor? On which surface does a worm move most easily? All of our experiments will help us in the next step of our worm study. Each child will create a race track based on their worm observations. The children will receive the race track guidelines on Wednesday. Our worm races will be on Friday.
Mrs. Cavoto's Class - The children will bring in their worms on Monday. To begin the week, we will just observe our worms. On Tuesday, we will begin our experiments to answer the following questions: On which surface does a worm move most easily? Does the worm prefer damp or dry surfaces? How do different parts of a worm react to touch? and Can worms detect odor? Worm containers will be brought home over the weekend to make sure our worms have fresh moist soil.

Social Studies:
Mrs. Cavoto will begin the Northeast unit. Please visit her blog at http://ccavotoccsdorg.blogspot.com/ to find out more about what your child will be learning this week. Northeast maps are due on Monday.

Math: (For Mrs. Sulima's Math Students Only)
On Monday, the children will be doing a checkpoint review. This will cover the mental math addition and subtraction strategies, estimating sums and differences, and adding greater numbers with regrouping. The rest of the week our focus will be on subtraction with regrouping.

Website of the Week

Find out more about the four types of questions at:
http://www.literacymatters.org/content/readandwrite/question.htm