Sulima's Scoop - Week of September 29 - October 3

Weekly Reminders:

*Lesson 5 spelling pretest on Monday.

*Chapter 1 (Place Value -whole numbers & decimals) accelerated math test on Monday.

*Last magazine turn in on Tuesday.

*Quiz on lesson 1 in Earth Science on Wednesday.

*Capitalization and Punctuation test on Wednesday.

*English enrichment due Wednesday.

*Lesson 5 spelling test on Friday.

*Movie Night on Friday, 6:30-8:45.

Plan Ahead:

*Quiz on lesson 2 science on Monday, October 6.

*Tuesday, October 7 - Midpoint in Trimester. Check your child's grades online.

*No school on Monday, October 13.

*Book Fair on Thursday, October 16.

Classroom Happenings:

Science: This week we explored the physical properties of minerals. We found out that we need to consider more than one property when identifying minerals. The class observed the size of crystals in igneous rocks. We discussed where the rocks were formed based on the size or lack of crystals. During this upcoming week, we will observe sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. We will take a quiz on lesson 1 (see note sheet in your child's science pocket). We will conclude the week by discovering how rocks are formed through the rock cycle. The students will take a quiz on the rock cycle on Monday, October 6.

Social Studies: We will finish our study of the two presidential candidates. The children will work on making campaign posters this week. These posters will need to display the beliefs and promises of the candidate. We are going to hold off on doing a classroom presidential election because we are going to participate in a school-wide voting on Monday, November 3.

During the week of October 6, we will begin our United States Tour by visiting the northeast region. The children will receive a blank northeast map on Wednesday. We will have a test on the location of the northeast states on Tuesday, October 14. Spelling will count! The children will have the opportunity to earn bonus points by learning the capital cities of each state in the northeast. They can earn 1/4 point for each correct capital.

Accelerated Math: The children will take the Chapter 1 Place Value test on Monday. This week we will also begin our next unit on Adding and Subtracting Whole Numbers and Decimals. I will be pretesting the children this week. My hope is to be able to combine or compact some lessons in this unit since many of these concepts are a review from last year.

Spelling: We will work on lesson 5 spelling this week. Keep practicing your cursive writing at home. This will help during the test on Friday.

English: At the beginning of the week, we will review for the Capitalization and Punctuation test. This test will be on Wednesday. Please note that English enrichment projects are due the day of the test. We will pretest on the next chapter on Thursday.

Here are some great links to help review for the English test:

http://gamequarium.com/punctuation.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/punctuation/commas/

http://www.childu.com/sample_act/34lang_confusion.html Find Comma Confusion.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/adventure/grammar2.htm

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! Find out more about the Orphan Train and other historical events that we will encounter while reading A Family Apart. Visit this website: http://www.bgcs.k12.oh.us/reinhart/apart/default.htm

Sulima's Scoop - Week of September 22

Weekly Reminders:
*Lesson 4 spelling pretest on Monday.
*Magazine turn-in days on Tuesday & Thursday.
*Picture Day on Thursday.
*Social Studies test on chapter 2, lessons 2 & 3 only.
*Lesson 4 spelling test on Friday.

Plan Ahead:
*Accelerated Math test (Place Value) on Monday, September 29.
*English test on capitalization and punctuation on Wednesday, October 1.

New Student: A new student joined our classroom this past week. We would like to welcome Molly to our school.

Classroom Happenings:
Science: We will begin our unit on Earth Science this week. The "big idea" for this part of the unit is: Rocks and soils are formed and broken down by natural processes. The essential questions that we will attempt to answer during the next couple weeks are: What are the types of rocks? What is the rock cycle? How do weathering and erosion affect rocks? and What is soil?

Social Studies: The children will take a test on Thursday covering lesson 2 and 3 in chapter 2 of our textbook. To help them review for this test, they should review the patriotic quest, three branches of government graphic organizer, video quizzes, lesson 3 question sheet, levels of government graphic organizer, and reread the pages in the textbook (pgs. 46-63).

Hints for the test:
-What is the Constitution and why is it important?
-What are the three levels of government?
-What are the responsibilities of each of the three branches of government?
-How can the constitution be changed?
-What are 2 ways that a person can become a citizen of the U.S.?
-What are 3 types of services that are paid for by taxes?
-What are 3 responsibilities of U.S. citizens?
-Why is voting an important responsibility in the U.S.?
**Please note: the children are not being tested on lesson 1. We did not cover this lesson in class.***

We will continue to compare the 2 presidential candidates this week. During the week of September 29, we will have an election in our classroom to see who we think should win.

Accelerated Math: Now that we have covered place value of whole numbers, we can move onto place value of decimals. We will cover decimals to the thousandths, comparing and ordering decimals, and rounding decimals. Our 2nd checkpoint review will be on Thursday. We will review, with a game, on Friday. Our Place Value test will be on Monday, September 29.

Great Website for decimal practice:
http://www.toonuniversity.com/flash.asp?err=496&engine=9

English: We will continue our unit on capitalization and punctuation this week. Our main focus for the week will be quotations. We will also work on writing titles correctly. Our test on this English unit will be on Wednesday, October 1. All enrichment will be due the day of the test. If your child has not finished their enrichment and does not have any lesson days left, I have suggested to them to use their relaxed reading time to finalize their projects. If need be, their project can be finished at home, but I would prefer that most (if not all) is done in school.

Spelling: We are moving onto lesson 4. Our final test on Friday will need to be done in cursive. Please have your child practice writing their words before the test.

Reading: We have just finished our first book club novel. We will take a week off before our next novel. During this week, we will focus on building vocabulary, predicting, visualizing, story mapping, and comprehension.
Practice vocabulary for Grandfather's Journey at: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/tnc/gr4/gr4_th1_sel2.html
http://www.quia.com/jg/311936.html

Presidential Election 2008

Who will be our next President?

Let's get the facts...

Republican

John McCain
Read John McCain's Message to Young People!
John McCain's Official Website

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Democrat
Barack Obama
Read Barack Obama's Message to Young People!!
Barack Obama's Official Website

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Other Sites:

Time for Kids Election Connection
Weekly Reader's Election Center

Scholastic's Election 2008

BBC News - Candidates and Issues
http://uspolitics.america.gov/uspolitics/elections/candidates.html

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/vote2008/candidates/

Sulima's Scoop - Week of September 15

I would like to thank all who were able to attend the 4th grade curriculum night on Thursday evening. I hope I was able to answer many of your questions about classroom routines, homework procedures, curriculum, and more. If you have additional questions, please feel free to e-mail me at: ssulima@ccsd66.org.

Weekly Reminders:
*Lesson 3 spelling pretest on Monday.
*Magazine Drive Kick-off on Monday.
*Beginning Band Parent Meeting on Monday at 7:00.
*Early Dismissal (11:00) on Tuesday.
*Beginning Band Conferences on Wednesday & Thursday afternoon. Please contact Mr. Brian Ohlsen at bohlsen@ccsd66.org if you are interested in setting up a conference.
*Lesson 3 spelling test on Friday.

Classroom Happenings:

Science: We will finish our "getting ready for science" unit this week. These lessons should prepare the children for experimenting throughout the rest of the school year. We will have a test covering lessons 1-3 on Thursday. The concepts on the test will include: scientific tools, inquiry skills, and the scientific method.

Social Studies: We will compare local, state, and federal governments. This week we will also take a closer look at the Presidential candidates. If you find articles in magazines or newspapers to support our study of the upcoming Presidential election, please send them in.

English: This week we will only have English lessons on Wednesday and Thursday. Our lessons will cover commas in a series and more uses of commas.

Spelling: We will work with lesson 3 spelling words this week. Don't forget that the spelling test on Friday will need to be done in cursive.

Reading: The children will read the rest of Earthquake Terror this week. They will also fill out a different kind of discussion sheet - a story map. Our second book club discussion will be on Thursday. We will also use our time in class to review predicting, author's viewpoint, prefixes, suffixes, compound words, and root words.

Accelerated Math: We are moving into the 5th grade curriculum. Our first unit will be on place value. We will spend the beginning of the week trying to understand the magnitude of one billion. The rest of the week, we will compare and round whole numbers. On Friday, the children will take a "checkpoint review" on these concepts.

Website of the Week:
If you have a few minutes, please check out the Book Adventure website. "Book Adventure" is a free online reading motivation program for students in grades K-8. After children read a book, they can take an online comprehension quiz. There are over 7,000 book choices/quizzes on "Book Adventure." Students will earn points for each quiz they complete. There are also prizes that can be earned. If you would like to check out this website and register, please visit http://www.bookadventure.org/. When registering, our class name is Sulima and the teacher name is SSulima. To register, click on New Users (Register Now). Then click on Kids Register. Follow the directions carefully. Parents please help your child register. E-mail me if you register & let me know what you think.

Sulima's Scoop - Week of September 8

Weekly Reminders:
*Lesson 2 spelling pretest on Monday.
*Curriculum Night on Thursday, 7:00. (PARENTS ONLY)
*Lesson 2 spelling test on Friday.
*Lakeview Band Performance on Friday afternoon.

Thank you to all who have donated items (paper plates, stickers, aquarium, fish food, popcorn, healthy treats, treasure box prizes, cotton balls, and much more) to our classroom. I appreciate your support!


Classroom Happenings:

Curriculum Night: On Thursday evening (7:00). I hope everyone can attend an informative, parents only, meeting. We will meet as a whole in the gym or multipurpose room at 7:00. Around 7:15, you will be dismissed to go to your child's homeroom classroom. At 7:30, your child's math teacher will give a short presentation. Finally at 7:45, you will visit with your child's Language Arts teacher. During this last meeting you will have the opportunity to sign up for a parent/teacher conference with your Language Arts teacher.

Science: We will continue our introductory unit by answering the essential question - What are Inquiry Skills? This question will help us understand the scientific process. There will be a quiz over lesson 2 on Thursday.

Social Studies: Our study of government continues. We will focus on the Executive Branch and the Judicial Branch. We will have a short quiz on the Three Branches of Government on Friday.

Spelling: We are on to Lesson 2. Please help your child study for their spelling test which will be on Friday.

English: Each child in the class has a learning contract for our first unit on Capitalization and Punctuation. If you have not already, please discuss with your child what enrichment project they have chosen to do on the days they passed out of lessons. Enrichment projects are to be done in school. Please note that an "X" on the contract signifies that they have mastered the concept and will be working on enrichment instead of joining me for that lesson. Each English lesson will be around 20-30 minutes long. I have discussed with the children that they should have chosen an enrichment project that they will be able to finish in class. We will have English on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. I do teach the lessons in the order that they are listed on the contract.

Reading: We will continue our review of predicting and inferring. The children are doing a wonderful job at predicting, reading, and proving or disproving their prediction. This is called self-monitoring. We will also focus on the author's viewpoint or the author's opinion or feelings about the topic which they are writing. This week the children will also get their first experience with a "book club." I have chosen a book for the entire class to do for the first book club. They will have reading assignments (some reading will need to be done at home) and book club discussion sheets that they will need to fill out. Each child will receive their book on Monday. They will also receive a calendar with due dates and a discussion sheet for the first book club discussion.

Accelerated Math: By Monday, the children should be fluent with their facts (x0 - x12) by being able to give the product without hesitation. We will continue our short review of fourth grade skills. This week we will practice estimating to find products, dividing by a 1 digit number (without and with remainders), using estimation to find quotients, and using compatible numbers to estimate quotients. Your child should bring home their math journal each evening to review these concepts. We will have an assessment on these items before we start the fifth grade textbook. This assessment will probably be on Thursday.