We have had a great first week of school! We have gotten to know each other and enjoyed playing games & learning names! We have spent a great deal of time getting organized with all of our school supplies and now its time to get to work!!
Thank you to all the parents who have sent in items from the "Wish List!"
Thank you to Carson's family for sending us delicious treats from McEntyre's Bakery!!
Reading
If your child is attending the Read 180 program, it will begin on Monday. For those that do not do Read 180, we will begin our extended text, A Long Walk to Water. We hope that your child will share with you the perils that Salva and Nya are facing in the story. We will be reading this text aloud to the students in class and they will be recording their thoughts and questions in their reading journals. We will be referring back to this text all year long as we practice our reading strategies.
Next week we will also begin to work on our reading stamina. Each student will be expected to have an independent novel at all times. This novel should coincide with your child's appropriate Lexile level/score which we will be providing for them. Our expectation is that they will read books within their range, so that they will get the practice they need to become stronger readers! We will attach a website that you can access to check the Lexile level of your child's independent books :)
Writing
We spent time this week building our "Writer's Notebook." This notebook will be your child's toolbox for writing workshop time. The students are working on a narrative story starring themselves as the hero for you to read at Open House!
Social Studies
We have begun our content studies with Mapping Skills. We will review parts of a map from 3rd grade (Title, compass rose, legend or key, latitude and longitude) and begin to take a look at map scale and types of maps and their uses. Our map standards for fourth grade require the students to be able to locate several natural and man-made features on a US Map. We sent home a study guide this week as well.
Math
We will begin our math instruction with place value. The students will be using numbers that go all the way to the millions place this year! We will be writing number forms (standard, word, expanded), adding & subtracting, and comparing and rounding numbers up to the millions place during these first few weeks of school! There will be examples and strategies in your child's math journal! We are also attaching some videos to help you get started! :)
