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Spelling: None today due to extra time with cursive. Look for a spelling test coming on Thursday (changed from Wednesday), and a skill test over short and long vowel sounds. The current spelling worksheets will be due at the time of the test.

Cursive: Students received cursive pp. 14-17, due this Friday. We reviewed today the basic cursive strokes: undercurves, overcurves, downcurves, and slants.

Reading: Today I introduced Literature Circles. Students received an overview of the four jobs of Literature Circles: developing questions, creating connections, visualizing and selecting passages. We practiced illustrating and visualizing. Today was also WEB.

Math: We reviewed lines, line segments and rays. Homework is to complete Math Boxes 1.2.  

Science: We graded the “A Magnet’s Ends” experiment.

Social Studies: We made a Regions mini-book that we will use to collect notes about the regions of the US. Homework is to finish decorating the cover of the mini-book.

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: 5 magnets
• Oranges: none
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• We are looking for donations of cardboard tubes (toilet tissue, paper towel, wrapping paper) for class projects. The tubes can be sent in any time during the year; this project will be on-going. Thanks for any help you can give! 
• There is still some space left on our Room 130 Pride board.  Let’s fill that thing up! If your student hasn’t yet brought in three unique “objects” about themselves, then please send them so that they can be put on display for all to see. We are looking for things like photos, postcards, papers, medals, or little trickets that can be put in bags and hung on the board. The only limitation is size, and being able to be attached somehow to a bulletin board. These objects can remain with us the whole year, or rotated out whenever the student wants.

Spelling: We reviewed words that have silent letters, and practiced finding the silent letters. A spelling test is scheduled for Wednesday; the skill test will assess long and short vowels.   

Cursive: The cursive worksheet was checked today. Look for a cursive quiz soon. One idea to help students prepare at home for the cursive quiz is to write practice sentences in cursive.

Reading: Today we finished our house-shaped organizer that we used to compare two stories.

Math: None today.   

Science Inquiry: Science on Friday is called Science Inquiry. Here, we focus on asking testable questions and designing tests to make discoveries. Today, students studied a strange, unknown object and completed a question search. Students named the object, described it, made a labeled sketch, created questions and thought of places to find the information.

Social Studies: None today.

Treasure Maps: Tuesday was International Speak Like a Pirate Day (believe it!). In honor of such an important holiday and respected holiday, we made treasure maps! First, we determined what our fourth grade treasure was: Honor Roll, good grades, being team captain, etc. Then we thought about what we would have to do to reach the treasure: not move our magnets, listen, work hard, do homework, follow the High Fives, etc. Students made their own treasure maps that will lead them to their fourth grade treasure.  

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: 3 magnets
• Oranges: 3 magnets
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• The Question Search was a hit! Thanks for sending in a “weird object.”
• We are looking for donations of cardboard tubes (toilet tissue, paper towel, wrapping paper) for class projects. The tubes can be sent in any time during the year; this project will be on-going. Thanks for any help you can give! 
• The deadline for having poly envelopes (I have them for $0.50 each) is Monday. Students will not be able to take home their science book without a poly envelope to protect it. See the schools supplies page for more information.
• Our Room 130 Pride board is about half full. Some students have yet to bring in three “objects” that show who they are, and that can be put on display for all to see. We are looking for things like photos, postcards, papers, medals, or little trickets that can be put in bags and hung on the board. The only limitation is size, and being able to be attached somehow to a bulletin board. These objects can remain with us the whole year, or rotated out whenever the student wants.

Spelling: We studied all the most common spelling patters for the long “o” sound: o, ow, old, o-consonant-e, and oa. 

Cursive: Students are working on a double-sided cursive page, which is due on Friday.

Reading: Today we learned a new “trick” for writing about how two stories are similar: organizing thoughts in a house-shaped organizer. The attic contains the main idea, the rooms below contain details about each story, and the basement contains ideas about how the stories are similar.

Math: We played a game to review time and temperature. Tomorrow will be our last review day.  

Science: Students completed the “A Magnet’s Ends” experiment. Homework is to finish the analyze and conclude questions.

Social Studies: We continued learning about slavery in the Southeast, the Civil War, and the Underground Railroad. We sang a song about the Underground Railroad; click here to listen. Here are the lyrics. Here is a music video for the same song. We also sang, “Wade in the Water” and “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” two songs that slaves sang as a code to give them instructions on how to escape slavery.

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: 3 magnets
• Oranges: 2 magnets
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• Students were asked to bring a “weird” object to school tomorrow for science. This object can be anything that other students will have a hard time recognizing. It can be an old tool, an old electronic part, anything that students can’t immediately recognize. The objects will be used in a “Question Search.” 
• We are looking for donations of cardboard tubes (toilet tissue, paper towel, wrapping paper) for class projects. The tubes can be sent in any time during the year; this project will be on-going. Thanks for any help you can give! 
• A few students still need poly envelopes (I have them for $0.50 each) to store math and science work. See the schools supplies page for more information.
• Students are welcome to bring to or keep at school a water bottle, to keep from having to ask frequently to go get a drink.
• Our Room 130 Pride board is about half full. Some students have yet to bring in three “objects” that show who they are, and that can be put on display for all to see. We are looking for things like photos, postcards, papers, medals, or little trickets that can be put in bags and hung on the board. The only limitation is size, and being able to be attached somehow to a bulletin board. These objects can remain with us the whole year, or rotated out whenever the student wants.

Spelling: Students added a vowel to various words to change a short vowel sound into a long vowel sound: plan into plane, sat into seat, best into beast.

Cursive: Students are working on a double-sided cursive page, which is due on Friday.

Reading: Today we learned a new “trick” that smart readers use: asking themselves the Five W Questions of who, what, when, where, and why. When readers ask themselves these questions while they are reading, then they will remember more of the details that the test questions will ask about.  

Writing: Mr. Weiss taught our class a lesson about adding details to our writing to make it more interesting to read. One way to do this is to stretch out short sentences by adding words to make it longer and better.

Math: Students took a pretest of basic math skills. We also played a game to review money and measurement. 

Science: Students started an experiment about the end’s of a magnet and will finish it tomorrow.

Social Studies: We reviewed the “Fact or Fiction” quiz and it was collected for a grade. We learned about slavery in the Southeast and how some slaves escaped on the Underground Railroad. We sang a song about the Underground Railroad; click here to listen. Here are the lyrics. Here is a music video for the same song. 

Behavior Update:

• Yellows: 4 magnets
• Oranges: 3 magnet
• Reds: none

Ask your student what kind of choices they made.

Notes:

• We are looking for donations of paper grocery bags, one for each student, and cardboard tubes (toilet tissue, paper towel, wrapping paper) for class projects. The tubes can be sent in any time during the year; this project will be on-going. Thanks for any help you can give! 
• A few students still need poly envelopes (I have them for $0.50 each) to store math and science work. See the schools supplies page for more information.
• Students are welcome to bring to or keep at school a water bottle, to keep from having to ask frequently to go get a drink.
• Our Room 130 Pride board is about half full. Some students have yet to bring in three “objects” that show who they are, and that can be put on display for all to see. We are looking for things like photos, postcards, papers, medals, or little trickets that can be put in bags and hung on the board. The only limitation is size, and being able to be attached somehow to a bulletin board. These objects can remain with us the whole year, or rotated out whenever the student wants.