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Spelling: None today.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 4-6 are available and due on Friday.

Reading: We read a story about a dragon and a person who had to defeat the dragon with problem-solving.

Writing: We talked about how writers should prove what they say by including details, such as talking, action to show how the characters move, and visual details to show what things look like.

Students also worked more on revising by rereading their writing and making some changes.

Our first piece of writing, a personal narrative, will be due Sunday, September 22. Homework is to work on writing for 15 minutes. Your student should be revising at this point by adding more writing or making improvements.

Math: Students worked on a STAR Math test today. Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy.

Science: None today due to extra social studies time.

Social Studies: Today we learned about the preamble to the constitution and why we have a government.

Character Strength: We are learning about curiosity this week.

Notes:

• Buying chromebook insurance for $25 can save you from a $50-200 repair bill if a screen breaks or a keyboard is damaged. Payments are due by September 26 and you can pay online. Here are more details about chromebook insurance.
• Have you started a Daily Homework Time with your student? If homework causes tears or battles, or if you have had to deal with missing assignments or low grades, read more about Daily Homework Time and start one with your student. It will help!
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at JupiterGrades.

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.

Spelling: We continued working on a spelling pretest today.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 4-6 are available and due on Friday.

Reading: Students received new reading books and we read a story about how a queen used her imagination to solve a problem.

Writing: We talked about how writers should prove what they say by including details. If a student writes that they have a secret hiding spot with lots of treasures, they should prove it by telling about some of the treasures! If they write a ride is fast, or a house is scary, or a food is delicious, they should prove it with details!

Students also worked more on drafting the end of their personal narrative. Some students who were finished started revising by looking back at their writing and making changes.

Our first piece of writing, a personal narrative, will be due Sunday, September 22. Homework is to work on writing for 15 minutes. Your student should be finishing with their draft tonight and should have about a half page written.

Math: Students worked on a STAR Math test today. Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy.

Science: We wrote notes about how time and water can change land features. We also started reading about fossils and learned how fossils can be created in catastrophes such as volcanic eruptions, landslides, or floods.

Social Studies: None today due to extra science.

Character Strength: We are learning about curiosity this week.

Notes:

• Buying chromebook insurance for $25 can save you from a $50-200 repair bill if a screen breaks or a keyboard is damaged. Payments are due by September 26 and you can pay online. Here are more details about chromebook insurance.
• Have you started a Daily Homework Time with your student? If homework causes tears or battles, or if you have had to deal with missing assignments or low grades, read more about Daily Homework Time and start one with your student. It will help!
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at JupiterGrades.

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.

Spelling: We started a spelling pretest today.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 1-3 are available and due on Monday.

Reading: Students completed a STAR Reading test today.

Writing: Students created a digital writing portfolio folder in their Google Drive and shared with me. We’ll use this folder to organize our writing this year.

Students also worked more on the draft of their personal narrative. We talked about how this piece of writing should be about a half page long, at 12 point font. That would make this piece about 25 lines long. Most students still have a ways to go to get to that point.

Our first piece of writing, a personal narrative, will be due Friday, September 20. Homework is to work on writing for 15 minutes. Your student should be drafting by now and should be about halfway finished with their draft, which would be about 12 lines or so.

Math: We set class and personal goals about making progress with our first topic of place value. We also practiced using place value blocks to represent numbers. Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy.

Science: We used a simulation to model how rivers and floods might affect earth’s features, carve out a canyon, and move sediment to new locations.

Social Studies: We finished talking about the history of the September 11 events.

Character Strength: This week we are reviewing the #OtherPeopleMatter mindset this week. This is about five things:

1. Look for the good in others.
2. Know your words and actions affect others.
3. Cheer for the success of others.
4. Support others when they struggle.
5. Give others your attention.

Notes:

• If you want to order a new McGrath shirt or other spirit wear, do that here before midnight tonight!
• No school this Friday; it’s Ally Partnership Day.
• Buying chromebook insurance for $25 can save you from a $50-200 repair bill if a screen breaks or a keyboard is damaged. Payments are due by September 26 and you can pay online. Here are more details about chromebook insurance.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at JupiterGrades.

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.

Spelling: None today.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 1-3 are available and due on Monday.

Reading: Today we practiced signing in to STAR Reading. We’ll take a STAR test this week.

Writing: We talked about focusing on the best time in writing. If a student wanted to write about Christmas break, they could focus on just New Year’s Eve, then they could focus more on just the time when the ball is dropping at the end of the night. Focusing on the best part makes writing easier and more interesting.

Students also worked more on their prewriting list and then started drafting sentences below their prewriting on the same Google Doc.

Our first piece of writing, a personal narrative, will be due Friday, September 20. Homework is to work on writing for 15 minutes. Your student should be drafting in sentences by now.

Math: We learned about the difference between a fixed mindset and a growth mindset. A fixed mindset says, “I’m stuck; this is how I am.” A growth mindset says, “I can get better if I keep working.” We’ll need a growth mindset this year in math to learn new things! Students also worked on MobyMax Fact Fluency and TestPrep Math today. Homework assignments this year in math will be to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy.

Science: We learned more about our first topic by talking about canyons, rocky outcrops, and how water might change features of the earth.

Social Studies: Due to Patriot Day, we talked about the history of the September 11 events.

Character Strength: This week we are reviewing the #OtherPeopleMatter mindset this week. This is about five things:

1. Look for the good in others.
2. Know your words and actions affect others.
3. Cheer for the success of others.
4. Support others when they struggle.
5. Give others your attention.

Notes:

• If you want to order a new McGrath shirt or other spirit wear, do that here before midnight Thursday!
• No school this Friday; it’s Ally Partnership Day.
• Buy chromebook insurance for $25. Due by September 26. Here are more details about chromebook insurance.
• Parents and family members, find out more information about our class here.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at JupiterGrades.

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.

Spelling: Students received a Core Word List, which is their list of spelling words for the entire year. We will have spelling tests about once per month.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 1-3 are available and due on Monday.

Reading: Students worked on a MobyMax Reading Level Assessment and also practiced reading with MobyMax Reading Stories. We’ll use MobyMax for reading practice about twice per week.

Writing: Students looked at their “Authority List” assignment that we worked on yesterday and chose one thing they could write about. This will be your student’s first topic for a personal narrative. We also started prewriting the personal narrative by making a list in Google Docs. This should be a list of important things your student wants to write about their topic.

Our first piece of writing, a personal narrative, will be due Friday, September 20. Homework is to work on prewriting for 15 minutes. Ask your student what they are writing about and have them show you their prewriting!

Math: We practiced math facts using MobyMax Fact Fluency. We also used MobyMax to review math skills from prior years. Finally, we started our first topic in math by practicing place value skills in Khan Academy. Part of your student’s math grade this year will come from skills completed in Khan Academy.

Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy. 

Science: We started talking about our first science topic, Earth’s Features. Today we started thinking about one of the investigation questions: How do fossils get in rocks?

Social Studies: We started our first topic on government by writing about what would happen in our school, community, and country if we didn’t have rules and laws. Homework is to finish the Life without Government note page started in class.

Notes:

• If you want to order a new McGrath shirt or other spirit wear, do that here before Thursday!
• No school this Friday; it’s Ally Partnership Day.
• Buy chromebook insurance for $25. Due by September 26. Here are more details about chromebook insurance.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at JupiterGrades.
• The Science, Social Studies, and Technology pages were recently updated.

Our Mission:
All students in Room 130 will do their best and get ready for 5th grade.