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Spelling: We reviewed using apostrophes to show ownership and for contractions. For possessive pronouns, apostrophes are never used. For example, it’s means it is, and its means belongs to it. This was a source of confusion on the last spelling test.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 34-36 are available in class and due on Friday.

Reading: None today due to art.

Writing: Today was a publishing day. Students were deleting their prewriting, resolving their comments, and making their story more readable for the reader.

A fiction story will be due Friday, December 18. Your student should be publishing by now. Homework is to work on writing for at least 15 minutes. Students may also work on their story this weekend if they need extra time to finish.

Math: None today due to an assembly about a Make a Magazine after school club.

Below are some skills we’ve been working on lately:

• Place value and rounding
• Addition within 1000
• Subtraction within 1000

Homework is to practice MobyMax Math or Khan Academy for at least 15 minutes.

Science: We learned that matter is anything that takes up space. Even invisible air is matter, because it takes up space. We filled syringes with air and connected them to other syringes with plastic tubing. The plunger of one syringe could move just by pressing in the plunger of the other syringe. The air inside was pushing the plungers, showing that air takes up space.

Social Studies: None today due to our reading skills and AR practice time.

Notes:

• Our Fiesta Mexicana is Tuesday, December 22 from 9-noon. Family members are welcome to help out and join us. Here is our volunteer list.
• Grand Blanc Community Education is asking about the interest level for August day camps for kids. Some parents have asked for things to keep their kids busy during the dog-days of summer while gearing them up for school. Please share your ideas in this 3-minute survey.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• Visit our Links page: keep track of all the websites we use for learning, or try something new.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at ParentVue or StudentVue.

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

Spelling: None today.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 34-36 are available in class and due on Friday.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles; some groups worked on determining importance as a reading strategy. Students also received their last STAR Reading level. Below is our class results:

As shown above, our class improved to about 4.5. However, we are still recovering from a poor result earned earlier in the year. Our class goal is level 5.4, so we have a lot of work to do. Students said they were going to be more careful on STAR tests, be more thoughtful during Literature Circles, and read 20 minutes a night at home.

Writing: Today was a publishing day. Students were deleting their prewriting, resolving their comments, and making their story more readable for the reader.

A fiction story will be due Friday, December 18. Your student should be publishing by now. Homework is to work on writing for at least 15 minutes.

Math: Students worked on some rounding skills today, or started some beginning multiplication practice in Khan Academy.

Below are some skills we’ve been working on lately:

• Place value and rounding
• Addition within 1000
• Subtraction within 1000

Homework is to practice MobyMax Math or Khan Academy for at least 15 minutes.

Science: We reviewed common temperature benchmarks and wrote notes in our minibooks.

Social Studies: None today due to our reading skills and AR practice time.

Notes:

• Our Fiesta Mexicana is Tuesday, December 22 from 9-noon. Family members are welcome to help out and join us. Here is our volunteer list.
• Grand Blanc Community Education is asking about the interest level for August day camps for kids. Some parents have asked for things to keep their kids busy during the dog-days of summer while gearing them up for school. Please share your ideas in this 3-minute survey.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• Visit our Links page: keep track of all the websites we use for learning, or try something new.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at ParentVue or StudentVue.

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

Spelling: Today was a preview of upcoming spelling words.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 34-36 are available in class and due on Friday.

Reading: Students completed a STAR Reading test today.

Writing: We talked stopping run-on sentences. Sentences should contain one, two, or three ideas, and then end. Put an end mark and start a new sentence.

Today was an editing day and students worked on editing conferences, commenting on spelling, capitals, periods, paragraphs, and quotation marks for dialogue. A fiction story will be due Friday, December 18. Your student should be editing by now. Homework is to work on writing for at least 15 minutes.

Math: We talked about the results of our last STAR Math test:

As shown above, our class average STAR Math level is 4.8, which is only two months of growth away from our yearly goal of level 5.0! The class should be proud of their great results so far!

Students also practiced math skills using Khan Academy. Below are some skills we’ve been working on lately:

• Place value and rounding
• Addition within 1000
• Subtraction within 1000

Homework is to practice MobyMax Math or Khan Academy for at least 15 minutes.

Science: None today due to our scheduled reading skills and AR practice time.

Social Studies: We learned that Michigan’s top exports are car parts, medical furniture and tools, natural gas and iron, and food products. We also learned that the top trading partners of the US are Canada and China. The class predicted what types of exports we send to China, and what types of imports we receive. Homework is to finish the Prediction Chart if not done in class.

Notes:

• Our Fiesta Mexicana is Tuesday, December 22 from 9-noon. Family members are welcome to help out and join us. Here is our volunteer list.
• Grand Blanc Community Education is asking about the interest level for August day camps for kids. Some parents have asked for things to keep their kids busy during the dog-days of summer while gearing them up for school. Please share your ideas in this 3-minute survey.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• Visit our Links page: keep track of all the websites we use for learning, or try something new.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at ParentVue or StudentVue.

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

Spelling: Today was a spelling and skill test.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 34-36 are available in class and due on Friday.

Reading: Today was a discussion day in Literature Circles.

Writing: We talked about how a waterfall is like the lead of a story. In a waterfall, the river is peaceful upstream, then the waterfall rapidly plunges the water. In a story, the problem is like the waterfall; it’s where the story starts to get interesting. A lead should start “upstream” of the problem, but not so far that the story feels slow in developing.

Today was an editing day; students were editing their writing for spelling, capitals, periods, paragraphs, and quotation marks for dialogue. A fiction story will be due Friday, December 18. Your student should be editing by now. Homework is to work on writing for at least 15 minutes.

Math: Students completed a STAR Math test today.

Below are some skills we’ve been working on lately:

• Place value and rounding
• Addition within 1000
• Subtraction within 1000

Homework is to practice MobyMax Math or Khan Academy for at least 15 minutes.

Science: We started learning about matter and energy today. We reviewed what we’ve learned about energy so far, and started to learn some common temperature benchmarks: water freezing, room temperature, body temperature, water boiling. Homework is to finish the thermometer note page if not done in class.

Social Studies: We started to learn about the global economy and how that affects America. We also started looking for products imported to the US, and were the products were from. Homework is to finish the Import Search if not done in class.

Notes:

• Our Fiesta Mexicana is Tuesday, December 22 from 9-noon. Family members are welcome to help out and join us. Here is our volunteer list.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• Visit our Links page: keep track of all the websites we use for learning, or try something new.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at ParentVue or StudentVue.

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

Spelling: We practiced spelling words with common /k/ spelling patterns: c, k, qu, ck, ch. This will be the skill tested on tomorrow’s spelling test.

Cursive: Cursive pp. 34-36 are available in class and due on Friday.

Reading: Today was a reading day in Literature Circles; some groups worked on using clues to make inferences.

Writing: We talked about writing more interested leads than, “One time there was…” or “Hi, my name is…”. Interesting leads can start a number of ways:

1. Start with characters talking.
2. Start with some action details to show what the characters are doing.
3. Start with some visual details to show the setting or a character.

Students also worked on revising conferences with a partner.

Today was the last class revising day. A fiction story will be due Friday, December 18. Your student should be done with their draft and revising by making improvements and changes. Homework is to work on writing for at least 15 minutes.

Math: Students used Khan Academy to practice place value, rounding, addition, subtraction, or multiplication skills today.

Below are some skills we’ve been working on lately:

• Place value and rounding
• Addition within 1000
• Subtraction within 1000

Homework is to practice MobyMax Math or Khan Academy for at least 15 minutes.

Science: Students completed a test today about about electricity and safety.

Social Studies: None today due to extra time with science.

Notes:

• Our Fiesta Mexicana is Tuesday, December 22 from 9-noon. Family members are welcome to help out and join us. Here is our volunteer list.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• Visit our Links page: keep track of all the websites we use for learning, or try something new.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at ParentVue or StudentVue.

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