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Spelling: We practiced sorting words by long and short vowel sounds. This will be the skill tested on tomorrow’s spelling test.

Cursive: Cursive worksheet pp. 16-18 are available and are due Friday.

Reading: Today was a reading skills practice day using MobyMax Foundational Reading.

Writing: We looked at an example of quality writing from a fourth grader in a previous class of mine. We noticed that it had a lot of dialogue, a lot of moment by moment action, it focused on just a small time, and it had some visual details. Other examples of student writing from my 4th and 5th grade classes can be found on the Writing page.

Students also worked on prewriting today. A personal narrative is due Monday, November 6. Your student should be prewriting by now, working on a beginning, middle, and end chart. Homework is to work on writing for 15 minutes and to finish prewriting.

Math: None today. We used this time to design some pixel art for our Fall Festival next week. Ask your student to show you their design!

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

Science: We predicted the size of the sun and its distance compared to earth. If the sun were the size of a beach ball, the earth would be a Skittle, and they would be an entire soccer field apart!

Social Studies: We read about a fictional county with a terrible government. Students worked in teams to analyze its government. Homework is to finish the Analyzing the Government of Egbonia page if not done in class.

Character Strength: We are learning about Teamwork this week.

Notes:

• The Writing page has recently been updated to include links to student examples of writing from my past classes. Students can use these as targets to aim for, or mirrors to reflect upon their own writing.
• Have you helped your student plan a Daily Homework Time? This is a daily (Monday through Thursday) time of 40 minutes for students to work on math, writing, math facts, cursive, or other homework. Maybe it’s right after school, or at 5 pm, or right after dinner. The idea is that your student is working each day on something to make them smarter. Here is a sample schedule and more ideas.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View links to all the websites we use in class.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at Jupiter Ed.

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

Spelling: None today.

Cursive: Cursive worksheet pp. 16-18 are available and are due Friday.

Reading: We started reading about how people can start businesses to help people. Today was also a reading day in Literature Circles.

Writing: We talked about a couple of ideas today to start prewriting:

1. When choosing a topic, pick something new or special. Don’t choose topics about common things that many people have done.
2. When prewriting, make short lists of events. Full sentences are not needed. Don’t add talking or visual details. Don’t start drafting or writing sentences yet. Just stick to main story ideas in a list.
3. Work at home! Daily homework time for writing is 15 minutes Monday through Thursday. Only five students in our class are doing that consistently. That means those five students are working an extra two hours on their writing piece compared to the 23 students that are mostly working only at school. Two hours of extra work can make a big difference in the level of quality of a piece of writing.

Students also worked on prewriting today. A personal narrative is due Monday, November 6. Your student should be prewriting by now. Homework is to work on writing for 15 minutes.

Math: We practiced finding and extending patterns using addition and subtraction today. Students practiced pattern skills at MobyMax Math. Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy.

Science: None today due to having extra social studies.

Social Studies: We reviewed the Design a Government activity completed last week. We also reviewed the ideas of having a constitution, that a republic gives power to the people, and that rule of law means everyone should follow the law.

Character Strength: We are learning about Teamwork this week.

Notes:

• Have you helped your student plan a Daily Homework Time? This is a daily (Monday through Thursday) time of 40 minutes for students to work on math, writing, math facts, cursive, or other homework. Maybe it’s right after school, or at 5 pm, or right after dinner. The idea is that your student is working each day on something to make them smarter. Here is a sample schedule and more ideas.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View links to all the websites we use in class.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at Jupiter Ed.

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

Spelling: We practiced the difference between few and less:

• Fewer is used for things that can be counted: fewer students, fewer pencils, fewer clouds.
• Less is used for things that can’t be counted: less rain, less wind, less space.

Cursive: Cursive worksheet pp. 13-15 are available and were due today.

Reading: We finished reading a narrative nonfiction graphic novel about force and motion. Students also used MobyMax Foundational Reading to practice reading skills.

Writing: We started using a Google Site to publish our writing for others to see. Today also a publishing today. A personal narrative is due Monday, October 16. Your student should be publishing by now.

Math: We practiced pattern skills at MobyMax Math.

Science: We watched some video clips of astronauts running on the moon, throwing objects, and dropping a hammer and feather at the same time. We also watched a video tour of the moon to see the craters and the hardened lava plains.

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

Character Strength: We are learning about Perspective this week.

Notes:

• The Reading page has recently been updated.
• Have you helped your student plan a Daily Homework Time? This is a daily (Monday through Thursday) time of 40 minutes for students to work on math, writing, math facts, cursive, or other homework. Maybe it’s right after school, or at 5 pm, or right after dinner. The idea is that your student is working each day on something to make them smarter. Here is a sample schedule and more ideas.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View links to all the websites we use in class.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at Jupiter Ed.

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

Spelling: We practiced spelling idioms that contained words with common spelling patterns for the short /o/ sound: o, al, au, aw.

Cursive: Cursive worksheet pp. 13-15 are available and are due Friday.

Reading: We started reading a narrative nonfiction graphic novel and force and motion. Today was also a discussion day in Literature Circles. Students discussed what they read in their Literature Circles book by sharing the notes they wrote in their notebooks.

Writing: We talked using the right words in writing. That means using precise nouns to exactly describe the people, places, and things in the writing. It also means to use strong verbs so that the reader can picture the action.

Students also worked on publishing today. A personal narrative is due Monday, October 16. Your student should be publishing by now. Homework is to work on writing for 15 minutes.

Math: We practiced finding and extending patterns of shapes today. Students also practiced pattern skills at MobyMax Math. Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy.

Science: We reviewed our last Investigation Review about what it would be like to be on the moon.

Social Studies: Today was a leader lesson about creating leadership roles (class jobs) to make sure our class is a fun and safe place to learn in.

Character Strength: We are learning about Perspective this week.

Notes:

• The Reading page has recently been updated.
• Have you helped your student plan a Daily Homework Time? This is a daily (Monday through Thursday) time of 40 minutes for students to work on math, writing, math facts, cursive, or other homework. Maybe it’s right after school, or at 5 pm, or right after dinner. The idea is that your student is working each day on something to make them smarter. Here is a sample schedule and more ideas.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View links to all the websites we use in class.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at Jupiter Ed.

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

Spelling: We reviewed common spelling patterns for the short /o/ sound: o, al, au, aw.

Cursive: Cursive worksheet pp. 13-15 are available and are due Friday.

Reading: We reviewed some reading strategies:

• Reread a text to find new information
• Look for cause (the reason why something happens) and effect (what happened) in writing
• Narrative nonfiction stories might have headings to explain the topics and speech balloons with important information

Today was also a reading day in Literature Circles.

Writing: We talked about breaking text into paragraphs when any of these “new” things happen:

• New characters
• New times
• New places
• New ideas or actions
• New speaker starts talking.

Students also completed editing conferences by making editing comments on a partner’s writing. A personal narrative is due Monday, October 16, and the minimum length is one page. Your student should be editing by now. Homework is to work on writing for 15 minutes.

Math: None today due to the late start schedule. Homework is to practice math for 15 minutes using MobyMax or Khan Academy.

Science: None today due to the late start schedule.

Social Studies: None today due to the late start schedule.

Character Strength: We are learning about Perspective for a second week.

Notes:

• The Reading page has recently been updated.
• Have you helped your student plan a Daily Homework Time? This is a daily (Monday through Thursday) time of 40 minutes for students to work on math, writing, math facts, cursive, or other homework. Maybe it’s right after school, or at 5 pm, or right after dinner. The idea is that your student is working each day on something to make them smarter. Here is a sample schedule and more ideas.
• Check out our class calendar to stay up-to-date.
• View links to all the websites we use in class.
• View grades, assignments, and attendance at Jupiter Ed.

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