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Spelling: Today was a preview of upcoming spelling words. I also sent students their year-long spelling list (see here).

Cursive: Cursive pp. 10-12 are available and due on Friday.

Reading: We started to practice the skill of determining important passages today.

Writing: We reviewed the idea about using details to prove general things a writer may say. The three best details to use to prove writing:

• talking–what the characters are saying
• action–what the characters are doing
• visual details-what the characters, places, objects look like

Today was also a revising day. Our next piece of writing is a personal narrative, due Friday, October 23. Your student should have their draft finished by now, at least a page typed, and should be going back to the draft to make changes.

Math: Today was a math practice day using MobyMax Math.

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

Science: We wrote important ideas in our magnet minibooks.

Social Studies: Students worked in teams to identify scarcity problems and possible solutions. Homework is to finish the scarcity chart if not done in class.

Notes:

• Students should be working 40 minutes each school night during their Daily Homework Time, even if there is no official “homework” from class that day.
• 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 and StudentVue.

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

Spelling: None today.

Cursive: No cursive this week.

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

Writing: We talked about using details to prove general things a writer may say. For example, if a student writes that a party is fun, a ride is fast, a haunted house is scary, or the sky is beautiful, prove it! Show the people having fun at the party, show people screaming with their hands up on a ride, show the dark haunted house with screaming sounds. Adding details proves to the reader that the writer is telling the truth.

Today was also a revising day. Google Docs was having an outage during our writing time, so students didn’t get to work much. Your student may have to spend a few extra minutes this weekend revising. Check here to see if the outage has been resolved.

Our next piece of writing is a personal narrative, due Friday, October 23. Your student should have their draft finished by now, at least a page typed, and should be going back to the draft to make changes.

Also, please turn in decorated writing portfolios on Monday.

Math: We talked about using patterns to solve problems. Students also used MobyMax Math to practice math skills today.

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

Science: We reviewed the science experiment from yesterday. We learned that there are four pure magnetic metals in the word:

1. Iron
2. Nickel
3. Cobalt
4. Gadolinium

Social Studies: We started to learn about how scarcity forces people to make choices about their limited resources.

Notes:

• Fall fundraiser orders and money are due on Monday, October 12
• Students should be working 40 minutes each school night during their Daily Homework Time, even if there is no official “homework” from class that day.
• 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 and StudentVue.

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

Spelling: None today.

Cursive: No cursive this week.

Reading: Today we practiced visualizing by reading a text and drawing a picture using clues from the text.

Writing: Students worked on revising conferences today by sharing their personal narrative draft with a partner. Each partner had the job of adding at least five helpful comments or curious questions to their partner’s draft. Helpful revising comments can be about words or ideas, about adding or removing parts, or about finishing parts that seem unfinished. Homework is to finish adding at least five revising comments on their partner’s document, if not done in class.

Our next piece of writing is a personal narrative, due Friday, October 23. Your student should have their draft finished by now, at least a page typed.

Homework is to decorate and turn in by Monday the colored file folder given to students in class.

Math: Students used Khan Academy to practice math skills today.

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

Science: Students completed an experiment today to test which metals are magnetic. Homework is to finish the Sticky Metals experiment if not done in class.

Social Studies: Students worked in groups to complete a chart about important economic concepts. Homework is to finish this chart if not done in class.

Notes:

• Students should be working 40 minutes each school night during their Daily Homework Time, even if there is no official “homework” from class that day.
• 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 and StudentVue.

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

Spelling: None today.

Cursive: Cursive worksheet pp. 7-9 are available and due on Monday.

Reading: None today due to the fall fundraiser kick-off. The fall fundraiser is for school supplies, assemblies, and end-of-the-year field trips. It is not for the Mackinac trip. Our fourth grade Mackinac trip is on May this year and student costs are $100. There will be a separate fundraiser for this trip later in the year.

Writing: Students worked on prewriting conferences today by sharing their prewriting with a partner. Each partner had the job of adding at least five helpful comments or curious questions to their partner’s prewriting ideas. Homework is to finish adding at least five prewriting comments on their partner’s document, if not done in class.

Our next piece of writing is another another personal narrative, due Friday, October 23. Your student should have a list prewriting ideas by now and ready to start drafting their story tomorrow.

Also, students were given a colored file folder today. This will be their writing portfolio. Students were asked to decorate the portfolio with pictures, stickers, drawings, and other things appropriate for school. I’ll laminate the folders next week. We’ll use these portfolios to collect writing throughout the year. Homework is to decorate the portfolio by Monday.

Math: Students used Moby Max to practice math skills today.

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

Science: We reviewed the Magnetic Observations experiment today. We learned that magnets don’t “stick to metal,” they only stick to “certain kinds of metal.” Today, we learned of two of those metals: iron and steel.

Social Studies: None today due to our reading skills practice day using MobyMax Reading Stories.

Notes:

• We had a team meeting today as a class to discuss some of the poor choices being made. A few students have been hurting our learning time with interruptions and distractions. We’ve talked about this and practiced many times at recess. The class was honest and had several helpful ideas during our meeting. Hopefully this will allow us to move forward and not be wasteful of the limited time we have at school. Consider asking your student about this and see what they say.
• Students should be working 40 minutes each school night during their Daily Homework Time, even if there is no official “homework” from class that day.
• 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 and StudentVue.

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

Energy Fair 2015