le 10 au 14 janvier 2022

 In the United States, people say…   

But in France, people say…      

It’s raining ropes!

Upcoming Dates

Monday, January 17, 2022 – NO SCHOOL, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Friday, January 21, 2022 – NO SCHOOL, Grading day

Friday, January 28, 2022 – NO SCHOOL, Staff workday

Le français:

Mme Jana, French & Science kincaid_j@4j.lane.edu

•We speak only French in the French classroom.

•We conjugate verbs correctly and use them correctly in sentences.

•We have a positive attitude and growth mindset.

As you may know, we had a lot of Internet issues this past week, so we were hindered in working on the STAMP assessment. This week, assuming the technical issues are resolved, the fourth grade will begin our practice STAMP French proficiency assessment. STAMP is the assessment that students normally do in 3rd, 5th, 8th & 10th in language immersion. Since this group didn’t get to do the assessment in third grade, this will help them be familiar with the one that “counts” next year. Reading, writing, speaking, and listening will be assessed. Not all of the assessments will occur on the same day, and there is some requirement for following a certain order.

I have a bit more help in the morning as of now, so I’m excited that we’ll be able to begin reading groups this week. We’ll do 2-4 groups at least twice a week. I’ll do two groups, and our wonderful educational assistants will do two groups. Mme Jeanne will work with the morning readers, and M. Lucien will work with the afternoon groups. 

Next week we’ll conjugate both the verb aller (to go) and faire (to make or do). Then, we’ll learn the format for conjugating -er verbs (any verbs that end in -er when not conjugated, i.e. 90% of verbs).

Les sciences:

On Wednesday of next week, students are invited to bring in a few rocks they would like to share. We’ll do a little museum to finish up our Soils, Rocks, and Landforms unit. Please make sure not to send anything precious (as if anything is more precious than your children!), as the school cannot be liable for any misplaced or damaged items. I’m asking students not to bring more than five or six stones. 

The Energy (l’Énergie) science kits have arrived, but since we’re beginning reading groups this week, and we’re working on STAMP, and we have a three-day week followed by a four-day week, we’ll likely begin our new science unit in a couple of weeks.

Mme Shelli, English & Math
hopper_s@4j.lane.edu

Fractions

•We can solve problems with addition and subtraction of fractions and can demonstrate our understanding on number lines and area models.

•We can make equivalent fractions with models and other strategies.

•We can explain our thinking with words, numbers and pictures.

In class:

We wrap up Unit 4: Decomposing & Composing Fractions on Tuesday with a short unit quiz. Students should be able to add and subtract fractions with the same denominators and be able to model and clearly explain their strategies. 

On Wednesday, we will be begin Unit 5: Understanding Fraction Equivalence & Comparison. In the first part of this unit we will look at different ways to compare fractions: by using models, comparing numerators and comparing denominators. Then, students will explore using a “benchmark” such as 1/2 to compare fractions. For example, 5/8 > 2/6 because 5/8 is more than half and 2/6 is less than half.  Here’s a video showing some of the concepts we’ll explore.

Math Homework: Math review each night- bring back to school each day

 

English Writing

•We will explore new fiction and non-fiction in our classroom.

•We will study the grammar of sentences.

Reading: As we wait for our new curriculum to arrive this week, I hope, students will continue to read chapter books of their choosing. Students are excited to start giving “book talks” to share and recommend good books to each other. Several students have started reading chapter books that they might not normally know they like to read. Some students have tried new genres as well. It’s been a fun way to start the new year and to get kids excited about reading.

Wordstudy & Grammar: We will continue our unit on grammar of sentence structure. This week students will learn about contractions and the proper use of quotation marks in writing.

NEW curriculum!

Mme Shelli is on a district leadership team to help adopt a new English Language Arts Curriculum to replace Journeys.  As soon as the curriculum arrives, we will pilot one of the potential curricula called Expedition Learning. Next week, we’ll begin Unit 1: Poetry, Poets, and Becoming Writers which includes a study of the short novel called Love that Dog by Sharon Creech as well as various other poems. You can get an overview of the curriculum here.