le 19 au 22 septembre 2022

Upcoming Dates:

Thursday, September 22 Curriculum Night from 6-7 pm.  Childcare will be available in the cafeteria from 6-7. Schedule: 

           6:00-6:20: Grades 1-2 Presentations in Classrooms

                                             6:20-6:35: PTO Meet & Greet in Gym

                                             6:40-7:00: Grades 3-5 Presentations in Classrooms

  • Monday through Friday, Sept. 26-30: School safety week
  • Friday, September 30: School picture day

Please ensure that you email BOTH TEACHERS when you communicate with us. Your child will begin with his/her non-homeroom teacher this week. So blue class will begin with Mme Shelli and red class will begin with Mme Jana. We communicate weekly on this 4TH GRADE BLOG (please bookmark) and send a weekly email reminder when we update information. You can also find links to French, Math, English, and other supplemental activities on the red tabs at the top of the blog.

Le français:

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

I am so sorry that I had to miss the whole week. My mom’s surgery and recovery had some issues. Her blood pressure was all over the place. My daughter is taking family leave from her work next week, so I will be present.

Since my subs are not Francophones, most of the work they did was in English, except of course, we have the wonderful Lisa Himpens as our amity intern in fourth grade this year, so she took over some of the French routines. They continued our cursive writing instruction with the letters h, t, p, e, l, and f. We’ll go through all lowercase (minuscule) letters, then progress and work through all uppercase (majuscule) letters. This week I’ll be able to work on verb conjugations, reviewing the four major irregular verbs, avoir (to have), être (to be), faire (to make or do), and aller (to go). Students seem ready to jump back into conjugating, so we’ll review what they’ve already learned, then we’ll dive into conjugating additional commonly used verb conjugations. Since I wasn’t present this past week, the only French assessment that took place was listening. I felt I need to be present for the instruction for the other French assessments which include writing, speaking, comprehension, and reading so they go as well as possible. None of the assessments are very long, and we won’t do them all on the same day. Students also went around and “Read the Room,” i.e. read everything on the walls, and got to explore my in-class French library.

Students may have continued the first art project in my absence, so I’ll see where we are on that when we get back into the classroom. It takes a few weeks, but you should see those lovely projects soon as we hang them on our walls. This week, we’ll try to begin the “Moi!” project which is all about them… in French, we just have to get through the assessments.

Les sciences:  

This past week, I had my guest teacher, Clare, do a KWL chart with each class. First, they told her what they Know about soils, rocks, and landforms, then what they Want to know, and after the unit, we’ll do what they Learned. We will begin our first science unit, Soils, Rocks, and Landforms (La terre, les pierres, et les formes du relief) in early October. 

 

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

This week we will continue to practice mathematical routines, play some math games to build fluency with addition, subtraction and place value. We also begin our first math unit “Applying Place Value Concepts in Whole Number Addition and    Subtraction” The key concepts in this unit are:

  • Digits in numbers represent ten times what they represent in the place to the right.
  • We can use our understanding of place value to round numbers.
  • There are multiple strategies for adding and subtracting numbers. One efficient strategy is the “standard algorithm.”

This week, we will observe powers of ten in place value. Students will identify place value of digits through millions and will begin to compare numbers through millions using < > and =.

GAME of of the week: Roll and Place (aka Build a Bigger Number)

Here’s a game for your family to play at home to build on the concepts learned in class. You can also find a number of resources for additional both online and tech-free games on this site under the tab “Math.”

English:

Our English Curriculum,”Wit and Wisdom,” integrates reading, writing, listening and speaking goals while building deep knowledge and vocabulary about art, science, and history topics. You can find out details about our first unit on this Parent Tip Sheet.

We begin Module 1 “A Great Heart” this week with the focus question: How does someone show a great heart, figuratively?  Students explore the word heart, considering its literal and figurative meanings. Students begin the process of reading, annotating, and analyzing texts by working with these two short quotations that use the word heart literally or figuratively:

“It is infinitely better to transplant a heart than to have it devoured by worms.”

-Christaan Barnard, first cardiovascular surgeon to transplant a heart.

AND

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.”

-Confucious, a Chinese philosopher

Over the course of this unit, students develop a deep understanding of the heart, both how the literal human heart functions in the body, as well as how the figurative heart represents the center of the human spirit and emotions.

PE Note from Mme ErinMarie

Mme. ErinMarie is looking forward to welcoming back her students to school and Physical Education! Your child will have PE on Monday and Wednesday.
 
Please help your children be successful by sending them in appropriate clothing and footwear for a variety of active movement activities. Closed toe shoes with laces or velcro are a requirement to participate. If your child is unable to tie their own shoes please work on this skill with them and send them in safe shoes that stay fastened in the mean time. Clothing that covers bodies when in motion is encouraged. Improper clothing or footwear will result in a written activity during PE that will be sent home with your child so you can encourage them to come prepared to school.

Music(al) note from Mme Doyle:

Welcome back, or welcome for the first time to…Music! Mme Doyle is excited to welcome you all back into the music classroom this new school year. Your child will have Music on Monday and Wednesday

I will be posting updates, information, and musical opportunities throughout the school year via Seesaw, email, information in the school Newsletters, and flyers sent home. I will certainly be needing volunteer assistance from time to time in regards to helping me collect materials for different “recycled music” projects (creating our own rattles and shakers out of empty water bottles, etc.), setting up for concerts, chaperoning on field trips, and even in the classroom. If you feel you would like to be a music volunteer in any capacity, feel free to email me at doyle_k@4j.lane.edu. To that end, please reach out to me with any questions, concerns, comments, or special music moments via email, and I will do my best this year to do the same! Looking forward to creating, growing, sharing, connecting, playing, cultivating joy, and being fearless with our students this school year!