le 26 au 30 septembre 2022

Upcoming Dates:

  • Monday through Friday, Sept. 26-30: School safety week (one drill per day)
  • 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 homeroom teacher again this week. So red class will begin with Mme Shelli and blue 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.

Our French intern:

We are delighted and so lucky to present our French Amity intern, Lisa Himpens, who will be working in 4th and 5th grades this year. She joins us from the region of Picardie in the north of France. This is her first experience in the United States, and we encourage families to include her (and our other intern in 2nd & 3rd, Laurine) on an excursion somewhere in Oregon. Or maybe invite them to visit the coast with you, go on a hike, or invite them to a homemade dinner or a local dinner out? If you’re interested, please reach out to Mme Jana or Mme Shelli via email, and we will put you in contact with Lisa. Merci!

Le français:

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

We continue our cursive writing instruction with the letters u, y, i, j, k, r, & s. We’ll go through all lowercase (minuscule) letters, then progress and work through all uppercase (majuscule) letters. This past week, the students completed the writing, comprehension, and reading assessments. The only remaining assessment is the speaking one, which they will complete this week. I’ve been impressed thus far with how they’re doing! We’ve also begun French-only for 10 minutes at a time. We’ll move up to 15 minutes at a time later next week. We’ll begin reading and FLA groups the first week of October. We’ll also begin French homework the first week of October.

Most students nearly completed their practice art projects in my absence, so, we’re starting our final project, which is twice the size of the practice one. Next week, I’m planning to begin the “Moi!” project which is all about them… in French. It includes writing and drawing, and they end up really sweet.

Les sciences:  

The kids are excited to start science, and Lisa has begun sorting and preparing the science kit ingredients for us. There is a lot of mixing and prepping in these science kits. We will begin our first science unit experiments, 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

We continue the 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 review forms of numbers (standard form, base-10 form, expanded form, expanded notation). We will create “function machines” as we explore x10, x100, x1000 and ÷10, ÷100 and ÷1000 in relation to place value. Here is an online game similar to the puzzles we will make in class this week. We will also discuss how rounding numbers to the nearest ten, hundred or thousand can help us estimate sums or differences.

GAME of of the week: Skunk

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

English:

 

We continue Module 1 A Great Heart. Last Friday, students defined and explored the word “greathearted.” Students gathered facts about the life of one three famous women, Clara Barton, Helen Keller, or Anne Frank. This week, students will look closely at their actions to determine why people might say that they were “greathearted.” 

We will analyze the organizational structure of an informative paragraph (hook, thesis, supporting points, concluding statement.) Then, students will write a well developed paragraph about the person they chose to study. The structure of the paragraph will eventually lead to writing an organized essay following a similar model to the one on the right.

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.  You can find out details about our first unit “A Great Heart” on this Parent Tip Sheet

You can learn more about the 4th grade curriculum here.