Charlemagne 4th Grade

 le 17 au 21 octobre 2022

Upcoming Dates:

• October 25 9:00-12:00 Field Trip to Alton Baker Park
• Monday, October 31 – Halloween parade (time TBA)
• Wednesday and Thursday, November 8-9:  Parent/Teacher conferences
• Friday, November 10:  NO SCHOOL (Veterans Day)
• Thursday and Friday, November 24-25:  NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving)

Field Trip

On October 25, both classes will go on a half-day field trip to Alton Baker Park. We will go on a short hike called “Kalapuya Quest” led by Nearby Nature. As part of our study of Oregon history, students will discover how the Kalapuya, the Willamette Valley’s first people, historically used native plants and animals for shelter, food, and clothing. They will also learn about Kalapuya transportation, traditions, language, games, and stories. We have enough chaperones at this time. Thank you to those who have volunteered. There will be more opportunities in the future.

Thank you to our guests

Last week Madeline’s mom, Sarah Keating, came to share about the human heart and her work as a nurse practitioner. Thank you also to Kai’s mom, Dr. Naomi Johnson, DVM who came to share about her work as an emergency vetrinarian and to share x-rays of animals and their hearts. She talked about different hearts in animals from hummingbirds to blue whales.

It’s great to have guest speakers, so if you have a job that involves something we are studying, be sure to let Mme. Shelli know. Coming up- Oregon geography!

Halloween

1. If students are going to wear a costume, they must wear it to school. Students will not be permitted to change at school. Students must be able to wear their costumes inside or outside, at recess, at gym, etc.
2. No masks or full face painting will be allowed. However students can have “limited” makeup like whiskers, freckles, eye makeup, etc.
3. Costumes must not be too scary or inappropriate for the school environment. Please no gory or grotesque costumes.
4. No props are allowed. (no swords, weapons, wands, etc)
5. The school is not responsible for costumes that are torn or damaged while at school. Parents are encouraged to remember that students at school can be very physical during recess and gym.
6. It often rains in Oregon on Halloween. Don’t forget that students go outside at recess, rain or sunshine.
7. Students must wear shoes that are appropriate for school. No heels, no slippers, and no flip-flops.
8. Students who come to school wearing something inappropriate will have to call home for new clothing or remain in the office.
9. Costumes should not interfere with the ability of a student to go to the bathroom by themselves.
10. Even in costume, Charlemagne Elementary School students are expected to be safe, respectful, and responsible self-managers.

What’s up! Quoi de neuf?

Please make sure to send your child to school in proper footwear and a water-repellent jacket when the weather is threatening. Students will go out to recess unless the principal decides that the weather or air quality prevents it. If your child is ill, or has had a fever or vomited within the previous 24 hours, please keep her/him home. Please continue to follow current Covid rules as well. If your child will be absent, please email both teachers (kincaid_j@4j.lane.edu and hopper_s@4j.lane.edu) and Bernadette (conover_b@4j.lane.edu) or please call in and leave a message on the school line (541) 790-7080.

Le français:

•We do our best to express ourselves in French.

•We continue to learn how to use a translating dictionary.

•We have a positive attitude and growth mindset.

We finished our cursive writing instruction of lowercase (minuscule) letters, so we’ll begin uppercase (majuscule) letters, and we’ll work on writing our signatures.

The French homework this week is the months of the year in order. This homework needs to come back and forth every day. We did a little assessment at the beginning of the year to see who knew their days of the week and months of the year, in order, in both French and English. Very few students did. In French, days of the week and months of the year are not capitalized. They are janvier, février, mars, avril, mai, juin, juilllet, août, septembre, octobre, novembre, et décembre.

Last week, we conjugated the verb faire (to make or do), which most students seem to remember. This week, we’ll conjugate aller (to go). After that, we usually do verbs ending in -er (90% of verbs), then pouvoir (to be able), and vouloir (to want). 

We began our second “J’observe” writing activity, writing four sentences independently (with sentence starters) to describe the photo to the left, Le chien aux yeux exorbités (The bug-eyed dog). The kids particularly enjoy writing about photos that are unusual or funny.

We continue with Tap’Touche, our French typing program.

Students had limited time to work on the “Moi!” project which is all about them… in French. Most students are completing their art, and many are in the midst of writing their paragraphs in cursive. Some students have completed the project already, and we’ll begin hanging them in the stairwell that leads down to our level.

Les sciences:  

We completed our second science experiment in the Soils, Rocks, and Landforms (La terre, les pierres, et les formes du relief) unit last week, continuing to learn about the components of soil. Soil is composed of humous (l’humus), pebbles (les cailloux), gravel (le gravier), clay (l’argile), and silt (le limon). Our four vials of soil had time to settle, and . we observed and drew the layers of soil. We determined where we think the soil samples came from, the forest (la forêt), a river delta (le delta d’une rivière), the desert (le désert), or the mountains (la montagne), based on their components. We had a short discussion about what a delta is (this is a new term for many students) and what kind of soil we could expect to find in a delta. Our first experiment this week will be an introduction to physical weathering.

 

Though there is no written math homework this week, students should practice multiplication facts at home. A great way to do this is to quiz your child in the car on the way to & from school. If they need more practice, they can make flashcards to practice at home or or in the car. There are also a number of multiplication games online. See the Math tab above.

 

In class each day we’ll work for about 10-15 minutes on these facts:

• Monday: Multiplying ones, twos, tens, fives
• Tuesday: Multiplying nines and square numbers
• Wednesday: Multiplying threes and sixes
•  Thursday: Multiplying fours and eights
• Friday: Multiplication fact quiz

Please look for the last unit’s math quiz to come home on Monday.

In addition to brief fact practice, our math time this week will focus on modeling square numbers, discovering prime and composite numbers, and creating patterns with multiplication and division. Next week, we move into multi-digit multiplication, and students who have most facts memorized will be able to more quickly multiply larger numbers.

English:

 

We continue our ELA Module 1 A Great Heart. Look for a very short quiz/ check for understanding to come home on Monday. As we have read Circulatory Story over the last week, we have practiced writing informational paragraphs that include a hook, topic sentence, supporting details with elaboration and concluding sentence. This week, students wrap up this portion of the unit by showing off their writing skills in a final paragraph on their own based on the prompt “What makes a literal great heart?” We will use iPads to draft and finalize the paragraphs. These will come home for you to see probably next week after students do some self-evaluation and after I get a chance to read them all.

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.

OBOB Volunteers Needed

 OBOB – Oregon Battle of the Books- is starting soon. Contact M. Joe or Mme Ginger if you are interested in helping organize this exciting after school club. We would like co-leaders (one parent from grades 3-5) and support volunteers for each grade as well. This would allow for a rotation of support so as to not have too much on the shoulders of one person. It would also allow for “expert” volunteers in subsequent years to get the teams up and running quickly and effectively. Since this would be held on campus, we would have to ensure that all volunteers are on the approved list through 4J. Please reach out to Mme Ginger (topize_g@4j.lane.edu) or Principal Joe (hadley_j@4j.lane.edu) if interested.

Outside of school opportunities:

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