le 17 au 20 janvier 2023

 

Upcoming Dates

  • Monday, January 16:  NO SCHOOL. Celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day
  • Wednesday, January 18:  Choir club starts after school. See Mme Doyle’s note below.
  • Friday, February 3:  NO SCHOOL. Teachers prepare report cards

What’s up! Quoi de neuf?

Please 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 the weather prevents it. If your child is ill, or has had a fever or vomited within the previous 24 hours, please keep your child 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 please call in and leave a message on the school line (541) 790-7080.

Le français:

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

•We speak exclusively in French during French class.

•We write in complete sentences and can identify many parts of speech.

•We are learning world geography.

No homework this week! Also, I will be out on Tuesday and Wednesday taking care of another family member with health issues. I have Jen Stafford coming, and she is French, so we’ll have no gaps in language instruction.

Almost all students have finished the last “J’observe…” writing project, “Une tornade de poissons.”  We have begun the next “J’observe…”  photo, and since they’re pretty excited to work on it, some students have already finished it! It’s called “Quatre porcelets dans un chapeau melon,” and it is a good opportunity for students to use words other than “cute.” I gave them a list of alternative words to use, especially for words like big (grand/grande), small (petit/petite), and cute (mignon/mignonne), and it is taped into their journals. Also, they added a couple of sentences this time, including having to choose a piglet and explain why they would choose that one.

We’ve begun a world geography study, which is a precursor to a large Francophone country study we’ll be doing in the spring. Jen will work on that with the kids in my absence.

We continue with our new art project where they chose half of a magazine image and draw in the rest of the image. They are learning how to layer colors.

Les sciences: 

We finished up our study of Soils, Rocks, and Landforms, and we had an open-journal quiz last week. We’ll be having a “Bring in your rock collection day” next Thursday so we can all look at each other’s rock collections. We’ll begin our new science unit, Energy (l’Énergie) in February.

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

Math

Unit 5: Understanding fraction equivalence and comparison

•We can model to compare fractions.

•We can compare fractions to a common benchmark.

•We can compare fractions by examining their   

numerators and denominators.

•We can generate equivalent fractions.

 •We can find common denominators to compare.

                                           

Students will solve problems by comparing fractions with different denominators.  Students will try drawing models to compare, but we will quickly see that it is hard to see the difference between close fractions (ex. 7/12 and 1/2). Then, we will look at how we can reason about fractions in several ways. For example, we can compare fractions to a benchmark such as 1/2. If we know 6/12 is a half, 7/12 must be more than 1/2. Next, we will observe that when a numerator is the same (ex. 3/5 and 3/7) we can compare fractions because we know which fractional part is smaller (ex. 1/7 is less than 1/5 so 3/7 is less than 3/5).

This unit builds on students’ conceptual understanding of fractions to allow them to compare with reasoning. Students move beyond drawing models. Though mathematical procedure is important, they will hopefully build some deep understanding of fractions. Students will also analyze why multiplying a numerator and denominator by the same number will generate an equivalent fraction.

There are 3 nights of math review homework this week homework this week.

 

English 

Literature & Writing: Unit 2 Extreme Settings

We finished reading “All Summer in A Day” by Ray Bradbury and compared it to a short film of the same title. Students determined a theme of the text and supported it with textual evidence.

 Integrated in the curriculum are opportunities to write. Last week, students wrote descriptively using sensory details. This week, as we analyze a poem called “Dust of Snow” by Robert Frost,  students will create “storyboards” to organize the plot in a narrative poem.

Information about our new ELA unit can be found here.

 

After School CLUBS- New opportunities!

Plays in French

As in the fall, IHS French Immersion high school students are running a French Play group for fourth and fifth graders to write and produce their own plays. These small group sessions last about an hour on zoom and meet once a week. During this time, a group of two high school students will help students write scripts in French and record short plays on zoom. This is an excellent opportunity for the different generations of French Immersion students to engage, and for all parties to practice French outside of school. (This program is through Rotary Interact, meaning that the high schoolers get volunteer hours.)
 
They already have a selection of students from SEHS who are eager to start mentoring. Finding students from Charlemagne is the next step. The following link is the parent sign-up sheet for the next three months.
 
https://tinyurl.com/2023frenchplays

 

Student Leadership Club

Mme McLaren, our 5th grade French teacher, is starting a leadership club for 4th and 5th grade students as a way to increase student voice and participation in our whole school community. For students that are interested, there was an information session during lunch recess on Friday. Students will be asked to complete an evaluation and participate in a short interview with Mme McLaren to ensure their commitment, as it will take place every other Monday after school. They will be asked to write a short essay describing how they display the qualities of a leader and share their ideas for how they would like to improve the school and our community.

Here’s the link to the information sheet that was passed out at Friday‘s information session.

 

Choir Club

Is your student interested in singing? This month, we will be starting up our 2nd annual Spring Choir dedicated solely to our 4th and 5th grade students. The choir will meet once a week after school on Wednesdays from approx. 3:05 – 3:50. Rehearsals will meet each Wednesday all through the spring, starting on January 18th, with the last rehearsal on May 17th, and the concert will happen on May 24th. Talk with your student to gauge their interest in joining the choir and be on the lookout for more information and a signup form from Mme Doyle (doyle_k@4j.lane.edu) soon.