le 20 au 24 mars 2023 

Upcoming Dates

  • March 13-20:  Read-athon. Bring in donations and reading logs!
  • Monday-Friday, March 20-24:  Spirit Week! See details below.
  • Monday-Friday, March 27-April 3:  NO SCHOOL, Spring Break!

Read-a-thon pledge packets accepted now!

Schoolwide Spirit Week:

Monday:  Francophonie Day. Wear a Charlemagne shirt or the color purple. Speak French all day!
Tuesday: Class color day. Fourth grade’s color is blue, and we will take a class photo.
Wednesday:  Wacky Wednesday. Mismatched, inside-out, backward clothes day. (See below for more info about appropriateness.)
Thursday:  PJ Day. Self-explanatory, right? 
Friday:  Game Day. Third through fifth grade will enjoy paper airplane fun on the playground during lunch recess.

Even during Spirit Week, Charlemagne Elementary School students are expected to be safe, respectful, and responsible self-managers.

If you are not sure about the appropriateness of your student’s “Wacky Wednesday” outfit, please have him, she, or them discuss it with the classroom teacher or the principal. Your student should not dress as another person’s race, religion, or culture. Costumes should not be caricatures of any group. Students will be asked to change clothes for inappropriate attire.

Please note that students will still have recess and any other activities this week. Please send them with a coat, proper shoes, etc. so that they can participate fully in the school day.

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 or for our secretary, Eliza Drummond, at drummond_e@4j.lane.edu.

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 about symmetry and about telling time in French.

Willem’s project

Several students’ octagons showing rotational symmetry

 

There would normally be French homework this week, but I don’t usually give homework the week before spring break. It’s a breather for the kids and for me! This past week, we continued to explore line/bilateral symmetry (la symétrie bilatérale) and radial/rotational symmetry (la symétrie rotative). Many students have completed our mini art project creating an example of rotational symmetry with an octagon and using rulers to draw precise, straight lines. See some samples here.

Many students still do need practice working on using rulers with precision not only in measuring, but also in understanding how to hold the ruler down with one hand and draw a precise line with the other. Many also still need to practice cutting accurately with scissors, so feel free to work on projects at home that use rulers and scissors. Demonstrating good cutting with scissors is also useful.

Everly’s stained glass name project

Rahim’s stained glass name project

Remy’s stained glass name project

We are also well into our latest art project, Le vitrail (Stained glass window) which involves reflection and limited rotational symmetry. Most students have begun their final copy, and a few lucky students with short names are on their third one! They look beautiful in the stairwell.

We began telling time in French, using the French format this week, and will work on it over the next week and probably after spring break as well. In French, for example, 2:00 pm would be expressed as either 2h00 (two hours/deux heures) or 14h00 (14 hours/quatorze heures). We are also going to do a few elapsed time exercises.

Sciences sociales (Social studies):

We will continue to talk about our big spring social studies project this week. Each student will be randomly assigned a Francophone (French-speaking) country, will learn all about the country, will create a dodecahedron about the country, and will present the country to the rest of the class. These are a few of the works from last year’s students. It is an all-consuming project but always stimulating.

Les sciences:

We did our next large science experiment this week, which was trying to light two bulbs with one battery. We discussed open and closed circuits in more detail. The second aspect is attempting to light two bulbs brightly with one battery. We will continue this experiment this week as we learn about parallel and series circuits (les circuits en dérivation et les circuits en séries). Next, we’ll move into magnets.

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

Math

Unit 8: Solving Problems with Multiplicative Comparison.

Students will be encouraged to model multiplicative stories with a bar model similar to this one. Many time, students will ask me, “Do I multiply or divide?”  Instead of immediately answering, I’ve been saying, “Reread the problem. What would look like in a model?” Modeling enables students to visualize what is happening in a problem, so they can determine if they will multiply and/ or divide to solve.

As part of this unit, we’ll be discussion strategies of division. One key strategy we use in 4th grade is partial quotient division. This strategy relates multiplication to division. Check out this link for a quick guide to this method which is probably different than how you learned division in school.

Homework: No math homework this week

English

WordStudy: suffix endings (-ed & -ing) & how they can change a base word (continued from last week)

Writing: Students are writing persuasive essay this week. Students are reading and analyzing short persuasive articles. Then, following a typical 4-5 paragraph format, students are planning and writing essays to express their opinions on topics such as the best pet to own, why we shouldn’t have homework, or why kids should get an allowance.

As a class, we are discussing how to listen respectfully to various points of view. We also are discussing how to disagree with respectful dialogue. This week, students will draft at least two opinion essays. Then, either late in the week or right after spring break, they will choose one to edit, revise and make a revised copy to bring home.

Thank you to Matt Springer  for coming to share about his writing and publishing process for a book that he co-authored called Fleetfoot’s Rise. Students enjoyed hearing about how he incorporated places in Eugene and famous athletes from the University of Oregon in his book.