April 10-14, 2023

April 9th, 2023 Write Comment News

le 10 au 14 avril 2023 

Upcoming Dates

  • April 10-21 – Artist in Residence: Glass art Click for link(twice weekly for each class)
  • May 8-19 – Oregon State Assessments in English & Math
  • Monday, May 15 – Field trip to Dorris Ranch, morning only 

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.

Safe, Respectful, Responsible:

We had a behavior management booster last week and spent time each day talking about our three main behavior guides, so ask your student what he/she/they learned or discussed about safety, respect, and/or responsibility.

Le français:

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

•We speak exclusively in French during French class.

•We correctly conjugate verbs in sentences in written and oral forms.

•We are learning about francophone (French-speaking) countries around the world.

We didn’t get to spend as much time as I had hoped on telling time, so we’ll continue with telling time in French for the first few weeks of April.

We will squeeze in some art time this week for those who have work to finish. Our francophone study art will be our main art project for the next six weeks, but we still have a couple other art projects we will do this year.

This week’s French homework is some of the vocabulary we will use often during our francophone country study. Here is a copy:  vocab francophone avril 2023 l Vocab

Sciences humaines (Social studies):

We continued to talk about our big spring Francophone country project this week. We chose countries last week, but some may change because although there are 29 countries that have French as an official language, there are many more where French is spoken by a large number of the populace. I want to make sure each country is represented. I won’t force anyone to change if he/she/they don’t want to do so. I will post a list of who has which country once the list is finalized.

Les sciences:

Since I had a short week, I didn’t get to science, and I didn’t want to leave it for a sub, so we’ll dive back in next week. We still have a few experiments to go. On the other hand, on Friday, Mme Alexia read the relevant science pages (in English) with the kids about series and parallel circuits.

Parent Volunteer Opportunity

-Challenge Work – Mme Shelli is starting “Wizard Work” activities in class this month. If you’re interested in helping correct these extra credit activities, let Mme Shelli know. This can be done any day of the week at a time that is convenient for you.

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

Math

Unit 10: Adding and subtracting mixed number

Key goals:

  1. We can replace a mixed number with an equivalent fraction to make it easier to add and subtract fractions with like denominators.
  2. We can use visual models and equations to represent situational problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions.
  3. We can create and interpret line plot graphs that represent data in fraction form.

We learned to be flexible with fractions, converting mixed numbers and improper fractions last week. This week, students will be creating line plot diagrams with their shoe lengths measured to the nearest quarter inch. They will also practice solving multi-step problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions.

Homework: There is not math homework this week.

English & Social Studies

Word Study: silent letters (b, g, h, k, w)  in common words such as know, answer, wrinkle, thumb, doubt, honor.

Social Studies:

We continue to read about how the United States expanded west in the 1800s from the book In Their Own Words: Lewis and Clark. Students are making maps of the US and timelines of the expedition.

As we study U.S. history, we have will read varying perspectives of history. This week we’ll look more closely at the Native American perspective of the expansion of the United states. We will use some of Oregon’s state teaching materials authored by Indigenous people of Oregon such as this one.

 

Some of the 4th grade Social Studies standards addressed in this unit are:

  • 4. 2  Explain how Oregon achieved statehood and identify the stakeholders involved.
  • 4.12 Explain how diverse individuals, influenced the early growth and changes in Oregon.
  • 4.14 Examine the history of the nine federally recognized Oregon tribes.
  • 4.16 Create and evaluate timelines that show relationships among people, events, and movements in Oregon history.

 

Groups:

Rainbow Alliance

Charlemagne’s Rainbow Alliance will be beginning this Tuesday 4/11. This group provides a weekly opportunity for FOURTH and FIFTH-GRADE students to make friends, read books, play games, have conversations, and hang out. The group will be led by myself and our school psychologist. We will be using some activities from Welcoming Schools which will be age-appropriate material. Some topics we will be addressing are:  Understanding Pronouns, Creating Community, Understanding Gender Identity, and more. The goal of the group is to create a safe and inclusive space for all students. Please reach out if there are any questions or concerns.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15nAS2LkkEM6rrWzGqnoy2ShJcafNuGpB4jq_opQiXcY/edit?usp=sharing

Rachel Parac (she,her)
School Counselor | Charlemagne French Immersion Elementary School
parac_r@4j.lane.edu | 541-790-7050

 

April 4-7, 2023

April 3rd, 2023 Write Comment News

le 4 au 7 avril 2023 

Upcoming Dates

  • April 10-21 Artist in Residence: Glass art
  • May 8-19 – Oregon State Assessments in English & Math

Morning Snacks

Please send your child to school with a morning snack. Several students are getting snacks from the office daily, and we don’t have a budget for that. Of course, if your family needs assistance with providing a snack, you can talk to Mme Eliza in the office. Also, if it happens every once in a while, it’s no problem; it’s the repeated snacks that are the problem.

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 francophone (French-speaking) countries around the world.

I hope you had a great break! Unfortunately, I will have to be absent on Thursday and Friday of this week to take care of a family member that needs my talents as a nurse. Although I tried to get French-speaking subs, and the same sub on both days, I failed. On Thursday, my sub will be Debra Gelzer, who was the fourth-grade English teacher at Charlemagne for years. She can speak some French, but I’m going to have her do the science and some grammar work that we don’t always get to in English. On Friday, my sub is Alexia Murphy, who is one of the part-time first-grade teachers, and she is Belgian, so her French is lovely. They have both subbed for me before.

We didn’t get to spend as much time as I had hoped on telling time, so we’ll continue with telling time in French for the first few weeks of April.

Everly’s stained glass name project

Rahim’s stained glass name project

Remy’s stained glass name project

We will continue with 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 will have French homework next week.

Sciences humaines (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. We will begin the project in earnest next week.

Les sciences:

We did our last large science experiment the week before spring break, 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 next week as we learn about parallel and series circuits (les circuits en dérivation et les circuits en séries). Next, we’ll move into magnets.

Parent Volunteer Opportunities

– Field Trip on May 15 to Dorris Ranch 9:00-11:45 am. Let Mme Shelli know if you’d like to join.

-Challenge Work – Mme Shelli is starting a new “Wizard Work” activity in class this month. If you’re interested in helping correct these extra credit activities, let Mme Shelli know. This can be done any day of the week at a time that is convenient for you.

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

Math

Unit 10: Adding and subtracting mixed number

Key goals:

  1. We can replace a mixed number with an equivalent fraction to make it easier to add and subtract fractions with like denominators.
  2. We can use visual models and equations to represent situational problems involving addition and subtraction of fractions.

About half of all 4th grade math standards involve fractions. Unit 10 focuses on being flexible with fractions, turning mixed numbers into improper fractions and back again. This flexibility allows students to add and subtract mixed numbers.

Look for our Unit 8: Multiplicative Comparison Unit Test to come home on Thursday or Friday. Note that there may be TWO scores on the test. If one score is crossed out, your child had an extra opportunity to meet with Mme Shelli and revise their work. In some cases, students did not carefully read the question. In some problems, there was an additive comparison such as “X is  6 more than another,” requiring x +6. Other problems have a multiplicative comparison such as “X is 6 times more than another,” asking the student to solve X x 6. If students earned 11/15 or less on their first try of the quiz, they will meet with Mme Shelli early in the week and will be able to review their first try, to revise and to resubmit their work before they bring home their quiz mid-week.

Homework: There IS math review homework this week

English & Social Studies

Word Study: none this week

English Writing: Look for your child’s persuasive essay to come home on Tuesday. Ask your child to read their essay to you. Students got really excited about the topics they chose. They worked on writing an organized 4-5 paragraph with an introduction, supporting body paragraphs and a conclusion.

Social Studies:

This month we will read about how the United States expanded west in the 1800s. This follows our fall unit about Indigenous people of Oregon. As students read a text called In Their Own Words: Lewis and Clark, they will also begin to examine history from different perspectives. To get a better understanding of the Native American perspective, we willl use some of the state-wide curriculum authored by Native American tribes of Oregon.

 

 

Groups:

Rainbow Alliance

Charlemagne’s Rainbow Alliance will be beginning after spring break. This group provides a weekly opportunity for FOURTH and FIFTH-GRADE students to make friends, read books, play games, have conversations, and hang out. The group will be led by myself and our school psychologist. We will be using some activities from WelcomingSchools which will be age-appropriate material. Some topics we will be addressing are:  Understanding Pronouns, Creating Community, Understanding Gender Identity, and more. The goal of the group is to create a safe and inclusive space for all students. Please reach out if there are any questions or concerns.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/15nAS2LkkEM6rrWzGqnoy2ShJcafNuGpB4jq_opQiXcY/edit?usp=sharing

Rachel Parac (she,her)
School Counselor | Charlemagne French Immersion Elementary School
parac_r@4j.lane.edu | 541-790-7050

 

March 20-25, 2023

March 19th, 2023 Write Comment News

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.

March 13-16, 2023

March 12th, 2023 Write Comment News

le 13 au 16 mars 2023 

Upcoming Dates

  • March 13-20:  Read-athon. Bring in donations and reading logs!
  • Tuesday, March 14:  Field Trip to Hult Center for a music event. All forms are turned in. Bravo!
  • Friday, March 17:  NO SCHOOL
  • Monday-Friday, March 27-April 3:  NO SCHOOL, Spring Break!

Read-a-thon pledge packets accepted now!

This important PTO school-wide fundraiser, Read-a-thon, helps bring our invaluable French Interns to campus.

Your student(s) brought home pledge packets* last week. On the back, they should have tracked the minutes they spent reading. 

  • Reading Log/ Envelope Return Window is this week, March 13th – March 20th

  • If your family chooses to collect donations, please bring the collected money with completed logs this week.  The PTO will provide a celebration for the class with the highest participation of students turning in reading logs. Contact Emily at ec_steel@yahoo.com  with any questions.

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.

This past week, we explored line/bilateral symmetry (la symétrie bilatérale) and radial/rotational symmetry (la symétrie rotative), first in nature, then in maths. We also began a mini art project creating an example of rotational symmetry with an octagon and using rulers to draw precise, straight lines. 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 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.

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

We will begin telling time in French, using the French format, this week and will work on it over the next two weeks. In French, for example, 2:00 pm would be expressed as either 2h00 (two hours/deux heures) or 14h00 (14 hours/quatorze heures). 

Last week’s French vocabulary quiz will come home on Tuesday or Wednesday. The highest possible score is 25/22, which is 114%. The average score was 103%, so if your child did dramatically worse, please help him/her study harder/better. Merci!

Sciences sociales (Social studies):

We will begin talking about our big spring social studies project in the upcoming two weeks. 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 first large science experiment this week, first creating a circuit with a switch in science groups, then using it to test a bag full of small objects to determine which materials conduct electricity, so are conductors (les conducteurs), and which materials inhibit conduction, so are insulators (les isolants). We confirmed that all the metal objects conducted electricity. We have discussed and will continue to discuss circuits, open and closed, and insulators and conductors of electricity in the coming weeks.

First-grade Buddies:

Blue class has buddies every other week with Mme Wolf’s students, and red class has buddies every other week with Mme Roadman’s students. The students love it! Here are a few fun photos:     

And a few more photos of this past week’s drumming:

 

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

Math

 

We will be working on Unit 8: Solving Problems with Multiplicative Comparison. Students will model multiplicative stories with a bar model similar to this one. Modeling enables students to visualize what is happening in a problem, so they can determine if they will multiply and/ or divide to solve.Here’s a few starter problems we will discuss. Notice how the stories have the same numbers, but have different meanings? Modeling these on a bar model can help students see the relationship of 4, 6, and 24 in each story.

  • Alexa has six points. Oliver earned four times as many points as Alexa. How many points did Oliver score? How could you model this?
  • Oliver has 24 points, and Alexa earned only six. How many times as many points did Oliver score compared to Alexa?
  • Oliver has 24 points. He earned four times as many points as Alexa. How many points did Alexa score?

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: students will bring home writing to share with you for homework this week. Please sign the form to show that your received the work. You may keep the writing. Also, look for your child’s recent math work in their home folders.

English

Literature & Writing

Please look for your child’s survival narrative to come home on Monday. Their homework is to share their edited draft and final draft of a survival narrative they wrote as we read the novel, Hatchet. The first draft has many mark-ups that reflect what they and peers found to edit. It also includes some suggestions from me for edits and revisions in a few paragraphs. Please understand, that their final draft is NOT free of errors, but reflects a lot of hard work on your child’s part. Please celebrate their narratives with them this week.

Goals for this assignment were to develop a narrative that follows a plot line. In the first few paragraphs, students set a context for a survival story. Their main character should encounter a few obstacles before being rescued. For many students this was their first multi-paragraph story. As a class, we worked on how to punctuate complete sentences and dialog and to create paragraphs. Students were to include descriptive, sensory details and though-shots (characters’ inner dialog) to create an interesting fiction story. They students have really enjoyed writing these. I hope you will join me in celebrating their hard work.

This week:

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

Reading/ Writing: We will listen to excerpts from the book River, the sequel to Hatchet by Gary Paulsen. Students will discuss the pros and cons of having the main character return to the wild. This will bridge us into our next 3-4 week unit on persuasive writing. Students will be analyzing various short persuasive essays, choosing topics important the them, and then writing organized essays to support their opinions.

 

March 6-10, 2023

March 4th, 2023 Write Comment News

le 6 au 10 mars 2023 

Upcoming Dates

  • Week of  3/6:  Artists in Residence 
  • March 3-12:  Read-athon! Bring in donations and reading logs after 3/13
  • Thursday, March 9:  Pajama Day! (Celebration for having corrected 200 French sentences.)
  • Saturday, March 11:  OBOB Regional competition @ South Eugene High School from 9:00am – 2:00pm – support the fourth-grade winning team
  • Tuesday, March 14:  Field Trip to South Eugene High School for a music event. Please turn in forms!
  • Friday, March 17:  NO SCHOOL, Workload relief day
  • Monday-Friday, March 27-April 3:  NO SCHOOL, Spring Break!

Read-a-thon happening now!

The PTO just launched our next school-wide fundraiser, Read-a-thon. Money from this fundraiser helps, in part, to bring our invaluable French Interns to campus.

Your student(s) brought home pledge packets* last week. On the back they can track the minutes they spend reading. All types of books are fair game, any amount of time qualifies, including being read to by you or a family member. 

  • Reading Window is March 3rd – March 12th 

  • Reading Log/ Envelope Return Window is March 13th – March 20th

  • * If your family chooses to collect donations, please bring the collected money with their logs, starting March 13.  The PTO will provide a celebration for the class with the highest participation of students turning in reading logs. Contact Emily at ec_steel@yahoo.com  if you’d like to volunteer.

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.

All students have completed their geography packet now, which we will keep at school for a bit to help us with our next social studies project, a francophone study. 

We completed our study of the months of the year, the derivation of the names, and how they correspond to the order of the months, and the papers should either have already come home in student folders or will be coming home soon. Ask your child to explain to you what they learned about the calendar.

We will have corrected 200 sentences in French class this Thursday, so we’re having a pajama day!

This week, we will be exploring line symmetry and radial symmetry, first in nature, then in maths. We’ll also begin time-telling in French, which is similar, but, of course, different!

We began our latest art project, which involves writing your name right-side up, then in translation, around a circle. It ends up looking like a piece of stained glass. Many students have completed their rough drafts, and a few students have begun their final copy.

This week’s French homework is a variety of words that students often misuse or misspell. Here is a copy:  mots variés mars 2023 l Vocab  We did our quiz on our Energy vocabulary on Thursday and most students did quite well; the average grade in both classes was 93%, and I gave them a lot of prep, so if your child did worse than that, he/she/they may need to study more next time, or at least not wait until during the quiz to ask me what a vocabulary word means…

Les sciences:

We began our new science unit, Energy (l’Énergie) with a discussion of what they already know about energy, in general. We did our first experiment this week which was students trying to figure out how to light a small bulb with a battery (une pile) and one or two electrical wires (un fil électrique). We also discussed and labeled a cutaway model of an incandescent bulb. We have discussed and will continue to discuss circuits, open and closed, and insulators and conductors of electricity in the coming weeks.

Artists in Residence:

Red class enjoyed two sessions of dancing this week, and blue class enjoyed two sessions of drumming. Next week, we switch! Here are some photos of both groups: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Math

 Students will bring home their measurement conversion quiz sometime this week.

Next, we will spend a few days reviewing strategies for multiplying 3-4 digits by one digit numbers using the standard algorithm. Then, we’ll discuss some strategies for division of larger numbers, including numbers with remainders.

Probably late next week, we’ll start Unit 8: Solving Problems with Multiplicative Comparison. This unit asks students to model multiplicative stories with a bar model similar to this one. Modeling enables students to visualize what is happening in a problem, so they can determine if they will multiply and/ or divide to solve.

Here’s a few starter problems we will discuss. Notice how the stories have the same numbers, but have different meanings? Modeling these on a bar model can help students see the relationship of 4, 6, and 24 in each story.

  • Alexa has six points. Oliver earned four times as many points as Alexa. How many points did Oliver score? How could you model this?
  • Oliver has 24 points, and Alexa earned only six. How many times as many points did Oliver score compared to Alexa?
  • Oliver has 24 points. He earned four times as many points as Alexa. How many points did Alexa score?

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.

There is Math review homework this week.

English

Literature & Writing: Unit 2 Extreme Settings

WordStudy: suffix endings & how they can change a base word

Reading/ Writing: We will finish Hatchet by Gary Paulsen the end of the week. s. As we continue the novel, we will talk about themes in the novel as they analyze how the main character changed.

Writing: Most students finished writing their survival narrative last week. They did some self editing and read them to peers on Friday. I will need a few days to give feedback to students before they make final revisions and drafts to bring home. Students are working on writing a complete narrative following a simple plotline, including sensory details, organizing their writing into paragraphs, and using correct punctuation and capitalization.

Information about this ELA unit can be found here.