Charlemagne 4th Grade

 le 31 octobre au 4 novembre 2022

Upcoming Dates

• Monday, October 31 – Halloween parade (8:40).  Parents may visit and view from the courtyard outside the 2nd grade classroom near the office.
• Wednesday and Thursday, November 8-9:  Parent/Teacher conferences (8-8, then 8-12)
• Friday, November 10:  NO SCHOOL (Veterans Day)
• Thursday and Friday, November 24-25:  NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving)

Halloween:

Please follow these rules:

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.

Also, please remember to send a snack! It is recommended to students that they put a snack in their backpack with their homework folder every evening, then put the backpack next to the door from which they leave.

Le français:

•We do our best to express ourselves in French.

•We write four solid sentences, with structure, to describe a photo.

•We have a positive attitude and growth mindset.

•We conjugate regular and irregular verbs in the present tense and use them appropriately in our writing and speaking.

Well, we are meant to begin speaking French only on November 1, but I have not been sure if these fourth graders are ready. I’ve also heard from a few sources that kids are very nervous about beginning French-only. So, I did a survey of students on Friday. Here is a link to the results:  https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xRlyIIjg5_PXu1oQhYRaNoP_as1ySuIBRaElu6hbZO0/edit?usp=sharing. Essentially, 90% of students say they always or almost always understand what I’m saying. Sixty-seven percent of students think the French work is at the right challenge level. Fifty-six percent of students think their French is a four or a five on a 1-5 scale. Another 30% think they are a 3. Seventy-nine percent of students feel mostly to absolutely prepared to start speaking French on November 1. Of those students who don’t feel prepared to start speaking French on November 1, over half feel they would be prepared by November 10. Based on this data, I think we will begin speaking French exclusively on November 1, but the dommages for speaking English three times during a half-day of French won’t begin for another two weeks. We’ll also ramp up discussions about what to do when you don’t know how to say what you want to say…without breaking into English. It is stressful for some kids, believe me I’ve been through it myself, but it makes a huge difference in their confidence in speaking French, which I think this group can use based on the survey results.

We began uppercase (majuscule) letters with ACOUV & W, and I’m making each student his/her/their own first and last name for tracing.

The French homework this week is ten words that we use often, but also often misspell. Here is a copy of the homework:  mots variés oct 2022 l Vocab pdf

This coming week, we’ll conjugate verbs ending in –er (90% of verbs), then pouvoir (to be able), vouloir (to want), mettre (to put or place), prendre (to take), tenir (to hold) and venir (to come). 

Many students have completed their 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), and I hope we’ll be able to begin the third writing activity this week.

We will begin reading and phonics instruction this week.! I will do reading groups, and Lisa will do phonics instruction at the same time with a different group. Other groups will work on grammar and word work.

Students had some time to work on the “Moi!” project which is all about them… in French. Many students have completed their art, and many more are in the midst of writing their paragraphs in cursive. Students are at a number of different points in the project. A few students have completed the project already, and they are hanging in the stairwell that leads down to our level. A couple of students have completed their “Tubes” art project, which we’ve begun to hang in our classroom.

Les sciences: 

We began our chemical weathering (l’usure chimique) experiment. Each group got to observe what happened when vinegar (le vinaigre) was added to four different kinds of stones, basalt (le basalte), marble (le marbre), limestone (le calcaire), and sandstone (le grès). They were meant to look for signs of a chemical reaction (une réaction chimique) between the stones and the vinegar. Next, we’ll dump the vinegar and stones into our little science trays, examine them for differences, and see what happens as the vinegar evaporates. We’ll be linking up to a social studies project on Oregon in English class and learning French vocabulary words for landforms.

We continue the unit Multiplication and Division Strategies of Multi-digit Numbers. Here are some key concepts of the this unit:

Math Games for home See the Math tab above

English & Social Studies:

We did quite a bit of mapping and a bit of reading about Oregon’s regions last week. This week, students will read another text about Oregon’s regions and will share their learning with the class. They will then write short descriptive paragraphs about each of Oregon’s regions.

Later in the week, we’ll continue our discussion about Oregon’s indigenous people. This unit, while focusing on writing and reading skills, integrates the Geography and Historical Knowledge understandings in Oregon’s 4th grade Social Studies standards. You can find these online here.

Guest Speaker:

Thursday, November 3, we’ll be learning about our National Parks. A representative from the organization Every Kid Outdoors will come share in English class about free National Park passes for all 4th graders.

THANK YOU to parents who chaperoned our first field trip to Alton Baker Park! We will try to get some photos uploaded here soon.

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 le 24 au 28 octobre 2022

Upcoming Dates:

• Tuesday, October 25 (9:00-12:00) – Field Trip to Alton Baker Park – Be ready to walk in the rain!
• Monday, October 31 – Halloween parade (8:40)
• Wednesday and Thursday, November 8-9:  Parent/Teacher conferences (12-8, then 8-8)
• Friday, November 10:  NO SCHOOL (Veterans Day)
• Thursday and Friday, November 24-25:  NO SCHOOL (Thanksgiving)

Field Trip:

THIS Tuesday October 25, both classes will go on a half-day field trip to Alton Baker Park. Students will eat lunch at school but should bring one snack that they can put in their jacket pockets for the hike. Please note that it may likely rain – so weather-appropriate walking shoes and a jacket with a hood will be necessary.

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.

Halloween:

Please follow these rules:

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.

Also, please remember to send a snack! It is recommended to students that they put a snack in their backpack with their homework folder every evening, then put the backpack next to the door from which they leave.

Le français:

•We do our best to express ourselves in French.

•We write four solid sentences, with structure, to describe a photo.

•We have a positive attitude and growth mindset.

•We conjugate regular and irregular verbs in the present tense and use them appropriately in our writing and speaking.

We did one final lowercase exercise to work on attaching letters, so this week, we’ll begin uppercase (majuscule) letters, and we’ll work on writing our signatures.

NO French homework this week. 

This past week, we conjugated aller (to go). That concludes the major four irregular verbs. After this, we usually do verbs ending in –er (90% of verbs), then pouvoir (to be able), vouloir (to want), mettre (to put or place), prendre (to take), tenir (to hold) and venir (to come). 

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. A few students have completed their writing, but most are still working on it.

Lisa worked with the students on a fun animal project when I was absent on Thursday. They learned the names of the male, female, and young of a small group of animals:  wolves, rabbits, deer, pigs, horses, and lions. They also learned about some animals that have feathers (les plumes). Next, we’ll do what kind of places they live in, then the sounds they make.

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

Les sciences:  

Our experiment last week was an introduction to physical weathering. Groups had plastic jars and two types of stones, conglomerate (le conglomérat) and granite (le granite). Each student got to shake the group’s stone for 30 seconds, then we observed what happened to the stones. This was an introduction to physical weathering. We’ll talk about other aspects of physical weathering, including erosion (l’érosion) and deposition (le dépôt), then chemical weathering. We have an experiment with vinegar for chemical weathering. It has really cool results, but boy does it stink!

Last week, we played a variety of games and solved some interesting problems with multiplication of facts less than x12. This week, we wrap up our unit on Multiples and Factors and will begin the unit: Multiplication and Division Strategies of Multi-digit Numbers. Here are some key concepts of the this unit:

There is nightly  math homework to review concepts we’ve learned in class. 

On Monday we’ll take a basic facts quiz of x1 through x10. If your child isn’t yet fluent in multiplication facts, please help them practice 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.

Math Games for home See the Math tab above

English & Social Studies:

Last week, we started integrated English Language Arts & Social Studies unit about Oregon’s geography. This unit, while focusing on writing and reading skills, integrates the Geography and Historical Knowledge understandings in Oregon’s 4th grade Social Studies standards. You can find these online here.

This week, we will research and write about Oregon’s regions. Students will be able to describe Oregon’s regions and to locate major cities, rivers, and mountain ranges. Small groups of students will read and teach the class about a region of Oregon. Then, each student will use their learning to write a mini-booklet about each region. Soon, in French class, they will create an illustrated geography dictionary featuring Oregon’s significant waterways and landforms.

We will discuss Oregon’s indigenous people’s relationship with the land in class and on our field trip on Tuesday.

OBOB Volunteers Needed

 OBOB – Oregon Battle of the Books- is starting soon. Please reach out to Mme Ginger (topize_g@4j.lane.edu) or Principal Joe (hadley_j@4j.lane.edu) if interested in helping in this school club.

Outside of school opportunities:

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 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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 le 10 au 13 octobre 2022

Upcoming Dates:

• Friday, October 14:  NO SCHOOL (Professional Development)
• 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 Nearby Nature. As part of our study of Oregon history, students will discover how 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.

Field trip permission slips will go home on Tuesday this week. The cost of the field trip will be $10. Scholarships are available and can be requested on the paperwork going home this week. If you are interested in chaperoning, please email Mme Shelli know. Also, please be sure to fill out the background checks with Bernadette in the office as soon as possible.

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.

This past week, your children and I met to work on our classroom code, which is about how we want the classroom to feel. I made a poster of our agreements, and we all signed it, so I expect them to do what they agreed to…

We continued our cursive writing instruction practicing words with letters that can be difficult to attach to the next letter. We have five more lowercase (minuscule) letters, then we’ll begin uppercase (majuscule) letters, and we’ll work on writing our signatures.

No French homework this week. 

Last week, we conjugated the verb être (to be), which most students seem to remember. Next week, we’ll conjugate faire (to make or do), then 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 completed our first “J’observe” writing activity, writing four sentences together to describe the photo to the left, and will do our second one this week, this time with a bit less help from me but still with sentence starters.

We also began Tap’Touche, our French typing program, which we’ll normally do twice a week for about 20 minutes each time.

We also had buddies this week, and both classes enjoyed it very much. We’ll usually do buddies one week and library the next, but on Friday everyone got library and buddies.

We still aren’t yet ready to begin reading and FLA groups. We have a few things to finish up before we add yet another new activity.

Students have been working also 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 first science experiment in the Soils, Rocks, and Landforms (La terre, les pierres, et les formes du relief) unit last week, learning 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). We touched and described four different soils, then added water to our soil samples, and shook up the vials. Now they’re settling, and we’ll observe and draw the layers of soil next week. We’ll also determine 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. Our next experiment will be an introduction to physical weathering.

Our first math homework will come home this week. Students will have about 10 minutes of homework each night that is comprised of material that should be review. Please be sure your child does their best, but if anything is too difficult, please have them leave it blank and come to class the next day for help from me as we start our day. Homework should come back and forth between home and school each day. This should not require any extra teaching from parents or tutors and should definitely be low stress, no tears homework.

We wrapped up the unit “Applying Place Value Concepts in Whole Number Addition and Subtraction” last week. Look for an exit ticket & the booklet to come home this week. Also by the end of the week, students should bring home the unit 1 assessment. Please note that the Unit 1 workbook was not fully completed as the booklets came just this week from the printer. We’ve been doing other activities to support understanding of the standards while waiting for the book. 

This week, we will do a short review of multiplication, factors and multiples. Please help your child practice the facts of x 1 through x12 at home. We quickly move into multi-digit multiplication and students who have most fact memorized will be able to more quickly multiply larger numbers.

English:

 

In our ELA Module 1 A Great Heart, we continue a two week study of the literal heart. We will read the wonderfully complex text, Circulatory Story. Some of the goals of this week’s work will be determine the main idea and details, summarize, and determine meaning of metaphors and similes in the text.   Last week, students practiced writing organized summaries and informational paragraphs about what they have been reading. 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

Principal Joe signed up Charlemagne for OBOB with Mme Ginger being the contact person for informational emails and content. We are looking to have teams in grades 3-5 as an after school club run by parent volunteers. 

We would like co-leaders (one parent from each grade level) 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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 le 3 au 7 octobre 2022

Upcoming Dates:

• Friday, October 14:  NO SCHOOL (Professional Development)

Parent Volunteer Opportunity

As we study the human heart and circulatory system in English class, we would love to invite one or two medical professionals to share with the class. Do you work in the medical field and have some knowledge and experience working with the heart?  If you would have time for a short class visit, please email Shelli at hopper_s@4j.lane.edu.

 

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.

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:

•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.

This past week, your children and I met to work on our classroom code, which is about how we want the classroom to feel. I make a poster of our agreements, and we all sign them.

We continue our cursive writing instruction with the letters o, w, b, & v, which aren’t difficult to form but can be confusing to attach to the next letter. We have five more lowercase (minuscule) letters, then we’ll begin uppercase (majuscule) letters and work on writing signatures. All the assessments are completed, thanks so much to Lisa being able to take kids a few at a time to record their speaking assessments. We don’t do these assessments again until the end of January. Yay! They give me a lot of information, but they do take time. Now I just have to grade them all!

We begin French homework this week! At school, I will explain the homework & give the students the first answer for each evening’s work. Students will come home with a lavender sheet of paper. This paper must go back and forth from school to home every day, which is why it should reside in your child’s homework folder. One-fourth of the paper is done each night. Monday night, they rewrite the vocabulary words with vowels in one color and consonants in another. Tuesday night, they rewrite the words in cursive. Wednesday night, they will do a fill-in-the-blank activity, and on Thursday night, someone in your house (older siblings who speak French can administer it) a quiz to practice writing the words to ready kids for our Friday quiz. The quiz will also be a fill-in-the-blank (cloze) activity. Your job, parents, is to initial the sheet every evening, only showing that you saw they did the work, not that they necessarily did it 100% correctly. We will grade homework together every day. On Friday, there will be an in-class quiz, which is also a cloze activity. They get one grade for spelling and one grade for vocabulary. I try to minimize the stress.

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

In the coming weeks, we will be working on some activities to help kids better understand how to use our translating dictionaries. It is a great help also in reinforcing alphabetical order.

We’ll begin reading and FLA groups in the second week of October. 

Students worked a bit on their “Tubes” art this week, and we began the “Moi!” project which is all about them… in French. Nearly everyone has filled out his/her/their document, and now we’re working on some art. Next, they’ll write their paragraphs in cursive and put the art and the writing together.

Les sciences:  

We will begin our first science experiment in the Soils, Rocks, and Landforms (La terre, les pierres, et les formes du relief) unit next week, learning about the components of soil.

 

“Applying Place Value Concepts in Whole Number Addition and    Subtraction.” The key concepts in this unit are:

• We can estimate addition and subtraction to decide if our exact answer is reasonable.
  
• There are multiple strategies for adding and subtracting numbers. One efficient strategy is the “standard algorithm.”

This week, we will continue to use rounding to estimate approximate sums and differences as a way to check our calculations. Students enter 4th grade with lots of experience adding and subtracting with strategies and varying experience with the standard algorithm. Last week, students practiced the standard method for adding with “carrying” or “regrouping.” This week, students will see modeled subtraction of multi-digit numbers using base ten blocks as a way to understand what happens when we “borrow” or “regroup” in subtraction.  There will be practice time and games to support fluency in this addition and subtraction.

GAMES of of the week:  Subtraction games to play at home

English:

 

In our ELA Module 1 A Great Heart, we begin a two week study of the literal heart. We will read the wonderfully complex text, Circulatory Story. Some of the goals of this week’s work will be determine the main idea and details, summarize, and determine meaning of metaphors and similes in the text.   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.

 

 

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