le 10 au 14 février 2025

Upcoming Dates    

Friday, February 14 – Valentine’s Day (La fête de la St. Valentin) – No cards needed. We have fun planned in class.

Monday, February 17 – NO SCHOOL, Presidents’ Day 

Friday, February 21 – 5:30-7:30 Carnaval! (Helpers needed! See below to help!)

Please send in donations for our baskets. Our themes are: 

Mme Jana’s Room

Foodie Basket

Mme Shelli’s Room

Outdoor Activities Basket

Please ensure that you email BOTH TEACHERS when you communicate with us.

(kincaid_j@4j.lane.edu and hopper_s@4j.lane.edu)

Le français

Jana Kincaid, French and Science kincaid_j@4j.lane.edu

This past week’s French homework was about geography, and the average score on the quiz was 92%. Seventy-two percent of the fourth-graders achieved 80% or better and the most common score was a tie between 100% and 110%, with five each. If your child did much worse than 80%, he/she/they is/are not studying enough and maybe need to study far more than just looking at the words each evening, or he/she/they is/are not speaking up when he/she/they does/do not understand. As I often tell the students, it is a student’s responsibility to pursue learning.

Next week, we’ll begin expressions using avoir (to have). Many common expressions in French are formatted differently than they are in English, since French is not a translation of English. Your students will learn a list of these common expressions, most of which they should already be familiar, for example,  “J’ai faim.” (“I am hungry,” but literally, “I have hunger,” in French.)

We continued and some have completed our “J’observe…” activity this week of “Les canetons.” A number of students have another session to complete this, which we will do this coming week.

We had our second buddy time on Thursday, and I once again forgot to take photos! They did a getting-to-know each other activity. We see our buddies again Thursday after this. This week, we made individualized Valentine cards for our buddies. They are darling.

We are nearing the end of cursive instruction, probably another couple of weeks, and then we’ll use cursive on our writing assignments. 

Student goal:  I can find grammatical and punctuation errors in sentences in French.

Student goal:  I can form lowercase and uppercase letters correctly in cursive. 

La géographie

We continue to study geography (la géographie) as an introduction to the large Francophone (French-speaking) country project we do in the spring. We are identifying continents, major oceans, discussing the difference between cities, states, countries, and continents. We’ll be discussing border countries and bodies of water, the compass rose, and cardinal points.

Student goal:  I can name the four cardinal points and label the major oceans and continents of the world in French.

Student goal:  I can begin to understand my location on the map and the locations of other countries in comparison to mine.

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

Math

YES Math review homework this week. This homework will come from the BRIDGES math curriculum. It reviews topics already taught this year, but if your child struggles with a problem or two, that’s okay! They may leave it blank and bring it back the next day to work with me. I always have a 10 minute time to start the day where students can connect with me about homework questions.

We will finish Illustrative Math Unit 3: Extending Operations to Fractions. Students will have a unit end test on Tuesday. We’ll also do a little fraction and decimal art this week.

The 4jDistrict math pilot is complete, and the team will recommend the Bridges Curriculum next year. This is a rich curriculum with lots of hands-on activities, games, and extensions. It also comes with an intervention program to help our struggling students. You can learn more about the curriculum here. The district will continue its process and recommend it to the school board in the coming months.

In our class, our next unit starts Wednesday. We will be moving ahead with our math work in the second half of Bridges Module 3: Extending Fraction understanding to decimals. Here’s the parent support page to explain the major concepts of this unit.

English

Our current English Language Arts unit:  EXTREME SETTINGS

Students worked in small groups to research a mountain range of the world. On Monday, they will present their findings to the class. Students will take notes while listening to their peers’ presentations. These will come in handy as facts to include in their narrative survival stories that they will begin next week.

Mid-week we’ll starting reading the fiction chapter book, Hatchet, by Gary Paulsen. Please do not encourage your child to read ahead in the book. We’d like to discover the text together. If you’re looking for a way to extend your child’s reading, below are some texts that have similar themes to read.

Books to encourage reading at home:

  • Guts: The True Stories Behind Hatchet and the Brian Books, Gary Paulsen
    ▪ Grand Canyon, Jason Chin
    ▪ Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95, Phillip Hoose
    ▪ Hurricanes, Seymour Simon
    ▪ A Girl Named Disaster, Nancy Farmer
    ▪ The Sign of the Beaver, Elizabeth George Speare
    ▪ Navigating Early, Clare Vanderpool
    ▪ My Side of the Mountain, Jean Craighead George
    ▪ The River, Gary Paulsen (next in the Hatchet series)
    ▪ Brian’s Return, Gary Paulsen
    ▪ Brian’s Winter, Gary Paulsen
    ▪ Brian’s Hunt, Gary Paulsen
    ▪ The Wild Robot, Peter Brown
    ▪ Falling Water: The Building of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Masterpiece, Anna Egan Smucker and Marc Harshman
  • Island of the Blue Dolphins, Scott O’Dell
    ▪ Time of Wonder, Robert McCloskey

Find out more about 4j’s 4th Grade English Curriculum. This fact sheet for parents also includes a full list of the texts we’ll read as well as additional texts that can be read at home to extend your child’s learning.

Get Ready for Carnaval!

Carnaval (formerly Mardi Gras) is February 21! We are so excited to gather for games, food, finery, and other festivities. It’s a time for joy and community, and there are lots of ways for everyone to contribute to the event. You can: 

 DONATE ITEMS

  • Gently Used Children’s Books – Start gathering books your family is ready to pass on for our very first donated book store. 

  • Baked Goods for the Treat Trot – On the day of Carnaval, bring cupcakes, cookies or other sweet treats for the famous Treat Trot (formerly cakewalk). Bonus if you can bring allergen (dairy, nut, gluten) free treats. There is a slot in the Signup Genius to add your name!

  • Raffle Basket Items: Each classroom has a theme, like outdoor-play, arts, or even Oregon Ducks. Check your teacher blogs next week, or ask your class rep about your class theme. 

 DONATE TIME    

  • Sell tickets leading up to the event. This takes just 30 minutes of your time per day and can be done during pickup! Check out the Signup Genius to claim your spot.

  • Help set up and run the games and activities. Check the Signup Genius!

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0E44ABA62FA2F4C16-54930080-carnaval

  • Help manage an activity or area – we still need help with the sensory room, ticketing and food sales.  

  • Want to help but can’t during the event? We can still use your help with preparation! You can volunteer on your own time, no childcare needed. Contact rachaelfisher624@gmail.com for more information. 

The Sixth Eugene Youth Math Festival

What: Come PLAY with math! 

More than 50 hands-on stations to spark curiosity and invite engagement supported by dozens of mathematicians, math students, and community math enthusiasts.

Who: Kids ages 5-14 accompanied by an adult

            Kids who love math and kids who don’t will find lots to enjoy  

When: Saturday, February 22, 10am – 1pm

Where: McArthur Court, University of Oregon, 1601 University St.

Admission is FREE and no registration is needed. Come and explore!

Spanish-speaking UO students will assist guests who need translation.

*Please note that the Math Festival volunteers cannot take responsibility for unaccompanied children and that anyone attending the event may have their photo taken for promotional or educational purposes (photo releases are required for entry). Also, we recommend bringing snacks and water bottles for the kids.

Want to know even more? Love math and want to volunteer? Check out our blog: https://blogs.uoregon.edu/mathfestival/

 

OBOB practice

Students who are involved in OBOB will continue “battles” during lunch times this week.

Overall, encourage your child to do their best and remember that OBOB is JUST A GAME, and like in any game, sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t. Being a good sport and reading good books are honorable goals.

 4J will be holding their own regionals on Saturday, March 15. 4j will send the winner of each grade band to the state competition. If you have any specific questions, please email Ginger Topize at topize_g@4j.lane.edu. 

Reminders:

Healthy and Nut-Free Snacks

PLEASE do not send any snacks containing peanuts or any kind of tree nut. Healthy, non-messy snacks are best. Please do not send candy as a snack either.

PE & Recess

At recess, students will be outside even in drizzle. So please have your child wear layers and a jacket or hat during rainy, cool weather. Also, students need secure and sturdy shoes on PE Days:

Blue Class PE & Library days: Monday & Thursday   Red Class PE & Library days: Tuesday & FridayDecember 9-13, 2024