Charlemagne 4th Grade

So, on last week’s French quiz on prepositions, the students did pretty well, 47% of students scored 100% or greater, and the average score was 93%. They are beginning to recognize prepositions in sentences.

Student goal:  I can identify and utilize prepositions in a sentence.

This week, our lavender French vocabulary homework is words containing an accent aigu (´) which makes the [e] sound. This accent goes only on the vowel “e,” and on no other letters, like this:  éléphant. Since I will be absent on Thursday and Friday of this week because my partner is having a medical thang, we’ll do the quiz on Monday again. Here is a copy of the homework: vocab é nov 2024 l Vocab

The vocabulary words spoken, translated and spelled:

The vocabulary words spoken, with time after if you’d like to use it for the Thursday night quiz:

We continue with leveled reading groups twice a week. Charlotte is  reading individually with students who need a little extra support four days a week. We continue our cursive writing instruction, and have nearly completed lowercase letters. This week, we’ll learn how to conjugate the verbs mettre (to put or place) and prendre (to take). We also added to our signature sheet. We’ll begin capital letters next week.

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

Student goal:  I can read and decode in French.

Student goal:  I can form all the lowercase letters correctly in cursive. 

We have moved on to our new photo. It is called, “Une tornade de poissons,”  a tornado of fish. Students always like looking at this photo, and we’ll work a little bit on some imagery as well.

We continue the “Moi!” project, and a number of students have completed the project! If you are in the building, they are displayed in the 4/5 stairwell & will still be up during Parent/Teacher conferences.

Student goal:  With support, I can write a four sentence paragraph about a photo.

Les sciences

This past week, we looked at a different type of physical weathering due to water freezing in tight spaces (la gélifraction). We put water in lidded glass bottles, wrapped them in newspaper, then in a Ziplock bag, and put the in the freezer to see what happens with water. (It expands!) We also observed four different kinds of rocks, basalt (le basalte), limestone (le calcaire), marble (le marbre), and sandstone (le grès). We described them and felt them, then we poured vinegar (le vinaigre) over them to demonstrate chemical weathering (l’usure chimique). We will examine the stones after they’ve had a nice sit in the vinegar and all the vinegar has evaporated. It will be a bit stinky in our room for a couple of weeks. Soon, we’ll begin discussing erosion and land forms.

Student goal:  I can discern between physical and chemical weathering.

 

 

We will wrap up short novel, Love that Dog, this week. This week students will add to their list of possible themes in the text:

In this book, like many books dealing with pets, the main character deals with the death of his dog. We’ll be reading about what happened to Jack’s dog on Tuesday. This might bring up big feelings about the loss of a pet, so please be aware.

 

 

 

 

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.

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 & Friday

No French homework this week, and we’re taking the quiz on Monday because I was not here on Friday, and I always feel they do better when I’m present to help  give precise instruction ahead of time. 

We continue with leveled reading groups twice a week. Charlotte is  reading individually with students who need a little extra support four days a week. We continue our cursive writing instruction, and have nearly completed lowercase letters. This week, we’ll learn how to conjugate the verbs vouloir (to want) and pouvoir (to be able).

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

Student goal:  I can form all the lowercase letters correctly in cursive. 

Students have finished writing the “Le chien aux yeux exorbités.” So, we will move on to our new photo. It is called, “Une tornade de poissons,”  a tornado of fish. Students always like looking at this photo, and we’ll work a little bit on some imagery as well.

We continue the “Moi!” project, and six or seven students have completed the project! We’ll spend a little more time this week trying to get these finished up. If you are in the building, they are displayed in the 4/5 stairwell & will still be up during Parent/Teacher conferences.

Student goal:  With support, I can write a four sentence paragraph about a photo.

Les sciences

This past week, we learned about the different components of soil:  humus (l’humus), pebbles (les cailloux), gravel (le gravier), silt (le limon) and clay (l’argile). Using rulers, we measured and drew the different sizes of components in centimeters and millimeters. We also demonstrated physical weathering (l’usure physique) by using a couple of different kinds of stones, conglomerate (le conglomérat) and quartz (le quartz). The kid groups agitated their stone inside a plastic jar with a lid, each student shaking for 30 seconds each. We noticed that the stones did not decompose in the same way, so all rocks do not weather equally. It was very loud and undoubtedly delightful for our neighbors. This week, we will demonstrate chemical weathering (l’usure chimique) on four different kinds of stones, using vinegar to model the effects. It will be a bit stinky in our room for a couple of weeks.

Student goal:  I am learning what soil is made of and about physical and chemical weathering.

We continue the short novel, Love that Dog, this week. Last week, students identified some major themes in the text so far:

This week students will try their hand at writing some poetry with alliteration and personification. They will continue to read the novel and will poems by Walter Dean Meyers.

 

 

 

 

We need a parent representative for each of our classes:  a blue parent for the blue class, and a red parent for the red class. If you are interested and willing to represent us at PTO, we’d love to have you! Just email us directly. Merci!

 

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.

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 & Friday

 

 

Our lavender French homework this week is about adding vocabulary for prepositions. Here is a copy of the homework in case it’s needed:  les prépositions nov Vocab

Here I am, saying, spelling and translating each word:

Here are the words spoken, then with space left to write the word for the Thursday night home quiz:

We continue with leveled reading groups twice a week. Charlotte, our intern, is  reading individually with students who need a little extra support four days a week. We continue our cursive writing instruction, and have nearly completed lowercase letters. We  . We learned how to conjugate verbs venir and tenir. We will not conjugate a verb this week. French verbs are on vacation for a week. 

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

Student goal:  I can form all the lowercase letters correctly in cursive. 

Students have finished writing the “J’observe…” ‘Le chien aux yeux exorbités.’ So, we will move on to our new photo. It is called, “Une tornade de poissons.” That means a tornado of fish. Students always like looking at this photo, and we’ll work a little bit on some imagery as well.

We continue the “Moi!” project, and four students have completed the project! We’ll spend a little more time this week trying to get these finished up. If you are in the building, they are displayed in the 4/5 stairwell & will still be up during Parent/Teacher conferences.

Student goal:  With support, I can write a four sentence paragraph about a photo.

Les sciences

This past week, we learned about the different components of soil:  humus (l’humus), pebbles (les cailloux), gravel (le gravier), silt (le limon) and clay (l’argile). Using rulers, we measured and drew the different sizes of components in centimeters and millimeters. We also demonstrated physical weathering (l’usure physique) by using a couple of different kinds of stones, conglomerate (le conglomérat) and quartz (le quartz). The kid groups agitated their stone inside a plastic jar with a lid, each student shaking for 30 seconds each. We noticed that the stones did not decompose in the same way, so all rocks do not weather equally. It was very loud and undoubtedly delightful for our neighbors. This week, we will demonstrate chemical weathering (l’usure chimique) on four different kinds of stones, using vinegar to model the effects. It will be a bit stinky in our room for a couple of weeks.

Student goal:  I am learning what soil is made of and about physical and chemical weathering.

We have started reading the short poetic novel called Love that Dog. It’s a story of a boy who at first refuses to talk about his previous dog and refuses to write poetry. As the school year progresses,  he learns that he can can write poetry if he just tries and that talking about his dog is a great way to overcome some sadness in his life.

 

So far, students have analyzed the poems,  William Blake, Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams. They are learning to describe the structure, rhyme scheme, imagery and rhythm in poetry. This week, as the main character reads poetry in his school, students will continue to analyze poetry and the themes in the novel.

 

Below is a list of do’s and please don’t’s that we hope will make the day enjoyable for everyone.

If students are going to wear a costume, they must wear it to school. Please include shoes that are appropriate for school. No heels, no slippers, and no flip-flops.

Students will not be permitted to change at school. Costumes should not interfere with the ability of a student to go to the bathroom by themselves.

Please note that students will still have recess and any other activities they regularly have on a Thursday. Please send them with a coat, proper shoes, etc. so that they can participate fully the rest of the school day.

Please limit makeup to whiskers, freckles, eye make up, etc. No full face paint or masks.

Costumes must not be too scary or inappropriate for the school environment. Please no gory or grotesque costumes.

No props are allowed: no swords, weapons, wands, etc.

Your student should not dress as another person’s race, religion or culture. A costume can be of a character or an individual who is of another race/religion/culture than your child, but not of a generalized race or ethnicity, religion or culture. Costumes should not be caricatures of any group.

Students will be asked to change clothes for inappropriate attire which might entail a call home.

If you are not sure about the appropriateness of a costume, please discuss with your teacher or the principal.

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 running appropriate shoes on PE Days:
Blue Class PE & Library days: Monday & Thursday   Red Class PE & Library days: Tuesday & Friday

 

Building and Field Trip Volunteers

The school will be requiring that folks who would like to volunteer at the building or on field trips complete a Volunteer Orientation before beginning their support of the classrooms and our students. In 4th grade there are opportunities to volunteer at recess, in the library, and on field trips. Our first field trip will be in December. Later in the year, there may be classroom volunteer opportunities, too.

Once you have completed the video orientation and District  Volunteer Background Check,  we will ask that you sign a Charlemagne Confidentiality Agreement at the front office on your first day. Please contact the office if you would like to attend the next training.

 

 

No French homework this week. The average score on the months of the year quiz on Friday was 21 out of 24, so 88%. Several students do not yet understand the month order or are not yet aware of which events happen in which months. We will keep reviewing the months with those students who did not perform as well.

Student goal:  I can name, write, and order the months of the year in French.

We continue with leveled reading groups twice a week. I had a few students screened so we can dial right in on where they have gaps. Charlotte Bernard, our intern, is working to tackle those gaps. She is reading individually with students who need a little extra support four days a week. We continue our cursive writing instruction, and are moving on with the more challenging letters, o, v, b, and w. We learned how to conjugate verbs that end in -er, which accounts for 90% of French verbs. We’ll conjugate the verbs venir (to come) and tenir (to hold) this coming week.

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

Student goal:  I can form all the lowercase letters correctly in cursive. 

We continued our French writing curriculum this week, called “J’observe…” and this time, they had sentence starters, but were asked to do the rest of the writing themselves. We did the photo at left, which in English means, “The Bug-Eyed Dog.” A few students have finished, but most students are still crafting.

We continue the “Moi!” project which is all about them… in French. A few students have gotten to the cursive writing part.

Student goal:  With help, I can write a four sentence paragraph about a photo.

Les sciences

This past week, the soil in our vials had settled into layers, so we drew the layers and guessed which soil came from which area:  mountain (la montagne), desert (le désert), delta (le delta) or forest (la forêt). We’re fine-tuning the idea that the components (les composants) of soil  are influenced by where they come from. They are now learning the different components:  humus (l’humus), pebbles (les cailloux), gravel (le gravier), silt (le limon) and clay (l’argile). We’ll draw the different sizes of components, then we’ll move into physical and chemical weathering (l’usure physique et chimique) with some fun experiments.  

Student goal:  I am learning what soil is made of and how regions affect soil components.

Students read a short book called Quest to Digest last week and explored other human body systems topics of their choice last week.

 

Next, we move into a short poetic novel called Love that Dog. It’s a story of a boy who at first refuses to talk about his previous dog and refuses to write poetry. As the school year progresses,  he learns that he can can write poetry if he tries and that talking about his dog is a great way to overcome some sadness in his life. Students will be analyzing and writing poetry and analyzing characters and themes within the novel.

 

Below is a list of do’s and please don’t’s that we hope will make the day enjoyable for everyone.

If students are going to wear a costume, they must wear it to school. Please include shoes that are appropriate for school. No heels, no slippers, and no flip-flops.

Students will not be permitted to change at school. Costumes should not interfere with the ability of a student to go to the bathroom by themselves.

Please note that students will still have recess and any other activities they regularly have on a Thursday. Please send them with a coat, proper shoes, etc. so that they can participate fully the rest of the school day.

Please limit makeup to whiskers, freckles, eye make up, etc. No full face paint or masks.

Costumes must not be too scary or inappropriate for the school environment. Please no gory or grotesque costumes.

No props are allowed: no swords, weapons, wands, etc.

Your student should not dress as another person’s race, religion or culture. A costume can be of a character or an individual who is of another race/religion/culture than your child, but not of a generalized race or ethnicity, religion or culture. Costumes should not be caricatures of any group.

Students will be asked to change clothes for inappropriate attire which might entail a call home.

If you are not sure about the appropriateness of a costume, please discuss with your teacher or the principal.

Is your child a budding writer? There’s an optional Fiction Fantastic writing short story contest for youth open to all Lane County students in grades K-12. We wont have time to do this in class, but families are welcome to encourage this at home. Last year, one of our Charlemagne students won second place! Find out more here: fictionfantastic.org.

 

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 running appropriate shoes on PE Days:
Blue Class PE & Library days: Monday & Thursday   Red Class PE & Library days: Tuesday & Friday

 

Building and Field Trip Volunteers

The school will be requiring that folks who would like to volunteer at the building or on field trips complete a Volunteer Orientation before beginning their support of the classrooms and our students. In 4th grade there are opportunities to volunteer at recess, in the library, and on field trips. Our first field trip will be in December. Later in the year, there may be classroom volunteer opportunities, too.

Once you have completed the video orientation and District  Volunteer Background Check,  we will ask that you sign a Charlemagne Confidentiality Agreement at the front office on your first day. Please contact the office if you would like to attend the next training.

Your students will receive lavender French homework on Monday. It needs to go back and forth every day from home to school. Barring absence, it must be turned in on Friday to get full credit. Your parental job is to initial each day, once you have seen that your child has done the work. This time, we’re working on the months of the year. Like the days of the week, the months are not capitalized unless they are at the beginning of a sentence. Here is a pdf of the homework:  les mois oct Vocab

Here I am just reading the words with time afterward for students to write them. Good to use for the Thursday night quiz: 

Here I am reading and spelling the words:

Student goal:  I can name, write, and order the months of the year in French.

We continue our cursive writing instruction, and this past week, we went back and wrote a lot of letter combinations in nonsense order so we can concentrate on the forming of the letters. We work on alphabetizing up to the fifth letter on Wednesdays, and although most students are becoming skilled, some students don’t seem to know their alphabet yet. If you know that applies to your student, please work on fun alphabetizing activities at home to help support your child. We conjugated the verb aller (to go) this past week, and this week, we’ll move on to verbs that end in -er, which is account for 90% of French verbs. We still have dictionary use activities we’re working on.

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

Student goal:  I can form all the lowercase letters correctly in cursive. 

Student goal:  I can alphabetize words up to and beyond the fifth letter.

Student goal:  I am learning to quickly and efficiently use a translating dictionary.

We continued our French writing curriculum this week, called “J’observe…” and this time, they had sentence starters, but were asked to do the rest of the writing themselves. We did the photo at right, which in English means, “The Bug-Eyed Dog.”

We continue the “Moi!” project which is all about them… in French.

Les sciences

This past week, we performed our first experiment (une expérience) by exploring the components (les composants) of soil (le sol ou la terre). Students added water to each of the four soil combinations, we’ve left them to settle, so this week we’ll draw the layers then discuss what is in each layer. We’ll draw the different sizes of components, then we’ll move into physical and chemical weathering (l’usure physique et chimique) with some fun experiments.  

We finished The Circulatory Story last week, so this week, we’ll be reading a similar text by the same author, The Quest to Digest. As a class, we’ll  read this complex text as we study the vocabulary and workings of the digestive system. Students will then get to explore another book of their choice as they learn more about human body systems. Optional books include The Brain, Bones, The Digestive System, From Head to Toe, and Usborne Encyclopedia of the Human Body.

 

Is your child a budding writer? There’s an optional Fiction Fantastic writing short story contest for youth open to all Lane County students in grades K-12. We wont have time to do this in class, but families are welcome to encourage this at home. Last year, one of our Charlemagne students won second place! Find out more here: fictionfantastic.org.

 

Cooler weather and rain is starting this week. 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, please help your child wear clothes and shoes appropriate for running and jumping on their PE days. Closed toed shoes such as tennis shoes would be great; sandals or boots do not work well for PE.

Blue Class PE & Library days: Monday & Thursday   Red Class PE & Library days: Tuesday & Friday

 

Building and Field Trip Volunteers

The school will be requiring that folks who would like to volunteer at the building or on field trips complete a Volunteer Orientation before beginning their support of the classrooms and our students. In 4th grade there are opportunities to volunteer at recess, in the library, and on field trips. Our first field trip will be in December. Later in the year, there may be classroom volunteer opportunities, too.

Once you have completed the video orientation and District  Volunteer Background Check,  we will ask that you sign a Charlemagne Confidentiality Agreement at the front office on your first day. Please contact the office if you would like to attend the next training.