Reading- We will start off this week by taking our winter STAR benchmark assessment. The rest of the week we will be using our Rigby reading series to practice determining importance and reviewing main idea.

Writing- We will have two short writing piece this week. On Tuesday the students will read and write an observation log and on Wednesday the students will read and write an adventure. Later in the week your student will get to decide which one they publish and turn in for a grade.

Grammar- We will be reviewing adjectives and adverbs!

Math- On Monday we will review fractions. The remainder of the week we will focus on fractions greater than one.

Science- This week we will be studying forces of motion with twirly birds and tops!

Reading- Next week the students will be able to show what they have learned in quarter two. We will be giving our district’s quarter two assessment. This assessment is not for a grade; however, it will provide us with valuable information!

Writing- We will continue to work on irregular past tense verbs!

Math- Monday we will be reviewing our study guide, and the students will take the fraction test on Tuesday. Later in the week the students will be able to show what they have learned in quarter two. We will be giving our district’s quarter two assessment. This assessment is not for a grade; however, it will provide us with valuable information!

science- We are continuing our forces and motion unit. This week the students will become engineers and build cars to complete various tasks!

Monday, December 17: wear holiday attire
Tuesday, December 18: wear a festive hat/ math test
Thursday, December 20: Grinch Day! In the morning, we will be showing the Grinch movie. This is the PG rated version, so if you prefer that your child not watch it, please email us!
Friday, December 21: last day for quarter 2 AR quizzes/ classroom parties begin at 12:50

See you all next year!

Reading- Our focus for this week will be using context clues to determine the meanings of words and phrases. We will work through a reading packet with a variety of different types of passages. We will do portions together as a class, some with a partner, and some independently.

Writing- Our goal is to revise and edit our quarter 2 writing pieces this week. Tomorrow your student will be given an “analyzing writing” page. This page will walk them through all of the requirements for getting a good grade on their report. These reports will be due on Friday. In grammar we will continue to work on irregular past tense verbs.

Math- Our focus this week will be equivalent fractions. For most of the assignments your students will have visuals to help them identify the equivalent fractions. However, we will also review strategies to use if there is no visual (reducing fractions and finding equivalent fractions). We plan to give a test on fractions before break. We will continue to work on our fractions unit after break; however, we want to assess the skills we have taught in quarter 2. Be on the lookout for a study guide coming home on Thursday.

Science- This week we are working on wheels and axle systems and patterns of motions. The information we learn this week will help us next week when the students build their own cars in order to complete various tasks.

December 11- Scarf Day
December 13- Fraction Study Guide is sent home
December 14- Pajama Day
December 17- Fraction study guide due
December 18- fraction test
December 21- last day to take AR quizzes for quarter 2
December 21- Holliday Party @ 12:50

Reading- This week our focus will be using fix-up strategies to helps us understand words. For this comprehension strategy we will focus on context clues and replacing unknown words with synonyms. We will also work on onomatopoeia and continue on finding evidence in the text. This week we will be reading two stories out of our Rigby book. One is a fantasy and the other is an expository. Later in the week the students will be able to showcase their knowledge on fix-up strategies by completing our theme 7 ongoing test practice.

Writing- This week your student will write two short writing pieces. On Tuesday they will write a fantasy story and on Wednesday they will write an expository. Later in the week your student will get to decide which piece they publish and turn in for a grade. We also will continue working on our magnet reports. This piece is our quarter two writing piece. Today we worked on our rough draft. Tuesday and Wednesday we will focus on adding definitions and pictures/captions. Our goal for the end of the week is to have the rough draft of this report done. Our grammar focus for this week will be irregular past tense verbs. We will continue to work on this skill until break.

Math- Over the last couple weeks we have transitioned to fractions (unit 3). This unit can be found in the important links tab. Our focus for this week is fractions on a number line. Thursday and Friday we will begin working on equivalent fractions and will continue this skill next week.

Science- This week we will use our science time to continue working on our magnet reports. Next week we will continue in our Forces and Motion unit.

Upcoming Dates:
December 7- Wear Flannel
December 7- Weekly Math Quiz
December 21- last day to take AR quizzes for quarter 2

Reading- This week we will focus on creating images using our Rigby reading series. For this comprehension strategy we will focus on the text to help us use our five senses to better understand what we read. On Thursday, your student will be able show what they have learned about creating images on the theme 6 ongoing test practice. Next week we will focus on literary analysis. We plan to read about Pocahontas. Later in the morning we will compare what we read about her to what we see in the classic Disney movie.

Writing- Tuesday your child will write a newspaper article and Wednesday your child will write a realistic fiction. Later in the week your child will choose one of them to publish and turn in for a grade. Next Monday, our focus for writing will be a quality literary analysis. This will be done together as a class.

Math- Beginning Tuesday we will shift from polygons/quadrilaterals to fractions (unit 3). Our focus this week will be a basic understanding of what a fraction is (equal parts, the denominator is how many is in one whole, and the numerator is how many are shaded) and unit fractions.

Science- This we our focus will be forces; specifically, magnetism and gravity. Our quarter two writing piece will be a report on magnets, so the information we learn in science will be extremely helpful to your student!

Reminders
November 15: fall fundraiser pick up is from 2:30-5:30
November 16: weekly math quiz
November 20: We will be celebrating STEAM day at DGS! 🙂
November 20: Pajamas for a purpose ($1… more information coming soon)
November 21-23: No School… Happy Thanksgiving!

Reading- Our focus for this week will be key ideas and details. We will read a variety of passages and focus on describing the characters in a story and explaining how their actions contribute to the plot (narrative). We the informative pieces will also focus on describing the relationship between ideas (sequence, cause/effect, ect.).

Writing- For this week our writing focus will be Literary Analysis. The students will focus on writing a quality response using our literary analysis rubric. Throughout the week we will practice together as a class, and at the end of the week your student will write one on their own.

Math- The unit 2 study guide was sent home yesterday (November 1). On Monday we will review the study guide in preparation for the unit 2 test on Tuesday. For the rest of the week our focus will be polygons. We will work on regular or irregular polygons and naming various polygons (particularly the quadrilaterals).

Social studies- Monday-Wednesday we will continue learning about various Native American tribes.

Science- On Friday will begin our next unit in science (Forces and Motion). We will start by leaning about Magnetism. Our large quarter 2 writing piece will be a report on magnets, so the information we learn in science will be extremely helpful!

Reminders
November 5th: Art Order forms are Due
November 6th: Unit 2 math test
November 9th: weekly math quiz

Don’t forget to send your student’s costume with them to school this Wednesday! After lunch your child will be able to change into their costume. At 12:50 we will go to the gym and watch the 4th grade Famous Person Speeches. After the speeches are over we will parade around the gym and return to our room for our classroom party. The parties will begin at 1:30.

*Please make sure your child’s costume is school appropriate (not scary, no weapons…etc). If you have any questions about a costume please feel free to reach out to us before Wednesday!

Reading- This week will be a Rigby reading series week. On Monday we will focus on a Freckle reading assignment. Tuesday and Wednesday we will focus on monitoring understanding. For this comprehension skill we focus on the five Ws (who, what, when, where, and why). We will use this strategy as we read the stories this week. On Thursday we will complete our theme 5 ongoing test practice, and the students will get to show what they have learned about monitoring understanding.

Writing- Your student will write two short writing pieces this week. On Tuesday we will be reading poems. After discussing elements of a poem, your student will write one. We will have a separate rubric that we will use to grade the poem (if your child chooses to turn in this writing pieces later on in the week). On Wednesday after reading an example of an adventure, the students will write one! Later in the week your student will choose which ONE they want to publish and turn in for a grade.

Math- On Monday we will continue working on two-step word problems. Tuesday we will be taking the district’s math quarterly assessment. This will not count as a grade, it will just give you and I an idea of how well they have learned the skills from quarter 1. The Remainder of the week we will continue to work on two-step word problems and writing equations for the word problems.

Social Studies- We have finished our Water unit in science and are moving on to our next social studies unit. This unit will focus on our history. We will start by traveling back in time to learn about various native American tribes.

Reading- This week we are focusing on our district’s quarterly assessment. This assessment will NOT be for a grade; it will simply help us determine what areas we still need to review in reading.

Writing- As part of the quarterly assessment the students will be writing a literary analysis (response to literature) as well as a narrative. Again, these writing pieces will NOT be for a grade, just a way for us to monitor the students’ progress.

Math- This week we worked on rounding to the nearest 10 and 100. Today we are reviewing adding and subtracting with and without regrouping. Since this skill was taught in second grade, we only spent today reviewing it (additional practice will be sent home if your student needs more review). Next week we are moving on to multiplying with multiples of 10. On Wednesday we will begin working on two-step work problems, and we will continue that the week of October 29th.

Reminders:
October 19th: End of Quarter 1/Last day to meet independent reading goals
October 25th and 26th: Student Led Conferences (No School)

Reading- We will start our week off with a Freckle reading assignment. Tuesday afternoon we will introduce our reading strategy using our Rigby reading series. The focus for this theme will be synthesizing. This strategy focusses on bringing ideas together to form a new idea. We will introduce this skill while reading Power Posters. The following day we will use the reading strategy again only this time with a Fantasy story (Electrified). Later in the week the students will be able to show what they learned about synthesizing by completing the theme 4 ongoing test practice.

Writing- This week your student will write two short writing pieces. On Tuesday they will write a journal entry (after reading an example of a journal entry). On Wednesday they will write a fantasy story (after reading an example of a fantasy story). Later in the week they will choose ONE of those pieces to publish and turn in for a grade. Be sure to check out our third grade writing rubrics. These rubrics can be found under the common core tab!

Grammar- Our focus for grammar this week will be concrete and abstract nouns. Concrete nouns are nouns that can actually be touched (apples, Mrs. Ellis, water, etc). Abstract nouns are nouns that cannot be touched (joy, love, happiness).

Math- We are moving on to unit 2 (Focus on Operations and Algebraic Thinking/Number and Operations in Base Ten). We will start out with Lesson 12 and focus on patterns. Later in the week we will begin working on place value. Reviewing place value will help us the following week when we work on rounding to the nearest 10 and 100.

Science- We are continuing our water unit! Next week we will focus on building our own thermometers and learn what happens when hot/cold water is put into room temperature water.

Reminders:
October 8th- No school
October 19th- last day for AR quizzes for Quarter 1