Hello, 4th grade families,
Our week began with digging in to a new unit in math and news about the annual Spelling Bee, continued with new experiments on magnetism in science and writing a ghost story with the lights off, tie dyed new WM shirts in Art class, and ended with viewing the DVD version of the book we just completed, Tuck Everlasting. The days fly by like a Halloween witch on a new high-speed broom!
Unit 3 in Everyday Math is centered on multiplication! This is the optimum time for our 4th graders to brush up on their basic facts! We are learning new vocabulary and concepts dealing with factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers, new strategies for solving number stories, open sentences with variables - all these skills require automatic recall of basic multiplication facts. This unit also lays the foundation for future lessons in 4th grade math - I've told the students that they will be SO glad they know their basic facts when we get to double digit multiplication and long division. Establishing a daily routine of 15 minutes at home practicing facts will go a long way toward your student's ease in grasping the work ahead of us.
We will be transitioning from magnetism in science to some experiments with electrical circuits in the next two weeks. Students also got the opportunity to write out their impressions of the characters and scenes from our class read-aloud after we finally got to the last word in the epilogue for the book Tuck Everlasting this week. The differences between the book version and the Disney movie production brought some surprised reactions on Friday. Pencils needed sharpening more than once (with a little ghostly help) as we continued in our writing mode to create an imaginative story about a friendly ghost. Each student has also received a "Spooky Spelling List" to practice over the next week (with no reminders from the head witch about studying! :) ) Speaking of spelling, our GT teacher, Ms. Weber, spoke to all the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes this week about the upcoming WM Spelling Bee, which will be held on the morning of December 9th. Each student was given a list of all the possible words that may be presented to our spellers. It is up to each student if they want to make it a goal to practice these words. The first round involves classroom rounds of trying these words over the next month to narrow it down to 4 representatives from each room to take part in the school bee on December 9th.
The Odyssey of the Mind competition for 4th graders was also introduced this week by Ms. Weber, which is an optional activity for anyone interested in submitting a project proposal as their 'audition' piece to qualify for the competition. Ms. Weber studies these projects to decide which 20 fourth graders will represent our school at the competition on November 28, to be held all day at the new Union South on the UW campus. An information sheet went home this past week with your student, and they have until next Wednesday, October 26, to submit them. Odyssey of the Mind involves group problem solving skills.
Other news includes the dates set for the three 4th grade classes to take the WKCE state assessments. Our three rooms will use most of the four days from November 7th through November 10 to take these exams. These are the days, therefore, where we will want particularly good attendance, and well rested students with a good breakfast in them each morning! The test sessions are timed, with breaks and extra good snacks in between! Several good No. 2 pencils with good erasers for each student is the only other material they will need. This is the same week I will be meeting with parents and their student for conferences, either after school on Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, or Friday morning (no school on November 11). Thank you for checking that your conference time still works for you, and there are a very few families that still need to sign up for a time slot. The schedule went home this week, so please check that and let me know if one of those openings work for you, or if you need an alternative time.
We are planning on having an Autumn/Harvest/Holiday class party at 2:00 pm on Monday, October 31st. We have received a generous donation of festive plates, napkins, cups, plasticware from Tammy Bursac, and Sharon Pertzborn-Jensen is coordinating some treats and activities. Please let her or me know if you can come help, or do some planning with her. We'd love to have you stop in! Our classroom has become more decorated this month with a 'mystery' addition each day to add to the atmosphere (you can ask your student about that!).
Remember that next week is SHORT! We have full days of a regular schedule on Monday and Tuesday. A special note about Tuesday -- we are ALL wearing our new West Middleton tie dye T-shirt to school on Tuesday, October 25th! On Wednesday, it is our 2nd Early Release Day, when students will board buses for home at 11:00 am. There is no school on Thursday and Friday.
See you all soon! Melanie Hannam
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