Welcome Back!
I hope everyone enjoyed a nice four-day weekend. I did! After this nice rest, I hope everyone is ready to roll! We have our plans jam-packed through Thanksgiving.
In Math this week, we continue our work with division. So far, this transition hasn't been too bad. Students have seemed to notice the correlation between the two operations of multiplication and division. On Monday, students will learn about missing factors. (Just another way to look at division.) It is algebra! Hard to believe that fourth graders are doing this math already, but it is introduced in a very kid-friendly way. Students will then learn a new problem-solving strategy- working backwards. On Wednesday, students will understand the difference between expressions and equations. We will prepare for a test on Thursday, and actually test on Friday.
It is time to make the transition back to Science. We will be using a different Science book for this unit. Students will begin to study energy in motion. With this unit, each day has a worksheet to complete over their reading. Their books are a great resource for these, since the information is stated very clearly within the reading. We will complete some investigations, or small experiments, with this unit. New learning standards require students to preform experiments with the Scientific Process of Inquiry. We will use the experiments within this unit to conduct these inquiry based experiments. It should be a lot of fun for the students to see these experiments conducted with all of the different variables.
We begin a new unit in Spelling this week. Students will study /ou/ spelling patterns (ouch, cow). Silent letters can be tricky. We will help the students identify more of these within their words. We will continue to address adding suffixes to root words. We should be ready for a test next Tuesday.
In Reading, we will take a few days to address following directions- both verbal and written. This is a struggle in most students, and adults alike. Hopefully, this reminder with some tips will aid in daily work, as well as our standardized testing. On Wednesday, we will begin a longer unit on informational text features. We will first review all of the aspects, and then we will apply our knowledge to an informational text that we will read throughout November. On Friday, students will be introduced to What Was the First Thanksgiving? . We will use this text to identify text features and apply comprehension strategies to informational texts. Students will continue with their literature circle studies. On that note, students are receiving plenty of opportunities to receive AR points with the books we are reading in class. Hopefully, they are still reading independent books to boost their points (and reading levels), as well.
In English Language Arts, students will be learning about several things this week. Our grammar lessons involve subject-verb agreement, linking and helping verbs, verb tense, and irregular verbs. We will then take to time to understand the 3 purposes of an author (P.I.E)- to "P"ersuade, to "I"nform, and to "E"ntertain. These lessons will guide us into next week's lessons and our next drafting opportunity. Students will continue working on their writing fluency, and enhancing their writing in their Writer's Notebooks. We will learn a new strategy known as "3 for 3". Students will be given a word that they will write three word phrases about for three minutes. By the end of the week, we will make it a "4 for 4". These are really fun, and require students to think outside of the box using more descriptive language.
Whew! There is a lot going on this week. Let me know if you have any questions!
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