We hope you are all enjoying the wintry mix! We were happy to hear about lots of outdoor activity at home from students including skiing, sledding, snow man building and snowball fights!
Report cards go out Monday so you should receive them soon after. We are very proud of our 4th graders this past semester and you should be as well. They have shown some great improvements in behavior and are working hard in class to meet their goals. We hope they are feeling good about their progress here as well.
These past few weeks we began a few new units. In math we started our unit in Addition, Subtraction and the Number System. If you haven't had a chance yet, be sure to check out the Family Letter and Related Activities to Try at Home. These will help you to understand the strategies we use in class and how you can help support your kiddo at home. We have been discussing addition strategies and the 4th graders have made some great discoveries about the difference between subtraction and addition strategies.
In writing we began our writing about fiction, or literary essay unit. The students each chose a short fiction story to focus on for the quarter. They will be coming up with a thesis about their story and using evidence from the fiction books to support it. It has been very fun to hear the big ideas these students have about their stories and how deep they are thinking about them.
Sharing Persuasive Essays with Fifth Graders
In reading students have been split into literature circle groups. They are reading fiction stories taking place in different Asian countries. We will be teaming up with the Cafe staff to make some dishes from these countries. The students are excited to be able to cook and try something some of their characters in their stories may have eaten. You may notice your child has daily reading and writing assignments in order to prepare for their group. This will help them to begin to gain more responsibility in doing assignments as we approach 5th grade!
In science students are learning about energy. They have conducted a variety of experiments with motion, including the Rube Goldberg experiment. Currently, they have been doing experiments with electricity and making circuits. Ms. Gauvin and Mrs. Siegler are team teaching this unit.
Be sure to congratulate your student on their hard work this past semester. Setting a goal for the next term is always a great idea, even if it is just to keep up the good effort. We look forward to the next half of the year with them :)
Best,
Kelley & Cindy
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