Weekly Update 1/30/17

I have been so pleased to see how the students have jumped right into quarter three ready to learn!  We have had several classroom moves due to the heating unit in our trailer not working consistently and the students have handled the transitions very well and have adapted to the new classroom settings smoothly.  

Updates/Reminders: 

• Please sign and return report card envelopes.  I am still missing a few!
• Our field trip to the North Carolina Legislative Building and the North Carolina History Museum is scheduled for Tuesday, February 7th.  All parents have already filled out the field trip permission forms.  The trip will cost $6.00 per child and you can pay online using the following site: https://osp.osmsinc.com/WakeNC/Default.aspx (which is preferred) or you can send in a check or cash for the exact amount.  I am still in need of 2-3 more chaperones for this trip.  Please email me if you are able to help out for this trip. 
• Friday, February 10th is another early release day.  School will be dismissed at 1:15PM.  I will be sending out a Google form early next week to inquire about afternoon transportation. 
• Our class will celebrate Valentine's Day briefly at the end of the day on Tuesday, February 14th by exchanging valentines.  They do not have to pass out valentines if they would prefer not to, however, if they choose to do so, they should have a valentine for every student in this class.  We currently have 23 students: Georgia, Saachi, Eva, Abigail B., Ethan, Savannah, Porter, Jack, Chris, Vincent, Vedant, Hrisha, Alex, Kelly, Jada, Brody, Abigail M., Jackson, Evelyn, Ved, Sydney, Holt, Kayla
• Our incredible PTA organizes a Science Go Round every year.  This year's event will be held on Thursday, February 23rd.  For this the classes get to learn about various science topics from volunteers, who come to talk to the children.  It is a very fun event and one that the students look forward to each year!
• Field trip paperwork for our trip to the coast went home with your child last week.  This field trip is scheduled for Thursday, April 27th and is always a favorite fourth grade memory!  We are hoping to have all field trip paperwork and payments received by February 20th.  If you have any questions or concerns about the trip, please feel free to contact me. 
• Our School Improvement Team wants your feedback!  Our school improvement team meets monthly to continuously monitor the progress of our students' achievement and our teachers' instructional practices.  Our school improvement plan goals are written to obtain a high level of student proficiency while meeting or exceeding student growth by focusing on the areas of increasing rigor, improving student's written responses, continuously providing interventions and progress monitor for students who need support, increasing student accountability and improving students' content vocabulary.   Please take a few minutes to take this brief survey and share with us your perspectives as parents.  Your feedback will help us determine areas where we are doing well and areas for improvement.   You can access the survey at http://tinyurl.com/SIPQ2ParentSurvey
• The Morrisville Science Fair is scheduled for Thursday, March 2nd from 6-8PM.  If your child is interested in presenting a project, they are to fill out the following form https://docs.google.com/a/wcpss.net/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe3Svr_19GV1A3Q6h017SbOgIDc85X24L-QOiN7MME5dYwAjg/viewform?c=0&w=1 to register for this event. 

What We Are Learning This Week:
Reading: 

This week, the students will continue to focus on reading the complex text of historical fiction. The readers will learn to keep track of multiple plotlines, unfamiliar characters, and shifts in time and place. The students will also learn the importance of supporting historical fiction with nonfiction texts and photographs to deepen their understanding of this time period.  

Some specific mini-lesson topics this week will include:

   •    *Making personal connections to the text

         *Recalling significant moments that make them stop and think

         *Analyzing photographs and firsthand/secondhand accounts to deepen their    understanding of historical fiction texts.

         *Recognizing the archaic language that author’s use in historical fiction texts to    portray the time period. 

Questions You Can Ask Your Child At Home:

*How does the setting affect the character?

*What factors influence the behaviors of the main character?

*What personal connections are you able to make to your novel?

*What archaic language do you notice in your novel?  What do you think the words means?

Writing: 

This week, the students will continue to work on opinion writing.  They will be completing their planning page, starting their introductions and then composing their body paragraphs.  Each students will be working at their own pace as they follow a class model and confer regularly with the teacher.  As the students construct their body it is very important that they include the Fabulous Five in each paragraph. 

Fabulous Five Must Haves in Each Nonfiction Paragraph:

1.Clear topic sentence that tells the main idea of your paragraph

2.At least 3-5 relevant details that will support the topic

3.Different transitional words throughout the paragraph

4.Content specific vocabulary

5.Concluding statement that sums up their paragraph in a new and different way from their topic sentence.

Questions You Can Ask You Child At Home:

*What technique are you using to "hook" your readers? 
*Tell me more about your 3 supporting paragraphs and how you used the Fabulous Five      Must Haves

Math: 

Today, the students learned how to calculate the area and perimeter for irregular shapes. Tomorrow, the students will take their first math assessment for the quarter on area and perimeter.  The students will start their second math unit that will focus on patterns on Wednesday. They will be investigating geometric and numerical patterns in sequences and input/output charts.  The students will be responsible for finding the rule in given pattern sets and listing the features that they discover in that pattern.  The students next assessment on patterns will tentatively take place on Wednesday, February 8th. 

Questions You Can Ask Your Child At Home: 

*Can you show me an example of a geometric pattern?

*Can you show me an example of a numeric pattern?

*Show me how you find the rule in a pattern. 

Social Studies: 

This week in Social Studies the students will continue their unit on economics.  They will learn what an entrepreneur is and how business owners made decisions when resources are limited.  Students will end the week by understanding the differences between capital, human, and natural resources and how these are used to determine prices.  They will end the week by learning about positive and negative incentives and what they look like in the classroom and at home.  This quarter’s unit has a great deal of vocabulary that the students will be responsible for knowing, so it is important that they try to study these words a little each night (they will have a copy in their social studies journal and LIGHTHOUSE binder, as they will be assessed on them Monday, February 6th.  

Questions You Can Ask Your Child At Home: 

*What is an entrepreneur and how to they make decisions when resources are limited? 
*What are the differences between capital, human, and natural resources? 

*Have you been studying your economics vocabulary words?