December 9 Scholastic Book Orders Due
December 13 All School Meeting and Spirit Day (Crazy Hair)
December 16-20 NO Tree House or Gizmotics
December 23 - January 3 Winter Break
January 6 School Resumes
January 13 Library Visit
Homework Due Thursday, December 12 - More details posted on the Homework Page
1. Read for at least 30 minutes per day.
2. Complete your Reading Response Letter to Laura
3. 3rd Graders complete pages 16, 17 & 18 in Math Practice Book
4th Graders complete pages 15, 16 & 17 in Math Practice Book.
Upcoming Out and Abouts
For the month of December, we will use our Out & About time for Science Labs! We will be exploring states of matter (solids, liquids and gases) through lots of hands-on activities and student-led Science Talks. See Volunteer Opportunities below if you would like to help with our science studies!
Volunteer Opportunities - Sign up on our VolunteerSpot page: http://vols.pt/drMimF
Janelle and I would love some assistance with our science projects this Thursday and next Thursday from 12:30 - 2:30. Science helpers would mainly help set up and manage supplies, support students in reading and following directions, and assist students with writing down their observations. We are also in need of breakfast donations for December 13th and 20th.
I have added a wish list page to this website for other supplies and donations that would be appreciated at any time! There are many small items (like craft and office supplies), as well as a link to my Powell's book wish list and some "bigger wishes." Thank you for your support!
Math Notes
In 3rd Grade Math, students began a geometry unit focused on polygons. We started by creating four-side shapes (quadrilaterals) on the geoboards and sorting them by various similarities that they students identified. Then, we learned the names and definitions of several quadrilaterals, such as parallelogram, rhombus, trapezoid and rectangle. Students also started a vocabulary section in their math notebook for new geometry terms like "congruent" and "right angle." We will continue to focus on quadrilaterals, line segments, angles and perimeter for the next two weeks. Students will also continue to practice addition fact fluency with Rocket Math and multi-digit addition and subtraction using an open number-line model. Please continue practicing addition facts at home.
Last week in 4th Grade Math, students began working within Unit Two. This Unit focus on place value and multi-digit multiplication. In this unit, your child will:
- multiply 2-digit numbers by 1- and 2-digit numbers, as well as 3-digit numbers by 1-digit numbers.
- multiply any number by 10 or 100.
- write and solve story problems involving multiplication of up to 2-digit by 2-digit numbers.
- take measurements in centimeters.
- continue mastering basic multiplication and division facts.
Weekly Review
We kicked off our study about states of matter with an exciting activity last week: making ice cream! Here is a link to the recipe we followed: http://science.howstuffworks.com/innovation/edible-innovations/ice-cream3.htm. After cleaning up from this messy project, students discussed what they observed during the process and began to come up with ideas about how the ingredients turned into ice cream. Then, we read the book What Is The World Made Of? All About Solids, Liquids, and Gases by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld. The book answered some of our questions, but it also inspired a lot more wondering! "Can milk freeze into a popsicle?" "Would it freeze faster if I added more salt?" "Can only some solids melt?" This week, students will explore more nonfiction texts about solids, liquids and gases and explore properties of matter during our "In & About."
During lunch last week, we watched a documentary called "Mad, Hot Ballroom." It is a movie about elementary school students in New York City that participate in ballroom dancing classes and competitions. I was hoping this movie would give the Plovers a better idea of what character traits like perseverance (or "grit"), self control and optimism (or having a positive attitude) look like in real classrooms. But I was not prepared for how excited the students would be about ballroom dancing! The class stood up and cheered for students in the movie and several examples from the movie have come up in class conversations. Some students have even wished that our school could have a ballroom dancing class! This has been a fun and motivating way to talk about developing perseverance and to help us recognize when students in the classroom are working through tough problems instead of giving up.
Communication
Please contact me with any questions or concerns. Parents and students can e-mail me at [email protected]. You can also leave a voice message on the class phone, come into the classroom before or after school, or call me before 8PM at home.