April 14

This week there is no spelling! We have a lot going on, and it is a short week.

We have the Social Studies test Tuesday (tomorrow),

Math test is Thursday,- We began the review test today, and they received the study guide of reviewing each of the elements

we worked on in this chapter.

Thursday we will be gone all morning at Circa for the Play. Reminder to bring a sack lunch. The play is over at 11, and our lunch is at 11:15. We probably won't get back until about 11:30. Milk will be available for purchase.

Have a great week.

March 27

Some Important Updates:

• A permission slip is coming home today for a field trip to Circa 21.  We are going to see the play, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. This play happens to also be in our reading anthology book. 

• The Home and School is covering our bus fee, so the $7.50 is the cost of the ticket. We are asking that students bring a lunch, since we will be back after our lunch time has started. Students are welcome to bring a drink, or they may purchase milk that day.

• On April 10 we will be visiting Assumption High School. A permission slip will be coming home later. 

• We are into fractions in math. We are working on identifying equivalent fractions, and putting them in simplest form.

• Reminder that next Friday is our state and capital quiz for the Midwest region. Also, National Park projects are due by the end of next week, or anytime now as they are completed.

• The Iditaread ends Monday! I need to turn in all baseball ticket orders to Mrs. Rouse by then. 

So far 11 students have completed the Iditarod trail! There is still time to get to Nome!

February 20

• Tomorrow is the spelling test, and packet is due.

• Math homework is PB pages 89-90

• Electronics Party is tomorrow- they may bring electronics and play appropriate games. I told them they could also bring Kindles or Nooks for reading books.  I will have I-pads for those who do not bring something from home.

• Please remember permission slips for the Field Trip.

• Please Note: Today I sent home a book order for March. Attached is a coupon for a free book with a $10 purchase. We earned the coupons because of the total of February's order. Students do not have to order, I sent it home as a choice. The coupon expires 3-31, so I wanted to be sure and give the opportunity to those who wanted it. I would like orders returned by March 4.

February 13, 2014

Happy Thursday! Today everyone is excited about the upcoming 4 day weekend, the Valentine's Party, and free dress! Plus we had a pep rally with Assumption! This makes for a fun day!

• We have been reading The Chocolate Touch this week, which is appropriate for Valentine's Day. We will complete this book next week. 

• We are beginning to wrap up Chapter 7 in Social Studies. This will complete the Southern Region and then we will move to the Midwest.

• We continue to work on Division in Math. We are looking at division using continuous subtraction  and with using partial quotients. Once they understand this, when we get to long division, it should make sense and come more easily.

• We will be working on adjectives and prepositions. We also will be working on finding the main idea of informative text.

•  In Religion we will take a break from the Commandments for a chapter and focus on the Liturgy.

• Reminder that we will lead the Mass on Wednesday, the 19th.

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a lovely Valentine's Day.

February 6, 2014

We have almost made it through a whole week! It has been a while!
Some updates:

• Remember that tomorrow is the Spelling Bee. We go at 8:45.

• All Math-a-thon pledges are due tomorrow, if possible.

Today we attended the River Bandits Reading Program assembly. I always use this program as a reading program for the Iditarod Race. This takes place in March. We will have reading goals for that and the prizes will be awarded as they reach those goals. Information will be coming about that later.
We are working on writing opinion papers in Language and Reading.
Students are continuing their work on their Independent Reading Contracts.
We continue our work on division in math.
In Social Studies we are working on chapter 7. They turned in their notes for chapter 6. After chapter 7 we will begin our study of the Midwest Region.

• Our 4A Mass is on February 19. 

• Today in Religion we were discussing Works of Mercy. The class has decided that they would like to participate in Kids Against Hunger for their service project. My class did this two years ago and really enjoyed it.  I think it meant a lot to them, since it is very hands on. We will need to raise $350 for each 4th grade class to be able to bag food for 2 assembly lines. We are discussing  holding a free dress day, and other ways to raise the money. They may approach you about doing chores to earn money. We will collect money until we have enough, so we will aim for the end of April to reach our goal. Go the the Kids Against Hunger website for more information on this great program. 

January 8

Happy New Year! This really was a very long Christmas Break. I hope everyone is well rested and ready for the second semester.
Mrs. Little has asked me to let you know that she has given an assignment for the Nutrition unit that they will be doing next week. She has asked each student to bring in 2 nutrition labels from any food. She would like these by Tuesday.
We began chapter 4 in Math. This chapter is over Division.
We are on chapter 6 in Social Studies. We are covering the Southeast and Gulf states.
Reminder that the Southern National Park project is due January 21, and this is also the date of the state and capital map quiz.
There is no Spelling this week, due to the short week.
We began a unit on Poetry today in Reading.
Continue to stay warm!

December 12, 2013

Wow! Time is speeding along, and I can't believe it has been a month since my last entry.
We have been busy and have many things to accomplish before break, and the end of the semester.
We completed reading, A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens. We read the Junior Classic version. I know that many students have seen various versions of the movie and tomorrow we will watch an animated version that is very traditional. We talked about theme, and how the character changed.
We did summaries of each ghost's message, and wrote Diamante Character poems about Scrooge.
The students had fun writing Christmas Carols from  Scrooge's point of view.
Next week we will read, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, and do activities to go with the story.
The students have all written personal narratives and we have been working on getting them typed for the final copy. 
We are coming to the end of Chapter 3 in math, and we will finish this chapter and test over it before break. I plan on taking the test next Thursday. I will send home a study guide tomorrow. This chapter is over multiplication.
We are not formally testing over chapter 4 in Social Studies. Students did the chapter review in the book. This will be their grade over this chapter. We will complete chapter 5 next Thursday and their notes will be their grade for that chapter. 
I handed out the map for the Southern Region today. Their are 15 states. We will have the state and capital quiz over this region January 21. This will also be the due date for the National Park project for the South.
A special note will be coming home tomorrow about our Christmas Party and a small gift exchange that we will be doing. We will draw names tomorrow>
Today we had Reconciliation. I was very proud of how my students conducted themselves during this sacrament. While they waited for their turn they each read the Christmas Story from the Bible.
We have been reading the Christmas story each morning and lighting our Advent Candles. We have also been putting ornaments on the Jesse Tree.
As you can see we have been very busy and still have a lot to do before the semester ends.