Classroom Update - Week of February 5th

Field Trip to the Coast:

Last week a field trip packet went home with your child. Please take the time to review it as soon as possible. If you are able to chaperone (we still need quite a few more!), please send in that information sheet, as soon as possible, (even if you are unable to pay right away), so I can be prepared and ensure that your status has been approved in the volunteer system. I also have an assumption of risk form that you need to complete prior to the trip, as well.

Just a few reminders:

• All paperwork and payments are due by February 27th.

• Siblings are not allowed to attend the field trip.

• Online payments are preferred, however you are welcome to send in payment via check, if that works better for you.

Social Studies Industry Project:

At the beginning of last week (Monday), your child brought home a Social Studies Industry Project. They have until February 14th to complete this. Please take the time to ensure that your child is keeping up with the questions and is starting to create a plan on how they will present this information to the class. It is okay to help them while they are conducting research, however it is their responsibility to learn the material and create project to present to the class next week.

Upcoming Events / Reminders:

• Please support your child as our school raises money for the American Heart Association through Jump Rope for Heart! Forms went home last week.

• Friday, February 9th is an Early Release Day. School will dismiss at 1:15PM.

• Our class will celebrate Valentine's Day briefly in the morning on Wednesday, February 14th by exchanging valentines. Students are not required to pass out valentines, however, if they choose to do so, they should have a valentine for every student in this class. We currently have 24 students: Valentina, Ananya, Ryan, Savannah, Lily, Colin, Yonae, Julia, Abhi, Liam, Darina, Gigi, Adithi, Andrea, Anjana, Tamanna, Puspakhi, Shunav, Sohaan, Camden, Simoni, Lorenzo, Archith, and Serena.

• Friday, March 2nd is an Early Release Day. School will dismiss at 1:15PM

• Interims will go home on Friday, March 2nd.

• 4th Grade Field Trip to the North Carolina Aquarium and Masonboro Island is Thursday, March 22nd.

• Friday, March 23rd is the end of quarter three and track-out day.

Reader's Workshop:

This week, the students will continue to focus on reading the complex text of historical fiction. The readers are all enjoying their historical fiction novels and doing a great job discussing them using support from the text. This week the students will finish their novels and focus on pairing them with nonfiction texts to help them deepen their understanding of that historical time period. The students will take their first reading assessment on Monday, February 13th.

Some specific mini-lesson topics this week will include:

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

• Determining the importance of parts that make us, as readers, stop and think.

• Determining who has power, how did they get it, and whether or not power can change.

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• What parts of your book make you stop and think? What makes that part important?

• Who has power?

• How do they get it?

• Does the power change?

Writer's Workshop:

This week, the students will continue to work on their opinion writing. They will be working on drafting their body paragraphs and conclusion paragraphs. Each students will be working at their own pace as they follow a class model. As the students construct their body it is very important that they include the Fabulous Five in each paragraph. As the students finish their opinion rough draft, the students will be working on strengthening their writing through editing and revising strategies.

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 to Ask Your Child at Home:

• Tell me more about your 3 supporting paragraphs and how you used the Fabulous Five Must Haves.

• What is important to include in a strong conclusion?

Math:

This week, in math, the students will continue to learn about equivalent fractions. They will be using models and multiplying fractions by one (ex. 3/3) to find equivalencies. The students will also work at drawing pictorial representations of mixed numbers/improper fractions and they will be expected to convert between the two. The students will take the equivalent fractions common assessment on Thursday. On this text they will be expected to find equivalent fractions, create unit fractions chains, and convert between mixed numbers and improper fractions. On Friday, the students will work on comparing fractions.

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• What is a unit fraction?

• Show me how you can draw a model or multiply a fraction by one (ie. 3/3) to find an equivalent fraction.

• How can you convert and improper fraction 11/9 to a mixed number?

Social Studies:

This week in social studies the students will learn about positive and negative incentives. They will learn about different types of incentives that are found in their community and how they can influence behavior. The students will also learn about the importance of creating a budget and how financial choices can lead to rewards or consequences. The students will have a quiz on Wednesday (February 7th) that will cover the economics topics that we have learned so far. It would be a good idea for the students to specifically review the following terms for the quiz: goods, services, human resources, capital resources, and natural resources. They will begin North Carolina Industry presentations next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Their final social studies assessment will be given on Monday, February 19th. It will be open notes.

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• Give me some examples of a positive and negative incentive.

• Which do you find more effective?

• How can choices that you make about money lead to rewards and consequences?