Classroom Update - Week of February 19th

Field Trip to the Coast:

Just a reminder to keep sending in the field trip paperwork and money. All payments are due by February 28th. Please remember that online payments are preferred and they can be made through the following link: https://osp.osmsinc.com/WakeNC/Default.aspx.

Social Studies Industry Project:

I have really enjoyed getting to view the Social Studies Industry projects on Friday and today. I can tell that the students all worked so hard on them and learned a lot! We will finish the presentations tomorrow in class.

Read Across America Week:

Next week, February 26th - March 2nd, MES will be celebrating Read Across America and Dr. Seuss's birthday by hosting a fun spirit week!

My Many Colored Monday: Wear as many colors as you can

Thing 1 and Thing 2 Tuesday: Find a friend and dress the same

Fox in Socks Wednesday: Wear crazy socks

Cat in the Hat Thursday: Wear red, white, and black

Sleep Book Friday: Wear appropriate pajamas or comfy clothes

Upcoming Events / Reminders:

• Please support your child as our school raises money for the American Heart Association through Jump Rope for Heart! Pledges are due by February 28th.

• 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 in reading, the students will continue their focus on poetry. This unit will force the students to look beyond the literal meaning of the words of the poems and instead read them with careful and creative eyes to uncover their true meanings. They will focus on making inferences as they read this week. The students will take their poetry assessment in the middle of next week.

The Students Will Be Working on the Following Concepts:

• Good readers pair textual clues with what they already know to make inferences.

• Good readers notice that poems use imagery to paint vivid pictures in the reader’s mind.

• Good readers notice that poets use figurative language (alliteration, similes, metaphors, personification, etc.) to add strong description.

• Good readers can identify the speaker, theme (message), and mood of the poem.

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• Tell me about the three ways you read a poem.

• What shape does your poem have? How many lines / stanzas?

• Does it rhyme? If so, can you identify a rhyming pattern or point out the rhyming words?

• What is the mood of your poem? What words help you think that?

• Can you identify the imagery the poet uses?

• What figurative language do you notice in this poem?

Writer's Workshop:

This week, the students will be finishing up their opinion writing papers and taking it to publishing by revising and editing and then writing a final copy of lined paper. When the students finish their first opinion paper, then they will brainstorm a new topic and continue through the writing process once again.

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• Where are you in the writing process?

• What were some changes that you made to your writing this week? How did it make it stronger?

Math:

This week in math the students finished up comparing fractions and will take their assessment on this standard tomorrow. For the rest of the week, the students will be working on adding and subtracting fractional numbers with common denominators. A large focus will be placed on adding and subtracting mixed numbers. The students will be relying on strategies such as using pictorial representations (fraction bars), number lines, converting the mixed numbers to improper fractions, or decomposing mixed numbers to make it easier to subtract. The students will also work on finding equivalents between tenths and hundredths and representing them on a tenths/hundredths board. They will be assessed on this towards the middle of next week.

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• Show me at least 2 different ways that you can decompose the fraction 5/6.

• What are some strategies that you use when adding and subtracting mixed numbers?

• Solve the following problems:

*4 2/3 + 5 1/3 =

*5 2/4 - 2 3/4 =

• How many hundredths are in 9/10?

• How could you add 3/10 + 50/100?

Science:

This week the students will begin this quarter's science with a review of some topics covered in previous years, but are now part of the 4th grade curriculum. They will review moon phases, and they will show understanding of why day and night occurs. Then, they will investigate light: what light is, how it travels, and how its movement affects what we see.

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• What are the phases of the moon?

• Why do day and night occur?

• What is light?

• How does it travel?