Classroom Update - Week of April 22nd

Updates & Reminders:

• Information about SSA (Single Subject Acceleration) Opportunities for the 2019-2020 School Year is now available. Please visit the WCPSS Single Subject Acceleration webpage for more information about SSA. In addition to an overview of SSA and the nomination window dates, you will find an informational video about SSA. Nomination forms will also be available on this site beginning on April 1st and may be turned in at school during your track's nomination window. The SSA nomination windows for each track are listed below. Nomination forms may not be turned in before the first day of your track's window. They cannot be accepted after the close of the school day on the last day of the nomination window.

Track 1 - April 15th through April 29th.

Track 2 - April 16th through April 30th

Track 3 - May 10th through May 23rd.

Track 4 - May 10th through May 23rd.

• To help keep up with the daily bus departures, MES is beginning to tweet out from their Twitter account when buses depart campus. This twitter feed can also be found on the MES website main page, so please use that page to stay informed.

• Fourth Grade Beach Field Trip is scheduled for this Friday, April 26th! A copy of the packing checklist will be sent home via email with this weekly update. As a reminder, all students must be at school by 6:45AM, as we will be leaving at 7:00AM. Please plan on being back at school by 7:00PM to pick up your child.

• In honor of Earth Day, join us for a Campus Beautification day on April 28th from 1pm-5pm. The goal will be to clean up the front of the campus, pull weeds, pull bushes/bulbs to replant in a better arrangement and to lay TRUCKS of mulch. We need your help! To sign up to volunteer or for supplies, visit: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10c0e44a8a629a4fc1-mescampus ​

• As a reminder, school has been cancelled on Wednesday, May 1st.

• 3rd Quarter, Track Four Report Cards will go home on Friday, May 3rd.

• Mark your calendar - MES 5th Annual Stampede 5K is coming soon! This is a time for community, family, fitness and fun… and warmer weather! Join us for the 5th Annual Stampede 5K on Sunday, May 5 from 2-5pm. The proceeds from this fun family and community event will go directly to the MES PTA to fund educational resources, programs, and school improvements.

• Field Day is Monday, May 13th.

• Memorial Day is Monday, May 27th - No School! Enjoy the 3 day weekend!

• Mark your calendars - Fourth graders will be taking the EOGs on Wednesday, June 19th (Reading) and Thursday, June 20th (Math). Please let me know ASAP, if you know that your child will be out either of those day, so we are able to plan accordingly.

• Friday, June 28th is the last day of school. Report cards will be sent home this day, as well.

E.L. Education:

This quarter in literacy, the students will be learning about Women's Suffrage and the steps taken to achieve the 19th amendment through the historical fiction novel, The Hope Chest. In class, the students will be reading this novel together and focusing on determining the gist of each chapter and unfamiliar words. We will be reviewing what makes a strong summary and the students will work on writing a complete summary of the chapters read, as well as uncovering important themes from each of the chapters. This novel will cause the students to think critically about the changes that have occured over time and the challenges that many different people had to go through to fight for some for the rights that we have today.

During ALL Block this quarter, we will be reviewing all of the genres that we have studied this year and the strategies that good readers utilize when reading them. The first genre that we will focus on is nonfiction. Your child's reading homework will correspond with this genre and will include some paper/pencil, as well as online reading practices through ReadWorks.org. It is important that students are relying on the evidence that can be found in the text when answering questions and on all paper/pencil passages, they will be required to find the evidence that supports it by highlighting or underlining their support.

How to Help Your Child at Home:

• Discuss with your child the events that are happening in The Hope Chest and the themes that are present. Have your child share with you the text evidence that supports those themes.

• Have your child share with you what makes up a proper summary.

• With the homework passages, encourage your child to carefully think about and find textual evidence to support their answer choices and discuss those answer choices together.

Math:

This quarter, the students will begin 4th quarter with a Geometry Unit. This week, the students will learn to identify points, rays, lines, and line segments. Then they will examine the relationship of these figures and determine whether they are parallel or perpendicular. They will especially work on identifying the characteristics of two-dimensional shapes.

Questions to Ask Your Child at Home:

• The students were introduced to the website First In Math last quarter by Mrs. Heir. This is a wonderful website that has many different skills sets and it is a great way to brush up on concepts that we have previously covered. Each night, I am asking that the students spend 10 minutes on this site, as a source of good review leading up to the EOGs.

• Talk to your child about ordinary objects and shapes and discuss the whether it has parallel and perpendicular lines and what types of angles it has.

Science:

This quarter, the students will be learning science the first five weeks of the unit and then Social Studies the last five weeks. In science, students will begin the quarter by learning about the characteristics of light and how light travels. Your child should understand that light may be absorbed or reflected. Students, also, will learn about refraction of light. During the second week of this quarter, we will begin an investigation of magnetism and electricity. Additionally, during the next 5 weeks, students will wrap up our previous study of the phases of the moon by observing the moon each night. If students are not able to observe the moon due to view obstructions or the time it is visible, please refer to these websites to help:

Moongiant.com

Moon phases @ earthsky.org

How to Help Your Child at Home:

• Have your child explain to you about the characteristics of light and how it travels.

• Spend time observing the moon with your child or visiting the provided websites. Talk about what you notice and what phase the moon is in.