Classroom Update - Week of January 27th
Upcoming Events / Reminders:
Students will be taking a new reading test called Illuminate on Tuesday, January 28th. This test is for fourth and fifth graders and will be used to inform classroom instruction. A more detailed letter will be going home with your child on Monday. This test will be administered online and the students will have the opporunity to practice and become familiar with the online system that they will be using on Monday during specials.
Students will also be taking the NC Check-In assessment for Math on Wednesday, January 29th. This assessment will be similar in format to the one that they took at the beginning of 2nd quarter and will assessed previously learned fourth grade content.
We will be going on our next field trip to the North Carolina Legislative Building and North Carolina History Museum on Thursday, January 30th. We will be leaving school around 9:30 that morning and returning back to school by 1:15.
Report Cards for Track 4 will be going home on Friday, January 31st. Please make sure to sign and return the manila envelope to school with your child.
The Leadership Team at Morrisville Elementary will be collecting gently used books for the Wake Up and Read Book Drive from January 6th - February 15th. Books may be dropped off in the shopping carts located in the front of the school building. They are collecting books from birth to 12 years of age.
There will be no school on Monday, February 17th, as it is one of the previously scheduled teacher workdays.
Spring Pictures (both class and individual) will be held on Thursday, February 20th. More information will follow soon.
Fourth graders will be taking an NC Performance Task on Tuesday, March 3rd. More information regarding this assessment will follow soon.
There will be no school on Monday, March 9th, as it is one of the previously scheduled teacher workdays.
Our last fourth grade field trip to the North Carolina Aquarium and Masonboro Island will be held on Monday, March 30th. Paperwork for this field trip will be going home in Tuesday Folders on February 4th.
E.L. Education:
This week the students will be starting their third EL module that will center around reading both nonfiction and historical fiction (poetry and a drama) about the American Revolution. They will start the unit by building their background knowledge about this historical topic by reading nonfiction articles where they will determine the gist and use context clues to determine the meaning of unfamiliar vocabulary words. They will also read the book of poems called "Colonial Voices: Hear Them Speak" by Kay Winters. These poems are told from multiple perspectives of fictional people who lived during this time.
How to Help Your Child at Home:
Read stories and informational books about the American Revolution.
Encourage your student to tell you the main idea and to provide supporting details of informational texts you read together.
Encourage your child to summarize informational texts you read together.
Watch documentaries about the American Revolution.
Visit museums or exhibits about the American Revolution.
Math:
In math, the students will be starting the quarter by reviewing the materials that we previously covered in quarter two in preparation for the NC Check In that they will take on Wednesday. We will be reviewing multi-digit multiplication and long division, multi-step problem solving, area & perimeter and finding equivalent and comparing fractions. Later this week, we will start our new unit, which will focus on representing fractions as a decimal.
How to Help Your Child at Home:
Practice multi-digit multiplication and long division with your child at home. There are videos on our classroom website to help you, if needed. These are both very important skills that will be important for your child to show mastery.
Review the concept of area and perimeter. Your child should be able to find the area and perimeter of a rectangular shapes. They should also be able to find the length or width when given one side and the area or perimeter.
Discuss with your child how decimals and fractions are similar. It is helpful if the students are able to make a connection between it and money (think about dimes).
Social Studies:
This quarter in Social Studies, the students will be learning about economics in North Carolina. They will start the unit by learning about some of the important vocabulary terms and learn about important principles such as supply and demand and market economy. The students will be learning more about economics through articles, videos, picture books, and an interactive game that simulates what it is like to run a successful lemonade stand. The students will be given a list of important economics terms for them to study and learn for an upcoming vocabulary test that is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, February 11th.
How to Help Your Child at Home:
Help them study the economics vocabulary words with them.
Discuss real world examples of supply and demand