Classroom Update - Week of February 3rd
Upcoming Events / Reminders:
Report Cards for Track 4 went home on Friday, January 31st. Please make sure to sign and return the manila envelope to school with your child.
Today in Tuesday folders, your child brought home their field trip packet for our last field trip to the NC Aquarium and Masonboro Island. Fees and forms are due by Thursday, March 5th. If you would like to chaperone this field trip, please make sure that you sign up to be a volunteer with the front office several weeks before this field trip. This field trip is scheduled for Monday, March 30th. The field trip packet is very detailed, but please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Our class will be celebrating Valentine's Day on Friday, February 14th. If you would like for your child to participate, they are welcome to bring in valentines to share with all students in our classroom. We have 24 students and their names are listed below for the students who wish to personalize their valentines.
Molly, Selden, Cooper, Joanna, Peter, Jeremiah, Connor, Greg, Cate, Izaya, Sandhya, Alex, Geethika, Nicoletta, Owen, Colin, Aaditi, Kara, Eun, Dallin, Eli, Valentina, Ella, Brady
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 continue learning more about the American Revolution through reading nonfiction historical texts about this time period. This week, they will focus on learning more about the Loyalists and the Patriots and what they believed. They will also learn more about other people's perspectives such as those of African American slaves and Native Americans. They will work on finding the gist, understanding unfamiliar vocabulary, and making inferences as they read.
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 exhibitions about the American Revolution.
Math:
In math, we will be continuing our unit on using decimal notation to represent fractional numbers. The students will shade decimals numbers on a hundredths board and number line, as well as find equivalencies between tenths and hundredths. Making the connection between decimals is a great way to strengthen their understanding of this concept. The students will also work on comparing decimal numbers. The students will take their first decimals assessment early next week.
How to Help Your Child at Home:
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).
Discuss the following questions at home with your child:
What would be an equivalent decimal to 0.6? Why is it equivalent?
Can you write the following decimal (0.34) as a fraction? In words?
How would the decimal 0.7 change if you added two tenths? What if you subtracted 3 hundredths?
Order the following decimals from least to greatest: 0.4, 1.2, 0.38, 0.04. What strategy did you use to help you?
Social Studies:
This quarter in Social Studies, the students will continue to learn 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 have been given a list of important economics terms for them to study and learn for an upcoming vocabulary test that is scheduled for Wednesday, February 12th.
How to Help Your Child at Home:
Help them study the economics vocabulary words with them.
Discuss real world examples of supply and demand