Dear 4th Grade Families,

Tis the season! As we lead up to our Christmas vacation, our class enjoys winter-themed activities.

Here’s an update of what we are currently learning in class! Also, don’t forget to check the end of this post for the latest episode of our podcast!

Important Dates and Reminders:

• Monday-Friday (December 4-8): Food Drive
• Tuesday, December 5: Family Envelopes and Grading Reports Delivered
• Wednesday, December 6: Donuts and Milk Presale Begins
• Friday, December 8: 2pm Dismissal and $1 Free Dress for the Food Drive

• Tuesdays and Thursdays: PE! Please have students wear appropriate shoes and their PE uniforms.
• Tuesdays: Library Day! Our class will visit the library every Tuesday afternoon to “check out” and read books. Students are able to take 2 books/week and can return and re-check out new books each week.

Our Learning:

• Math: Decimals! Students learn about the decimal place values and how to extend their prior knowledge about adding and subtracting to this new information.
• Reading: Nonfiction! How can we read nonfiction well? We focus this week on previewing and making a connection to our text.
• Writing: This week, we set up our new writing notebooks for our opinion writing unit. Students have taken home their Personal Narrative notebooks so you may view their work! These notebooks can now stay at home and be a space for students to practice writing more personal narratives if they wish.
• Grammar: Capitalization — What things need to be capitalized?
• Religion: We Are Called to Follow Jesus – This week, we study the Our Father and break it down line by line. // We also take time to focus on Advent in these next weeks.
• Science: The Birth of Rocks
• Social Studies: European Explorers of California

Homework: DUE DECEMBER 12

• Reading Response Journal: around 20-30 minutes of reading, 5 times a week – 5 Reading Responses (Tuesday-Tuesday)
  • New Homework Sheet: Today, students received a new homework sheet. This sheet has 30 response choices total; some that are fiction and some that are nonfiction. Students may select any 5 to do during the week. The whole sheet should be complete by the beginning of February but I will continue to check homework weekly to see how students are doing.
• IXL: (Students do not need to reach 100%. Please encourage your students to do their best, but 100% is not required)
  • Please note that there is no # attached to these skills, rather they will be under the recommended or starred section of IXL
    • 4th Grade Math – Estimate sums and differences: word problems
    • 4th Grade Math – Two-step addition and subtraction word problems

Let’s have a great week,

Ms. Schmaeling