The Jungle Book
Mrs. Knueven's Classroom Newsletter
Upcoming Events
3/16 ZWMS Student Visit/Tour (9:30-11:00)
3/16 ZWMS Parent Meeting (6:00 if your child has an IEP, 7:00 for all other parents)
3/16 Social Event for students during parent meetings - 6:30-8:00
3/17 WTW Quiz
3/17 Happy St. Patrick's Day - Irish Dancer Convo @ 1:45
3/17 Yearbook Order due
3/17 End of 3rd Quarter
3/20 Coffee Chat with Mr. Doublestein @ 9:30 am in the SGE Cafeteria
3/24 Wordly Wise 13 Test
3/24 WTW Quiz
3/24 March Scholastic orders due
3/28 Unit 6 Math Test
3/30 Unit 4 Science Test
3/31 No School - Spring Break Begins
Curriculum Corner
Writing
We will continue working on our Famous Hoosier papers this week. We will be wrapping up chapter 1 by writing about what their Famous Hoosiers are doing today. Some will still be active in their "Famous Hoosier" roles, others will be retired and doing other things, and some will have passed away, but students will focus on the legacy they left behind.
Language Arts
Wordly Wise: We will begin working on Wordly Wise unit 13 this week. WW 13 A & B will be due on Friday, 3/17 and we will test on Friday 3/24. This will be our last unit before we leave for Spring Break.
Words Their Way: Quizzes will be on Friday, 3/17.
Reading
Students are doing a great job with our Sign of the Beaver discussion so far! We will be spending our class time focusing on and discussing higher level thinking questions that involve analyzing, summarizing, predicting, and drawing conclusions from the text. This will be challenging, but will help push them to another level of comprehension and will be a great preparation for fifth grade. We will work together quite a bit, especially at the beginning, so hopefully students will see this as a fun and rewarding challenge rather than a frustrating activity. We will be reading chapters 3-8 this week.
Math
We will be starting Unit 6 in math this week. If students are not fluent in their division facts, that would be an excellent way to spend some time at home as they will be important in this chapter. This week, we will be covering extended division facts, finding the missing side of a rectangle when given the area, division strategies, and partial quotients division.
Science
We will continue our study of animal adaptations this week. Students will learn about how living things change, instincts vs. learned behavior, and adaptations this week.
Middle School Transition
- On March 16, all 4th grade students will go to ZWMS from 9:30-11:00. During that time, they will listen to the different music groups (choir, band, & orchestra) and go on a tour of the school. Soon after that visit, a form will go home where students will decide which music elective they would like to take in 5th grade. In addition to the music elective and core academic classes, students will take a rotation of P.E/Health (1 semester), Project Lead the Way (similar to S.T.E.M.), and art.
- In the evening of March 16, there will be a parent meeting. If your child has an IEP, there is a meeting with the special education staff at 6:00 pm. The meeting for all other parents begins at 7:00 pm.
- New this year, ZWMS will be offering a social event for students from 6:30-8:00. Entertainment and snacks will be provided!
- The music department will be coming on April 14 to help students select an instrument. If your student has a strong opinion about which instrument he/she wants to play or if you already own a trumpet and don't plan to buy another instrument, I encourage students to advocate during that meeting and let the staff know. Otherwise, they will work with your child to find an instrument that fits him/her in terms of size and how it plays.