The Ritenour Review
2017 - 2018 Fourth Grade Weekly News
Downtown Indy Field Trip
On Tuesday, we will head downtown for the school's first field trip to tour downtown and explore the statehouse. At this moment, the weather looks beautiful for that day! Woohoo! Due to the nature of trip, we would like everyone to be comfortable for a lot of walking, but also mindful that we will be touring a government building. The fourth grade teachers have agreed upon the following dress code:
- tennis shoes - A must! LOTS of walking
- Blue Jog-A-Thon shirt OR a blue shirt - this allows us to easily see where our students are at any given moment.
- Denim or khaki pants or a skirt. Please, encourage your child to avoid wearing shorts, pants with holes or sports gear.
- Hats and/or sunglasses are perfectly acceptable for the walking tour, but we will ask for those to be removed during our tour of the statehouse.
Please, send your child with a sack lunch. We will collect those Tuesday morning and have those stored in a designated spot once we arrive downtown.
ISTEPis OVER!
You should be extremely proud of the rigorous effort your child displayed over the last few weeks. We have been working hard daily on normal, everyday activities while also mentally preparing and focusing on the state's mandatory tests. After eight testing sessions, we were all ready to sit back and relax. Although, we have not slowed down by any means, we have enjoyed a lot of time together throughout the weeks. A lot of learning, but a lot of laughter, too.
Thank you for supporting your child and encouraging healthy eating habits and sleeping patterns. As you all know, well rested kids are the best.
Fully Focused on Indiana
This past week:
In math, we reviewed unit 7 throughout the week and they should've completed a study guide at home or during their free time in class this week. I promised the class they could play their favorite review game on Thursday; however, I was not at school on Thursday, so they were not able to play the game with the sub. A promise is a promise, so we played the game on Friday. The game was well deserved, so I did not mind the delay in plans. We did start the unit test, but they did not have enough time to fully finish everything, so we will extend the rest of the test to Monday. I do not think too many complained about this plan.
In reading, as you all know, we are working on our research - reading and writing. I cannot say this enough, this is the toughest writing assignment we have endured, but they are working beautifully through the rigor. I love talking one-on-one with each child. They KNOW their stuff! With such a large project, I definitely feel pulled in a lot of directions and know I cannot devote nearly the individual time I want with each child. In order to feel heard and grow from an audiences perceptive, we have utilized peers to assist in this area. In the latter part of the week, we have practiced listening to our peers feedback and practiced taking notes on their opinions. We are all, adults included, so quick to verbally correct feedback and we tend not to truly hear the critiques. We are working very hard on taking notes at all times.
In science, we spent a lot of time observing our mealworms again. We finally have one entering the pupa stage! Science nerds in this class! We also started an experiment to hatch brine shrimp eggs. For anyone unfamiliar with brine shrimp, the are exactly what we called sea monkeys. We began our experiment on Monday and set up four different environments per group. We are looking for a range of tolerance for a thriving environment. For brine shimp, they need an optimal ratio between salt and water. As the week progressed, we watched several environments provide a healthy setting for the eggs to fully hatch, and we also found out that some of our settings were not within a range the eggs could tolerate. On Friday, we attempted to correct the setting for the poor settings. Each group had to write a plan that would adjust environments to support an optimal ratio or salt and water This was not the easiest task. Many in the class wanted to simply add just a "bit more water" or "a scoop or two of salt" to our poor environments. We talked a lot about making mathematical decisions. In the end, I believe all eight groups made educated plans and have high chances of seeing a successful environment when they return from the weekend.
Coming up next!
Math: We will finish up our math test on Monday. The rest of the week, we will work on our final math project for the year. A hands-on math project will pair nicely with our final math unit, plus the kids will LOVE the creative side to the project.
Reading: We will continue our Hoosier project - their final drafts are expect to be complete Tuesday. Large blocks of classroom time will be spent on their At School project component. If final drafts are not completely finished on Tuesday, they can split some of their project time to complete the writing.
Science: We will extend our environment studies by looking at guppies and goldfish this week. Of course, we will also keep a close eye on our mealworms, shrimp and garden, too.
Special's Schedule
- Monday: STEM
- Tuesday: Music
- Wednesday: Art
- Thursday: Wellness **bring/wear tennis shoes
- Friday: Library
Upcoming Dates!
May 1st - 4th grade field trip to IN State House & Landmarks Tour
May 9th - Bike to School Day (more info to come)
May 10th - Hoosier Heritage Projects (4th grade) & Boone Meadow Voices concert
May 11th - Boone Meadow Voices - school performance for students (AM) & field trip (PM); Spirit Day: Freaky Friday
May 18th - Spring Eagle Rec sessions end
May 18th - Field Day
May 21st - Raindate Field Day
May 24th - 4th grade Celebration - more info to come
May 25th - Last Day for Students
PLEASE mark your calendars for May 25th as our make-up day due to the 1/12/18 inclement weather cancellation.