The Porter Press
Issue #15 March 31, 2015
Welcome Back!
Literacy
Today we will kick off our study of nonfiction texts! At the end of this unit of study each student will be writing a feature article, which will be a cross-curricular piece that also supports 4th grade science standards. This week readers will be reviewing nonfiction text features, such as photographs and captions, headings and subheadings, bold and italicized print, and glossaries. We will study why authors include these features, with specific emphasis on how they help our understanding of the text. Next week we will move into studying nonfiction text structures, which is how authors organize the text. Text structures include compare and contrast and cause and effect, just to name a few. We will have the opportunity to learn from and enjoy many issues of Time for Kids over the next few weeks, and encourage your children to select some nonfiction texts for their at-home reading as well!
Math
Mathematicians will be kicking off Chapter 10 this week! This is our first geometry chapter of the year. We will be learning about points, lines, and angles. Students will identify and classify angles and triangles as right, obtuse, or acute. We will review parallel, intersecting, and perpendicular lines. We will work to classify quadrilaterals, and also learn to identify and draw lines of symmetry in shapes. This is quite a shift from the computation-heavy chapters we have previously studied. However, as you can tell from our learning goals, this chapter is full of vocabulary terms that your child will need to master! Be sure to ask your child to share about all of the fun things we are doing in class!
Science
Important Dates
- April 2nd and 3rd: Parent Teacher Conferences
- April 3rd: No school for students due to conferences
- April 10th: Greenacres Field Trip, 1:15-3:15pm