The Ritenour Review
2017 - 2018 Fourth Grade Weekly News
ISTEP - The Final Part
Parents and Families,
This week finalizes our last round of ISTEP. Students will be testing daily, M-W this week, at 8:30. We are so close to the finish line and love seeing how hard they are all working daily.
ISTEP Schedule
Monday 4/23: Math 3
Tuesday: Science 1
Wednesday: Science 2
Testing will be completed each day by 10:15. Please help your child get a good night’s rest, eat well, and be present if at all possible on these days. Healthy, no-mess snacks may also be brought to school for testing days.
Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you!!
The Final Countdown
We are in the final five weeks of school - less days than students in our class.
Although the end is near, we are working hard daily to finish several tasks. It is important to not check out mentally just yet.
This past week:
In math, we reviewed skills taught throughout the year, especially decimals and geometry concepts. We kicked off several science concepts and we will use those for data analysis for the remainder of the year.
In reading, again, we spent the majority of our reading block researching. At this point, I am going to consider most in the class the master of their knowledge. We know we could continue researching to deepen our understanding - and we will - but we should be proficient enough to work through conversations and writing our drafts. As vital as it is as adults to look for reliable resources, it is just as valuable at their age, too. Our researching paired nicely with our writing block and we have started writing our rough drafts. At this point, most have written at least a few paragraphs - some have even finished a few chapters. We will continue to push through and aim to be completed with our rough drafts after Tuesday. This will allow us to work on elaborating within our writing, add fun and quirky details and possibly quotes. They will receive a lot of class time to work on their projects, but some may need to continue working nightly, too. Homework will be kept to a minimum to allow for their precious time to be spent on this project - if needed.
In science, we are in an interesting unit, to say the least. I am not the biggest fan of touching our mealworm friends, but I have grown to enjoy their change to different environmental factors. In science, our biggest objective right now is to understand how animals react to environmental factors. We are looking to see if they move, adapt or die. We are not aiming for death with our mealworms, but we understand the sensitivity to their body structures may lead to that unfortunately. We are also looking at environmental factors with our garden, too. We have several plants that joined our garden tower in the classroom. If you are at the school, I encourage you to come visit our classroom to check out the life growing! We are also planning on getting some plants into our raised garden beds outside, too. Spring is such a fun time of the year!
Coming up next!
Math: We will finish up math ISTEP and review for our unit test. We have been working on this unit since before spring break. The kids have grown a lot and would love the opportunity to show that growth. We will test Friday and the review sheet will go home tomorrow.
Reading: We will continue our Hoosier project - some more researching. Encourage nightly reading at home to include researching, too.
Science: We will extend our environment studies by looking at brine shrimp this week. Of course, we will also keep a close eye on our mealworms and garden, too.
Writing: We will dive into our research writing this week. Our goal is to have our rough drafts completed this week, and begin revisions.
Special's Schedule
- Monday: STEM
- Tuesday: Music
- Wednesday: Art
- Thursday: Wellness **bring/wear tennis shoes
- Friday: Library
Upcoming Dates!
April 16th - May 4th - ISTEP+ Testing window (Part 2- multiple choice) - 3rd/4th grades
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.