Spring Creek Cardinals
4th Grade Newsletter September 2017 Edition
Welcome to 4th Grade at Spring Creek Elementary!
MATH Update
September Math
I’m excited to get this year started in math and the kids seem excited as well. We started looking at some problem solving on Tuesday and I really want the students to think about why they chose to add or subtract for any given problem. Math is so much easier if students understand the reasons behind what they are doing and I want them to see that throughout the year. We will also be exploring more about place value, which will include writing numbers in “Expanded Form” and “Expanded Notation” as well as finding the value of a digit in a numeral. Again, it’s important that students understand the numbers they work with, so I want them to know that 645 is 6 hundreds, 4 tens and 5 ones. But it can also be looked at as 64 tens and 5 ones or 5 hundreds, 13 tens and 15 ones or even 645 ones. When “decomposing numbers”, the possibilities are endless. Rounding numbers up to the 10,000 place value position is another concept students will be learning this month.
Also, students will be practicing their fluency by using the program XtraMath every day. All of the students will start with addition. Once they are able to master all of the facts from 0-0 to 9-9, they will move on to subtraction, then multiplication and finally division. Students are welcome to use the program at home as well to increase their math fluency of basic facts. Their login is in their planner. When they logon to the website, XtraMath.org, it will ask for an email. They will choose the students tab and then use my email account of jeberle@csisd.org along with their login information. Knowing basic math facts fluently frees up working memory to allow your child to focus on the process of the math concept they are learning rather than spending part of that working memory trying to figure out the math fact as well.
READING/WRITING Update
Reading Language Arts
Wow, what a great start to the school year! Your child is actively participating in class, engaged in reading, and diving head first into writing. We have started our first read aloud, The Books of Elsewhere by Jacqueline West. Ask your student to tell you about the main character, Olive, and her adventures in the old stone house on Linden Street. One student has written our first blog about The Books of Elsewhere. http://mrsdungansclass.weebly.com/book-reviews
During the next month, students will write their first composition. We have been gathering our thoughts in our writing notebooks up until now, and will choose a topic to develop in about 2 weeks. I will be creating a digital portfolio for each child and will notify you when the first draft is uploaded.
Students will continue to develop their reading life. We will focus on thinking while we read in order to develop deeper meaning from a book. Students will be learning how to stop and jot about questions they have while reading, predictions, interesting events, and how the book makes them feel. You can see a list of things "I can jot about..." on the pink tab in their reader’s notebook.
Every Friday is dedicated to poetry, spelling, and grammar. This month students will review past spelling patterns for short and long vowels and r controlled vowels. New rules we will study are when to double letters at either the middle or end of words and when to change y to i. Grammar skills we focus on in September are parts of speech, as well as complete subject and predicate.
BOOK ORDERS ARE HERE!
Your child will bring home a scholastic book order Sept. 11. I encourage parents to have students choose one book they are interested in purchasing and do chores to earn the money. If you would like to order on line please use the online code at https://clubs.scholastic.com/ : Mrs. Dungan's code is LQQT3
Requests for donations:
If anyone has the following sitting around the house, we would love to incorporate it into our classroom: yoga/stability balls, 2 simple bar stools, bean bag chair, or backrest pillows with arms. Other donations would be used paperback books to add to our classroom library.
Don't forget to check out Mrs. Dungan's website for updates on homework or other tips to help your student: www.mrsdungansclass.weebly.com
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES Update
For Science we are building a foundation of solid measuring, observation and inquiry skills so we can use them all year long. This week we will discuss lab safety then begin applying our science skills to the properties of matter, how heat affects matter and measuring mass and volume.
We are also very excited to start our Fall container garden! Have your student bring a container from home of any shape or size that has a hole in the bottom of it so that the water can drain out. If you want to send seeds, that would be great.
I do have some for students to pick from.
In Social Studies we will look at the symbols of Texas and move on to "finding Texas" interpreting data related to Texas' place in the world, regions of Texas, geographic factors that contributed to our growth. We will then turn our focus to historic documents of Texas and the U.S. Constitution.
Each week students will have a weekly quiz to see if they are understanding the concepts we cover that week. Be looking for this quiz in their Monday folder.
Don't forget to check out Mrs. Mann's website: http://mann4thgradeclass.weebly.com/
Students can study their vocabulary at home and parents can see what is on our calendar each week. In addition, each Friday you can read our student blogs & listen to our podcast!
What else is happening this month?
September 22 - Possible Family Movie Night
October 2 - 6 - Book Fair
October 3 - School Picture
Spring Creek Elementary
Website: http://sc.csisd.org/
Location: 2450 Brewster, College Station, TX
Phone: 979-694-5838
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CSISDSpringCreek
Twitter: @sc_elementary