Spring Creek Cardinals
4th Grade Newsletter
APRIL 2016 EDITION
Hard to believe it, but we are almost finished with the 5th six weeks and
have only 8 weeks of school left!
We want all our 4th graders to finish the school year strong and
be prepared for a successful start to their 5th grade year.
MATH Update
Math In April
The month of April will be filled with new experiences in geometry. The students will learn how to use a protractor, which most 4th grade students, in my experience, have never seen, much less ever used. They will learn how to measure angles with the protractor, how to draw an angle of a given measurement, using a protractor, and understanding that an angle is part of a 360 degree circle. They will also learn about how to find the measurement of one of two adjacent angles given the measure of the overall angle and one of the smaller angles. They will also use the knowledge they have gained about lines and angles to help them identify 2D shapes based on the attributes of the angles and lines in those shapes. Symmetry is another geometry concept they will explore. All of these geometry skills will be taught by Mrs. Hugghins as a part of her final requirements before she is ready to explore the local school districts, in search of finding a teaching position with her own classroom.
Towards the end of April, we will begin to review everything we have learned this year, to get us ready for the Math STAAR test in May. I am going to look at the data from our second CBM as well as the data from the recent Math STAAR practice to decide the amount of review we need for each concept. I am planning a review time, Math Training Camp, that is engaging and helpful for our students. We will practice concepts, learn songs and challenge each other’s brains to be ready for the May 9th Math STAAR.
READING/WRITING Update
Writing - We are entering a unit of memoir writing. Students will be writing their own autobiography and publishing their memoirs in a book. They are very excited about sharing their memories and artifacts collected. The goal of this unit is for students to pull on all the writing craft and techniques already taught to them throughout the year. We will read many published memoir picture books to examine the authors craft and then apply it to our own writing. Thank you already for your help on students timeline and artifact collection. I hope you enjoy sharing more memories with your child as they research them self.
Reading - Students are reviewing all the genres taught in preparation for the STAAR Reading test in May. We are using fun games to encourage higher level thinking, rather than traditional multiple choice questions. We discussed biography last week and students loved playing Connect the Dots in small groups. This game had students read different short biographies and then make connections between the texts. It can be done with any 3 books, that anyone in the family has read. Each person gives a short summary of their text and then everyone tries to find things in common between the diverse texts. It might be fun for you to try at home as a family. You can find the directions and game board on the home page of my website, www.mrsdungansclass.weebly.com Please continue to encourage your child to read daily for 20-30 minutes.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES Update
In Social Studies:
During the next three weeks we will look at Texas during the oil boom, the early 1900's and into the 20th century and look at the different cultures in Texas.
**WEEKLY QUIZZES** - I will shift the weekly quiz to Thursday most weeks due to Genius hour happening each Friday. Genius hour allows students to explore their own passions and encourages creativity in the classroom. It provides students a choice in what they learn during a set period of time during school. This set time will be each Friday starting on April 15.
In Science,
We will look at producers, consumers, and the relationships they have with each other in food webs and ecosystems. We will also take a closer look at life cycles. Each student will get a mealworm as part of a lab to help us investigate specific stages in life cycles.
I will send out more information as this activity gets closer.
As a reminder, Encourage your child to review the vocabulary on the website. Scroll all the way down in the student vocabulary section to see the latest set of words we are working with. http://mann4thgradeclass.weebly.com/
Looking Ahead...
April 4th -7th - Book Fair
April 4th-5th - Practice STAAR for Math and Reading
April 5th - Family Night 5:30 - 7 pm
April 6th - Early Release/Sing-A-Long
April 8th - End of 5th Six Weeks
April 15th - Awards Assembly
April 28th will be Mrs. Hugghins last day (Mrs. Eberlee's student teacher)
April 30th - District Art Show
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