The Silver Scoop
April 20-24
Upcoming Events
Walkathon money is due tomorrow! Money will be accepted all week but must be turned in on Monday to be eligible for prizes. We are scheduled to walk from 10:20-11:00 this Friday.
The 5th grade program & Choir concert will be this Tuesday, April 21 at 7:00 in the gym. We will attend the rehearsal that afternoon at 2:00.
4th grade girls will view the Growth & Development film this Thursday, April 23 in the afternoon. The 4th grade boys will watch a video about the importance of being drug-free during this time.
We ended up taking our Practice Math ISTEP tests last Friday morning. We are scheduled to take the Practice English/Language Arts & Science ISTEP tests this Friday afternoon. The ISTEP window opens on April 27, but our class is not scheduled to begin testing until Tuesday, May 5. In fact, right now we are scheduled for ISTEP tests on May 5, 6, 7, 8, and 11. (The schedule may change, but this is what we have right now.) Please limit absences on these days so that students don't miss our testing sessions. All testing will be done on the computer, and each day we will test for 1-2 hours. The students will be tested on Mathematics, English/Language Arts, and Science.
Our spring field trip to the Indiana State Museum and the Statehouse is scheduled for Wednesday, April 29. Permission slips and chaperone sign-up sheets were sent home last week, but only about half of our class has turned in a permission slip. Please turn in your child's permission slip as soon as possible.
This week's special schedule:
Monday--Music, Tuesday--Art, Wednesday--Gym, Thursday--Computer Lab, Friday--Library
What We Are Studying This Week
DOL/Journal -- This week the students will do Week #12 of Daily Paragraph Editing. There will be a quiz over one of these paragraphs on Friday. The students will also write at least one page in their journals, and this is due Friday, too.
STARS Club -- Please check with your child about his/her STARS Club novel.
Math -- We will review S'math Smarties Test #2 on Monday and pass back the Topic 12 Test, too. Congratulations to Alexis Decker on being our only "A" on the test! Alexis will be awarded with Smarties candy and will have her name read on announcements. Honestly, I've been kind of disappointed in some students' effort since we returned from Spring Break. Many seem to have a severe case of spring fever! Effort on assignments and tests has dropped off, and students are beginning to make silly mistakes. Please talk to your child about the importance of giving 100% effort, even as the weather is getting warmer. If I'm counting correctly, we still have 27 days of school left!
On Tuesday we will begin Topic 13. We won't be doing every lesson in this topic, so we will skip around a lot. This week we will do Lessons 13-4, 13-6, and 13-7 on decimal place value and changing fractions to decimals and vice versa. There will be homework on Monday through Thursday. We will also be completing a Standards Review Packet in class all week.
Science -- This week we will read two science readers about force and motion and will complete an in-class assignment. The students will also use the classroom responders to answer science review questions as we review the concepts we've studied all year. They loved using these remotes last week and even earned extra recess by having 100% of the students answer at least 5 questions correctly. (They answered 6!)
Word Work -- We are on List #29 on words with Greek Roots. We will practice the words all week, and then there will be a test on Friday. The students need to know the spellings of the 10 words, the meanings of the Greek roots, and the spellings of the 5 core words. This Week's Words: geography, geology, geometry, photograph, photogenic, photocopier, telephoto, autograph, autobiography, automatic. Core Words: surprise, develop, strength, company, average.
Reading -- If you have questions about your child's reading class, please contact his/her reading teacher.
Language -- We will continue to work on our autobiography timeline writing, as time permits. We have postponed this a little bit due to changes in our schedule for ISTEP. This week we will also review the English/Language Arts Acuity tests the students have taken this year to review important skills before ISTEP Part 2 begins.
Social Studies -- On Monday we will finish reading Unit 3, Lesson 1 on Pioneers. There will be an assignment to finish on Monday. On Wednesday the students will read the picture book Nothing Here But Trees about a family that moves to Ohio during pioneer times. They must clear their land, build a house, plant crops, and get to know their neighbors. This is a perfect companion for what we've learned in our textbook. There may be an assignment to complete over this book on Wednesday.
This Week's Cartoon
Mrs. Kara Silver
4th Grade Teacher
Clarks Creek Elementary
Plainfield Community Schools
Email: ksilver@plainfield.k12.in.us
Website: http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us
Location: 401 Elm Drive, Plainfield, IN, 46168
Phone: 317-839-0120