Ms. Smith's Fourth Grade Newsletter
April 2016
Field Trip
Fourth Grade will be attending a full day tour of the Kansas State Capitol, Ritchie House, and Brown v. Board of Education National Historic Site on Thursday, May 19th. Detailed information and a permission slip were both sent home last week. If you haven't already, please sign and return your student's permission slip at your soonest convenience. We will also need volunteers. Please let me know if you would be interested in being a chaperone!
State Testing - By Taylor, Claire, Sydney, and Avery
From Monday, April 18th to Friday, April 22, we'll be doing state assessments. We'll be doing math and reading assessments. Your student should have a healthy breakfast and get plenty of sleep each night! Also, if any appointments are to be planned, please try to stay away from this week. Make sure to wish your child good luck!
ELA - By Adrienne, Tray, Stella, Keegan, and Landon
After lunch we have ELA station rotations. Some of our rotations are RAZ kids, small group with Ms. Smith, silent reading, and Reading Street. In RAZ Kids you get to read eBooks on the iPad. Reading Street is on Blackboard and we can work at our own pace. We learn about different spelling patterns, comprehension skills and strategies, vocabulary, and more. It's about 20 minutes for each station.
The Great Egg Drop - By Mason, Lia, Brandon, and Spencer
To explore the Design Thinking process, we did the Great Egg Drop. We split into groups and had the challenge of building a contraption to keep our egg from cracking open. After we built our contraptions, Ms. Smith dropped the eggs outside on the sidewalk from one meter. All of the eggs cracked except one. That team went on to the final round (a two meter drop) which had a team from another fourth grade classroom. No egg survived the final drop.
Science - By Lily, Rooney, Braycen, and Steven
In science we have been learning about energy! We have learned about all different types of energy. We have also done multiple experiments and investigations to better understand energy. We went to the playground to test how energy affects speed. We also used ping pong balls and golf balls to see how to transfer energy from one object to another. We will be keeping you updated throughout our energy unit.
Math - By Kate, Ethan, Matt, and Lawson
There are 8 units in math! Unit 7 is about fractions and decimals. Unit 8 is about geometry. If we work hard we can do more than one lesson a day! People are in different places in each unit. We can work in a group or by ourself. In math we like to have fun!
Social Studied - By Hayden, Amir, Haylee, Roman and Sabian
We have been working really hard on our southwest region projects. We can choose from creating a map of a southwest state, researching landforms found in this region and making a brochure, and more. We have read books that take place in the southeast such as Lost in the Devil's Desert and a few different legends. We have also been able to do some southwest art!
Upcoming Dates
April 18-22 - State Assessments
May 6 - FFFFriday
May 13 - Spirit Day
May 19 - Field Trip to Topeka
May 20 - Field Day (9am-11:00)
May 26 - Last Day of School