Gerth's Gossip
2-3-17
Motion & Design Investigations
Technology & Creativity
Writers Share Ideas
We're Busy in 4th Grade
Happy Friday Everyone!!! 2-3-2017
We have had a very busy and very productive week in 4th grade! The students have done lots of hard work this week and are being pushed to reach their fullest potential. We have been working hard on our personal and classroom goals!
We have also been excited to continue working on our seven habits here at SRE! Student leaders are stepping up all over the place around 4th grade. J
Our instruction each day is often being enhanced with technology. We are so thrilled to have more devices in our POD for sharing. Thanks to you too for sending them in with kiddos as often as possible. #AMPLIFYCCS through the use of technology is in the works each and every day in room 17. Students and teachers alike are getting more and more confident with using and submitting work through Canvas and Google Drive!
Gerth's Rockets Rock
Email: sgerth@ccs.k12.in.us
Website: www.ccs.k12.in.us
Phone: 317-571-4086
Twitter: @GerthGrade4
Literacy In Action
Looking ahead to next week, we will continue working in Unit 6 “Treasure Hunters”. Our big question throughout this theme is: Why do we seek treasure? We will continue diving into understanding characters, determining importance of Information, finding text evidence, reading with fluency, enhancing our understanding & developing the craft of opinion/persuasive writing. The students are doing a great job working in their small groups, and really analyzing their book! We will be working with object pronouns and reflexive pronouns next week. Our spelling words next week will focus on words that have a “y” at the beginning or the end of the word.
Please continue to talk to your children about their reading. Encourage them to share the strategies they are using when they read. Ask them to summarize, infer, make predictions, etc. Practicing these things will help your child grow as a reader!! Also asking for their opinions about what is going on in their book, which character they could relate to or making predictions of what’s ahead are wonderful critical thinking skills. You can even take it further and ask them why they think the way they do and show you evidence from the text of what made them reach their thought. Finally, please remind and encourage your student to do their 20 minutes or more of reading every night. This really does help them grow in all areas of the curriculum!
Math
In 4th grade Math we tested over fractions on Tuesday. Students in our class also now have log- ins to xtramath.org for fact practice. So proud of them for using this often already! J Please continue to review these skills at home with your student in preparation J Mid- week we kicked off Unit 8 which revolves around perimeter, area, and scaled drawings. Students will review perimeter and area, develop formulas as math models for areas of rectangles, parallelograms, and triangles, as well as explore applications of area with scale drawings.
5th grade Mathematicians are diving into Unit 8 with some challenging work involving Fractions including adding, subtracting and multiplying. They are also using their problem solving skills often as they tackle some tough multiple step problems.
Remember too students also have log-ins taped in the front of their assignment notebooks for www.everydaymath.com where there are many valuable resources for support.
Science
We will continue our unit over motion and design next week. The kids LOVE building cars and testing them out in different experiments. We will be testing over this unit next week. We will then be jumping into our first chapter of social studies!
Upcoming Dates
Valentine Parties – Feb 14 –* Reminder please do not send in candy or food with your valentines. A class list went home earlier this week!!
Science Fair –February 16- So Proud of My Science Risk Takers
Presidents Day –Feb. 20 - No School
Hava e wonderful weekend. The Valentine List and Yearbook order forms hopefully made it home this week as I sent both of them with the kiddos!
This sounds fun for newcomers!
NEWCOMER COFFEE
If you are new to Smoky Row, new-ish, or interested in supporting newcomers, please join us for the Newcomer Coffee on Wednesday, February 15, 2017 at 8:30 AM* at Julie Henderson’s Home, 1582 Noric Court, Carmel, IN 46032. This is a casual get-together to welcome you, see how you are doing now that school is in full swing, and answer any questions. It is also an opportunity for you to meet other newcomers. Please RSVP by 2/13/17 by texting, calling, or emailing (630) 346-5490 or julie-henderson@sbcglobal.net. *If you are interested in an evening event, please contact me and we’ll schedule it.