FOURTH GRADE NEWS
APRIL 28th, 2016
What's Up in 4th Grade!
It's progress report time. Please access the parent portal to view your child's grades.
Please note that the PTA Carnival has been postponed until Saturday, May 14th from 2- 4 PM due to bad weather. We would love for you to visit with your family and friends.
Thank you so very much to those who have donated items for the parachute project. However, we are still needing supplies for that unit. Please contact Mrs. Mukherjee or Mrs. Estep for more details.
Please scroll down to find the flyer of the seventeenth annual basketball clinic for boys and girls entering 1st–9th grades in the fall of 2016. Clinics are designed to include competitive drills, various competitions for prizes, and plenty of scrimmaging. The Plano West basketball staff is focused on building a strong foundation for future development of all athletes. Teams are welcome, but players must sign up individually. Fun! Fun! Fun!
Please encourage your children to bring their own device to school. We will need them during Language Arts during the next six weeks for our Project Based Learning.
Make sure that your child is reading 20 minutes every night and recording it in their planner. A parent signature is also required to ensure this process.
Please take a moment to see the links below for parenting classes offered in April. The last parenting class will be held on May 16th at Skaggs. Parents with middle school students will highly benefit from this class as it will make the transition an easier process. Scroll down to learn more from the flyer attached below.
Language Arts
The Reading Bootcamp has really been interesting, and we have one more week to go before STAAR. Kids seem to be highly engaged as they transition from one class to the next brimming with knowledge!
Continuing on our theme of problem solving, we analyze story structure in our main selection "The Gold Rush Game." This science fiction includes events based on actual, or invented scientific, or technological discoveries making it highly entertaining. Students monitor their comprehension by paraphrasing and restating important details as they uncover the plot.
The spelling test will focus on words with open syllables.
Math
The Math STAAR test is quickly approaching. This week we will continue to review the fourth grade learning objectives through the district created review, "STAAR Adventures at Ripley's Believe It or Not!" Some of the objectives that students will review are: lines, 2-dimensional figures, measures of angles in degrees using a protractor, solving problems that deal with measurement, and graphing data. Students who need interventions will be pulled into small groups to reteach the objective and assigned a practice page to be completed at home that night. If your child is assigned a page to complete, please make sure it is completed and returned to school the next day.
Science and Social Studies
Throughout the next month, students will be observing the predictable patterns in our moon's appearance. Students will observe the moon each night and sketch its appearance on their Moon calendar. This will allow students to connect their learning in the classroom to what is occurring in the nighttime sky. Next week, we will learn more about the engineering design process. Students will learn and experiment using this process. Our students have been excitedly awaiting their opportunity to test and create parachutes. This learning experience will allow students to draw on their previous learning of the patterns on Earth and new content information.
Key vocabulary to remember will include angle, tilt, lunar, orbit, revolution, rotation, cycle, hemisphere, gravity, tides, axis, phases, atmosphere, and drag.
Science Test: Friday, May 13.
From the Teachers
- Reading Logs: 4th grade participates in our Skaggs reading program, The Skaggs Scribe. We require that every student read at least 20 minutes per night and record their time in their planner. Please sign your child's agenda every Friday and students will enter their time on a Google Form where they could win prizes. They may enter this information at school or at home. This is the website students will use to record their minutes: http://tinyurl.com/SkaggsReadingLog
- We would like to encourage your child to bring their electronic devices. Electronic devices are being used in all subject areas every day, along with music and art.
- Be a star for our students and write a check to our PTA. See the information below regarding the Skaggs PTA Check Writing Campaign.
- A fourth grade website just for parents! You will find links, important information, and much more. https://sites.google.com/a/pisd.edu/fabulous-fourth-grade-friends/
Important Dates
4/28- Progress Reports
5/14 PTA Carnival from 2:00-4:00
4/30 PTA Environmental Clean Up following the carnival from 4:00-5:00
5/13 Science Test