Spring Creek Cardinals
4th Grade Newsletter
NOVEMBER 2016 EDITION
Remember, as you connect to sponsors for the Fun Run, make sure all pledges are entered on funrun.com. The more pledges we get, the more incentives our class earns on our Pledge-O-Meter. Plus, for every $30 per lap our class pledges, three meals will be given to a local person in need through our giveback initiative.
Our students are excited to rise to the challenge!
Thank you in advance for your generosity and supporting our school.
**Reminder about our "Monday folder" and your student's planner.
You should see the RED Monday folder coming home to you with graded papers in it and any other pieces of information the front office would like for us to distribute.
Students bring the folder back to their homeroom teacher on Tuesday.
**Check your child's planner to see what they are doing that week in each of their classes. This is a great way to start a conversation about their learning and organizational skills and how they plan to complete their reading homework for ELA.
MATH Update
Math in November
We have been cruising along in math. We are getting close to the end of our unit on
fractions. It has been challenging at times, but the students are working hard to learn
the many fractions concepts. I’m very proud of how hard they have been working
during this time of fractions!
Soon we will begin our journey into multiplication, beyond just knowing our multiplication
facts. For those students who are still on addition or subtraction, next week I will be
moving all students to multiplication for their XtraMath fluency practice so they can more
easily go through the steps of multiplication. Not only will we multiply 2-digit by 2-digit,
but we will multiply up to a 4-digit number by a 1-digit number. We will also apply those
multiplication skills to problem-solving with multiplication in which the students will need
to read a word problem and figure out how to solve the question being asked in the
problem.
When we are learning these multiple digit multiplication problems, I will be teaching your
children non-traditional methods of multiplying. These methods help children to
understand what is happening in the process of multiplication, rather than just plugging
in numbers to an algorithm. Eventually we will learn the “traditional algorithm” that all of
you probably learned while you were in school. But for now, please do not try to teach
them the way you learned. If you have any questions or would like me to explain how
they are learning to multiply, please contact me with an email and I’ll try to help you out.
READING/WRITING Update
Oh the groans I hear every day when I say, "It is time to put our books away" or "We need to stop and clean up." Your kids groans make me smile. They love reading and writing so much that it is torture to stop! Be sure to reinforce your child's love of reading by talking to them about their books. Ask, "What are you reading right now?" "Why do you like this book?" "Share with me the best part?"
This month we are starting a reading unit on analyzing characters. During this unit we will think deeply about characters to understand their motivations, their relationships, and how they change throughout a story. This work will help your child develop the characters they create in their writing.
Our next writing unit is narrative writing and we will focus on developing realistic fiction. Character development will be important. Students will be expected to develop the characters physical description and the character's internal thoughts and feelings through actions and words.
Spelling rules we will study this month are changing y to i and dropping the final e. We will also review the other rules we have practiced (doubling final consonant and double consonants in the middle of words).
Poetry Friday is going great and we appreciate those parents who have donated popcorn. The students look forward to this special day of reading and writing poetry. We will plan a "poetry slam" before the end of the semester for you to come celebrate their works of poetry.
SCIENCE/SOCIAL STUDIES Update
Remember that each week we take a weekly quiz. This assessment consists of 5-10 questions to help me see if your student is understanding what we are learning about each week. This is also a great way for you and your student to see if they are participating in class discussions, asking questions and understanding the curriculum we cover in science and social studies.
In Social Studies, we will be studying the following topics:
"The New World" - European exploration and settlement of the Western Hemisphere
Spanish explorers - accomplishments of several Spanish explorers
Rene Robert Cavalier de La Salle - how he impacted Texas with his journey
The first missions in Texas - how they contributed to the patterns of Texas settlement
In Science, we will investigate solutions and mixtures, electrical circuits, conductors/insulators and forms of energy. Last week we worked in our Science Stations to circle back around to all of our vocabulary and review those concepts. We will do this again later this month to prepare for a **CBM we will take early December.
**Encourage your child to review the vocabulary on the website.
http://mann4thgradeclass.weebly.com/
**CBM stands for curriculum based measure. I'd like to have the 4th graders take this assessment so that all of us (you, me and them) can see where they are in the science curriculum with their understanding.
Looking Ahead...
October 31 - November 4 - Sign up for Chess club
(Chess club will be held Fridays during recess)
November 1 - 11 = BOOSTERTHON
November 4 - Students find out who will represent UIL
November 7 4th Grade Field Trip to Washington on the Brazos
November 7 PTO meeting at 6:00 p.m.
November 11 - First Chess Club class during recess
November 11- Boosterthon Fun Run fourth grade runs from 8:15 - 9:15
November 15 School Picture Retakes
November 23 - 25 = Thanksgiving Break (School Holiday)
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