Mrs. Jackson's
4th Grade Class
Save the Date
April 30th: Metric Olympics during your child’s math class. Thank you to those of you who have already signed up!
May 1st: Secret cape-making activity for our superhero unit. If you have any fabric pens, Sharpies, or fabric scissors for our class to use, we would love to borrow those!
May 5th-Friday, May 8th: PARCC testing
May 15th: Memory Book publishing. Students will be creating memory books filled with many special writings and activities from throughout the year.
May 18th: White t-shirt needed for tie-dying! Each class will be sporting a different color mix to show off at the end of the year Field Day, so all children will need a white shirt by this date.
May 20th: Endangered Encounters. All parents are invited to attend a special showcase of the nonfiction feature articles we’ve been writing, plus a piece of artwork that was done during Unified Arts. An invitation will be coming home soon with more details, but mark your calendars!
May 28th: Field Day! 4th grade celebrates our last day of school with an elementary school classic
Curriculum Updates
Literacy
Last week we wrapped up our study on nonfiction text features and text structures. This week students will begin “superhero training” to get them physically and mentally ready to defeat our upcoming battle–PARCC testing. We will be “arming” all our superheroes with gear and powers to help them. Our trainees will read about and study famous superheroes as inspiration. After we complete training, our superheroes will identify what “nemeses” they might encounter (such as “Hurried Harry”, who makes them rush and make silly errors), and then create plans to defeat these enemies. Finally, like all good superheroes, our “training graduates” will be fitted with capes to help them look the part!
Next week superheroes will have four days of “battle”. Please check out the schedule below.
· Tuesday, May 5th: PARCC Reading
· Wednesday, May 6th: PARCC Math
· Thursday, May 7th: PARCC Math
· Friday, May 8th: AIR Social Studies
Students will also continue to work on their most recent spelling words. Choice boards are due Thursday, April 30th. Spelling tests will be on Friday, May 1st!
Math
Last week mathematicians immersed themselves in a new unit, focused on measurement! We conquered measuring using the Customary System. Students practiced identifying the best unit of measure, as well as converting between inches, feet, and yards for length, converting between cups, pints, quarts, and gallons for capacity, and between ounces, pounds, and tons for weight.
This week we will transition to understanding the Metric System. Students will learn how this base-10 system makes conversions much easier. We will once again study length, mass, and liquid volume. Students will take a quiz over all of our measurement concepts on Friday, May 1st!
Before PARCC testing students will revisit some key fourth grade concepts, including our recent study of geometry and reviewing multiplication, division, and fractions!
Social Studies
Over the next two weeks, students will be reviewing key Social Studies concepts in order to prepare our minds for the upcoming AIR test on May 8th. During class students will create a timeline highlighting key events in Ohio’s history, compare and contrast regions of the United States, and use map skills to travel across the country. It’s going to be a busy two week for our students!