Gerth's Gossip
1-13-17
We're Busy in 4th Grade
General information:
Science Fair-Science fair information has been coming home. This year’s science fair is on Thursday, February 16th. There will be a fun celebration for all participants after school on Friday, February 17th. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns. This is an optional activity for all 4th and 5th grade students. It is a great opportunity to put all of our science standards to work! We also need judges and parent volunteers to help the night run smoothly.
NWEA Map testing- We finished up most of our reading tests this week. We will be taking our math tests next week. This test is designed to give us information on student growth and progress. The data we gather helps us plan differentiated and individualized instruction for all out kiddos. The kids have been working really hard to show what they know! We are all proud of their efforts. We will let you know when the results are available for your review.
Leadership Teams! There is a great opportunity coming our way to practice our leadership skills! The packets containing the application and information are going home today. Registration is due by January 25th for any student that would like to participate. INFO came home today.
Getting to know you…2017 edition! Hopefully your child has been hard at work on his/her book jacket cover! This is a great change to get reacquainted with our buddies and get to know some of our new friends. We are so excited to see everyone’s creativity on these cool projects. Don’t forget…they are due Friday, January 20th.
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
We just finished the second week of Reach for Reading Unit 5. We are exploring the big question, “When do harmless things become harmful?” Some of the concepts we have been working on are problem and solution, making inferences, and plot. We are continuing our weekly spelling tests and exploring contractions in grammar. We started the New Year with writing goals and writing a special story about a snow globe (this one will be a keeper for the scrapbook), and we will continue in our Lucy Calkins writing program next week when we begin a literary essay.
Math
Fourth grade math is studying unit 7 that focuses on fractions and finding equivalent fractions. We are still working on our problem solving skills using the CUBES strategy weekly.
Fifth grade math is also in unit 7, but they are focusing on the Order of Operations, exponents, and negative numbers. We work weekly on practicing our problem solving using the CUBES strategy, but this week we introduced a frame to construct extended explanations about the work we did on our problems. We are really extending our thinking!
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 are plugging along in our study of Science with a unit on Electricity. The students have had hands on experiences making circuits with switches to run motors and light up lightbulbs. We will continue our study by looking at insulators and conductors