Sparks' Notes
04-11-16
What We Are Learning This Week
Great Expectation Life Principle: Diligence
Math: Financial Literacy (Check out our latest 3-Act Task)
Science: Adaptations
Social Studies: Railroads & Discovery of Oil
Writing: Short Stories
Reading: Mixed Genres
Language: Sentence combining, revision, and editing
Don't forget your books for library on Tuesday.
Please be sure to check the Parent Portal for grades regularly.
To set up an account, you simply need your student's ID, which is his or her lunch number. Just ask him or her to share this if you haven't already set up an account. As a parent, it is a hugely valuable tool!
Career Day
Please RSVP if you would be willing to present. I will pass along your information to our counselor, Mrs. Robinson. Thank you!
Tuesday, Apr 19, 2016, 08:00 AM
Chavez Elementary School, Hart Road, Little Elm, TX, United States
RSVPs are enabled for this event.
Wanted: Auction Items for Our Auction on May 6th (Anything a fourth grader would like is great!)
Morning Tutorials Are Open - 7:10-7:40 am
In our class, students who attend will receive a healthy snack when they bring their attendance ticket to me.
Important!!! Be Sure to Join Us On:
Edmodo - Our Communication System & Protected Learning System
Go to www.edmodo.com.
Have your student sign in. (Username and password are inside front agenda cover.)
Scroll down the left side of the page until you see Parent Code. Write this code down.
Logout (upper right corner, click on “Me” and select Logout).
Go to www.edmodo.com and select “I’m a Parent” (under blue box that reads “I’m a Teacher”).
Enter your student’s code and set up your account.
Make sure to go Account (upper right corner, click on “Me”) and select "Settings". You can select to have email or text alerts for specific items.
On our Edmodo site, you can see:
Daily agenda (planner/calendar)
Homework links (Folder->Classroom Information)
Student progress
Assignments
Subject area links
Classroom pictures
Chromebook Care
- Determine a fixed spot to plug in your Chromebook EVERY night so that it is charged and ready to go the next day. We have found that this step is crucial to keeping your Chromebook working properly. Keep your charger in your laptop bag when not charging.
- Please be sure to keep case free and clean. Stickers and moisture can damage devices.
- Make sure you bring your Chromebook every day in the computer bag/sleeve. This is an essential school supply, not an extra.
- Monitor your child's computer usage in a common area.
- If students are not taking care of their computer responsibly, computers will stay at school. If you would prefer that it stays at school, please just let me know.
Parent Homework
Please do the following with your child:
Check and sign agenda nightly.
Check that reading homework and log are completed nightly.
Check that math homework and log are completed nightly.
Look through Tuesday folder and sign and return the next day (keep the work).
1. Read a minimum of 20 minutes nightly and complete reading log.
2. NEW CHANGE - Each night students will complete a worksheet, SHOWING ALL WORK.
3. Practice vocabulary words. Test on Friday.
This Week's Vocabulary Words
Each child will be tested on Friday. Students are expected to be able to use these words in sentences. These are words we use day-to-day, so a functional use is critical to learning and understanding.
- table - a set of columns or rows to organize data
- earned - received as payment for doing something
- spent - paid money in exchange for goods or services
- extend - to make longer or stretch
- donate - to give a gift especially to help a cause
- prosperous - flourishing or successful, wealthy
- oil refinery - an industrial process plant where crude oil is processed and refined into more useful products
- industry - a certain type of business activity
- historical - concerned with people or events of the past
- gushed - flowed quickly and copiously
- geologist - one who makes scientific studies of the earth
- fund - a supply of money
- exchange - to trade something for something else
- established - founded, settled or organized
- development - change, growth, or progress
- dependent - relying on someone else for something
- boomtowns - communities that undergo sudden and rapid population and economic growth
- industrialization - the process in which communities move from farming to manufacturing goods and services
- impact - resulting effect or influence
- diligence - constant effort and consistency
You can practice these words on Edmodo using the Vocabulary Spelling City app.
(Click on the 2x2 array of on the far right. When the apps window opens, select Vocabulary Spelling City, and go to Vocabulary Week 29 in the yellow section. There are lots of games to help you learn your words!)
Animal Adapations: Owl Pellets
Dates to Remember
Tuesday, Apr. 19th
Career Day - Speakers Wanted!
Percussion Performance
Friday, Apr. 22nd
Recycle Fashion Show
Saturday, Apr. 23rd
Chavez P.T.A. Color Run
Kinder Round Up at Zellars
Wednesday, April 27th
Kinder Round Up 5:00-8:00
Thursday, April 28th
Kinder Round Up 5:00-7:00
Week of May 2nd
Teacher Appreciation Week
Monday, May 9th
Fourth Grade S.T.A.A.R. Math Test - Get a good night's sleep & eat a healthy breakfast.
Tuesday, May 10th
Fourth Grade S.T.A.A.R. Reading Test - Get a good night's sleep & eat a healthy breakfast.
Tuesday, May 17th
Math Reward Day for those that have earned their Golden Gumball.
Friday, May 20th
Reading Counts Field Trip for those that have met their Reading Counts goal.
Tuesday, May 24th
3-5th Grade Field Day
Wednesday, May 25th
Fourth Grade Field Trip to Retractable Technologies Incorporated in Little Elm
Thursday, May 26th
Special Olympics
Tuesday, May 31st
Rocket Day (Viewing the 5th Grade Launches)
Wednesday, June 1st
Awards Assembly at 8:00 am
WANTED: Used Dryer Sheets
WANTED: Playing Cards
WANTED: Old Scrabble Tiles
Michelle Sparks
Lunch: 11:20-11:50
Recess: 11:50-12:20
Email: msparks@littleelmisd.net
Website: www.edmodo.com/mbsparks
Location: 2600 Hart Rd, Little Elm, TX, United States
Phone: (972) 947-9452 41502
Twitter: @mrssparks502