The Silver Scoop
February 8-12
Our Class Shows PRIDE
Upcoming Events
Did you read Chapters 1-5 of Mr. Popper's Penguins? Please sign your child's reading log and return it to school on Monday so your child can earn a penguin pencil. There will also be a trivia question on announcements with one winner per grade level. This week's One School, One Book reading is Chapters 6-10.
The next PTO meeting is this Monday, February 8 at 6:30 p.m. in the school library.
Pennies for Patients continues this week. Last week our class collected about $50. In order to earn a bronze prize pennant, we have to raise $50 more. Remember that all money raised goes to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
On Thursday we have some special science activities planned. Using chocolate frosting and graham crackers, the students will model weathering, erosion, and tectonic plate movement. Coming soon we will also use Cheez-Its to learn about area and perimeter in math. If you are able to donate a food item for these activities, please sign up at http://vols.pt/jT8FW2. Thanks in advance for your consideration!
Valentine's Day parties will be held on Friday, February 12 at 2:30. Thank you to those who have already sent in party supplies, to those who have volunteered to help at the party, and to Christy Nunley who did an amazing job coordinating everything. Thanks to your support, the party will be an amazing experience for our students! Students may bring a valentine for each of their classmates. We have a new student to welcome to class! Please note the addition of NATHAN to our class list of 25. Boys: Christian, Joshua B., Luke, Nathan, Jacob, Keagan, Tyran, Nik, William, Maddox, Josh N., Telly, Pat, Vinny; Girls: Maddy, Norah, Savannah, Mia, Bella, Gabi, Kiki, Alexis, Abigail, Riley, Reagan
On Friday morning the 4th grade will celebrate Heart Fest! The students will travel between classroom stations doing cross-curricular learning activities to celebrate Valentine's Day.
Don't forget that there is no school next Monday, February 15 for Mid-Winter Break!
This week's special schedule:
Monday--Computer Lab, Tuesday--Library, Wednesday--Music, Thursday--Art, Friday--Gym
*The students will take the STAR Math test during computer lab time this Monday.
Last Week's Learning
Slideshow of Pictures: http://www.photosnack.com/ksilver/penguins.html
Video: https://youtu.be/I-LoPtN_wgY
In math, the students competed in a football game and challenged each other in rock, paper, scissors. All the while they were practicing measurement conversions! Here are some pictures from this week's fun activities.
What We Are Studying This Week
DOL/Word Work -- We will do Daily Paragraph Editing, Week #12. There will be a test on Friday. In Word Work, we are on List #22, which has more homophones, and there will be a test on Friday. This week's words: piece, peace, break, brake, threw, through, by, bye, beat, beet, thrown, throne, aloud, allowed, past, passed, weight, wait, there, their. There are no core words this week.
Math -- We are finishing Topic 14 on measurement, and there will be a test on Thursday. For the test, the students can use the colorful new "measurement fan" that we made in class on Friday. Each piece of the fan has equivalencies for the customary and metric units we have been studying. There will be homework on Monday and Wednesday this week.
Science -- This week we will read Lesson 5 in the new textbook all about natural resources. There will be science homework on Wednesday.
Reading -- Our story this week is "Teammates" from the purple reading book. This nonfiction selection tells about Brooklyn Dodger teammates Pee Wee Reese and Jackie Robinson. The students read a little bit about Robinson in the "American Sports Legends" reader last week, and after reading this week's story, they should have a deep understanding of his character. In fact, we are going to study Robinson's 9 Core Values that guided his life: courage, determination, teamwork, persistence, integrity, citizenship, justice, commitment, and excellence. The students will be closely reading the text to find evidence of these values in Robinson's life. We will also read the book Wilma Unlimited about track and field athlete Wilma Rudolph. The students will study Rudolph's character and will find connections between all of the athletes we've studied in the past two weeks. Our reading skills will be cause/effect and character traits. There will be homework on Tuesday and a story quiz on Friday.
Language -- Through our studies of Jim Thorpe, Babe Didrikson, Jesse Owens, Jackie Robinson, and Wilma Rudolph, the students have learned that these athletes have overcome significant obstacles to achieve success. Now the students will have the chance to write about overcoming their own barriers. Major League Baseball sponsors the "Breaking Barriers" essay contest every spring. Students in grades 4-8 share their personal stories of how they've used Jackie Robinson's values to face their own barriers. Our class will be writing essays to enter this contest. You can help your child think about a barrier they've faced. Barriers are challenges or obstacles that stop you from moving forward. Some can be seen, such as a fence, a disability, or an event, while others cannot, such as fear, inexperience, or lack of skills. We will begin working on this essay this week. The students will also practice writing constructed response answers to questions from an article about Wilma Rudolph.
Social Studies -- We used our social studies time for extra science last week, but I am hopeful that this week we will read about the American Revolution from Unit 2, Lesson 4 in our textbooks. There may be homework on Thursday.
This Week's Cartoon
Mrs. Kara Silver
4th Grade Teacher
Clarks Creek Elementary
Plainfield Community Schools
Email: ksilver@plainfield.k12.in.us
Website: http://www.plainfield.k12.in.us
Location: 401 Elm Drive, Plainfield, IN, 46168
Phone: 317-839-0120