The Silver Scoop
September 28 - October 2 edition
Our Students Show PRIDE
Congratulations to the students who "clipped up" last week for showing exceptional behavior: Luke, Savannah, Riley, Kiki, Christian, Jacob, Joshua B., Maddox, and Josh N. Several students earned their blue PRIDE bands last week, too: Christian, Savannah, Gabi, and Alexis. Way to go! In last week's newsletter, I forgot to give a special "shout out" to Norah. One of her credits was chosen in the weekly school-wide PRIDE drawing, and she got to spin the prize wheel! Thanks to Norah, our class celebrated hat day last Tuesday.
Upcoming Events
First quarter ends this Friday! Report cards will go home next Wednesday, October 7.
Fall Break is coming up soon! There will be no school the week of October 12-16.
This week's special schedule:
Monday--Library, Tuesday--Music, Wednesday--Art, Thursday--Gym, Friday--Computer Lab
**Students will be taking the STAR Reading test during computer lab time on Friday. This test will be given several times this year as we try to see growth in the students' reading abilities.
Last Week's Learning
As we study place value in math, the students are getting many opportunities to practice their skills with hands-on activities and games. Check out these active learners!
AR Page Update
This is the last week to earn pages toward the 1st quarter goal of 400 pages! Many students have already met this goal. Congratulations to Vinny, Norah, William, Kiki, Bella, Abigail, Savannah, Nik, Joshua B., Luke, Riley, Maddy, Christian, Reagan, Alexis, Tyran, and Gabi! Five more students are in the 300s, so I'm hoping they will finish books this week and reach the goal! If you didn't see your child's name on this list, check with him/her. The page update is always posted in the classroom. Next week the students' pages will reset to 0, and they will begin reading toward individualized page goals for 2nd quarter.
What We Are Studying This Week
DOL/Word Work -- We will do DOL Week #8 each morning this week. On Friday students will take a quiz over the DOL sentences we corrected. In Word Work, we are on List #8 on adding -ed and -ing to verbs. This list has 10 pairs of verbs (20 words), so we will not have any core words on the test. We will focus on the rules that apply when adding -ed and -ing, such as doubling consonants after short vowels in one syllable verbs, changing the final "y" to an "i" when adding an ending, dropping a final "e", etc. In addition to spelling the 20 list words correctly on the oral spelling test, the students will have to apply these rules to other verbs on the application part of the test. This Week's Words: watched, watching, danced, dancing, studied, studying, stopped, stopping, dried, drying, happened, happening, noticed, noticing, robbed, robbing, slipped, slipping, hurried, hurrying
Science -- There will be a test over Unit 1 on Thursday. We will be reviewing the Practice Test that is in the textbook, and students will also bring home a study guide on Monday. Please look for this study guide and have your child review it before the test. The test will cover the scientific method, science process skills, and the metric system.
Social Studies -- This week we will read Lesson 4 on Indiana's natural resources. We will also study resource maps and talk about how the land in Indiana has been modified over time. There will be homework on either Wednesday or Thursday this week.
Math -- We are going to review Topic 3 on Monday in preparation for a test on Wednesday. For the test, students need to be able to write numbers in standard, word, and expanded form. They should be able to compare numbers using >,<,= and to put them in order. Students also need to be able to round numbers to any place value. On Thursday we will start Topic 4 on addition and subtraction. Monday's math homework will be the Reteaching/Practice Test questions from the book, and it will be due Wednesday. There will also be math homework on Thursday. We will continue to practice counting by 7s, and students will have opportunities to pass their mini-multiplication and division tests, too. Last week several students passed their last multiplication tests: Maddox, Carson, Gabi, Tyran, Norah, and Lila. Yay!
This year the whole school is participating in a Math Facts Challenge. Each grade level has selected 4 fact tests for students to pass throughout the year. 4th graders will have to pass addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division tests, which will be given on Fridays. All students who pass all 4 tests will get to participate in a fun celebration at the end of the year! We did our first addition test on Friday (100 facts in 5 minutes), and Ava, Alexis, Jasket, and Josh N. passed on their first try! They will move on to subtraction facts this Friday. Since we have been studying multiplication facts too, the students also did that test (100 facts in 5 minutes), and Ava, Tyran, Riley, and Josh N. passed it on the first try! Wonderful! All students will be given the opportunity to take these tests again this Friday.
Reading -- This week we should read Chapters 16-22 in The Westing Game. The kids and I are excited that so many parents want to read this book right along with us! We continue to climb the "plot mountain" of this story as we head toward the climax, which we won't quite get to this week. But did you hear that we may have had a breakthrough last Friday? The students think that the heirs' clues may be the words to "America the Beautiful." When we hit the climax of the story, they will find out for sure! The students will continue to have some comprehension and grammar practice pages to complete. An assignment over Chapters 16-18 will be due on Wednesday and one over Chapters 19-21 will be due on Friday. During our Thursday station time, students will practice synonyms and antonyms.
Language -- We will read all about linking verbs in Grammar Town on Monday, and the students will practice identifying parts of speech in a variety of sentences. On Thursday, one learning station will send students on a "task card scavenger hunt," as they find sentences hidden around the hallway and identify the verbs in each sentence as action or linking verbs. Everyone will also revise and edit their Encyclopedia Brown newspaper articles. We will begin publishing these 4-paragraph essays on Friday, and they should be finished before Fall Break.
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