Happy Thanksgiving

Hi Everyone, 

     I would like to send a thank you out to Parker's Dad for being our Military representative for last week's Veteran's Day Celebration. He returned home on Wednesday night and graciously came in on Thursday morning. Thank you for your service to all of our military members. 

 

     We will have our Colonial Kids Festival on Thursday. During the festival students will rotate through all of the 4th grade classrooms and participate in activities that kids during colonial times would have done both for fun and for chores. 

We will

*arts and crafts with palm fronds

*colonial games and toys

*jewelry with beads

*corn grinding

*weaving

*writing with quills and ink

We need at least 2 volunteers to help with the activity in our room to help with arts and crafts with palm fronds. So far we have one volunteer, thanks Mrs. Foisy.

     This week in math we will finish module 3 and take our test. The test will be on Friday. After thanksgiving we will begin learning about fractions. Math Choices are due the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, 11/29. 

     This week in science we will learn about sound energy. Students will learn how sound travels and why sound is considered to be kinetic energy. 

     Since next week is only two days, I will not send another update until the week of November 28th.  We are out of school on Wednesday 11/23 - Friday 11/25. School begins again on Monday 11/28.

  

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving break,
Aesha Johnson

Week of November 7th

Happy Monday Everyone,

     Welcome to a short a week. We will have our annual JBE Veteran's Day Flag Raising Ceremony on Thursday morning. After the ceremony we will have members of our military visit our classrooms.  Also in honor of Veteran's Day we will not have school on this Friday.

     A big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to all of our students that participated in this year's Starfish Strut. I would like to congratulate Vivian for placing second in the fourth grade girls division. I would also like to congratulate Marcus for winning first place in the fourth grade boys division. Marcus also won first place overall for the boys division.

     A big THANK YOU goes out to Jawara's dad for showing us how magnets work in an engine. We were able to apply what we have learned about magnetic attraction works.

     Another big THANK YOU goes out to Anaiya's mom, for coming in a doing another Wellness lesson with us. This time we learned about continuing to make healthy food choices during the holidays. To learn more visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-J1hmmy1OB4 or www.choosemyplate,gov 

     This week in math we will continue working on our division strategies. Students will begin learning how to interpret the remainder. Sometimes the answer to the equation won't be the same as the answer to the question. You can see an example of this below.

103 fourth graders are traveling to the zoo. The vans that they will take can hold 8 people including the driver. How many vans will they need?

In doing the math for this you would get an answer of 12 R 7, however 12 R 7 does not answer the question. The correct answer to the question is 13 vans are needed. 12 vans will have 8 people and the 13th van will hold 7 people.

     Students will take a quiz on division strategies on Thursday.  Students in addition to solving the problems students will also have to use a second strategy to check. Their second strategy can be another division strategy or a multiplication strategy of their choosing.

     In science this week we will learn about energy. The students will learn that there are two types of energy; kinetic (energy of motion) and potential (stored energy). All forms of energy; sound, mechanical, chemical, thermal, and electrical fall into one of those two categories.

     In social studies we will learn more about the election process. The final set of the vocabulary words for this unit are due on Thursday. Students also have a social studies sheet due this Thursday.

Have a great week,
Aesha Johnson

Week of October 31st

Happy Halloween Everyone,

     I would  like to thank everyone that helped with our Fall Festival. We had lots of fun. If you would like to see the pictures, please visit our Shutterfly page at https://4thgraderocksatjbe.shutterfly.com/.

    I would also like to thank Jennifer Guss for coming in to teach us about positive and negative space in art.  

    We will have another Early Release this Wednesday. Students will be dismissed at 1:30.

     In math this week we will begin working on our strategies for solving division problems. In fourth grade students will have problems with one-digit divisors and up to a four-digit dividend. Students will solve problems with and without remainders. Students will learn the following strategies:




According to our standard students will not be taught the long division algorithm. Students will not learn or be responsible for the algorithm until 6th grade. I recognize that some students know how to use the algorithm as a compromise students will be allowed to use the algorithm when working on math superstars questions.

     This week in science we will take a test on chapter 4 lessons 3 and 5 on Wednesday. The test will focus on measuring matter (mass and volume) and changes in matter. Matter choices will be due next Friday. Be on the look out for an email with the matter choice directions for anyone needing to finish up at home. Our next unit of study will be energy.

    In social studies we will continue our study of the election process. Students will learn about how candidates are chosen during the primary process. Students will also be working on an essay about what they would do if they were President. Students will be bringing their writing home to share it with you. Feel free to help them edit their work for content and grammatical mistakes. Their final drafts will be our next hallway display.

Have a GREAT week,
Aesha