Week of December 17th

Hi Everyone, 

     This is our last week of school of 2018!! That means that we are already half way through the school year. The 2nd nine weeks ends on this Friday 12/21. Students do not return to school until Tuesday January 8th. On Monday January 7th I will finalize report card grades. 

     Please ask your child about needed supplies. As we have reached the mid-way point students are beginning to run out of glue. If possible purchase your child a craft bond glue stick. Many of the regular glue sticks do not have a strong bond and student work sometimes falls out of journals. Many students do not have headphones. Headphones are a needed supply since we go to the computer lab at least once a week. We also use the lab top cart at once a week with Mrs. Chin for Genius Hour. The headphones in the lab are in short supply and I do not have extra headphones in the classroom. Students are also out of pencils and many have lost their scissors.

     A big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Samaikhya for winning the 4th Grade Spelling Bee!!

      This week in math students will take the module 4 test on geometry. We will then work on a culminating project, Geometry Snowman, to finish the unit. 

     Students will be receiving  a Winter Math Packet this week. The packet contains work that matches the standards that we have worked on so far this year. The packet is optional, but I encourage all students to complete the work. Students may get help from an adult or older siblings to answer questions, but the student must complete the work themselves. The completion of the packet is optional. Students that successfully complete the packet with a grade of B or higher will earn 25 tickets. 

     This week in science we will begin learning about heat energy. Students will learn that heat moves from warm places/objects to cooler places/objects until the temperature of both are the same. Students will also learn that heat moves in 3 ways; conduction, convection, and radiation.

     We will not cover a new lesson in social studies this week. Students do have a vocabulary homework assignment. 

      I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone Happy Holidays. What ever you celebrate enjoy this time off. I hope that you get to spend tons of time with family and friends. 

Ms. Johnson

Week of December 3rd

Hi Everyone,

     We have another full week of school. And today would have been the perfect day to be home with a good book. Hopefully today is the only day with so much rain. 

     We have an illness make its way around the classroom. Students have had fevers, headaches, sore throats, and upset stomachs. Remember that a student must be fever free for 24 hours without medication before they can return to school. With testing happening this week we want to keep from spreading our germs as much as possible. 

     We will begin mid year testing this week. Please see the schedule below:

Mon. and Tues. (3rd & 4th) Achieve 3,000 and i-Ready Reading testing with Ms. Billiard
Wed. and Thurs. (5th & 6th) i-Ready Math testing with Ms. Johnson
Fri. and Mon. (7th & 10th) District ELA Scrimmage-students will test in their homeroom 
Wed. and Thurs. (12th & 13th) District Math Scrimmage-students will test in their homeroom 

Please make sure that students are getting plenty of rest and eat a filling breakfast. We want our students to show what they have learned so far this year. 

     This week in math we will learn how to find the measure of an unknown angle using the known measures of the angles around the unknown angle. This work will be done without the use of protractors. Students will do work like what is shown below.

 

Students will have to use information such as:

*circles equal 360 degrees

*straight lines equal 180 degrees 

*right angles equal 90 degrees

*a quarter of a circle equals 90 degrees

*three quarters of a circle equals 270 degrees

     

     This week in science we will finish up our work on sound energy. We will then begin working on how the kinetic energy of wind and water can be used to help us create clean energy. We will take our test on unit 7 next week. 

     

     Students did a great job last week with their annotated notes for social studies. Students will take annotated notes for this weeks lesson, chapter 4 lesson 1. When students take notes they:

*should include the section heading/subheading title

*should pull out a few important details from each paragraph

*not copy ever word

*should try to take the text and put it in their own words

*don't have to write complete sentences bullets are okay