The Week of 2/29/2016

Happy Leap Day Everyone,

     As you know students took their FSA Writing Test today. Students seemed relaxed and pleased with the job that they did during the test. Please remember that students are asked to not discuss the prompts.

     Our next round of testing will not begin until Friday April 1st. Please see the full testing schedule below.

Date	Subject	Session	Type
Friday April 1st	Math	Session 1	Paper Pencil
Monday April 4th	Math	Session 2	Paper Pencil
Thursday April 21st	Reading	Session 1	Computer
Friday April 22nd	Reading	Session 2	Computer

     This week in math students will begin learning about angles. For this unit students will learn about acute angles (less than 90 degrees), right angles (exactly 90 degrees), obtuse angles (between 90 and 180 degrees), and straight angles (180 degrees). We will also learn to use a protractor to measure and draw angles.

     In science this week, we will complete chapter 7 and begin chapter 8. The test on chapter 7 will be on Wednesday 3/2. In chapter 8 we will learn about ecosystems and the parts of a food chain. We will also continue our work with our bean plants.

Have a great week,
Aesha

Week of February 22, 2016

Hi Everyone,

     This week we will have early release on Wednesday. A week from today (Monday 2/29), students will take the FSA Language Arts Writing Test. Students will be given a prompt, which they won't know what it is until the moment that they open their test book. Students will have 120 minutes to read the given articles, plan their writing, write their essay, and revise their work. Testing will begin promptly at 9:00. Please make every effort to have your child get a restful nights sleep. Please also have make sure that your child eats a good nutritious breakfast. Students will not be allowed to have water bottles or snack until testing is complete (9:00-11:15ish).

     We will be using the following schedule for the remainder of our FSA testing:

Date	Subject	Type	Session
Friday April 1st	Math	Paper Pencil	Session 1
Monday April 4th	Math	Paper Pencil	Session 2
April 11 – April 22	ELA	Computer

When we have more specific dates for the ELA sessions I will let you know. We are in need of snacks on testing days. If you child is in Ms. Johnson's homeroom and you are interested in helping out with snacks, please follow the link below:

                   FSA Snacks Sign Up--Ms. Johnson's Homeroom

      We will be going on our field trip to St. Augustine on Tuesday March 15th. The cost of the field trip is $12 for students and $27 for parents. Each class can have 5 chaperons. All monies are due on Friday March 4th. 

     This week in math we will complete our work on fractions and decimals. Students will take the end of unit test on this Friday (2/26). We will then move on to our unit on angles. In this unit students will learn about the different types of angles-acute, obtuse, right and straight. Students will also learn how to use a protractor to measure angles.  

     In addition to using I-Ready math students can also use w ww.floridastudents.org for access to additional resources to help review all of the math standards.

     This week in science we will finish up our study of chapter 7. The test on chapter 7 will be next week. We are continuing our work growing our bean seeds. Most groups have at least one plant growing!! I will post pictures soon.

Have a GREAT week,

Aesha

Week of February 8th

Hi Everyone,

     As you may know we are having our BoosterThon Fundraising event this week. Our team name is Johnson Jaguar Jedi!! So far the students have received enough pledges to put our class at $20+ per lap!!! The run is this Thursday at 10. Parents are invited to cheer us on at the side playground. Students are bringing home their fun run shirts today. Please have your child try on their shirt. If it does not fit please send it back to school tomorrow and I will change it out for a better size. Students should wear their shirts to school on Thursday. Students may want to wear a long sleeve shirt under their fun run shirt to stay warm. The low on Thursday morning is projected to be 46 the high will only be 61 so it will still be very cold at 10 AM.

     On Friday afternoon, we will celebrate Valentine's Day. I am asking that each child bring in one card for each of their classmates.

     We are also in need of parents to volunteer to drop of treats (cookies or cupcakes) and drinks (mini bottles of water or juice boxes) for us to enjoy while we read our cards.

     We will enjoy our cards and treats on Friday afternoon at 2:00. If you are interested in bringing in treats or drinks please let me know no later than Thursday 2/11.

     As part of our Florida History studies we will be traveling to St. Augustine for our next field trip. The field trip will be on Tuesday March 15th. During the trip we will take a guided trolley tour of the historical parts of the city and a visit to the fort. The cost for students is $12. The cost for parents is $27. Due to visitor restrictions at the fort each of the fourth grade classes are only allowed 2 chaperones. If you would like to be a chaperone please send me a note or email. I will put all of the names in a hat and pick two to be our chaperones. If you can't go on this trip we still have a trip planned to MOSH in the spring. If you are interested please send me your name no later than Tuesday February 16th.

     This week in math we will begin our study of decimals. Decimals are just like fractions they represent a part of whole. We will study decimals through the hundredths place. Students will learn how to read and write decimals. Students are being asked to express decimals in the following way: 5.67 would be read as five and sixty-seven hundredths. Students will also learn how to compare and order decimals, and how to find equivalent decimals and fractions.

     This week in science students will continue to learn about the characteristics of animals and plants. Students are working on growing bean plants with their table groups and we are growing radish seeds without soil. 

Have a Great Week and enjoy the Long Weekend!!!

Aesha

     

     

The Week of 1/25/2016

Hi Everyone,

     This is Literacy Week. We will have several fun activities for the students to show  how important literacy is in our everyday lives. 
Literacy Changes Our World
Monday, 1/25/16: Door Decoration!
Tuesday, 1/26/16: Guest Readers around Our School Community!
Wednesday, 1/27/16 (Early Release): Light up Our World with Reading!
Thursday, 1/28/16: Wacky Word Walk!
* All students and teachers will be asked to dress as a vocabulary word. Each grade level will be responsible for coming up with a list of vocabulary words for students to choose from. Students will need to wear their chosen vocabulary word on either a sentence strip or index card that is visible to the audience. The entire school will participate in a parade around the outside track while parents and school staff cheer them on from 9:00-10:00 a.m. Only resource classes scheduled during this time will be canceled.
Friday, 1/29/16: Door Decoration Awards!

     As part of our study of plants and animals we will be going on our field trip to the Jacksonville Zoo on this Friday.  Students are asked to wear their class shirts. If your child does not have an official JBE class shirt please have your child wear a light blue shirt. Please also have your child bring a jacket or sweat shirt. The weather right now is projected to be sunny with a high of 64 and low of 41. Students may also bring a camera and sunglasses. We will not be riding the train, carousel, or visiting the gift shop, so students will not need to bring any money. 

     In math this week students will learn about equivalent fractions Students will learn how to use models, multiplication and division to find equivalent fractions. We will discuss writing fractions in simplest form (you may know as reducing fractions), renaming mixed numbers as improper fractions and changing improper fractions as mixed numbers. Students will also learn how to add and subtract mixed numbers with like denominators. Students will have a quiz on these concepts this Thursday.

     In science this week we will continue to learn about the parts of flowers. So far we have learned the names for the male and female parts of the flowers and the processes involved in plant reproduction (pollination, fertilization, seed dispersal, germination). We will hopefully have time this week to begin planting some seeds. Students will have quiz on lesson 1 this Thursday.

Have a great week!!
Aesha

Week of January 11, 2016

Hi Everyone,

     Needless to say I am floating on a cloud this week. The University of Alabama Crimson Tide is once again National Champions!! The Clemson Tigers put up a good fight but Alabama was able to come up with a win.

     This week in math we will have our end of module assessment.  Students will have a two part test. Part of the test will be on the computer and part of the test will be paper pencil. The students will begin the computer portion of the test on Tuesday. They will take the paper pencil portion of the test on Thursday. The test will cover everything in module 3-- factors, multiples, prime and composite numbers, multiplication, division, and multi step/multi operation word problems. The written portion of the test will also have some previously taught items (rounding numbers, comparing numbers, recognizing numbers in different forms, and converting units of measure). After testing is complete we will be moving on to fractions and decimals.

     This week in science we will take a test on force and motion, chapter 6. The test will be on Wednesday. Since we have only spent one week on this unit the students will be allowed to use their books to complete the test. Next week we will begin learning about plants and animals.  

Have a great week!!!

Week of January 4th 2016

Welcome Back to Back to School Everyone,

     I hope that everyone had a wonderful winter break!! I know that I enjoyed getting to spend extra time with my family and friends with no alarm clock going off every morning.

     This week looks to be very calm according to calendar, but there is lots of things coming up in the next few weeks. Please take a look at the calendar for important dates.

     We will spend the beginning of the week reviewing the strategies that the students have learned for division (multiplying up, array model, area model, and partial quotients). The majority of the students like partial quotients the best followed by the area model. Students will be free to choose the strategy that they like the best to solve problems. On Wednesday we will begin working problems that are multi-step and require multiple operations (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) to solve. 
For example: Jack wants to buy the same number of hats for 3 of his friends. He has $57 dollars, and each hat costs $5. What is the largest number of hats that Jack buys for each friend? How much money does Jack have left?
These types of problems require students to really think through the steps of problem solving. 
1. Understand the problem
2. Devise a plan to solve the problem
3. Carry out the plan 
4. Look back at the question. Does my answer make sense?

     Students will need to complete their math rotations projects this week. All projects are due on this Friday 1/8.

     This week in science we will begin a new chapter. In chapter 6 we will learn about force and motion. Since chapter six is so short (two lessons) we will only spend about 1 week on the material. 

Week of 12/7

Hi Everyone,

     Students will be bringing home progress reports for the second nine weeks on this Tuesday. Please review the grades with your child and discuss with them what areas they think that they need to improve. Goal setting is great way for students to feel involved in the learning process. Please also remind them that my room is open most mornings. They can come in to work on their class projects, complete their i-Ready work, or to get extra help on things that we are working on in class. Please send back the bottom of the progress reports no later than Friday.

     This Friday evening JBE will have our first ever Taste of the World event. Students can participate in activities from around the world and even have a small taste from featured countries. I hope that you can attend this very fun sounding event. Stop by my classroom to make a lantern.

     On Monday and Tuesday students will complete two testing sessions of our Mid-Year Math Scrimmage. The test will cover various topics in 4th grade math. The students will answer questions that cover content that we have learned about and things that we have yet to cover. For the rest of the week we will begin learning about division. In 4th grade students will learn various strategies for solving division problems. However we will not learn the long division algorithm. Students will not be responsible for knowing how to use the algorithm until 6th grade. In fourth grade students need to be able to successfully find whole-number quotients and remainders with up to four-digit dividends and one-digit divisors. 
The strategies that we will use include:
*Multiplying Up or Using Multiplication Facts that we Know

*Array Model

*Area Model

*Partial Quotients

This week our work will focus on Multiplying Up, The Array Model and the Area Model.

     This week in science we will continue our work on energy. This week we will learn about thermal energy. Did you know that all matter has thermal energy? Thermal energy normally thought of as heat is actually a measure of the amount of energy that the particles of matter have. Even objects that we think of as being cold have thermal energy. An iceberg actually has more thermal energy than a pot of boiling water. Students will learn about the three ways that heat is transferred-radiation, convection, and conduction.