Meet Dotty

On Monday, while we were out at recess, I looked down on my jacket to see a bug crawling on me.  Not much for bugs, I almost swatted it away before I noticed what it was.  Thankfully, I recognized this larvae before I knocked her off my jacket.

If all goes well, this little beetle-like larvae will soon be entering into the pupa stage where she will transform, much like a butterfly does, into a ladybug.  She is drinking sugar water which will hopefully sustain her until she goes through the transformation phase.  

After a couple of days and many wonderful ideas, by popular vote, our new class pet has been named Dotty!  We are all excited to watch her as she grows and changes!

Being about a centimeter long, she is hard to photograph, but you and your family could look up more about our new class pet at: http://www.ladybug-life-cycle.com/

Community Thanksgiving Placemats

Today, we worked with our character partners to create "woven" placemats that will be used at the Community Thanksgiving Lunch. Each year, one of the elementary schools hosts those who work in the community such as police officers and sanitation workers to a special lunch as a way to say thank you for all they do for our community. I know that all of those people will enjoy these thoughtful placemats!

Week 11

What an exciting week we had last week with Red Ribbon Week and the 4th Grade Store!  This week, I know the kids are also very excited as Halloween is on Thursday.  I will not be assigning any specific homework on Thursday as I know the kids will all be busy, but we will have a vocabulary quiz and 7s quiz on Friday, but of course the kids can study ahead of time.  I have told the students that they are welcome to take their spelling test on either Thursday or Friday of this week, so they can choose when they want to study.

Don't forget that Scholastic Book Orders are due on Wednesday if you are interested.  Look back to the blog last week about how to log on and order books.

Reading - This week our focus is on drawing conclusions based on the text.  Students are making generalizations about characters using evidence from the text to support their ideas.  Our vocabulary words for the week are: fault, borrow, slimy, reference, fainted, genuine, local, apologize, proof, and insisted.

Language - We are continuing our focus on pronouns and possessive nouns.  We will have a test on Wednesday covering these topics.

Spelling - The words this week all have vowels that are controlled by the r, such as chair and prepare.  

Math - We are continuing to study multiplication by looking at arrays.  We have been talking a lot about the terms: prime, composite, multiple and factor.  We will continue to focus on those words this week and will have a short quiz on Thursday.  Our multiplication focus this week is on the number 7, a very tricky number! There are not a whole lot of "tricks" for the number 7, so just help your child memorize them, and feel free to rewatch this School House Rock video:

Alabama History - We will be talking more about the "modern" tribes that occupied Alabama and what life was like before the explorers arrived.

Science - We have completed our unit on sound!  We will look briefly at different land formations this week and then begin our study on Motion and Design.

Basketball and Reading

Tomorrow, the kids will come home with another, small reading log.  This is not something that the children have to complete, but rather an opportunity for you all.  If your child returns the reading log, complete with five books that he/she has read by November 15th, the whole family will receive a family pass to attend a Birmingham Southern Men's Basketball home game for free!

I realize that November 15th will be here before you know it, but the reading log gives no indication as to how long the books need to be, just that at least five books must be read.

If you and your family are interested in this great opportunity then get to reading and return the reading log to me by November 15th!

4th Grade Store

The 4th Grade Store happens once every nine weeks and is an opportunity for the students to spend all of those bucks that they have been working hard to earn.  Each class gets an opportunity to host the store and we were the first class with this opportunity.  Our classroom was transformed into a store Friday morning, with all sorts of goodies for sale.  The class enjoyed first doing some shopping, and then helping others to shop by showing them what sorts of things they could buy and helping to check them out after they made their purchases.  It was quite the exciting morning!

Pajama Day

What a treat to get to wear our Pajamas to school!  It was a great reminder to us that sleep is an important part of having a healthy lifestyle as we wrapped up the end of Red Ribbon Week!

Instruments

Over the past two days, the students have shared the instruments that they created.  The kids showed great understanding of the sound unit as all the instruments were able to change pitch and volume.  I loved seeing the variety of instruments and the true creativity in each one!  I also loved hearing how proud each of the students was about his/her own creation!  Congratulations to all of the students on their hard work and unique creations!

Week 10

It is Red Ribbon Week!  Each evening you will be getting a text from Remind 101 about what your child should wear the next day.  Each day has something to do with being healthy!

The kids are enjoying selling the Owl Update each morning and looking very forward to the 4th Grade Store that we will have on Friday morning!

Reading: This week we are focusing again on making inferences about characters based on their actions, words and thoughts.  Talk with your child about the book he/she is reading and see if he/she can think "deeper" about the characters.   Many of our vocabulary words coincide with the story about the collage artist that we read today.  The words for the week are: studio, smeared, glorious, model, ruined, streak, concerned, yanked, feast, and schedule.  There will be a vocabulary quiz on Friday.

Spelling: We are focusing on words with the " 'ow' that hurts" sound and the " 'aw' that's cute" sounds.

Math: The fact focus this week is on the number 8.  We are almost through the times tables, but some of the hardest ones are yet to come: 7 and 12!  We have started talking about multiplication; we started by reading a fun story about Amanda Bean.  Ask your child to tell you more about what this young girl learned about multiplication.  Our focus this week will be on arrays.

Language: The students will be learning all about pronouns and possessives this week.  There will be a quiz on these early next week.

AL History: We are continuing to discuss those first people in Alabama and what life was like for them.

Science: Our focus has been on the parts of the ear and how the ear works.  Today, we had a real treat as Mrs. Mooresmith, a first grade teacher, came to tell us more about her daughter's cochlear implant.  We learned more about how the ear works and how scientists have been able to give people born with significant hearing loss, the ability to hear.  On Friday, the students will have a test on the ear.  They will need to be able to label major parts of the ear such as the pinna (outer ear), ear canal, eardrum, the middle ear (made up of the three smallest bones in your body), cochlea and the Eustachian tube.  They will also need to be able to explain how sound moves through the ear and how our brains help to interpret the sound.  Instruments, along with the written information, are due on Thursday!

Scholastic Book Clubs

Monday morning, your child will have an opportunity to pick up Scholastic Book Order flyers.  Ordering books is in no way mandatory, but I do like sharing Scholastic Book Orders because: a) the books are very reasonably priced and b) it is a great way to add to our classroom library as well as yours!

Ordering online is probably the easiest way to go, but if you would prefer, you are welcome to send in the paper ordering slip from the flyer with cash or a check made out to Scholastic.

If you would like to order books for a surprise for your child, just email me after you have placed the order so I will know to hold those books aside, then I will coordinate a pick-up time with you!

Here is a note from Scholastic about how the Book Club works:

Encouraging reading is one of the most important things we can do to help your child succeed. It can be tough finding the right books to keep them interested, which is why I am so excited that our class will be participating in the Scholastic Reading Club this school year.

With Scholastic Reading Club:

• Every book you buy earns FREE Books for our classroom library

• You can choose from handpicked, grade- and reading-level-specific books for your child

• You’ll find the best values on a variety of formats, including eBooks

Each month, your child will bring home Reading Club flyers. Together you can choose from books hand-selected by teachers and experts, and then order online or by returning your order form and payment to me.

If This Is Your First Time Ordering Online:

• REGISTER at scholastic.com/readingclub 

• ENTER the one-time Class Activation Code:GT74M 

• CHOOSE from thousands of books, value packs, and Storia® eBooks 

• SUBMIT the order to me by the due date listed on the website (This first order is due October 30)

• EARN FREE Books for our classroom too!

https://orders.scholastic.com/GT74M

Owl Update

Your children have worked very hard the last few weeks to create an Owl Update that will interest and inform all of the students of Shades Cahaba.  They have come up with some very creative ideas, some fun activities and interesting articles.

It is hot off the press and ready to be sold tomorrow, but here is a preview of the newspaper.  I'm very proud of the hard work your children have put into it!

Reading Goals

I have thoroughly enjoyed talking with each of your children over the last few days about the goals that they have for their reading this nine weeks.  They have been very thoughtful and reflective as they look over the goals they set for this previous nine weeks and the ones that they are setting for the upcoming nine weeks.  They are choosing challenging, yet attainable goals that will help to expand their reading choices into genres or series that they have yet to explore.

As your children bring these goals home, please look over them with your child so that you can both be familiar with them and help your child to work to achieve these goals that he/she has set.

Owl Prowl

It was wonderful to see so many of members of our class participating in the Owl Prowl: either by running or coming to cheer on their friends, siblings and classmates!  What a beautiful day we had to celebrate being healthy, being a part of the SCE family and of course having fun!

What materials can sound travel through?

Last week, we tested to see if sound could travel through air and water.  Today, we tested to see if sound could travel through solids such as wood and string.  Ask your child what he/she discovered!

Natalie and Harrison

Lily

Sunny

Aidan and Hailey

Danny and Lily

Sunny and Ben

Fritzi

Alex

Paschal