Holiday Celebration

Today was a wonderful day full of cheer and joy!  This morning, during our holiday celebration, we made blankets that will soon be delivered to Jessie's Place to warm the bodies (and hearts) of some people in need this holiday season.  We also enjoyed some fabulous food and gave books to a secret pal.  What a fun way for our class to celebrate this half of the year together!

Happy Holidays!

SCE TV

There was another fabulous episode of SCE TV this morning starring our class!  In this week's episode, you can learn how to make a snowman from frosting, do a step-by-step drawing of SpongeBob, learn how to make a snowman from socks, and of course get a look at this weekend's weather!

http://goo.gl/2IsKA

Final Week of the First Semester

As I told the kids, it is going to be a busy week this week and they will need to work hard, but after this they have two weeks off!

Reading - We are going to be finishing up The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe this week.  As we are nearing the end, the children are really caught up in the story and eager to find out what will happen to our characters.  We do not have any new vocabulary words this week, but we will have a vocabulary test tomorrow on our  words from last week.  This is also the last week for children to complete their reading goals!

Language - This week we are continuing to look at adjectives and how we can use them to make our sentences more detailed.

Spelling - No new spelling this week as our spelling test on words ending with ing and ed is tomorrow.

Math - Tomorrow we will be having our multiplication test and for the rest of the week, we will get started on our division unit.

Science - The children have really enjoyed our motion and design unit, especially as we began experimenting with different types of energy and friction.  On Tuesday, we will begin reviewing for the test that we will have on Thursday.

AL History - The past week or so has really been depressing as we have talked about the Trail of Tears.  I must admit though that I have been so proud to see such outrage coming from your children as we discuss this horrific event from our nation's history.  Last week, we read a speech given by Andrew Jackson to the US Congress.  Although much of the language was above their reading level (some of it was admittedly above mine!), they were able to make sense of the speech and became truly angry.  If you have a moment, you may enjoy reading it as well so that you can discuss it further with your child: http://www.nps.gov/museum/tmc/manz/handouts/Andrew_Jackson_Annual_Message.pdf 
Alabama History projects are due on Wednesday.

I hope to see you all at our holiday celebration this Friday morning at 8:30.  It has certainly been a semester worth celebrating!

Play Script

On Tuesday morning (a couple of weeks ago, we were having trouble uploading videos to the blog!), the children chose scenes from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe to turn into a short play by writing the scene as a play script. They chose wonderful scenes and did a great job of transforming a book into a very short play by adding their own expression and enthusiasm.

Here are the end results of their hard work and creativity:

Dear Santa

What a spectacular job the children did on their musical yesterday!  Mrs. Pepper does such a beautiful job teaching the children, inspiring them and encouraging them to take part in a production.  The kids have worked hard on their lines, the songs, the dance moves, and when to be where on stage.  I'm so very proud of them!

I hope the musical helped to put you in the holiday spirit, just as it helped me!  I still have those great songs stuck in my head... "All I want for Christmas is a P-U-P-P-Y..."

SCE TV

Our class once again starred on a wonderful episode of SCE TV this morning!  Learn all about: making your own cocoa, a community service project that the 5th graders are doing, how to make elephant toothpaste, and why the chicken crossed the road.

http://goo.gl/2IsKA

Week 16

The 4th Grade Musical is THIS Thursday night at 7pm!  I hope you and your family have all made plans to join us and see all of the great work your children have put into this entertaining show!  When you arrive on Thursday evening, please send the children to the classrooms where we will finish getting ready while you are finding a seat, but there is no need for your child to be here before 6:30.  The girls in our class are standing on the left hand (if you are facing the stage) part of the stage while the boys are on the right.  You may want to choose to sit on the opposite side of the gym to see them best!

Reading: The children are really enjoying The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe especially as we are getting deeper into the story and deeper into the action!  This week, we are continuing to talk about sequence of events in the story while also being on the lookout for those Sign Posts that tell us the author is telling us something important: Again and Again, Aha Moments, and Contrasts and Contradictions.  The vocabulary words this week are: sulkily, stunning, intended, shafts, vermin, strides, stammered, swiftly, repulsive, vicious, and quarrels.  Since the play is Thursday night and we will be having a few practices this week during our reading time, our vocabulary test will be next Tuesday.

Spelling: Again this week we have words with an added ed and ing ending.  Our spelling test will also be next Tuesday.

Language: We will begin looking at adjectives this week and how to use them to improve our writing.

Math: This week we will continue to look at multiplication by solving some larger-number problems as well as money and multiplying 3 numbers together.  Our test will most likely be Tuesday of next week, but we will begin reviewing a little bit later this week.

Alabama History: We finished discussing the Creek War this morning and will talk more about the Trail of Tears later this week.  The children's Alabama History project is due next Wednesday.  They are welcome to take home their books, newspapers and/or notebooks to help them with this project.  It can be simple or elaborate, it just needs to include all of the points outlined on the pink rubric that was sent home last week.

Science: The children will be investigating friction this week and how it impacts movement.

Multiplication Review

We are nearing the end of our multiplication unit.  We will still have another week or so of practice and extending what we do know into bigger numbers, but we have covered a good bit of the unit.  We will be having our multiplication test early during that last week of school before the holidays.  I thought I would go ahead and send this out though so if the children wanted to be playing some of these games for practice, they could.

Terms:

Product – answer to a multiplication problem

Array – rectangular configuration of items

Factor – a number used in a multiplication problem

            Example: The factors of 12 are: 1, 12, 2, 6, 3, 4

Multiple – a number that you say if counting by another number or the answer to a multiplication problem involving a specific number

            Example: Some factors of 4 are: 4, 16, 24, 28, 40, 44, 400

Great game for practicing multiples: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/multiple/multiple_frenzy.htm

App for multiples and factors: 

Math Slicer

FactorPop!

Prime Number – a number that only has the factors of 1 and itself

            Example: 3, 5, 7, 11, 13

Composite Number – a number that has more than two factors

            Example: 4, 9, 21, 24

 Great games for prime and composite numbers: http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/numbers/fruit_shoot_prime.htm

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/mathgames/monkeydrive/numbers/MDPrimeNumbers.htm

App for prime and composite numbers: FactorSamurai

Types of Problems:

Multiply 3 factors

            Example: 25 x 3 x 5

Multiply by multiples of tens

            Example: 400 x 30

Multiply two-digit by two-digit numbers

            Example: 95 x 34

Multiply larger numbers

            Example: 4,567 x 21

Multiply money

            Example: $53.27 x 19

Solve multiplication problems in several ways

            Example: Solve 22 x 5

                           20 x 5 = 100; 2 x 5 = 10; 100 + 10 = 110

                           Double/Half: 11 x 10 = 110

                           Column Multiplication/Algorithm

In all honesty, for most of these, the children can make up their own problems, or they could roll a dice to create numbers.  Just practicing is the best thing.  

Here is an online game though: http://www.mathplayground.com/multiplication05.html

Scholastic

Scholastic catalogs will be coming home tomorrow if you or the children are interested.  I apologize for the quick notice, but in hopes of getting the books in before Christmas, please have your orders turned in by Monday.  Ordering online may be the easiest way, so there is information about that below.  Remember, if you would like to purchase something as a gift for your child, you are more than welcome to, just send me an email so I know to hold it and then I can arrange a "transfer" with you at a later date.

Shop Online: scholastic.com/readingclub
One-Time Class Activation Code: GT74M

Dear Families,

Good news! This month's Scholastic Reading Club flyers are ready for you to explore with your child. Children read more when they choose their own books, so I encourage you to look at the flyers together. Each flyer is filled with curated, affordable books and Storia® eBooks that are just right for our grade, plus I've included some of my personal recommendations below.

Place your order online at scholastic.com/readingclub or return the order form and payment to me. Ordering online is the easiest way to ensure I get your order on time, plus there are more books to choose from.

Don't forget that for every book you buy from Scholastic Reading Club, our class earns FREE Books and supplies-and we have our eye on some new additions!

Thank you for your support!

Happy reading,

PS: Books make wonderful gifts! Please let me know if your order includes a gift or surprise, and I will contact you when it arrives.


Ordering online is fast and easy:

•  REGISTER at scholastic.com/readingclub
•  ENTER the Class Activation Code at the top of this letter
•  CHOOSE from thousands of print titles, value packs, and Storia eBooks
•  SUBMIT the order to me by the due date at the top of this letter
•  EARN FREE Books for our classroom too!

Multiplication Math Menu

Tomorrow, in the Tuesday Communicator, you will be receiving your child's work on the multiplication menu that we did for about a week and a half.  Although all of their work is included, the problems are not.  I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the problems as well.  See if your child can explain some of them to you, or perhaps you could even do one together!

Subject and Predicate

Here is a fabulous video with the basics definitions of subject and predicate:

One of the first things we talked about with this topic was that each sentence must have a subject and a predicate or it is not a complete sentence.  This game is great for checking for that.  Be careful, it tries to trick you: http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/game/en30stru-game-spot-the-sentence  It is a British game, so it says "full stop" instead of "period."

This website has worksheets (and the answers!) for complete subject and complete predicate as well as simple subject and simple predicate: http://www.englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Subjects-and-Predicates.htm

The students should be able to combine simple sentences into sentences with compound subjects or compound predicates.  Examples:
Narnia is magical.  Hogwarts is magical. - Narnia and Hogwarts are magical.
Lucy can sing.  Lucy can dance. - Lucy can sing and dance.

This worksheet will help with identifying run-on sentences: http://englishforeveryone.org/PDFs/Run%20on%20sentences.pdf

This game will help you practice if it is a sentence, a run on sentence or a fragment (not a sentence): http://www.quia.com/rr/235542.html

Here is a quiz where you can test your skills: http://www.quia.com/quiz/718830.html?AP_rand=129301858

Good luck studying!

Week 15

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families.  I loved hearing all that the children did and just how much they enjoyed being with their families and of course enjoyed all of the delicious food!

In the Tuesday Communicator tomorrow, you will find a print out of your child's AR tests for this nine weeks.  I just thought it was a good time that you and your child look over how much and what all your child has read over the last six weeks and planned what else he/she needs to read over the next three weeks.

December is a very busy month for us at school as I know it is for you as well!  I do hope you will join us next Thursday night, December the 12th for the 4th Grade Musical.  The kids are doing a great job in practices and I'm excited to see the final production.  Also in the Tuesday Communicator, you will find information about how your child can help to ring the bell for the Salvation Army next Saturday.

Reading - This week we are continuing to read The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe as we continue to make inferences about the main characters.  We will also be talking about the importance of understanding sequence in a story.  Our vocabulary words this week are: dreadful, decoy, prophecy, treacherous, shuddered, turrets, gloomy, gloating, jeering, threshold and skidding.

Spelling - All of the words this week have ing or ed endings.  The children are learning if they need to drop the silent e at the end or double the final consonant of the root word.

Language - We are continuing to work on subject and predicate this week.  We will have a test on Thursday.  I will post another blog with some study "opportunities" to help the children with this topic.  I'm so glad so many of them used the verb blog to help them study for the last language test.

Math - This week we are mastering 2 digit by 2 digit numbers and hopefully learning more about 3 digit by 3 digit multiplication as well.

Alabama History - We finished discussing the American Revolution and will be looking at what happened after America became a country.  We will focus this week on the Creek War.  We only have a couple more topics to cover in this unit, so on Thursday I will send home information about the final project for this unit.

Science - This week we are learning all about energy, specifically rubber band energy.  The students thoroughly enjoyed investigating how rubber bands could make the cars move.  Ask your child to tell you more about kinetic and potential energy!