4th Nine Weeks: Week 6

It looks like we have a busy weather week ahead; I hope you all stay safe and dry!

Testing: This week state testing begins.  For us, if all goes as planned, we will be taking the reading test on Wednesday morning and the math test on Thursday morning.  All of this is subject to the weather cooperating as well as the computers and the internet.  This year, testing will be done on the computers for the first time and we are all a bit anxious to see how it will go.  Students will have scratch paper for math, but all of their answers will be recorded electronically.  Please ensure that your child has a good night's sleep before the tests and a good breakfast to help them do their very best.  They have learned a lot this year, and I'm confident they will do well!

Reading: Today we will finish Riding Freedom.  Make sure to discuss this story with your child; I believe you, too will thoroughly enjoy the story behind this historical fiction.  We will be starting book clubs later this week where the students will be reading novels in small groups.

Spelling: The words this week are the "schwa + l" words.  So, similarly to last week, the vowel sounds are very similar but are spelled in different ways: "el," "al" and "le."

Writing: Students are writing this week, trying to persuade other people to read their favorite book.

Math: Decimals are the focus this week!  We will be comparing, rounding, adding, subtracting and multiplying decimals!

Alabama History: What happened after the Civil War?  This is our focus this week as we look at what shaped the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century.  Today, we will look at how and when Birmingham became a city.

Science: The focus this week is on animal adaptation.  Students will be learning about how animals must adapt in order to survive in whatever habitat they live in.

Relay for Life

On Friday morning, all of Shades Cahaba gathered together at the flag pole for a special celebration.  We gathered to hear just how much money we had raised to support the fight against cancer through Relay for Life.  That grand total was astounding: 

This total did not include the well over $600 raised on Friday alone for "Crazy for a Cure."  Our final numbers, including some donations Friday night, got us to just shy of $7,000, the largest fundraising group for Relay for Life of Homewood!  What an amazing donation!  Thank you for your help and support!

We kicked off Relay for Life by doing our own lap around the school.  This is always a highlight in the year, seeing the entire school come together for one great cause.  Our class walked around the school with their character partners, helping them to understand just how meaningful this event was.

Thanks for helping us make a difference in the fight against cancer!

4th Nine Weeks: Week 5

Wow the year is flying by quickly!

Reading: We are continuing to read the inspiring historical fiction, Riding Freedom.  Children are looking carefully at signposts and questioning the character's actions as we read.  Our vocabulary words for the week are: precarious, reputation, considerate, masquerade, favored, trousers, recognition, fierce, and arouse.  The students may visit http://www.studystack.com/SearchResults.jsp for a variety of games to help them study vocabulary.

Spelling: The spelling words this week are the schwa + r controlled verbs.  (I did some research on this over the weekend as this term always confuses me.  It is not the sound that is made but rather the name of a vowel sound, often unstressed that you find in words like chocolate, sofa, and camera.)  These words are often tricky because the r controls the way the vowel sounds and they all sound similar.  Students will need to focus on remembering which words have or, ar and er in them.

Writing: We will be examining persuasive writing more this week and beginning to write our own persuasive pieces.

Math: Fractions and decimals are both part of a whole number.  The students will be learning more this week about exactly what a decimal is and how it relates to a fraction.

Alabama History: What happened after the Civil War?  How was life different in Alabama without any slaves?  What were the schools like back then?  These difficult questions will be the focus of our studies this week.

Science: The students are learning how to classify animals this week.  Do you know how many kingdoms there are?  Do you know how many levels of classification there are in the animal kingdom? Ask your fourth grader, he/she should know!

4th Nine Weeks: Week 4

Another rainy Monday, but it is sunny in here with all of these bright fourth graders!

Reading: We have started a new book today, Riding Freedom.  We read just the first few pages, but already the kids are thinking deeply about our main character, Charlotte.  This is a fantastic historical fiction novel that I believe the children will really enjoy.  We will be making inferences about our characters and looking for signposts as we go.  The vocabulary words come from the story: blustery, rickety, lurched, clutched, frantic, hovered, pry, and orphanage.

Writing: After spending so much of the year working on grammar, we will be spending the next couple of months focused more on writing.  We are starting the week by looking at descriptive writing and how it should be used in all of our writing.  Later in the week, we will identify different types of writing and then focus on persuasive writing.  So, if you see your children becoming more persuasive, maybe they are just using what they are learning in school! :)

Spelling: All of the words have a VV pattern like science, poem and read.  I am encouraging the children to break the words into syllables so they can hear the different vowel sounds.

Math: Tomorrow will be our last day on the math menu.  Later on in the week, the students will be learning more about multiplying fractions with a whole number and how to add fractions with different denominators.  Our fraction test will be early next week.  There will be a review on Schoology later this week.

Alabama History: The students should be working on their Civil War projects that are due next week; they are free to do just about anything (make a game, write a speech, make a video, create a power point, change the words to a song, etc.) as long as the requested information about the Civil War is included.  In the classroom this week, we will be watching some of Gone with the Wind.  We are examining what life was like during the Civil War, but don't worry, we will stop well before that infamous last line! :)

Science: We are finishing up our study on space and will soon begin looking at the six kingdoms and why living things are classified as they are.

4th Nine Weeks: Week 3

What a crazy start to our Monday!  I hope you and yours are safe and dry!

Reading: We will continue to focus on plot and theme.  Our vocabulary words for the week flow into history and science: phase, illuminate, restriction, introduction, solve, dissolve, occupy and compassion.

Spelling: The pattern this week is VCCCV in words such as hundred, sandwich and athlete.

Language: The students are putting their final touches on the class book and it is looking spectacular!  I'm very proud of their writings, drawings and what they have learned this year!

Math: We are continuing to solve problems that encourage the students to use all of the fraction knowledge that they have learned.  They are solving problems like doubling recipes and dividing shapes into equal portions.  They must use their knowledge of equivalent fractions, comparing fractions and adding fractions to solve all of these problems.

Science: The students will be learning about the phases of the moon.

Alabama History: We will be looking at the end of the Civil War, why the North won the war and the reconstruction period after the war.