Classroom News for the Week of September 9th

Notices and Reminders:

THANK YOU!

I am so grateful for all the supplies you have sent in from Back-to- School Night's wish list. I appreciate your generosity and how quickly you donated the items. Thank you so much!!

URGENT - FIELD TRIP $ Due:

If you haven't done so already, please send a check payable to Mt. Washington Elementary for $50 to cover the cost of this year's field trips. We have seven trips planned this year for your child and need your contribution to make them happen.  We have divided the costs of school buses and admission fees across all 4th grade families. Your contribution is needed as there is no other funding source for these school excursions.  If it is easier for your family, you are welcome to send two payments of $25. Thank you in advance for your support!

REMINDERS: 

* Please make sure to check (and sign) your child's Homework Log each evening.  

* Please join the PTA! If we have 100% membership, our class will receive a $100 gift card to purchase supplies. We are about 1/3 of the way there.

DONORS CHOOSE Project Needs Funding:  Wow! Thanks to the support of the Zepeda, Harth and Staley-Thomas families our project on Donors Choose is almost halfway funded! Please click on this link: Donors Choose to read more about the project and to make a donation. It's fast, easy, and tax-deductible. Every little bit helps and will provide your child with some wonderful materials for this school year. Thank you!

SCHEDULE CHANGES: 

Early dismissal on Tuesday -School is dismissed at 1:30 p.m.

What's Going On This Week In Class:

Math: 

This week we will be finishing up lessons from Topic 2. There will be a brief quiz on Wednesday. Please review Monday and Tuesday night's homework carefully with your child. Topic 3 is a review of multiplication and division.

We've begun "Multiplication Madness" (daily, 1 min. multiplication fact practice). Please work with your child to help him/her memorize facts x1-x12.

Writing:

This week students will begin drafting a fictional narrative based on the design challenge - Design an NBS Place to Play.

Students will also be reviewing how to identify and use similes.

Reading:

We will be reading out of the Treasures anthology. This week's selection is realistic fiction, The Adventures of Ali Baba Bernstein. Comprehension skill: Drawing Conclusions. We will be using the Depth and Complexity icons to dig deeper into the text.

Literature selection:  Bridge to Terabithia. 

Accelerated Reader/ Genre Blackout Challenge continued...Ask your child about his/her progress.

Greek and Latin Roots Homework:

This week's prefix & root: scrip, scrib = write, writing &  super, supr, sur = above, over, more

inscribe

inscription

prescription

transcribe

scribe

superhuman

superabundant

superb

supervise

surlus

Students should turn in their completed work (between 70 and 100 points) on Friday this week. A quiz on the word spellings and meanings will also be on Friday. 

If students choose to make crossword puzzle, they may use an online free puzzle maker such as www.puzzle-maker.com. Students must make a crossword puzzle (not a word search) and the must generate their own definitions of the word. Please have your child do his or her own typing.

Art & Writing:

Drawing Skills: We will be doing multiple "blind" contour drawings this week.

Class/Team Building:

This week our focus will be on what it means to work together collaboratively: Listening to everyone's ideas, finding common ground, presenting ideas as a team. Also, using our time in class wisely.

Social Studies/Science:

Social Studies: Geography continued...- Understanding maps of the earth: Learning hemispheres and lines of latitute and longitude.

Science:  Earth Sciences: Rocks and Minerals