Classroom News for the Week of September 29th

News and Upcoming Events: 

10/10 Field Trip to Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens
Chaperones:

• Susanne Foldes
• Serena Kojimoto
• Nicole Dow
• Stephanie Kemp

11/12 Field Trip to Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Chaperones:

• Belina David
• Charles Keagle
• Kai Ti Wang Olsen
• Rachel Livingston

10/15 Social Studies Project due 
(We discussed this project at length on Friday. Students are bringing directions home on Monday 9/29. No other social studies homework will be assigned during this period.)

Reminders:

* Tardies - Please make sure your child is at school and in line by the 8:06 bell. We try to start the school day at 8:11 promptly. Thank you for your help!

* Please check your child's Homework Log nightly and sign or initial after the work has been completed. Remind your child that completed homework and the HW log are due in class daily. 

What's Going On This Week In Class:

Second Step:

Lesson 3: Being Assertive. Please turn "Home Practice"signed by an adult by Friday each week.

Math: 

Multiplication and Division: Looking for a Pattern, Fact Families; Understanding Prime and Composite Numbers

Individualized Practice: Accelerated Math

Multiplication Madness (Fact Practice) 

Reading: 

Genre Genius: The students are making strong progress on reading books from different genres. Be sure to ask your child about his or her progress. We are about half way through the marking period.

Final Island Projects due this Friday (work done in class).

This week we will be reading informational article from Scholastic News (Summarizing, Finding the Main Idea)

Writer's Workshop: Unit 1 Personal Narratives

Writing Performance Task: Writing an opinion and using details from the text to support your opinion.

This week's mini-lessons focus on choosing a "seed idea" and developing strong leads in our writing.

Greek and Latin Roots:

Please study the meanings and spellings of these ten words. You will have a quiz on Friday. 
inter: between, among; tele = far, distance

1. telemarket
2. telescope
3. telephoto
4. televise
5. telethon
6. interior
7. intersection
8. international
9. interval
10. intermediate

Social Studies/Science:

Earth Science- Rocks and Minerals

Social Studies: Geography of California. 

Arts:

Theater: We have started to work on our play with Ms. Beret. This week we will be doing activities to help us picture the setting of our story.

Classroom News for the Week of September 22nd

News and Upcoming Events: 

9/25 Unassigned Day - School Closed

10/10 Field Trip to Rancho Santa Ana 
* 3 more chaperone positions available

 If you would like to volunteer to ride the school bus with us and chaperone a small group of students on this day, please email me at slc5001@lausd.net. The trip will last the length of the school day. Volunteers will be assigned on a first come/first serve basis. Thank you in advance for your time!

11/12/14 Field Trip to Jet Propulsion Laboratory

* We can take five parent chaperones on this trip. 

We will be leaving school by 8:30 and will return at approximately 12:45. If you would like to volunteer to ride the school bus with us (no parking at JPL), and chaperone a small group of students on this day, please email me at slc5001@lausd.net. In addition to your name, please let me know if you are a US citizen or hold a resident green card. JPL requires this information and that you bring government issued ID on the day of the trip. We are required to submit the names of all persons attending the trip several weeks prior to the trip, so don't delay if you'd like to come. Volunteers will be assigned on a first come/first serve basis.

Reminders:

* Tardies - Please make sure your child is at school and in line by the 8:06 bell. We try to start the school day at 8:11 promptly. Thank you for your help!

* Please check your child's Homework Log nightly and sign or initial after the work has been completed. Remind your child that completed homework and the HW log are due in class daily. 

What's Going On This Week In Class:

Math: 

Multiplication: Finding Multiples, Interpreting Area Models, Distributive Property

Individualized Practice: Accelerated Math

Multiplication Madness (Fact Practice) 

Reading: 

Genre Genius: The students are making strong progress on reading books from different genres. Be sure to ask your child about his or her progress. We are about half way through the marking period.

Students are working on selected final projects for Island. Ask your child about his or her progress. The students did very well on their AR quizzes!

This week we will begin reading shorter selections from the Treasures anthology. This week's story is realistic fiction and is called "Meet Ali Baba Bernstein". Our comprehension strategy will be making inferences.

Writer's Workshop: Unit 1 Personal Narratives

Writing Performance Task: Writing a Response to Literature

This week's mini-lessons focus on evaluating your writing and making new goals, and editing as we write.

Greek and Latin Roots:

* Only 5 words this week. No illustrations assigned, but please feel free to do them as a study strategy.

Please study the meanings and spellings of these five words. You will have a quiz on Friday. 
cent & centi (related to 100), deca & deci (related to 10), mill & milli (related to 1000)

1. century
2. decade
3. decimal
4. milligram
5. million

Social Studies/Science:

Earth Science- Rocks and Minerals
* Students will have a quiz on Friday (9/26). Study sheets coming home on Monday (9/22). Please try to study a little each night.

Social Studies: Geography of California. A home project will be assigned on Friday 9/26. Please look for assignment details coming home on Monday 9/29.

Arts:

Theater: We have started to work on our play with Ms. Beret. This week we will be doing activities to help us picture the setting of our story.

Classroom News for the Week of September 15th

News and Upcoming Events: 

9/18 Book Orders due

9/25 Unassigned Day - School Closed

10/10 Field Trip

This will be our first field trip of the year. We will be visiting Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens in Claremont. Our trip will focus on Native Californians' use of the environment.
We can take five chaperones on this trip. If you would like to volunteer to ride the school bus with us and chaperone a small group of students on this day, please email me at slc5001@lausd.net. The trip will last the length of the school day. Volunteers will be assigned on a first come/first serve basis. Thank you in advance for your time!

Reminders:

* Tardies - Please make sure your child is at school and in line by the 8:06 bell. We try to start the school day at 8:11 promptly. Thank you for your help!

* Please check your child's Homework Log nightly and sign or initial after the work has been completed. Remind your child that completed homework and the HW log are due in class daily. 

* Finished and graded work will be sent home at the beginning of each week (large manila envelope). Please review your child's work with him/her, sign the envelope, and return the envelope to school no later than Wednesday each week.

• In this week's folder, please look for the results from your child's STAR reading assessment. This will show your child's ZPD (reading range) for Accelerated Reader books.

What's Going On This Week In Class:

Design Challenge of the Month:

Design an NBS (never-before-seen) Shelter - Students will work in small groups to construct a shelter. Designs will need to satisfy the needs of a criteria chart. Students will present their designs to peers.

Math: 

Adding and Subtracting with Regrouping (Review)

Individualized Practice: Accelerated Math

Multiplication Madness (Fact Practice) 

Reading: 

Scholastic News: Reading for main ideas and key details.

This week we will finish Island of the Blue Dolphins. Students will take the AR quiz and have final assignments for the book.

Writer's Workshop: Unit 1 Personal Narratives

Writing on Demand: Writing An Opinion

This week's mini-lessons focus on using a strong emotions to develop story ideas and using a storyteller's voice (show vs. tell).

Greek and Latin Roots:

Prefixes: mono, uni = one; bi, du = two; tri = three; quad, quad = four 

Please study the meanings and spellings of these ten words. You will have a quiz on Friday. 

1. monopoly
2. unicorn
3. unify
4. dual
5. bisect
6. triplet
7. trilogy
8. triathlon
9. quadrangle
10. quadruple

Social Studies/Science:

Earth Science- Rocks and Minerals

Social Studies: Finding absolute location using lines of latitude and longitude; Hemispheres

Arts:

Theater: Performing Shakespearean Pantomimes; Collaboration

Visual Arts: Watercolor technique

Classroom News for the Week of 9/8

News and Upcoming Events: 

* If you have not done so already, please send in your $45 donation to cover this year's field trips. Checks should be made payable to Mt. Washington Elementary. Thank you!

* 9/13 Pancake Breakfast

Reminders:

* Please check your child's Homework Log nightly and sign or initial after the work has been completed. Remind your child that completed homework and the HW log are due in class daily. 

* Finished and graded work will be sent home at the beginning of each week (large manila envelope). Please review your child's work with him/her, sign the envelope, and return the envelope to school no later than Wednesday each week.

What's Going On This Week In Class:

Design Challenge of the Month:

Design an NBS (never-before-seen) Shelter - Students will work in small groups to construct a shelter. Designs will need to satisfy the needs of a criteria chart. Students will present their designs to peers.

Math: 

Rounding Numbers Through the Ten Millions Place; Adding and Subtracting with Regrouping Review

Individualized Practice: Accelerated Math

Multiplication Madness (Fact Practice) 

Reading: 

Scholastic News: The Structure of Informational Text

We will continue reading Chapters 16-24 of Scott O'Dell's Newbery-Award winning classic, Island of the Blue Dolphins. This week our focus will be on separating main ideas from details and  summarizing. 

Writer's Workshop: Unit 1 Personal Narratives

This week's mini-lessons focus on using a place to develop story ideas and using a storyteller's voice (show vs. tell).

Greek and Latin Roots:

Prefixes: ant, anti = against; contra, counter = against; ex = out of, outside, from

Please study the meanings and spellings of these ten words. You will have a quiz on Friday. 

1. export
2. expel
3. exhale
4. extract
5. exempt
6. antiseptic
7. antibacterial
8. antonym
9. contradict
10.counterfeit

Social Studies/Science:

This year's units:

Science Grade 4: 

• Physical Science- Electricity and Magnetism
• Earth Science- Rocks and Minerals 
• Life Science - Habitats and Adaptations

Social Studies Grade 4 - History of California

• The Geography of Our State
• Native Californians
• The Mission System
• The Rancho Era
• Gold Rush and Statehood

Arts:

Theater: Performing Shakespearean Pantomimes; Collaboration