Classroom News for the Week of January 9th

News and Upcoming Events:

• Monday is Orchestra. Remember to bring your instruments.

• 12/19 - 1/6 Winter Break. School resumes Monday, January 9th.
• 1/12 - CA. Mission projects due. Use the checklist provided under "Mission Project" in the Class Handouts menu on the right side of this page, to help guide you. You will also find PDFs of the Brochure here as well.
• 1/20 Field trip to Leonis Adobe Museum. Students will receive their trip slip on Monday. Please return it as soon as possible. Thank you!

What's Going On This Week In Class:

Math: 

Prime and Composite Numbers; Determining if a whole number is a multiple of another; Dividing Multiples of 10, 100, 1000

Reading:

This week we will begin reading Christopher Paul Curtis' Newbery Award Winning novel, Bud, Not Buddy. This week we will build background on the Great Depression and Segregation in the 1920s and read Chapters 1-4. Skills: Story Elements, Summarizing, Inferring, Writing to Explain.

We will be reading about the life and work of Mahatma Ghandi and his influence on MLK.

Genre Genius: Ask your child about his/her progress.

Spelling & Vocabulary:
This is the last week for Greek and Latin roots and prefixes. Check the blog for details about the upcoming Grade 4 Spelling Bee.

This week's words are:

1. miniature
2. microbe
3. microscope
4. mince
5. minute
6. cooperate
7. operable
8. laboratory
9. labored
10. operator

Writing:

This week we begin a unit on writing personal and persuasive essays. Students will learn and practice basic essay structure and how to collect ideas as an essayist.

Health/Second Step:
Showing Compassion. There will be a brief home assignment on Thursday night to complete with your child.

Arts:
We will use the Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) to build meaning from Civil Rights era photographs.

Social Studies/ Science:
End of the Mission Era and The Beginning of the Rancho Period in California; Gallery Walk of the Mission Projects

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!

Homework:

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.

Classroom News for the Week of December 12th

News and Upcoming Events:

• Monday is Orchestra. Remember to bring your instruments.

• 12/12 Holiday Program. Grade 4 students should wear black skirts or pants and a solid, brightly colored shirt. No words, logos, graphics please. No hats. Thank you! Performance times: 10:45 (TK-2 Families); 1:00 (Grades 3-6 Families). See you there!
• 12/13 Science quiz
• 12/15 All students entering the Scholastic Robot contest, please have your entries complete (including Parent Signature) at school on Thursday.
• "What Makes Our State Special?" Please see the schedule below. Parents are welcome and encouraged to attend. As guests, you will play the role of potential tourists. The students have designed and prepared presentations to convince you to visit their California region. Each group will have approximately 5 minutes to present and answer audience members' questions. Please come to the MPR on time as presentations will begin right away.

1.  Friday 12/9 8:30a.m. Time change 9:00:Gayelle, Julissa, Lyric. This presentation will be in room 12.
2. Tuesday, 12/13:  8:30 a.m. Bryan, Gigi, Chloe; Grace, Rowan, Janelle; Kaiden, Aidan, Ewan; Joaquin, Payton, Hope; Eduardo, Tyler, Luke
3. Thursday 12/15 1p.m. Soleil, Orson, Senaiah; Genevieve, Ann Elise, Jonathan; Braeden, Sean Gahbriel; Alex, Milan, Bridget; Meha, Maggie, Colin

• 12/19 - 1/6 Winter Break. School resumes Monday, January 9th.
• 1/12 - CA. Mission projects due. Use the checklist provided under "Mission Project" in the Class Handouts menu on the right side of this page, to help guide you. You will also find PDFs of the Brochure here as well.
• 1/20 Field trip to Leonis Adobe Museum
• 2/22 Field trip to JPL

What's Going On This Week In Class:

Math: 

Division with greater dividends; Solving division word problems - tape diagrams and number bonds; Division quiz on Friday

Reading:

Comparing Fiction and Non-Fiction texts on the same topic

Students created a new Genre Genius template before the break. Ask your child about his/her selections.

Spelling & Vocabulary:
No spelling this week.

Writing:

Rewriting based on feedback.

Arts:
Origami; Using the Visual Thinking Strategy (VTS) to build meaning from visual text.

Project-Based Learning:
Student teams continue working on our class project. Our driving question is: What makes our state special? Students have received a letter from the California Director of Tourism asking them to research a particular area of California and create a 2 to 3 minute presentation designed to encourage visitors to visit that region. Ask your child about the project and check the blog frequently for presentation dates. This interdisciplinary project addresses standards for research and inquiry, speaking, language arts, visual literacy, social studies, and science.

Lesson Focus: Presentation skills and self-reflection


Social Studies/Science:

No rotations this week.

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!

Homework:

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.