December 18

The craft fair where students can buy two gifts will be on Thursday. Students will need fifty cents.

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

December 13

Don't forget we need a bag lunch and a drink tomorrow! We are going to the Grand and won't be back in time for the school lunch! 

We will be leaving around 9:20ish and returning at 12:30.  We will be seeing a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens! The students are really excited! (I think!) 

Spelling: Spelling Quiz tomorrow over Unit 13 ~ Study those spelling words!

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

December 12

On Friday students will need a bag lunch and a drink. We will be eating lunch back at school when we come back from the grand at about 12:30. 

The Christmas Concert is tonight at 6:00! Students should come to the room and try to arrive by 5:45.  We hope to see everyone!  The  rehearsal was awesome today!

Homework:
Social Studies: Take a few minutes to study where those Western states are. I gave them a map so they could study.

Spelling: All students got the third page done in class, but they could continue to study them for the quiz on Friday.

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

December 11

Math: Students were given a math worksheet for homework. Worksheet Lesson 2.8 Reteach, Multiply using Mental Math

Social Studies: Students were given a map of the western states we have been studying. They will be having a quiz on Thursday as to the location of each state.

Writing: Continue to work on nervous or exciting writing if they are not finished.


Reading: Read for 1/2 to work towards your reading goal

December 10

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Writing: We worked on writing a letter to soldiers today. If students are not done with their nervous writing or their excitement writing they should continue to work on them.

Social Studies: There will be a quiz on Thursday on where the western states are located.  Students have a map of what states that includes. They were given a second map today to make sure everyone had one, and we also went over them in class.  We will continue to work on this through Thursday.

December 6

Spelling: Study Unit 11 words (near, steer, certain, return, tear, thirst, perfect, fear, term, cheer, turkey, firm, ear, burst, rear, serve, year, person, clear, herd

Writing: Should have two paragraphs for the nervous writing and one paragraph so far for the excited writing. (Students have been working on the strategy to "Show and not Tell" using imagery, similes or metaphors, and thoughts and feelings)

Math: Worksheet on multiplication

December 5

Spelling: Students should work on page 3 of Unit 11

Writing: Students were to finish the second paragraph of their nervous writing and practicing the strategy of showing and not telling on Tuesday.

Today we started another writing where students are still practicing the strategy of showing and not telling in their writing, but this time it is about a time when they were excited about something. For students who could not think of anything, I asked them to write about being excited for the ice cream sundae reward we had on Friday. They were definitely excited and were eager to bring in goodies and share what we should have for toppings! 

Reading: Practice those math multiplication facts

December 4

Writing: Students are to write another paragraph about a time when they were nervous. We have been working on showing and not telling.   Three ways to show and not tell include:
1. adding similes or metaphors (which we have been learning about as well),
2. adding imagery, (such as a my teeth were chattering, my body felt like a volcano, .......) 
3. adding thoughts and feelings (I thought to myself, "I can't do this!") 

(It needs to be at least two paragraphs showing they understand the concept of showing and not tell)

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Spelling: Unit 11 ~ Second page

December 3

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour ~ In class we started reading the biography of Williams Carlos Williams. As we getting reading more make sure to ask your son/daughter about him what might have inspired him to be a writer. 

Spelling: Unit 11 ~ First page and start studying for Friday  

Writing:  We are starting a new personal narrative! Stay tuned!

Math: We are on 2.8 and  learning to use mental math for more difficult problems. 

Transfer of Energy

Let's read about roller coasters
https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/how-do-roller-coasters-work

November 29

We will be having a reading celebration in the afternoon to celebrate all the hard work grade 4 has put in to meet their independent reading goals.We will be having ice cream sundaes at end of the day.  They have been so eager to conference over books throughout the semester, and they have even set goals for trimester 2. 

Just in case you didn't read yesterday's post, we will need toppings for our sundaes. Some students have already signed up to bring in toppings, but you can never have enough toppings!  Items students have signed up for include, caramel, sprinkles, whipped topping, choc. fudge, strawberries, and choc. chips. 

We will probably need more whipped topping for sure! 

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Writing: We still have a few students who have not finished editing their narrative! 

November 28

On Friday we are having a celebration because grade 4 has worked really hard on their independent reading goals this trimester. We are going to have ice cream sundaes.  We are looking for toppings. Some students have already signed up for various toppings, but we could always use a little more.  We will also need spoons and bowls as well.  It is always nice to have backups in case  students aren't able to bring in what they signed up for. So any topping would be appreciated!!!! If we don't use the student will bring it back home! I am providing the ice cream.

Toppings students have said they could bring in include: caramel, sprinkles, whipped topping, chocolate fudge, strawberries, and/ or chocolate chips. 

Math: Study your multiplication facts.  They could use their multiplication chart they have been given. Students can go to Moby Max to practice them or if you need some flash cards I could provide them as well. 

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Writing: Work on Narrative if it is not done!  (Organization ~ Definite beginning, middle, and end) Voice - Thoughts and feelings  
Make sure to edit for capitalizations, (Proper nouns, beginning of a sentence)  periods, commas, and quotation marks.  

November 27

Math: Students were given a math worksheet. Some students finished it before school ended.

Writing: Some students still need to add to their personal narrative. Students have been working hard this week trying to finish them. Today we learned about using metaphors in our writing.  Students were asked to try and put in either a simile or metaphor in their writing. Students also need to make sure their conclusion explains how important that event was to them. 

Spelling: Spelling quiz tomorrow!  Study those words!

November 26

Writing: Students need to work on their personal narratives. Today we worked on adding transitions in our stories. Phrases like: After adventuring through the woods,..... or When we finally made it back,......  While we were in the boat,.........   We also discussed that these transitions would be great ways to start a new paragraph.  (Three reasons to start a new paragraph include new time, new event, or new setting) 

Students should have 5 paragraphs and some students still need to add their thoughts and feelings during each part of their story, imagery, (This would work well to describe the setting), and dialogue would also help to move the story along.   

Students were given the COPS strategy to edit their writings. C stands for capitalizing the first letter of a sentence and capitalizing proper nouns. O stands for Paragraphs are indented, sentences are complete thoughts, and the order of the story makes sense. P stands for punctuation~ each sentence ends with punctuation, commas are used, and dialogue is surrounded by quotes.  (We have been working hard on learning how to quote)
Spelling- use dictionary to check for spellings

Spelling:Unit 10 Spelling quiz will be on Wednesday. I wanted to give the students a couple of days to study the words. 

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Signing into Kahn Academy

Link is below:
https://www.khanacademy.org/join/SH2F5X7F

Or visit www.khanacademy.org/join and enter our class code SH2F5X7F.

November 15

Math: Students were given a math worksheet where they will be practicing subtraction with multi-digit numbers

Spelling: Quiz tomorrow over Unit 10 words! Students should be studying those words!

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

We are going tomorrow to the grand to see a production of Through the Looking Glass. We will be leaving around 9:20 and will be back by noon. 

Information on Your Poet

Reading Rockets Link ~  Link to Walter Dean  Myers

Walter Dean Myers
http://www.readingrockets.org/books/interviews/myersw

Valerie Worth
https://www.poemhunter.com/valerie-worth/biography/

Robert Frost
http://www.robertfrost.org/

https://www.poemhunter.com/robert-frost/

November 14

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Spelling: Unit 10 ~ Work on the second page if you didn't finish in class.  forgot, bought, nor, haul, ought, forest, sport, thought, daughter, port, sort, record, taught, brought, forth, because, fought, report, forty, caught

Science: Students worked in stations today to explore how energy was transferred. They used some interesting systems such as a hand crank generator and motor, tone generator, and rubber band banjo.  You may want to ask them about our investigation and where the energy came from for each system we used.

Researching a state

Enchanted Learning  - ONCE YOU ARE ON THE PAGE TYPE IN YOUR STATE AND YOU WILL FIND  A GREAT DEAL OF INFORMATION!  MAKE SURE TO SCROLL DOWN THE PAGE.

https://www.enchantedlearning.com/

HAWAII
https://enchantedlearning.com/usa/states/hawaii/

Grade 4 will earn a party

Students were giving a form today about a Dental Clinic which will be held on Wednesday, November 14 at Hancock Grammar School.  Exams, Dental Cleanings, and limited dental treatment will be provided.  (Most dental insurances including MaineCare will be accepted)

IF all students bring back the form even if you don't want to participate we could earn a party. The class with the most forms brought back will win. We can do this!  We are not sure if it is an ice cream or pizza party, but we are hoping for something like that. 

November 8

The Veteran's Day Assembly will be held tomorrow in the gym. We hope you all can make it. Grade 4 will be presenting information about a veteran. 

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Spelling: Unit 9 ~ third page

Codes to send messages
https://www.theproblemsite.com/reference/mathematics/codes/morse-code

November 7

Students should continue to practice what they are saying about their veteran.  We will be presenting on Friday, November, 9 at 9:00. Parents are welcome to come! 

Spelling: Unit 9 ~ Second page


Writing: Students should have at least two paragraphs for their narrative writing! They are off to a good start. We didn't get time to work on them today because we were finishing our summaries of Love That Dog!

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour Students are trying to reach their independent reading goals and are conferencing over books they have read! Keep up the great job Grade 4!

November 6

Students need to practice what they are saying about their veteran for Friday. 

Spelling:  If students were absent on Monday, they should do the first page of Unit 9.  

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Writing: Students should have at least two paragraphs of their personal narrative done at this point. We have been working on these for 2 weeks. 

Transitional Words

Link to transitional words:

http://www.smart-words.org/linking-words/transition-words.html

November 1

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour ~ and from your independent reading book choose an example of imagery to share at morning meeting!

Spelling: Unit 8 ~ QUIZ TOMORROW  ~ STUDY THOSE WORDS ~ finish any pages that you did not complete  first, second and third page of Unit 8 should be completed!! We did most of it in class.

Veteran's Assembly will be on November 9, at 9:00.  Parents are invited to attend. Grade 4 will be presenting information about the veteran those chose to write about.  

Students need to practice what they are going to say. So please have them share with you!  We have been sharing during morning meeting, and they are feeling more and more comfortable. I think!!!

October 30

Students should be practicing what they will be saying about their veteran. Many students have put their information in sentences and on big index cards. We have been practicing what to say in Morning meeting.

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Spelling: Unit 8 ~ 2nd page if you didn't get it done

October 29

Students will be sharing information about a veteran on November 9. Please have them read to you what they will be saying so they can have more practice reading it aloud.

Spelling: Unit 8 First page ~ We are working with words that have the /OO/ sound like flute, whose, clue, juice, true, tube, truth, glue, lose, fruit, rule, student, dew, tulip, and due

AND words with the /yoo/ sound like view, human, few, used, and  music

Students should be practicing all week for the quiz on Friday

Math: Page 67 ~ homework page

October 25

Writing: Students need to finish their drawing for the narrative writing.   They were given paper to draw out the events of the story, and are supposed to put speech bubbles with thoughts and feelings along with the events.

Spelling: Study Unit 7 Words for a quiz tomorrow! 

Veteran: Students need to practice what they are going to say about their veteran for the assembly.

Information to include: Name of person, branch of service and how long they were in the military, and one interesting fact about them. (Hopefully related to the military)

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

October 24

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour ~ Students are trying to reach their independent reading goal by the end of the semester!

Spelling: Students should finish the 3rd page in Unit 7.

Writing: Add to Personal Narrative drawing  ~ Students were given large white paper, and are supposed to draw each part of their story. I shared with them an example and they were off to a good start in class.

Earth's Magnetic Poles

Try it out!
https://www.edumedia-sciences.com/en/media/260-earths-magnetic-field

Tuesday, October 23

Students were given Parent/Student/Conferences forms today. The dates of the conferences are Monday, November 5, Thursday, November 8th, and  the next Thursday, November 15.  If any of those dates don't work for you please let me know and we can arrange a different time.  

Students put their forms in their take home folder. 

I have also been given students time to write their assignments down while I write them on our board. 

Assignments: 
In Spelling we are in Unit 7 and working on the second page.  

Math: Students should work on page 48 or 52 in their math book if they didn't finish them last night.   

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour  

Social Studies: Students have been presenting their slide shows over a National or State Park.  Ask them to show what they have done if you can access google slides at home.  

October 22

Students will be presenting at the Veteran's Day Assembly, November 9. They will be sharing a person they know who has or is still in the service.  If it is a relative that would be great, but it does not have to be.  They will be sharing what branch of service, dates the person was in the military, and one special or interesting piece of information about this person.  ( If possible relate it to the military service.)

Spelling: We started Unit 7 and most students finished the first page in class. (Long o sound spelled with o, oa, ow.   (and o consonant diagraph - e)

Math: We are having an end of Chapter 1 assessment on Wednesday. Students are to work on pages 48 or 52, which are review pages. 

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

  

Earth's Magnetic Field

What are 3 interesting facts you learned about earth's magnetic field?

http://www.physics.org/article-questions.asp?id=64

October 18

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Math: Math Worksheet ~ Word problems

Slide show if you can get into google docs

If you can't get in try typing google in the search field and you should be able to see a sign in button to the right

October17

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Social Studies: Check to see if you can get into google docs or slide shows We are hoping to start presenting on Friday

Spelling: STUDY WORDS for Quiz over Unit 5

words  with long i sound  spelled with (i C e, y, igh, ey, and uy)

eyes, icicle, tight, climb, umpire, highway, idea, flight, cycle, fright, iron, slight, tiny, higher, shy, hire, buy, might, reply, title

October 16

Students were asked to check and see if they could get into google docs and google slide show. We are working on slide shows in Social Studies so I just want to see if they can get into it at home.

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Math: We worked on making a bar model to help with understanding the problem.  We did two problems together as a class.  Students are do to the work problem on Page 50 in their math book.

Spelling: Unit 5 ~ Finish 3rd page in Unit 5.

October 15

Math: All students got a worksheet on subtracting multi-digit numbers

Writing: Add to writer's notebook ~ listing special places ~ We will be starting a narrative writing and students are adding to a list of ideas

October 11

Spelling: Unit 5 - 2nd page ~ Many students did not take advantage of the time they had in class to work on this so please ask your child if they have finished it.  There will not be a spelling quiz tomorrow because we have only had two days to work with the words.  We are shooting for next Tuesday. 

Math: Students have a worksheet over Lesson 7.  Subtracting Whole numbers and estimating.

Writing: Students will be writing a poem about the road or driveway. We are modeling what Jack did in the book, Love that Dog and the poem we read,  Street Music by Arnold Adoff.  We brainstormed a lot of ideas in class today.


Reading: Read for 1/2 hour.

October 10

I write assignments on the board so if students have an assignment book they can also write the assignment down.

Math: Many students still need to finish page 42 in their math book. Students also need to look back at a previous lesson and finish a page they may not have finished. 

Spelling: We started Unit 5 which is learning how to spell words with the long i sound. eyes, icicle, tight, climb, umpire, highway, idea, flight , cycle, fright, iron, slight, tiny, higher, shy, hire, buy, might, reply, and title. 

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour Many students have conferenced over books they have read! Great job 4th graders!!!!!   

October 9

Math: Work on two pages from your math book.  (page 41 & 42)
Work on number fluency in Mobymax or the multiplication mad minute that you might not have finished in class.

Writing: Tomorrow you will be writing a poem about your street or road you live you. Be thinking about images and sounds you hear like Jack in Love That Dog.

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

October 4

Spelling: Unit 4 study the words for a spelling quiz on Friday

Math: I went through each student's math book, to check on progress and many students have pages to work on.   I put a sticky on the front of each math book to let students know what pages to work on. 

Reading: Students will be sharing a favorite poem tomorrow. They were supposed to bring home the book the poem was in to practice reading it outloud.  We have been discussing a lot about poetry, and students should be using the punctuation to help them with expression.  Also how the stanzas are structured may also help them, especially if it is a concrete poem.

Read for 1/2 hour 

October 3

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Spelling: Study Unit 4 Spelling words ~ Finish 3rd page if you didn't finish




Series & Parallel Circuits
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2EuYqj_0Uk

Circuit Simulation
https://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/circuit-construction-kit-dc/latest/circuit-construction-kit-dc_en.html


Quizlet
https://quizlet.com/187509521/series-and-parallel-circuits-flash-cards/

October 2

We will be having math NWEA's tomorrow so get a good night sleep!

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour ~ There is also a reading challenge to read 10 more minutes than the required classroom expectation.  Every student and class is taking on this challenge. Students were given a sheet to fill out for every night they read. (Shooting for 5 days a week)

Spelling: Unit 4 ~ Page 2 of Unit 4.  We are working with words with the long e sound spelled with ee, ie, ea. 
field, lead, speed, believe, deal, piece, reach, breeze, speak, agree, least, season, between, chief, steam, degree, reason, brief, repeat, peach

Oct. 1

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Spelling: Finish first page of Unit 4 if you didn't finish ~ Learning how to spell words with the long e sound.  (ee, ie, ea) 

Wednesday, September 26

Reading:  Read for 1/ 2 hour

Math: Math worksheet on writing the word form of numbers.

Spelling: Third page of Unit 3

Writing: Keep adding to writer's notebook about the first time you have done something! We generated a great list in class today! 

September 26

Spelling: Unit 3 ~ 2nd page if you haven't finished ~ Long a sound (a, ai, ay)

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Math: Work on at least 2 pages that are not complete through lessons 1.4~ If you are stuck on a problem wait to see me tomorrow or go to the interactive student edition or math trainer in GoMath.

Math

Place Value and the value of a digit
https://www.onlinemathlearning.com/place-value-chart.html

Math by Standards + games
https://www.mathgames.com/standards/

1.5 Reteach Video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcdKl5gYrmg

September 24

Exciting News!!  Students were given free passes to enter our National Parks. This pass is good for the student, as well as their family, and may be used until the end of August 2019.

Students are also going to be researching a National Park of their choice, and they are excited to get started.

Reading: Finish extended response you started in class. How has Jack's feelings towards poetry changed?  Make sure to have two examples of evidence for the beginning and two examples of evidence for later on in the process of reading and writing.

Read for 1/2 hour

Spelling: Unit 3 ~ First page (Many students have finished)

September 20

We will be having reading NWEA's tomorrow morning.


Social Studies: Study for quiz. Students have made multiple maps with these features on them, and should have one of them in their take home folder. (Landforms and water bodies in the United States.)

Reading: read for 1/2 hour

Writing: Some students need to add more to their writer's notebook. Listing people in their lives and small moment stories underneath their name. (small moment story- just a sentence telling what the event was.) They should have at least 4 people.

Spelling: Quiz tomorrow on Unit 2 spelling words!  

September 19

We will be taking reading NWEA's on Friday!  Get a good night sleep on Thursday!
Read: Read for 1/2 hour 

Spelling: Study words
Writing: Add to animal poem you are writing ~ Think about the poem we read by Valerie Worth and Jack's poem about his dog
By Valerie Worth
       Dog
Under a maple tree
The dog lies down,
Lolls his limp
Tongue, yawns, 
Rests his long chin
Carefully between
Front paws, 
Looks up, alert; 
Chops, with heavy 
Jaws, at a slow fly, 
Blinks, rolls 
On his side, 
Sighs, closes 
His eyes: sleeps
All afternoon
In his loose skin.

Social Studies: Study important landforms and bodies of water of the United States. (landforms we have studying are Appalachian Mountains, Rocky Mountains, Central Plains, Bodies of water include the great lakes: Lake Michigan, Lake Superior, Lake Ontario, Lake Erie, and Lake Heron, Atlantic & Pacific Oceans, and the Gulf of Mexico.   (The Mississippi River, Missouri River, & Rio Grand River)

  

September 18

Writing: Students need to add to their writer's notebook. Many students have completed this in class, but if they need more time then can work on it for homework.  They are listing people that are important to them, and underneath that person they are to list 3 to 5 short moment stories. This is a sentence explaining what could possibly lead to a story they want to write about. They don't have to write the story!!!!


Spelling: Unit 2 ~ Second page

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

September 17

In science students worked in groups to make bridges! They were engineers at work! The objective was to be working collaboratively by building off of anther student's ideas.  The new science program is all about teamwork and discussing what they notice and analyzing the outcome of an investigation.

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Spelling: We started a new unit today- words with long vowel sounds with a vowel - consonant vowel ~ a-consonant -e
~ i -consonant -e
~ a-consonant -e
~ u-consonant -e
Students could begin studying the words.
wise, huge, case, alone, rise, cube, fame, beside, blame, chose, tire, became, awhile, spoke, wife, drove, surprise, scale, alive, invite

September 13

Spelling:
Study Unit 1 words

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour (independent reading book or poetry book)
Be ready with an independent reading book for tomorrow!

Writing: Add to your poem in your poetry notebook

September 12

I am so proud of our 4th graders! They have been showing so many acts of kindness! 

Homework:
Spelling:
Students are working on Unit 1 in spelling. Spelling words are: crust, pass, else, skill, brag, zipper, began, collar, drag, smell, brick, felt, spill, button, held, trust, kept, trick, shell, begin

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour from independent reading book or poetry book

Writing: If there is a computer at home, check to see if you can log into your google account

Social Studies: Check out  the interactive links on the blog that are about the geographical features of the United States! Let's see if we can ace the game!

September 11

There was a teachers' meeting after school so I didn't get homework on the blog after school.

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Spelling: Study words


Links to landforms and major bodies of water in the United States ~

https://www.learner.org/interactives/historymap/sea-game/

http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/USA_Geography/USA-georegion.html

September 10

A lot of students are really showing acts of kindness! Keep up the great effort and making our class and school shine! Grade 4 rocks!!

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour from independent reading book

Math: math worksheet 1.3 comparing numbers

Thursday, September 6

Math:  Worksheet Model Place Value Relationships 1-21 (only front page)

Wednesday, September 5

Homework:
Math - Reteach 1 - 23 Place Value practice

Reading: Read from your poetry book for 1/2 hour

Let's Look at the relationship between digits using the place value chart

https://learnzillion.com/lesson_plans/7426-understand-relationships-between-digits-and-their-place-value/

Where to put commas!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S0XCrzXvgw

Welcome Back to School

I hope you all had a great summer!   I am so excited to be teaching your child this year.  We will be using the Responsive Classroom Model in class which includes starting off the day with Morning Meeting.  Students will take part in discussions and practice what we are learning in fun ways.
In Language Arts, we will be reading and analyzing the main character in the novel, Love that Dog, by Sharon Creech. We will also be writing poetry!  In math we will continue the GoMath program starting off with place value.  Let's not forget about Science!  Students will become investigators and become scientists themselves with a lot of hands-on science activities. Last but not least, the fourth grade social studies curriculum includes learning about the geography of United States. Most importantly, our theme in grades 3 -5 will be, "How can we all show acts of kindness?"  I can't wait to see all of you on August 29th!

Link to All About Me
http://babblingabby.blogspot.com/2010/08/twas-day-before-school-starts.html

Poetry Links

Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42891/stopping-by-woods-on-a-snowy-evening

The Red Wheelbarrow by William Carlos Williams
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45502/the-red-wheelbarrow

Kids News Book Reviews

https://www.timeforkids.com/g56/summer-reading-1/

Revolutionary War Interactives

http://www.harcourtschool.com/ss1/adventure_activities/interactives/gr5_unit4.html

June 4

Reading: Students need to work on their independent reading goal Friday will be the last day to conference.

Writing: At this point, students should have at least 2 to 3 paragraphs of their book review done.

June 4 ~ Book Review by Rodman Philbrick

http://teacher.scholastic.com/writewit/bookrev/read.htm

May 29

Spelling: We are a little off track because of testing and other school related interruptions. 
There will be a test on Unit 33 on Wednesday, May 30

We are on Unit 33~ (using words the suffix ment and ness)
I listed the words last week on the blog.

Reading: Students need to be working on their independent reading goals. They only have a two weeks to meet their goals.

Writing: Students started learning about a book review today and need to have chosen a book to write a book review on.

Social Studies: We are shooting to have slide shows done on Thursday. Keep you posted. We may need more time.

May 24

Let's practice figurative Language

https://jeopardylabs.com/play/mrsthomas-figurative-language-game

https://jeopardylabs.com/play/figurative-language-review7

May 23

Writing: Poetry books are due Friday!  Most are all done and just putting on the finishing touches!
Please have your child share what they have done so far.

Poems to be completed include: I am Poem, Haiku, Limerick, Cinquain, Shape Poetry, Acrostic, Free Verse and couplet.  They also needed to include two of their favorite poems by another author. They are doing a great job! 


Social Studies: Students need to be researching their Revolutionary War topic and working on their slide show.

Reading: There will be a quiz over My Side of the Mountain on Friday! Make sure you have read all the chapters. We have taken it chapter by chapter, so make sure to catch up on any you chapters you didn't finish!   Mrs. Sprague has read the last 3 chapters to you! 

Spelling: We didn't get to spelling today, but we are on Unit 33.

Tuesday, May 22

Writing: Poetry Books are Due on Friday! We have done all of them in class and students have been given a great deal of time to work on them!  We can't wait to share!

Spelling: Unit 33 ~ Second page

Social Studies: Students should be working on Revolutionary War Slide Show! We have been researching in class!  I have shared the requirements with all students in google docs and I have given them hard copies as well.

Reading: We will be finishing the reading of My Side of the Mountain on Wednesday and Thursday.

There will be a quiz on Friday over the book.

Study for My Side of Mountain Quiz on Friday

Vocabulary Words
https://quizlet.com/234319134/vocabulary-words-my-side-of-the-mountain-unit-flash-cards/


Comprehension Questions
https://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/topic/my-side-of-the-mountain

Monday, May 21

Reading: Students are almost done with My Side of the Mountain. Today we finished reading pages 141- 148.

Spelling: Unit 33 ~ First page (216) Objective: Read, spell, and write words with

10  Word List
kindness, stillness, fitness, weakness, brightness, treatment, pavement, shipment, enjoyment, payment, movement

20 Word List
kindness, stillness, fitness, weakness, brightness, illness, darkness, softness, boldness, thickness, sadness, treatment, apartment, pavement, shipment, agreement, placement, enjoyment, movement, payment


Social Studies: Students are researching Revolutionary War topic and should continue to research at home as well. 

They will be doing a slide show over their topic and have been given what each slide should be

Main Idea Practice

Read a few paragraphs to practice picking out the main idea!

https://www.quia.com/quiz/259834.html?AP_rand=1348710460

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/GetTheIdea/default.htm#page6

Websites for American Revolution

Paul Revere
http://www.kidsandhistory.net/paulvm/h2_hist.html

Let's Practice our figurative language

https://quizlet.com/3962217/figurative-language-definitionsexamplespictures-flash-cards/


Let's take a quiz
https://www.quia.com/quiz/449371.html?AP_rand=1600519763

May 16

Writing: Students should continue to polish their poetry writings. We will be making a book out of all the poems they have written!

Reading: Today we read from My Side of the Mountain pages 116 - 131. Students were asked to draw pictures of events that happened in this chapter, and write one to two sentences about each event.  I also asked them to write down any special details from this chapter like what Sam made for a meal, or what time of year it was.

Read for 1/2 hour to meet independent reading goal.

Spelling:  Unit 32 2nd page (212)

Social Studies: We are going to start a power point presentation over topics they have chosen about the American Revolution.
Students should continue to research about their topic. They have been given multiple graphic organizers to take notes on.

May 15

Writing: Students are writing Limericks today. Please ask them to share them with you.  Lines 1, 2, & 5 should rhyme and lines 3 & 4 should rhyme. They can also be funny!

Reading: Today we read from My Side of the Mountain pages 112 - 116 and students answered questions. Some students finished the questions, but if they didn't finish they were told to finish it for homework.

Read for 1/2 hour to meet independent reading goal.

Spelling:  Unit 32 2nd page (211)

Social Studies: We are going to start a power point presentation over topics they have chosen about the American Revolution.
Students should continue to research about their topic. They have been given multiple graphic organizers to take notes on.

Monday

Spelling: We have started another unit in Spelling ~ Unit 32 which is learning how to spell words with plural and singular possessives 

20 Word List: farmer's, group's, calf's, fish's, poem's, brother's, herd's, mother's, child's, daughter's, children's, wife's,   & poets'  watches'    calves'    couples'    wives'    fathers'    sisters'     sons'

10 Word List:  farmer's, group's, mother's, child's, children's,  poets', watches', fathers', sisters', sons'

Some students have been given the option to redo a spelling test.   (Unit 31 ~  is one of the hardest units)  (l
I showed students a strategy of breaking a longer word up by syllables, and then write it down that way to help them learn the spelling.

(Unit 29 was the Days of the week and months if a students wants a second chance)

Reading: We read in My Side of the Mountain today. We read pages 107 - 112 and students had questions to be looking for while reading. Some students did not finish the questions and were asked to do them for homework.

Students should also be reading to meet their independent reading goals.

New Spelling

May 14

Video for Social Studies

Proclamation of 1763

https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/1763-proclamation-of

May 10

Spelling: Study those spelling words! Shooting for a quiz tomorrow! These are hard words so study extra hard!  Students did practice their words in a creative way today. They drew pictures as a memory aid around the words to help them remember the spelling of the word.


Writing: Students worked on an Acrostic Poem today. They should share them with you tomorrow!

Social Studies: Students should continue to research Revolutionary War topic!

Reading: Bring independent reading book tomorrow and any books they need to conference on!

May 9

Reading: Read for 1/2 from independent reading book
Some students are behind My Side of the Mountain ~ Today we read 101 - 107


Writing: We are writing poetry ~ Today students learned how to write an acrostic poem trying to use creative word choice

Spelling: Unit 31 ~ 2nd or 3rd page  We worked on the second page in class, but they may go on to the third page if they want to get a head start for tomorrow

Social Studies: Continue to research Revolutionary War Topic

Let's Write Poetry

Links to poetry:

Cinquain Poems
http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson43/RWT016-1.PDF


Acrostic Poems
http://www.nebomusic.net/GratitudeSample.jpg

http://www.poetry4kids.com/lessons/how-to-write-an-acrostic-poem/

Positive words for each letter
http://positivewordsresearch.com/list-of-positive-words/

Acrostic Name Poems
https://hubpages.com/literature/acrostic-name-poems

Shape Poems

Video of different shape poems
http://poetryforchildren.tripod.com/poetryforchildren/id42.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ4NALBRoIg

May 8

Reading: Students are reading My Side of the Mountain. Today we read about Sam's Halloween in the woods and learned about the many guests who came to visit. (We read today pages 93 - 101)

Spelling: Unit 31 Working on words that have the /sh/ and /zh/ sounds. The /sh/ sound can be spelled with sh, ti, ci, and si. 

20 Word List
shadow, shoulder, abolish, publish, shelter, election, invitation, motion, dictionary, fiction, multiplication, constellation, imitation, capitalization, exclamation, magician, division, confusion, patient

10 Word List
shadow, shelter, election, invitation, motion, dictionary, fiction, magician, confusion, and patient

Writing: Work on revising poetry

Social Studies: Continue to research Revolutionary War topic

May 7

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour  and Some students are behind in the reading of My Side of the Mountain. They should have read up through page 93.  We did a chapter grid over the sections we read last week.  (Chapter grid is where students draw a picture and write a sentence underneath to explain what they have drawn)

Monday: 50 - 58
Tuesday 58 - 68
Wednesday and Thursday we read 68 - 84.

Today we read 85 - 93 and had questions over the chapter.

Writing: Students are working on poetry~ Ask them to share with you what they have written so far
We have worked on a free verse poem and shape poem so far.

Social Studies: Studies should continue to take notes on Revolutionary War topic. They have been given a graphic organizer, but they could take notes on any paper.

May 3

Spelling: Unit 29 2nd or 3rd page

Reading: Students should finish reading previous chapters. Monday they read 50 - 58. Tuesday pages 58-68 and today we started reading the next chapter, 68 - 84.  The last sections students don't have to do for homework.

They are also supposed to be doing a chapter grid over the different sections. (3 pictures and explanation under each section)

Social Studies: Students picked a Revolutionary War topic and have started researching! 

May 1

Writing: Students are off to a good start writing poetry.  We started writing a free verse poetry today!  They did a great job!

Reading: Students should finish reading in My Side of the Mountain.

Monday: We read pages 50 - 58 in My Side of the Mountain. Chapter titles are, "In Which I Learn to Season my Food" and "How a Door Came to Me."
We are using a comprehension strategy of visualizing as we are reading. Students are using a chapter grid to draw and write about what is happening in the story. (3 pictures and a sentence for each chapter)

Tuesday: Students read the chapter, Frightful Learns her ABC's and completing a chapter grid.   
(3 pictures and sentence explaining what they have drawn)

Spelling: Unit 29 ~ second page

Social Studies: Students are learning about the Revolutionary War and have chosen a topic to research.  Students should have a topic chosen for tomorrow.

April 29

Reading: Students read two chapters in My Side of the Mountain today.
Chapters: In Which I learn to Season My Food (pages 50 - 54)
and How a Door came to Me (pages 54 - 58) 

They were supposed to draw a visual as they were reading. (3 pictures for each chapter and a write a sentence explaining what his happening in their picture) Not all students finished it.

A few students have not finished their fantasy writing. So they should continue if they are not done.  We are starting a poetry writing unit at this point!  Stay tuned to some poetry by 4th grade!

Spelling: Unit 29 ~ First page
Days and months of the year remembering to capitalize each word.

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and the Word: calendar

 10 Word List: Months of the year

April 26

Circus Tomorrow!!!
We are going to the circus tomorrow and will be leaving the school at 1:30. If you are chaperoning please be here by 1:25, and you will also need $10 for a ticket!

The show starts at 3:00 and we will be back to school by 6:30!


Thank you all for chaperoning, and we are looking forward to a great time!

Fantasy writings are due tomorrow, April 27.  We worked hard this week making revisions and editing!! 

Spelling: Unit 28 ~ Spelling Quiz tomorrow

Reading: Independent Reading ~ Please bring any books you may have to conference on! We are working on reading goals so all your pages will go towards your reading goal! 

April 25

Writing: Students should be finishing fictional writings. The rough drafts were due the Friday before vacation, and this week we are working on editing and any revisions they may need.

Spelling: Unit 28 ~ Third page

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour and if they have finished reading up through chapter in My Side of the Mountain if they have finished.

Read for 1/2 hour from independent reading book working on reading goal!
Bring books on Friday to conference on!

April 23

Students were given dental clinic forms that the nurse would like to have back.  She said if you don't want your child to participate in the dental clinic just indicate that on the form. There is a special treat for the class that brings back the most forms.

Spelling: Unit 28 ~ first page
10 word list~ useful, peaceful, powerful, careful, thoughtful, thankless, helpless, restless, careless, and useless

Extra 10 words: joyful, restful, thankful, helpful, wasteful, cheerful, playful, hopeless, cloudless, powerless

Writing: Students need to finish fantasy story if they haven't yet. This week we are working on editing their writing and learning when to start a new paragraph.

Students need to edit for:
COPS
Capitalization ~ of proper nouns and the first letter of a sentence
 Punctuation ~ such as periods, commas
Organization ~ We are learning when to start a new paragraph - New time period or new setting
Spelling ~ use spell check and check for homophones

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

April 22

Let's watch a video about the American Revolution
http://www.scholastic.com/beyondthebattlefield/


American Revolution Topics

http://revolution.mrdonn.org/battles.html

https://www.kidinfo.com/american_history/american_revolution.html

https://www.historyisfun.org/learn/learning-center/colonial-america-american-revolution-learning-resources/american-revolution-essays-timelines-images/

http://www.masshist.org/revolution/topics.php

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/revolutionarywartimeline.htm

Timeline of American Revolution
http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/rev-prel.htm

http://www.socialstudiesforkids.com/articles/ushistory/revolutionarywartimeline.htm

April 12

Spelling: Unit 26 Study those words! Quiz tomorrow!

Reading: Students should have read up through chapter 8 in My Side of the Mountain. We had time to read in class today!

Bring your independent reading book and also bring books you have finished so you can conference over them!

April 11

Writing: Students should have a rough draft of their fictional writing by Friday. 

Reading: Read to meet your independent reading goal.  Don't forget to bring books to conference on for Friday.

Spelling: Study words and complete page 2 if you haven't finished yet.

April 10

Writing: We are working on a fantasy story in writing class. Students should have rough draft  by the end of the week. For tonight they should have at least 3 paragraphs.

Spelling: Unit 26 - Second page
Working on words with prefixes: un, re, and and pre 
Un means not, re means do again, and pre means before

I have listed the words on a previous post.

Reading: Students should have read up through chapter 6 in My Side of the Mountain 

puncuating dialogue

In case you forget how to punctuate check out this video!
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&hspart=adk&p=dialogue+practice+punctuation+video#id=2&vid=655b2e73fe682ca2ec2a23ff9a1c0e45&action=click



http://www.sheppardsoftware.com/grammar/punctuation.htm

April 9

Spelling: Unit 26
10 Word List
unlucky, review, preschool, unfair, prepay, untie, recover, preview, unhappy

20 Word List
unlucky, review, preschool, unfair, prepay, untie, recover, preview, unhappy,
rewrite, pretest, rebuild, uncover, recheck, unlock, preheat, unsafe, reread, unpack

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour;  Students are reading My Side of the Mountain and in class we read chapter 5 & 6.

Writing: Students are working on a fictional writing. We are shooting to have rough drafts completed by Friday.

Social Studies - West

Lolo Pass -

http://www.dangerousroads.org/north-america/usa/4660-lolo-pass.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolo_Pass_(Idaho%E2%80%93Montana)



Yellowstone National Park Video
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&hspart=adk&p=Old+faithful+%2B+geyser+%2B+video#id=107&vid=ab915cd1f41cd65c0bca1ade7ccdb68f&action=view

https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&hspart=adk&p=video+of+Geyser+in+Yellow+Stone+National+Park#id=56&vid=7ad4267af6bbc819d6f775f2ae3e470b&action=view


Leadville, Colorado
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g33520-Activities-Leadville_Colorado.html

National Park Service
https://www.nps.gov/yell/index.htm

Louisiana Purchase

Video:
https://www.history.com/topics/louisiana-purchase

https://www.monticello.org/site/jefferson/louisiana-purchase

April 5

We are going on a field trip to the University of Maine in Machais for a Job Fair. It is a great opportunity for our students to talk to people who are in certain fields of work. They will get a chance to talk to reporters, game wardens, police officers, nurses, beauticians, surveyors, and many more!

Students need to bring a bag lunch and a drink!

Reading: Read for 1/2 from independent reading book

Writing: Students are starting a new writing. Most are on their first or second paragraph.

Writing:
Mr. Nickerson's class has had a little more time to work on their writings in class, so we are shooting for them to be due next Friday. Some are writing longer stories so they may need more time to finish.

 We have been reading fantasy stories in class in order to build some background knowledge and to help generate ideas for their writing. Most students can't wait to get to writing time!

April 4

Just a reminder: Students are going the University of Maine at Machias for a job fair! It is a great opportunity for our 4th graders. They will need a bag lunch!

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour
Students should have read up through chapter 3 in My Side of the Mountain.  They also have questions to go along with the chapters. 

Writing: We are working on our fictional story in writing class. We are aiming to finish them before April Vacation.  They we will share our writings with the lower grades like we did with the informational writings. 

Social Studies: We are in Chapter 12 in the TCI Social Studies books learning about the West!  We are off to a good start! First stop is Wyoming and we are going to Yellow Stone National Park! 

Creative Writing Prompts

https://www.alexbrands.com/get-kids-writing-20-writing-prompts-for-kids/

April 3

Spelling words: Unit 25 ~ goose, geese, woman, women, calf, calves, fish, mouse, mice, leaf, leaves, child, children, self, selves, ox, oxen,  elf, elves

10 word list: goose, geese, mouse, mice, leaf, leaves, self, selves, elf, elves

Spelling: Students need to finish the second page if they did not complete in class

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour ~ Independent 

Mr. Nickerson's class need to finish reading chapter 2 in My Side of the Mountain and finish comprehension questions if they didn't finish in class
Mrs. Sprague's class needs to finish reading chapter 3 in My Side of the Mountain and finish comprehension questions

April 2

I had a meeting after school so I am late getting homework and information on the blog. (Almost 5:00 sorry!)

On Friday, students will be going to the University of Maine at Machias. Every year Mrs. Stettler organizes this trip, and students get a chance to interview people about their career.

Students were given permission slips today. They will need to bring a bag lunch and a drink.

If a student is consistently being disruptive and off task in class, they may jeopardize the opportunity of going on the trip. 

Spelling: Unit 25 - We are working with words learning the singular and plural form.
I will post the words tomorrow.

Writing: Students have been learning about fictional writing. Students should have at least a paragraph at this point. They need to start off by describing the setting and protagonist or main character.

March 29

Spelling: Unit 23 ~ Study words

Mrs. Sprague's class will have a quiz on Monday over the Southwest Region which we have been studying for over a month. The students made a game to study different sections, and most students have had a chance to play with other students.

I have show them links from the blog including the link below and quizlet to study the vocabulary.

Mr. Nickerson's class will have a quiz on Friday over the Southwest region. 

Social Studies: www.teachtci.com
vsprague@hancockgrammar.org

username: first initial + last name  (for most of the students)

password: hancock123
or username

Writing: Students started a fictional writing and should have filled out a story planning sheet and character planning sheet. Today we worked on writing a lead.

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

March 28

Students will have Reading MEA's tomorrow! We have been practicing how to write reading responses, which should include restating the question and giving at least 3 pieces of evidence or support from the text.   I have also been reminding them to reread to get the evidence they need. 


Reading: Read for 1/2 hour; We started a new book in reading called, My Side of the Mountain! Sam Gribley, the protagonist, meets a weasel and a hawk who become his friends!  He goes on fishing and hunting adventures so I am hoping students will enjoy the journey of reading with partners, small group and whole group discussions. 

Writing: We will be sharing our nonfiction writings with a others classes this week and next week. I think students are excited about this!  We will be going into Mrs. Hanf's room and Mrs. Clark's room. 

We also started a new writing assignment which students are very excited about. They will be writing a fictional story and some are incorporating a fancy element. Some of our characters are a duck, pencil, sock, and much, much more! 

I think students are enjoying using their creativity and hopefully when we are done they will illustrate them as well. Keep you posted!

Social Studies: There will be a social studies quiz on Friday over Chapter 10 ~ The Southwest. 

www.teachtci.com
https://www.teachtci.com/
I have given students their TCI username and passwords so they can access the book and challenge online.  They can also take a book home if they prefer to.

Quizlet to study vocab:
https://quizlet.com/11425034/grade-4-ss-vocab-w-pics-tci-chapter-10-sw-flash-cards/

https://quizlet.com/76589954/southwest-region-flash-cards/

http://mrnussbaum.com/united-states/southwest/

I have given students their TCI username and passwords so they can access the book and challenge online.  They can also take a book home if they prefer to.

Tuesday, March 27

Students had MEA's for reading today.  We will do the second session on Thursday!

Spelling: Unit 23 Mrs. Sprague's class should finish the first page
Mr. Nickerson's class needs to finish the second page of Unit 23.

Writing: Finish informational writing if it is not done.  We are starting a new writing assignment that most of the students are pretty excited about. We will be writing a fictional story! We are hoping to have some fantasy elements included in our writings. Keep posted on the progress! 

Social Studies: There will be a quiz on the Southwest section on Friday. Students have been making up questions of their own to help them study and to make a board game.   They can also take a book home and do the online challenge to study for the quiz. 

Monday ~ March 26

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour
We also started a new class novel,  My Side of the Mountain.  Students were to read the first chapter in class. If they did not finish they are to finish it at home. 

Writing: We did not get a chance to work on writing today, but if Students did not finish their informational writing they need to complete it.  We hopefully be sharing them with another towards the end of the week.

Spelling: We started Unit 23 in Mr. Nickerson's class. We will start Unit 23 with my homeroom tomorrow.

Unit 23 Spelling Words
20 Word List:
lone, break, waist, passed, sore, cellar, roll, died, past, steak, role, steel, loan, dyed, seller, brake, soar, steal, stake, waste

10 Word List:
break, brake, passed, past, roll, role, died, dyed, steel, steal

My Side of the Mountain

All About Jean Craighead George:
http://www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com/bio.html

Catskill Mountains
https://www.encyclopedia.com/places/united-states-and-canada/us-physical-geography/catskill-mountains

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catskill_Mountains

Pictures of a Falcon
https://www.britannica.com/animal/falcon-bird


Hemlock Tree
http://treepicturesonline.com/hemlock_tree_pictures.html

A Weasel
http://www.birdscalgary.com/tag/long-tailed-weasel/




How to write a story?
http://www.jeancraigheadgeorge.com/writing.html

March 21

Students have MEA's tomorrow!! 

Writing: The informational writing is due this Friday, March 23.  Students have been given time in class all week to work on this.  What students should be working on this week include: Introduction, Conclusion, and adding nonfiction text features such as subheadings, bold words, pictures, maps, glossary, and maybe even a timeline or chart.  The timeline or chart are extra credit. 


Reading: Read for 1/2 hour   

March 20

Sorry, I didn't post after school. I had another obligation directly after school.

Students will have a spelling quiz over Unit 22. 

Read for 1/2 hour! Students should continue to work towards the goals they set for the Third Semester! Many students raised their reading goal and are trying to challenge themselves!
Very proud of our 4th graders! 

Students will be taking MEA's on Thursday. This will be session two of the math test.  Get a good nights sleep! 

Mythology Links

Awesome Family Tree for the Greek Gods

http://longlivelearning.com/2011/07/greek-mythology-greek-god-family-tree-mythological-maps/

Other stories about Greek Gods

http://greece.mrdonn.org/myths.html

http://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_greek_mythology.php

Medusa and Athena
http://www.dltk-kids.com/p.asp?b=m&p=http://www.dltk-kids.com/world/greece/p-story-medusa-and-athena.asp



Difference between myths and legends
http://www.planetozkids.com/oban/what-is-difference-between-myths-legends-fables-folk-tales.htm

March 19

MEA Testing for the next 3 weeks!  This week students will be taking them on Tuesday and Thursday.

Students will be doing MEA testing tomorrow and Thursday.  

They will be taking the math portion this week, the reading part next week, and the writing and essay part the week after. Please remind them how important it is to do their best so the teachers and parents will get a clearer picture of what they are capable of doing, and what they may need more practice on. 



Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Link to interactive graphic organizers
https://my.hrw.com/nsmedia/intgos/html/igo.htm

March 15

Wow! The grand production of Psyche and Eros was awesome. In class we read the myth so we will be comparing and contrasting the two different versions of the story!  Ask your child who they thought was the funniest character!

Homework:
Spelling: Unit 22 - Students should do finish the first three pages if they have not completed them. We will have a quiz on Friday because of all the interruptions. 

Reading: Read to work on meeting read goal and to conference on Friday over books they have completed!  They need to be conferencing through the semester so they are not trying to conference over multiple books at the end! 

Medusa Play

http://www.kidsinco.com/2008/07/medusa-and-athena/

http://enchantedhomeschoolingmom.org/2014/01/greek-mythology-unit-resources-activities/

https://www.storyboardthat.com/storyboard-creator

March 14

Happy snow day!  Tomorrow we are going to the Grande to see a production of a myth, Eros and Psyche.  Students have been reading myths and learning words that have a Greek origin!

Don't forget about literacy night tomorrow night. 5:30 - 6:30

Spelling: We are on Unit 22 learning how words may change by adding two suffixes, er and est.
Words that drop the silent e when adding the suffix,  words where you double the consonant when you add the suffix, and words that don't change when you add the suffix.

Students should have 2 pages done in this unit.

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

March 12

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Writing: Students should have finished the three chapters so today we worked on adding nonfiction text features to their writing. 

Spelling: Mr. Nickerson's class Unit 22 first page

mythology

Eros and Psyche
http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Psykhe.html

http://greece.mrdonn.org/greekgods/erosandpsyche.html

Wednesday, March 7

Wow! The students learned so much by going to the Ellsworth American, and they had fun!  They got to see all facets of how the paper is produced, they met many people including reporters, people responsible for advertisements, editors, and managers. They even met Stephen Fay, the managing editor of the paper, and Terry Carlisle the general manager!   They even got to see the printing press running, and voted on the cutest dog, cat, and farret! Hancock Grammar School was the only school that participated so our 4th graders had a big job to do!

Reading: Students need to work on independent read goal. READ! READ! READ!


Writing: Students need to have the three chapters done by this Friday. Students were given a rubric.
(2 to 3 paragraphs for each chapter, 7 - 8 important details, subtitles, edited for complete sentences, capitalizations, punctuation, and organization)


Spelling: Students need to finish the third page if they are not done and study the words. I put them on the blog if you need them. (The 10 word list and the 20 word list)

Nonfiction Text Features

https://quizlet.com/13291247/nonfiction-text-features-quiz-flash-cards/

Let's see a video
https://ed.ted.com/on/BMZs9N10

March 6

Writing: Students need to continue on writing the three chapters for their informational writing. See Monday's for the writing expectations.

Spelling: Unit 21 gather, winter, master, tractor, shower, major, danger, enter, whether, water, thunder, eager, silver, minor, neither, wonder, either, rather, together

10 word list:
gather, winter, master, major, bitter, minor, either, danger, whether, together 

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour; working towards reading goal ~ Make sure to bring books in to conference on (Friday)

March 5

Just a reminder that tomorrow we are going to the Ellsworth American.

Writing: Students need to have 3 sections written for their nonfiction topic.  Each section needs to be 2 to 3 paragraphs.  It also needs to be in sentence form. Please have your son or daughter read to you what they have written so far.  This will help them to revise where they need to. They also need to edit for (COPS) capitalization, organization, punctuation, and spelling! We have been working hard on what is a complete sentence and what is not!

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour ~ Students have two more weeks to meet their independent reading goal!

Spelling: We started Unit 21 ~ First page Mr. Nickerson's class did not start spelling today! 

March 1

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour ~ Make sure to bring independent reading book tomorrow


Writing: Continue to take notes; Make sure to have 3 chapters or sections you want to cover in your informational writing.


Spelling: Unit 20 ~ Study words and finish 3rd page if not done

Wed. February 28

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour from their independent reading book

Writing: Students should still be taking notes on nonfiction topic.   Students have been given a format to follow and given a check list.  They should have 3 main topics they want to cover. We called them chapters because we are going to make them into a book.

Spelling: Unit 20 ~ Second page

(10 word spelling list ~ eagle, table, double, trouble, example, lighten, tighten, brighten, soften, harden)

20 word list~ same 10 words as above including:  stumble, tremble, wrinkle, dampen, darken, soften, weaken, harden, fasten, thicken, moisten, blacken

February 27

Spelling: Grade 4S Finish second page if you didn't get it done in class;

Writing: Students are working on an informational writing. Students need to keep researching their topic and taking notes in their writing notebooks. 

Reading: We have started reading myths in class and students seem excited to start decorating our room into a mythical place!  If you have any materials that we could have to decorate our room we would greatly accept any thing you think would be useful to this transformation.

Read for 1/2 an hour!

Feb. 26

There has been a little change in regards to the field trip to the Ellsworth American on March 6. Students will not need a bag lunch like originally planned. 

Homework: Students need to continue to research their nonfiction topic for writing.

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

February 26

Welcome Back to school! I hope everyone has had a restful and fun filled week!

We will be reading Greek myths and students will share what they have learned about a Greek God or Goddess!

Links below to help us decorate our classroom!
http://www.coloring.ws/greek1.htm

http://greece.mrdonn.org/myths.html

http://www.wartgames.com/crafts/greekgods.html

http://greece.mrdonn.org/greekgods/athena.html

http://www.ducksters.com/history/ancient_greek_mythology.php

Social Studies ~ Chapter 10

Let's Study Chapter 10 ~ SOUTHWEST REGION

https://quizlet.com/260789465/chapter-10-social-studies-southwest-vocabulary-flash-cards/

THIS ONE MAY BE A LITTLE HARDER, BUT YOU CAN USE YOUR BOOK TO HELP YOU!
https://quizlet.com/136851872/chapter-10-study-guide-the-southwest-flash-cards/

Thursday, February 15

Have a great vacation everyone! We had a great Valentine's celebration! Thank you to all the parents and students for bringing in special treats! Thank you also for all the gifts I received! Very thoughtful and greatly appreciated!

We are also going on a field trip on March 6th to the Ellsworth American. Students will be judges for the Pet Parade Contest! It should be a lot of fun! They will also learn about the paper getting published!


NOW FOR THE HOMEWORK!
Reading: Students need to have three entries: (Feb. 13, Feb. 14, & Feb. 15) with the sentence starters~   Students should also bring their independent reading book tomorrow and any books they have finished reading so they can conference with me!

I infer.......


I predict......


I wonder.....

Spelling: There will be a spelling quiz over Unit 19 tomorrow! If students forgot their spelling book, I have put the words on the blog under Monday, Feb. 13

Writing: Students should continue to take notes on their nonfiction topic; Mr. Nickerson's class has been given two class periods to research.  Mrs. Sprague's class started today researching.

They were given directions to write down at least three thick questions they are wondering about their topic so they had a direction while researching.

Wednesday, Feb. 14

Writing: Students should be taking notes on their informational writing if they have not gotten any information so far. We have been working on taking notes for two days this week. 

Spelling: Unit 19 Mr. Nickerson's class worked on the third page of Unit 19
Mrs. Sprague's class worked on the second page.

Reading: Students will need 3 entries in their reading journal this week. 


I infer.......


I predict......


I wonder ...........

Tuesday, February 13

Reading: Students are practicing making inferences. They are to make inferences using their independent reading book.

Three sentence starters are:
I infer.........
I predict.........
I wonder why?

Spelling words are under Monday, Tuesday, 12

Spelling: Mr. Nickerson's class needs to finish the second page of Unit 19
Mrs. Sprague's class needs to finish the first page of Unit 19

Nonfiction: Students are starting a nonfiction reading & writing unit. In their writer's notebook they webbed questions they are wondering about or what they think will be interesting to find out.  Please have your child show you what they are choosing for a topic and questions they have generated so far. 

Research Links

February, 12

Spelling: Words for this week:
20 Word List:
 bottle, pebble, single, jumble, tickle, rattle, middle, bubble, sample, cattle, snuggle, kettle, jungle, ankle, giggle, simple, settle, temple, battle, mumble

10 Word List:
middle, single, sample, jungle, bubble, bottle, pebble, giggle, ankle, mumble

Homework:
Spelling:
Mr. Nickerson's class - First page of Unit 19
Mrs. Sprague's class will start Unit 19 tomorrow

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour ~ In reading notebook come up with three inferences while you are reading from your independent reading book using the sentence starters below:

I infer.........

I predict......

I wonder why..........

Thursday ~ February 8 ~

I didn't put homework on yesterday because of the early dismissal!


Mr. Nickerson's class will have a spelling test over Unit 17 words!  Study your words tonight. 

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour!  Bring any books you have for independent reading conferences.

Writing: Students have brainstormed informational writing topics.  They will need to be choosing a topic they want to research. 

February 6

Spelling: Mrs. Sprague's class will have a spelling quiz over Unit 16 on Wednesday.  Mr. Nickerson's class took the spelling quiz on Monday over Unit 16.

All student should finish the first page of Unit 17. We are working on the /j/ sound! (Spelled with dge, g followed by e, g followed by y, (gym) and g followed by i)

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

February 5

If students have not finished movie review or Monument Valley brochure they need to finish!

Spelling: We will be starting Unit 17 words on Tuesday!  Objective is for students to be able to read, spell and write words with the soft g sound.

20 Word List:  badge, gym, rigid, gem, baggage, range, dodge, package, engine, cottage, gigantic, edge, gentle, strange, ridge, cabbage, bridge, hedge, village, judge

10 Word List: ridge, badge, bridge, hedge, judge, gem, gym, gentle, gigantic, dodge, edge

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour working towards reading goal;
In reading we have been learning how to make inferences. Today we listened to the story, Fly Away Home, and made a great deal of inferences. Some inferences we made were: The boy had hope that he would some day have a home again. The father and the boy would go to difference places in the airport so they would not be noticed, and the boy was a thoughtful and caring person. We based our inferences on what was in the text and our schema!  

Social Studies: Students have been learning about Hoover Dam. Ask your child to show you Hoover Dam with Google Earth! It is really cool! 

Thursday, February 1

Spelling: Because of NWEA testing we are a day behind. We will
Reading: Read for 1/2 hour; Tomorrow is independent reading~ Make sure to bring any book you need to conference on and have a book ready! 

Writing: Movie Review should be done!  See other posts for the format or content if you need it.
Please read it aloud to your parents to make sure it makes sense and to see if they want to watch the movie!

Social Studies: Travel Brochure should also be done by Friday!  Students were given two handouts and there is also a link on the right hand side of the blog about Monument Valley.

Wednesday, Jan. 31

Mr. Nickerson's class should finish the second page of Unit 16.
Mrs. Sprague's class can practice the words because we did not get to spelling today.  All of the words are under the Tuesday's post. 

Writing: You need to finish the movie review. The Ellsworth American is going to publish 5 movie reviews.  Students are voting on the top 5, along with Mrs.Sprague and Mr. Nickerson. 

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Social Studies: Continue to work on travel brochure over Monument Valley. Students have been given two handouts about Monument Valley so they have information to include the brochure!

Tuesday, January 30

Homework:
Spelling: We are on Unit 16 learning the words with the /kw/ sound spelling with qu and squ

Our word list: quick, quarter, squint, quiz, squeeze, quote, quit, squash, queen, squirm, quilt, quart, squeal, quake, quill, quarrel, square, quite, question, quiet

10 word list: quick, quarter, quit, question, quiet, quake, queen, squeeze, square, squint

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Writing: Movie Review is due on Wednesday ~  Remember to add your voice throughout the review! For example: It was so amazing it had me sitting on the edge of my seat throughout the whole movie!  If you liked action packed movies than this movie is for you!

5 paragraphs include:

1st paragraph: introduction with the name of the movie, type of movie, and how you liked it

2nd paragraph: What is it mainly about? Don't give away the ending

3rd paragraph: Who were the main characters and how would you describe them?

4th paragraph: What stood out for you as  the most interesting part?

5th paragraph: Restate why you liked it, but in a different way.

Thursday, Jan. 25

Reading: Tomorrow is independent reading; Bring any books you have to conference on, and most importantly bring an independent reading book!

Writing: Students should be on their 3rd or 4th paragraph. Mr. Nickerson's room is on their 3rd paragraph and my homeroom should be on their 4th paragraph. The 4th paragraph should be about what stood out for them as the most interesting part, or maybe they really liked a certain character, or maybe they really loved the animation or settings. 

Wednesday, Jan. 24

Reading: Read for 1/2 hour

Spelling: Study spelling words from Unit 15~ Spelling words with a silent letter

(Spelling List - often, knot, wring, island, lamb, answer, knee, written,
though, knock, echo, known, comb, wrong, limb, knife, listen, honest, doubt, calm)

10 Word Spelling List:
known, knee, written, wrong, comb, often, listen, though, island, answer

Writing: Students should have 3 paragraphs for their movie review; All the students have written them in google docs so they could continue writing at home if they are not done. Please ask your child to read what they have so far, which is a strategy they can use to see if it makes sense.  

Look at a previous post from this week to help with the structure of the review. 

Social Studies: Students are writing a Travel Brochure and should be taking notes on Monument Valley. I have shown them 2 links from the blog that provides information about it.  

They need to write down information about the geography, where is it located? What landforms are there? How wide is it? What is the climate there?

History Who owns Monument Valley?  How long have these people lived there?

What could you do if you visited this place?