We have had a great first full week of school! There certainly is a lot of learning going on in here!

Math ~ We have been working on place value, rounding numbers to the nearest 10, the nearest 100 and the nearest 1,00o.  We have also practiced writing numbers in standard notation (745), expanded notation (700+40+5) and in word form (seven hundred forty-five). We have also taken a few mad minutes (both multiplication and subtraction). These will be coming home tonight. The 4th grade goal is 30 correct problems in 1 minute. The papers your child is bringing home were timed at 2 minutes. To help your child meet this goal, have your child spend a few minutes each night practicing their multiplication and division facts. (There is an app for that)!

Writing ~ We have written three on demand pieces, an opinion piece (school uniforms), a narrative and an informational piece. These are used to evaluate your child’s writing in each area. We will begin writing our Realistic Fiction stories next week.  Every Friday, students blog about their week. Please check out your child’s blog using the Student Blog link on the right side of this page.

Reading ~ In reading workshop we have been talking about the things that good readers do. We have learned that research shows that in order for students to grow as readers they need to read tons and tons of books at their just right levels.  We also reviewed how to select just right books, as well as reading ourselves awake! Taking care not to read on autopilot.

Science ~ We will begin science next week. Our first unit is “The View from the Earth.”

Have a great weekend!