We certainly have been having some roller coaster weather! I hope that it all clears up by Spring Break!

In Room 16 this week we have been learning a lot of new things and applying many of the skills that we have learned all year to new tasks!

During Reading Workshop students have been using all the skills and strategies that they have learned through our the year to read and write about their book club book. Book clubs meet on Friday to discuss what they have read. This week we learned how to sustain our book club talks and saw some models of what a good book club discussion sounds like. The students are all doing a wonderful job of being prepared for and participating in their book club groups. I love listening to their talk about books! They have really grown this year in regards to their depth of understanding.

In Math we are wrapping up our unit on Fractions and Decimals. Look for our unit PRACTICE test to be on Monday, review and practice sheet on Tuesday with the final test on Wednesday. I have been impressed with how easily most of the students have picked up decimals. We have also been practicing simplifying fractions. Students are taking a simplifying Mad Minute each day. This week they had 5 minutes to complete the sheet, next week will be three and then 2 minutes after break. These sheets will come home each day and should be fixed and finished and returned to school the following day. The math test will cover: finding equivalent fractions, reducing fractions, decimals, fractions on a number line, line plots, comparing fractions and comparing decimals.

We have started our research unit in writing. Each student selected an animal from the Lincoln Park Zoo website and they are researching their animal using online and print resources. Students will use the information they gather to write paragraphs describing the habitat their animal lives in, and the animals physical and behavioral adaptations and how these adaptations help them survive. They will also be creating a food web or chain for their animal. All of this information will then be displayed on a poster (created in class). Students will then take a “Gallery Walk” and critique posters from the other 4th grade classrooms. We would love a little help from home! If you have the means to print your child will need to print 1 color photo of their animal and a map of their animal’s range or territory. Photos and maps should be no larger than 6 x 8. I appreciate your help with this!

In Social Studies we have shared our student iMovie projects and have moved on to learning about Human Geography. his week we discussed immigration and push and pull factors. We looked at many of the great migrations in the United States and focused on The Orphan Train. Ask your child to share their learning with you!

We will be having a Class Raffle on Wednesday. As always we are looking for donations of fun raffle items. Please see your email for a list of ideas! Really anything that your child would love to win is a great donation!

IMPORTANT DATES:

Thursday, March 31 – Chicago final payments due

April 1-10 – Spring Break

April 11 – Classes resume! Yes, we have school!

Tuesday, April 12 – NO SCHOOL – PD for teachers and SAT for 11th graders