We have had a wonderful reading filled day for our Read-a-Thon! We had a “Boston Tea Party” and drank sweet tea and had some biscuits while we read each other’s American Revolution books. We also had a chance to read some of the books from Mrs. Vandenbosch’s class. We finished reading The Lightning Thief. Students read at special, we read in the Library and we read math word problems involving money! Thank you all for your Read-a-Thon pledges!

This week in reading we continued with our fantasy studies through The Lightning Thief. We talked about how fantasies are all about a struggle between good and evil. We discussed how characters and people aren’t all good or all bad. When we come back from break we will be starting our Historical Fiction Book Clubs!

In Math this week we learned decimals! We learned how to convert fraction with tenths and hundredths into decimals. We plotted decimals on number lines and we solved word problems using decimals. We added, subtracted and even did some dividing with decimals! Our Online test will be Monday, Review Tuesday and Final test is on Wednesday. If your child will not be here Wednesday and they need to take the final test, I will have them take it Tuesday afternoon during iTime.

In Writing Workshop this week we completed our All About the American Revolution books! The students put in a lot of research and hard work into their books. Their efforts are apparent in the quality of the work they did!

In Social Studies this week we learned about the Bill of Rights and completed a Bill of Rights project that will be coming home next week. Ask your child to tell you what the Bill of Rights is!

A huge THANK YOU to all of the parents that have donated items for our classroom raffle on Wednesday!

Important Dates:

Friday – Sunday, March 30 – April 8 – Spring Break

Tuesday, April 10, 2018 – No school.  Professional Development for teachers

Tuesday, April 24– Link Up Concert

Friday, April 27 – “Dolphin” movie at Cinema Carousel

We have our own version of March Madness happening here at school! We are trying to finish up all of our projects and units before Spring Break so that we have a fresh start when we return!

Today we read what we were wearing!  I loved reading everyone’s shirts, hats and even a  few had words on their pants! We also had another all school Drop Everything and Read today.  A huge THANK YOU! to  all who have signed up for the Read-A-Thon online! We are hoping to win the prize for having our whole class signed up, so if you haven’t done this yet, please go to pledgestar.com/holmes.

In Reading Workshop we continued to read The Lightning Thief , as we read we are learning about different techniques that authors use when writing fantasy.  One technique we learned about comes from something that was written on the  Lenox Globe – Hic Sunt Dracones, which meant “Here Be Dragons.”  This was written to warn the  mariners who sailed the oceans about places that were dangerous, to stay away! We learned that this was symbolic as there weren’t really dragons,  but it meant “Look out!  You’re in dangerous territory – don’t go there!  We talked about how our characters in our books face metaphorical dragons, or inner struggles that they usually don’t want to talk about.  We discussed the “dragons” of the characters in Lightning Thief and students looked for dragons for the characters in their books.  We also discussed how most fantasy books are really about the struggle between good and evil. To do this we looked at what lessons the character learns and what lessons they teach us, to find the themes of our books.

In writing we spent the week completing our final copy of our research/informational books on the American Revolution.  I am impressed by all the hard work the students have put in to their books. They look amazing! The books will come home right before Spring Break. We are hoping to have the opportunity to share our books with other 4th graders and Mrs. VanderBroek’s 2nd grade!

In social studies we talked about the checks and balances that our government has in place to limit the power one branch could have.  We also went over the Bill of Rights and what the first 10 amendments are.  We will be doing more with The Bill of Rights next week.

In math this week we learned how to create and read line plots and answer questions based on those line plots! We did all of this using fractions!

Important Dates:

Friday – Sunday, March 30 – April 8 – Spring Break

Tuesday, April 10, 2018 – No school.  Professional Development for teachers

Tuesday, April 24– Link Up Concert

Friday, April 27 – “Dolphin” movie at Cinema Carousel

Happy March is Reading Month! Please remind your child to complete the March is Reading Month activities! Information on our Read-a-Thon also came home this week! Send in those donations and we will read, read, read!

Reading ~ This week in reading we have been talking about the Fantasy genre. We have talked about what a fantasy is (magic elements, talking animals, etc.) and we have has some specific lessons on reading fantasy. First, we learned that a fantasy reader has to quickly figure out what type of world the fantasy is set in. To do this it helps to look at the cover (what do you notice?) and to read the blurb on the back. We also learned that the first few chapters will begin to give us a lot of information on the setting. In The Lightning Thief  we learned that the setting is present day New York City and the United States, however there are elements of magic and greek gods and goddesses. We also learned that readers of fantasy have to pay attention to the parts where a character directly asks a question, or talks one on one to someone. In fantasy we need to be alert to this so that we can learn facts about the world and our main character as he or she learns them too.

Writing ~ In writing we have been working on putting our All About the American Revolution books together. This entails, writing final copy for each section, creating text features and then gluing our text and text features on to the pages creating a pleasing layout that is easy to read and not confusing.

Math ~ We completed Topic 10: Multiplying Fractions. The test results will go home today. Today, we also started Topic 11 reading line plots. I had several students who rushed through their homework today and did not read carefully. Some may be bringing home homework (paper) that they need to correct.

Social Studies ~ This week we learned about the Separation of Powers, the different roles of Federal, State and Local governments and the three branches of government, Executive, Legislative and Judicial. As well as how each serves a certain role in providing checks and balances so that one branch does not abuse its power.

 

Important Dates

Friday – Sunday, March 30 – April 8 – Spring Break (NO school Friday, March 30)

Tuesday, April 10 – No school.  Professional Development for teachers

April 24 – Link Up Concert.  Look for information about this trip coming from Mrs. Ireland soon.  There a few opportunities to chaperone for this trip

April 27 – “Dolphins” movie  Thanks to generous donations from Holmes families and friends, we will be taking the 4th grade classes to see this Earth Day movie at the Cinema Carousel. (We will not be taking chaperons to this event).

May 31 – Chicago – You received your final payment information at conferences

June 1 – Bocce Ball and Rocket Launch Day – Look for information to come home about this fun day to come from Mr. Robinson and Mr. Overway.  I know they always need parent help for this day!

June 5- a day at Camp Pendalouan with Jeffers 4th graders.  Plans are being finalized.  We will let you know more at a later date.

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

I enjoyed having the chance to talk with all of you at conferences this week!  Thank you for coming in to talk about your child and his or her learning and development.  Can you believe that there are only 12 weeks left in the school year?!

Since we already about what we are studying in the upcoming weeks during conferences, I will make this update short and highlight a few special things.

March is Reading Month – a gold colored packet went home a few days ago detailing all the activities for the month.  There are a couple of contests and a calendar of reading activities to do at home.  Each Friday we will be Dropping Everything And Reading for a few minutes as a whole school.  Today’s theme was “read at the beach” There will be a Read-A Thon again this year.  Look for information to come home regarding this event.

Field Trips – We have a few!  More detailed information will come home closer to each date.  I just wanted you to be aware. Check out these important dates:

April 24 – Link Up Concert.  Look for information about this trip coming from Mrs. Ireland soon.  There a few opportunities to chaperone for this trip

April 27 – “Dolphins” movie  Thanks to generous donations from Holmes families and friends, we will be taking the 4th grade classes to see this Earth Day movie at the Cinema Carousel. (We will not be taking chaperons to this event).

May 31 – Chicago – You received your final payment information at conferences

June 1 – Bocce Ball and Rocket Launch Day – Look for information to come home about this fun day to come from Mr. Robinson and Mr. Overway.  I know they always need parent help for this day!

June 5- a day at Camp Pendalouan with Jeffers 4th graders.  Plans are being finalized.  We will let you know more at a later date.

Important Dates

Friday – Sunday, March 30 – April 8 – Spring Break

Tuesday, April 10, 2018 – No school.  Professional Development for teachers