Week of 1/30

Hopefully everyone enjoyed the student break from school! I am excited to return to work now that everyone in my house is better. I'm the only one in my house that was spared the wrath of the stomach bug! Let's hope it stays that way! 

As noted in a recent email, benchmark testing begins tomorrow. The schedule is as follows:
Wed. 2/1: Reading

Tues. 2/7: Math

Thurs. 2/9: Social Studies

Students can review for math and social studies by reviewing their respective notebooks and/or practicing online via https://portaportal.com/

The username and passwords are both RES4th. There are reading games/practice sites on there as well. 

It's a new quarter, so let's make it a great one. Continue to practice math facts daily. Mastery of all basic facts (+,-, x, /) is critical for success with all math concepts. Daily reading is also important for increased fluency, comprehension, and overall vocabulary development. I'm excited for a fresh start for all, and I know it will be a fantastic quarter! 

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is last day to order a t-shirt for Read Across America Week! No late orders will be accepted. For the class with highest participation, each student gets a free dinner coupon for the Literacy Night on March 2nd!! Order form is shown below:

Here's what's happening this week:
Language Arts: 
Skills/strategies: We will be working with functional texts like fliers, recipes, menus, ads, etc. Students will be examining text features like headings, directions, bold words, and graphics to gain understanding of the text. In case you missed it last week...below are some great ideas to help your child with reading at home:

 

Math:
We will begin our fractions unit! We'll review identifying and writing fractions, and gain a deeper understanding of improper fractions, mixed numbers, and decimal/fraction equivalents.
Students should be bringing home their math notebook any time they have math homework and should be using notes as a guide.
Remember to use the portaportal site to review math concepts at home: http://www.portaportal.com/ 

Virginia Studies:
Students will be learning about leadership in the new nation after the Revolutionary War. We'll be learning about George Washington, James Madison, George Mason, and Thomas Jefferson. We'll also be discussing why people started moving west (Westward Expansion). I will send home the VA Studies notebook daily so students can continue to review notes since it's a lot of information to learn. Be sure to have conversations about what they're learning to help it stick! :) Stay tuned to the agenda for upcoming assessment dates!

Week of 1/16

It's hard to believe we are almost half-way through the school year already! We've got benchmark testing coming up, so stay tuned to the agenda and email for more information. Report cards come home February 7th! Remember that you can check your child's grades at your convenience online anytime via ParentVue.


Awesome job with Beary Blue/Purple/Gold last Friday... our class WON for most participation in the 4th grade! :)


Last week, order forms went home for Read Across America Week shirts. Proceeds go towards activities for that week. It would be awesome to have great participation from our class again - there may be contest for the most participation with this fundraiser - I'll keep you posted! All orders are due February 1st  - no late orders will be accepted.

Here's what's coming up this week:
Language Arts: 
Skills/strategies: We are working on being able to differentiate between fact and opinion, while also reviewing main idea in small groups. Below are some great ideas to help your child with reading at home:

 

Math:
We'll continue to work on equality in an equation (balancing equations) and the associative property of addition.  We are also reviewing estimation with addition and subtraction and will also learn to estimate products/quotients and solve multi-step word problems. There is a quiz on Thursday on equality (balancing equations) and estimation! It is critical that students are practicing their facts daily (all basic facts: addition/subtraction/multiplication/division). Lack of fact fluency really slows them down in their computation of larger numbers. 
Students should be bringing home their math notebook any time they have math homework and should be using notes as a guide for the steps.
Remember to use the portaportal site to review math concepts at home: http://www.portaportal.com/ 
I sent the login information via email in the beginning of the year. If you need it again, just email me: devon.day@nn.k12.va.us

Virginia Studies:
We'll continue to learn about the American Revolution - this week we'll learn about the roles that Virginians played in the war, as well as the Battle of Great Bridge and the victory at Yorktown. We started a booklet today that we'll finish tomorrow and should be reviewed daily before the test next Wednesday. I will send home the notebook daily so students can continue to review notes since it's a lot of information to learn. Be sure to have conversations about what they're learning to help it stick! :) Stay tuned to the agenda for upcoming assessment dates!

Week of 1/9

Who's ready to come back to school?! I'm sure at least parents are cheering! :) Hopefully everyone enjoyed the snow - it's not often that we get a great snow like that!


Here's what's coming up this week:
Language Arts: 
Skills/strategies: We will be focusing on predicting, but will also be reviewing main idea and summarizing by reading books, passages, and doing practice activities during Reading Jam.

Please be sure that your child is reading nightly. Studies show that daily reading shows significant growth in vocabulary development and overall achievement. We want our kids to LOVE books and become lifelong readers, so we must work together to foster that love of reading.

Math:
We'll continue to work on equality in an equation (balancing equations) and the associative property of addition.  Stay tuned to the agenda for an assessment date. It is critical that students are practicing their facts daily (all basic facts: addition/subtraction/multiplication/division). Lack of fact fluency really slows them down in their computation of larger numbers. 
Students should be bringing home their math notebook any time they have math homework and should be using notes as a guide for the steps.
Remember to use the portaportal site to review math concepts at home: http://www.portaportal.com/ 
I sent the login information via email in the beginning of the year. If you need it again, just email me: devon.day@nn.k12.va.us

Virginia Studies:
We'll continue to learn about the American Revolution - this week we'll review what caused the war and the roles of important Virginians in the war. I will send home the notebook daily so students can continue to review notes since it's a lot of information to learn. Be sure to have conversations about what they're learning to help it stick! :) Stay tuned to the agenda for upcoming assessment dates!

Week of 1/3

Welcome back and Happy New Year! Hopefully everyone had a relaxing break with some extra family time and you are ready to get back into the swing of things at school!


Here's what's coming up this week:
Language Arts: 
Skills/strategies: We will be reviewing main idea and summarizing by reading books, passages, and doing practice activities during Reading Jam.



Please be sure that your child is reading nightly. Studies show that daily reading shows significant growth in vocabulary development and overall achievement. We want our kids to LOVE books and become lifelong readers, so we must work together to foster that love of reading.


Math:
We will continue to work on multiplication and division, but will be starting equality in an equation (balancing equations) and the associative property of addition. It is critical that students are practicing their facts daily (all basic facts: addition/subtraction/multiplication/division). Lack of fact fluency really slows them down in their computation of larger numbers. 
Students should be bringing home their math notebook any time they have math homework and should be using notes as a guide for the steps.
Remember to use the portaportal site to review math concepts at home: http://www.portaportal.com/ 
I sent the login information via email in the beginning of the year. If you need it again, just email me: devon.day@nn.k12.va.us

Virginia Studies:
We started our unit on the American Revolution today. I will send home the notebook daily so students can continue to review notes since it's a lot of information to learn. Be sure to have conversations about what they're learning to help it stick! :) Stay tuned to the agenda for upcoming assessment dates!