Our class is off to a great start to the new semester! We have been very impressed with their maturity and ability to work hard this week after so much time off.
Field Trip:
Our Field Trip to the Arizona State Capitol will be on Tuesday, January 21. Permission slips came home in your child’s take-home folder on Friday, and are due to the teacher this Tuesday, January 14. The cost of the field trip is $15. Please send the money to school with your child attached to the permission slip. We will be at the capitol in the morning and will return to school by the students’ regular lunch time of 12:15. Please send your child to school with their lunch as usual on the 21st. Students are permitted to bring a camera and spending money for the gift shop if they wish. I ask that you send your student with a maximum of $20 spending money if you decide to send them with anything. Please reach out to Mrs. Conforti and Mrs. LaVell with any questions regarding the field trip.
Lessons This Week:
Spalding: This week, students will study their next 30 words. For nightly Spalding homework, students should have the words dictated to them by someone at home and should write them one time each in syllables. Any words that are misspelled should be written again for additional practice. We will take our 30-word Spalding test on Friday.
Writing/Grammar: Students will continue their study of grammar for the next two weeks before getting back into writing lessons. Before the AzMERIT writing test, we will be spending more time on writing to prepare students. After they take their writing test, we will get back into grammar lessons for the duration of the school year.
Math: This week, students will learn their next math concepts on geometry. They will be taking two tests this week on angles: one on Monday and one on Tuesday. On Wednesday, they will be taking their weekly review quiz. On Friday, they will be taking their test over parallel and perpendicular lines.
History: Students will continue learning about the American Revolution. This week, they will learn about the French and Indian War, the Seven Years’ War, and the early quarrel with Britain. They will be taking their first unit test over chapters 1-5 on Thursday.
Science: This week we are beginning our new unit on Geology! Students will first learn about the layers of the Earth, Alfred Wegner, the theory of Pangaea, and the movement of plates via the convection current. On Friday, they will take a review quiz on Meteorology.
Literature: We will continue reading The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian and will finish it by the end of the week. Our next book will be Carry On, Mr. Bowditch. Please send your copy of this book to school with your student in advance. For nightly homework, students will read a book of their choosing for 20 minutes every night, unless otherwise specified. Students will keep their quarterly reading log in their yellow take-home folder. All reading logs are due at the end of the quarter.
Greek and Latin Roots: On Wednesday, students will be learning their next three roots on roots #54-56. The review quiz will be over last week’s roots #51-53
Poetry: Students will continue their memorization of the poem “Concord Hymn” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Recitations for this poem will take place on Friday, January 24.
Important Dates: *assessment dates are subject to be pushed back if necessary
- Monday:
- Math Test: Angles
- Tuesday:
- Math Test: Angles
- Wednesday:
- Math Quiz: Week 2 Review
- Roots Quiz: #51-53
- Thursday:
- History Test: Unit 4 Ch. 1-5
- Friday:
- Spalding Test: 30 words
- Science Quiz: Meteorology Review
- Math Test: Parallel and Perpendicular Lines
Class Information:
Typing:
The skill of typing is an important one for all of our students to be able to learn and perform effectively. While I do not expect any fourth grader to be a typing professional, I would like to get them as comfortable as possible using a keyboard. Not only do we type essays in class, but students will be expected to type their essays for the AzMERIT Writing test in the Spring. For this reason, it is imperative that students feel comfortable enough to perform this skill.
I highly encourage you to allow your student to practice typing on a computer keyboard as often as possible at home. Many students are wizzes when it comes to navigating a tablet, phone, or other touch screen device, but many of them do not have proper exposure to regular computers. It would be beneficial if you and your student found something on a computer that they enjoy, that would also help them practice typing on a regular computer keyboard. I will be periodically updating the blog with any examples I find, and if you have any ideas, feel free to email us and share them! Thanks!
Xtra Math:
Any student who passes multiplication, addition, subtraction, and division on XtraMath will earn a special secret prize from Mr. Gillingham! Please encourage your students to work on this at home whenever you have spare time. Each practice session of XtraMath only takes about 5 minutes to complete.
Headphones:
All students need to bring in a pair of headphones to keep at school. Students are expected to use headphones whenever they do activities on the computer, such as Khan Academy and TypingQuest. They will also need to have them each time they take a standardized test. I have room in the classroom for students to keep headphones at school. Thanks!
--Mrs. Conforti
TMartin@ArchwayArete.org
--Mrs. LaVell
RLavell@ArchwayArete.org
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