Thank you for sharing your amazing children with me each day! Have a wonderful break!
Dear Fourth Grade Families,
On Thursday, the fourth grade students did an amazing job helping a preschool class during their gym time. Mr. B couldn’t say enough about what a great job they did! It makes me so proud of what wonderful citizens this group has become. As readers we are investigating author’s craft. One specific area we focused on was the symbolism in our stories. There are a variety of ways that author’s use symbolism. We found symbolism in objects, setting, characters, book titles and weather. Once students located these symbols, they stopped to think about why the author included it as part of the story. They also thought about how the author used the literary device to better help develop the theme of the book. In writing we working on our second literary essay. This literary essay compares books with similar themes. Students looked at how the plot, setting and characters were different in each story, but the authors were teaching the same message. We were able to use many of the skills that we learned in reading to help us find evidence to support our writing. In math we have been studying fractions. We have been looking at equivalent fractions and comparing fractions. The students have done an outstanding job learning these concepts. We have spent a lot of time working on explaining our thinking through conversation and in our writing. Over the holiday break students will be expected to complete a math review packet. This packet was In January students will be taking the winter benchmark. This assessment is a cumulative assessment from the first 4 units of the year. Have a great weekend. Dear Fourth Grade Families,
It seems as if the weeks are flying by as we get closer to the holiday break! We will be having a holiday party, Tuesday, December 22nd at 2:30. In case of snow, we will have the holiday party, Wednesday, December 23rd at 11:15. Julie Bruno and Karen Therrien are planning a party, please get in contact with them if you are interested in helping. In reading this week we have been busy working on our second social issues book. We are working on tracking a theme or multiple themes throughout the book. We also are looking for symbols in our books that help us have a better understanding of the theme. Students have been working in their book clubs to discuss places in their books that they notice the author giving information about the theme. In writing, we started a new unit, a comparative literary essay. This is challenging work for the students, but it is great to see them rise to the occasion. They chose two short stories that have the same theme and began looking for the elements of theme such as the problem, how the character overcomes the struggle and the lesson the character learns. After identifying the elements of theme we grew a big idea, which is the message the author is trying to teach the world. In math we began a new unit on fractions. We are looking at equivalent fractions; the numerical fractions may be different but the value is the same. The important aspect of understanding equivalent fractions is that the whole must be equal. ½ is only equivalent to 2/4 if we are talking about the same size whole. For example ½ of a dollar is 50 cents and 2/4 of 10 books is 5 books. If you have a chance to talk to your child about equivalent fractions in their everyday life, it will help them to understand the concept. Have a great weekend! We have been working very hard to understand the theme of our stories. To find the theme students are encouraged to look for the problem, how the character overcomes the struggles and the lesson the character learns.
Readers are always doing this work. Please encourage your child to practice this work during their nightly homework. Finding evidence for the theme makes a great post-it note! |
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December 2018
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