This week we began our first unit Vamos a leer! Our objectives were:
practice our warm up sentence routine
review vowel sounds
review capital letters and when to use them
Qué sueño! craft about one of the stories we read this week
Las matemáticas
This week we learned to routines and expectations for math. Our objectives were:
use our STEM bins correctly and store them
review numbers to 10
practice math group rotations
practice using math manipulatives correctly
History & Geography
What a great start to a new school year. Everyone arrived this week excited to learn. We have been having fun exploring our classroom and getting to know one another. We are starting off Social Studies with a short unit on North America landmarks.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• identify characteristics of different types of landmarks
• recognize specific landmarks in North America
• name types of landmarks when looking at pictures
• identify a compass rose
• name the cardinal directions
Checking on our class pets.
Science
This week we began our Astronomy unit. The class is loving learning all about space. We will have a field trip to Omsi’s planetarium in October. More information coming soon.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• recognize the Sun in the sky
• understand the sun, moon, and stars are located in outer space
• understand that the sun is a source of energy, light, and heat
• classify the Sun as a star
We jumped right into the new school year with our friendship unit / la amistad. Our learning objectives this week were to:
make connections, summarize, and predict while reading Gloria, quien podría ser mi mejor amiga.
create vocabulary notebooks and strategies
spelling words with s (Spelling tests will be on Fridays.)
cursive letters: i and t
writing: planning stage- listing ideas
Place value!
Las matemáticas
This year, we will focus on:
building problem-solving skills and strategies
using models to solve real-world problems involving the four operations
making and interpreting data from bar graphs
identifying fractions of a set
finding angles and identifying lines
understanding area and perimeter of figures
Our first unit of study is Numbers to 10,000. Some of the skills your child will practice are:
counting, reading, and writing numbers to 10,000
reading and writing numbers in different ways
comparing and ordering numbers
Friday is “Movie Popcorn” snack day! Palomitas!
Science
What a great first week we had! We celebrated two birthdays: Andres and Evelyn D. We spent a lot of time doing back to school activities and discussing classroom and student routines, procedures and expectations to help make this school year be as successful as possible.
In addition to all of our back to school activities, we also started our unit on astronomy. Our objectives this week were to:
Identify the sun as a constant source of heat and light energy
Classify the sun as a star
Identify our planet Earth as the third planet from the sun
Demonstrate how day and night on Earth are caused by Earth´s rotation
Explain the reasons for the seasons
Describe the characteristics of a planet
Describe stars as hot, distant, and made of gas
I have really enjoyed getting to know this awesome class! I am looking forward to a fabulous school year!
This week we began our first unit: World Lakes. Our objectives were:
familiarize ourselves with Google Classroom
understand the procedures and expectations for History
read maps and globes using longitude and latitude, coordinates, and degrees
identify the Tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, and the three climate zones
Mathematics
This week we set routines and expectations for Math. Our objectives were:
practice writing math notes in our math journals
practice group rotations
familiarize ourselves with Prodigy and Homework expectations
English
This week we set up our writing journals. Our objectives were:
look at old writing journals for expectations of how our journals should look
set up our writing journals
understand the spelling routine for the year
Lectura
We are so excited and ready for our school year. We have planned so many fun-filled, engaging and meaningful activities designed to maximize every one of our students opportunities to develop their unique skills. We can’t wait to share these with our students and families.
This week we were very excited to hear all the fun summer stories and adventures. Students got to share some of the special moments they experienced with their families and friends. After that, we took the time to revisit our school’s expectations and procedures. Students got familiar with our Literacy and Science expectations and procedures. We discussed how identifying our strengths and setting up clear/specific goals will help us have a successful year. Lastly, we spend some time assessing(diagnosis) our students Spanish through some fun games, reading and writing activities. We can already tell: This is going to be an epic year!
Ciencias
Investigation 1 part one: The Sun
Focus Question: What are shadows and how are they formed? How and why does your shadow change during the day?
This week, students has a chance to get familiar with our science resources as well as our science expectations and safety rules. We started our first investigation for the fall module: The Sun. Students traced their shadows two times in the afternoon, and compare the tracings. They use this information to determine the position of the Sun as it appears to move throughout the day.
It was a great, and very busy, final week of school. We had graduation for our 5th & 6th graders, a rainy field day, report cards and summer enrichment went home, and our final day. We look forward to seeing everyone at our Back to School Night on August 26th.
Have a great summer and remember to READ every day!!!!
Explain why the abolitionists concentrated their efforts in the northern states.
Identify and describe the roles of the abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and Frederick Douglass.
Describe women´s place in American society in the 1830´s and 1840´s.
Understand the double standard that held women back, even among other reformers.
We have been working in class on president reports. We will do an informal presentation on Tuesday, June 18th.
Math with Ms. Laura
Chapter 12 Measurement
Real World Problems: measurement
Review
Chapter 12 Assessment
Extra math Bingo!
Many topics were covered this year in fourth grade math! I am so proud of the efforts of this amazing group of students. Their enthusiasm and hard work made every day a special math day! This summer: Prodigy, review of number facts and lots of looking around to see: MATH …. It’s everywhere!!!
Language Arts
We really focused on our verb conjugations this week, as noun-verb agreement is something we continue to …struggle with. We played a few games to help with this.
We reviewed how to form the future tense, completed a minuto loco to practice, and then used this to write about what we will do this summer. This was completed in a “round” writing, where students share their writing, with other students adding a couple sentences. This type of activity helps with creativity and preciseness. Students then worked together to edit these drafts.
We began reading our last story of the year. Please ask your child what they learned about Braille.
Art with Ms. Kelly
A very BIG THANK YOU to Ms. Stasia for helping every week in art class!
We did it! We can’t think of a better way to culminate such a wonderful year, than performing in front of our entire SWS audience, our much-anticipated play “Don Quijote de la Mancha”. This production truly defines what is at the core of our fourth/fifth-grade class. During these years, our highly capable students have grown in so many academic areas, but the most important thing is that they have developed into beautiful human beings. I could not be any more proud of all their hard work and I will be forever thankful to have been a little part of their lives. I know it will be hard to say goodbye because we have become a family. But at the same time, I feel happy because I know we share a special bond because families are forever.
Others objectives this week included: Science Reports Presentations. Due to the internet being down, a group of students couldn’t present on Friday. We have moved these presentations for Monday.
Mathematics
This week we finished our last math chapter Measures of Central Tendency. Our objectives were:
Review finding the mode from a set of data and dot plots
Review finding the median from a set of data and dot plots
Understand how to relate Measures of Central tendency through real-world problems
demonstrate understanding and mastery through a unit test
History & Geography
This week we worked on our final project Mock Career Fair. Our objectives were:
design a webpage that displays the information researched about each career
design a paper promotional item that displays information about each career
English Writing & Spelling
This week we wrapped up our writing curriculum. Students worked very diligently completing one of each type of essay we have done this year. If you have not had a chance to read the writing the students have worked on I highly suggest you do. Their improvement, attention to detail, and passion are inspiring to read. Students will bring home jump-drives this week with all their files downloaded from the year, so they can be stored as their accounts will no longer be active next school year.
This week the class finished their immigrant reports and locate places on our maps where their families came from and immigrated to. If you have a minute, check out their hard work on our Immigration bulletin board. The class had fun celebrating the end of this unit with a potluck. Thanks to everyone for contributing food, it was fantastic and the student’s shared information about their special dish and some of their families’ immigrant stories while they enjoyed devouring their cuisine. This week we continued to work on our Civil Rights unit, learning about people like Mary McLeod Bethune, Eleanor Roosevelt, Ruby Bridges, Jackie Robinson, Rosa Parks, and Martin Luther King Jr. On Friday the class listened to King’s “I Have A Dream” speech.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• understand the challenges Mary McLeod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt faced and how they helped people
• recognize Jackie Robinson’s role in the integration of baseball
• identify Ruby Bridge and Rosa Park’s famous acts
• understand what a bus boycott is
• recognize different ways the United States was segregated
• identify Martin Luther King Jr. And understand the importance of non-violence to King
• recognize King’s “I Have a Dream” speech
Science
This week in our Simple Machines continued to learn about complex machines. We read the biography of Elijah McCoy, an African American inventor who reduced friction on trains by inventing a lubrication device that allowed the trains to move much more rapidly.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• Explain that simple machines can be combined together to make a complex machine
• Examine and name the types of simple machines that are found in a complex machine
• Recall Elijah McCoy’s life and contributions
English Spelling and Writing
King for a day, A reading rock star!
We learned the idiom of the week “It knocked her socks off” and wrote about it in their journals. The class worked on spelling assignments and took their last final spelling test on Friday. We reviewed difficult word wall words this week. Students will be assessed on these next week.
La lectura
This week we continued to discuss immigration. We read Bagels con Jalapenos. Our objectives were:
review asking question before during and after our first read
review making connections during our second week
describe our heritage in Spanish based off of the English papers that were written
discuss how our potluck connects to the International Day that was mention in the story
complete our end of the year high-frequency word assessment.
Las matemáticas
This week we continued to review math concepts from the year by playing Math Olympics. This week we reviewed:
place value
rounding
placing numbers in ascending and descending order
using less than and more than symbols
Students will be bringing home a year in review packet to keep their math skills sharp this summer! If students bring it back on the first day of school they will receive a special prize!
This week we read a great book about a dog who writes letters to all the people/houses in the neighborhood. He wants to be adopted. Finally, the mail carrier adopts him. This was such a great story and it inspired us to work on our letter writing. This would be a great opportunity to sit down and work on writing a letter together. Who will you write to?
We have continued to add high-frequency words to our word-wall and use them in great, detailed sentences. The students have done such a great job, working independently as I assess each kiddo, individually, on their knowledge of our entire list of word-wall words.
Everyone has really gotten the reading bug! I will be sending home several books with each kiddo next week, as well as a folder with summer work and a reading contest sheet. This work is not a “must do” but something I felt would help keep the kiddos from experiencing the dreaded “summer slide”. They have made so much progress and are really in a groove right now. I wanted to provide some materials to keep them moving, so they hit the ground prepared for a great year when school opens in September.
Las matemáticas
Everyone loves telling time! This has been such a favorite of the kiddos. Our objective for kindergarten is to tell time to the hour and the half-hour. Everyone has mastered this.
We have also continued to work on our addition and subtraction in double digit and even triple digits. I would love for the kiddos to play lots of dice and card games throughout the summer. Adding those dice should become instant after playing lots of family games!
History & Geography
Hard to stay inside on these beautiful days!
This week in our unit Fun Stories we read the two trickster tales: Tug of War and The Leopards spots. The class drew pictures and did independent writing in their journals about each.
Our weekly objectives were to:
• demonstrate familiarity with the stories we have read this week
• identify the characters and how they interacted with each other
• understand what a trickster tale is
Science
In our Plant unit this week we finished reading about interesting plants and plant facts. The class got to examine an orchid and reviewed how interesting this plant is, there are over 20,000 species and the seed is the size of a dust flake.
We also learned about the many different ways people use plants. Next week we will learn about George Washington Carver and how he, like Johnny Appleseed, became famous for his love of plants.Our weekly objectives were to:
• understand that there are many different kinds and sizes of plants
• understand that different kinds of plants grow in different environments
• identify the parts of specific plants that are eaten by people
• identify things that plants provide us: oxygen, food, and important products
This week we began our first unit Vamos a leer! Our objectives were:
This week we learned to routines and expectations for math. Our objectives were:
English Sight Words of the Week
