What a crazy couple of weeks we have had. Now that we are back after the snow days we are trying hard to get caught back up.
In math we took our test over patterns (non-numeric and numeric, growing and repeating patterns, and input/output charts) and have started moving into division. In fourth grade the standard does not have us teach the students in the traditional algorithm (as we grew up learning). Instead, students will be learning an area model of division and a strategy called partial quotients. (To see a video on the area model, please click HERE.) We will be working on division for the next several weeks. Our morning work for math has changed. The morning work is a review of many different standards and concepts covered in fourth grade. Some of these things we have already taught and some are still ahead of us. We are discussing daily and working through the problems together with lengthy discussions to help students understand. They are responsible for following along and taking their own notes (copying what we have done together off of the board.) This will serve as their study guide for their Friday assessment. Everything that is on the morning work will not be assessed on Friday. As we walk through the answers at the beginning of the week, I am telling students, "This type of question you WILL see on Friday, but the fraction questions will not be on this Friday's assessment." (There is a huge sigh of relief when I let them know this.) In Social Studies we will be wrapping up the causes of the American Revolution this week and having a test over them either Friday (1/26) or Monday. This test will come from the notes in their journals starting with the French and Indian War all the way through the Boston Tea Party (to be covered on Wednesday/Thursday.) Next we will focus on some of the battles of the Revolution. Here we are with another 4 day week of school and the chance of freezing tonight. Brrrr!
This week we have started a new morning work that is a spiral review of 4th grade math standards. Some of the things the students will encounter are going to be new and we will teach as we discuss, and some of it will be review. We are still having an assessment on Friday, but I will NOT be including challenging topics that have not been taught before. As we review I am letting the students know what will or will not be included on Friday's assessment. In math we will be having our test on Patterns on Wednesday. Afterwards we will be moving into division. If this is your first time with a fourth grader, the way that we teach division is TOTALLY different from the way that we learned growing up. You students will have journal entries to help them along (and help you.) In addition, here is a link for a video that will show the first way I will be doing division. In Social Studies we will have our test over the map of the colonies on Wednesday and we will continue to discuss the causes of the American Revolution. Students have been adding journal entries into their Social Studies journal. All of this information they are responsible for knowing for the test. (Date is still to be determined.) Dear Parents, AESF’s famous Penny Wars begin Tuesday. Please look under your couch cushions and clean out your coin jars and send the coins in with your child from January 16th through the 26th. Penny Wars will conclude at the end of the Father Daughter Dance on January 26th. Which grade will be the 2018 champions? Pennies are gold and dollars and other coins are used to sabotage other grades! May the best grade win…. The anticipated snow/ice day (National Championship game day) with no school threw me off a little. This week we will be finishing up our brochures on the different colonial regions before moving on to the reasons for the American Revolution. Yesterday (Tuesday) we completed an activity called, "The Kings Gold" to give the kids an idea of how the colonists felt about King George taxing them from England. As promised, we will not have a big test over the colonies, but we will have an open note test over the different types of people that could be found in the colonies on 1/11.
Students received a copy of a map of the colonies and were told about an upcoming test. On next Wednesday, 1/17, students will be given a blank map and have to label each of the 13 colonies correctly without using anything other than the head on their shoulders. They will have a full week to study for this, and it will count as a primary grade in Social Studies. As for math, we are working on input/output tables and the patterns that are used to figure them out. We have also learned how to write equations to help solve those tables. We will be completing another Exemplar type problem tomorrow (Thursday) which will challenge (and possibly frustrate) some of the kids. They are going to have to really think to figure out this pattern! I am planning to finish up the week with a math test on patterns. Tomorrow we will be voting on our Leader of the Month and a (pretty empty) Thursday folder will be coming home. |
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March 2020
CategoriesAuthorMrs. Tansill |