NOVEMBER NOTES!

NOVEMBER 2 - DAYLIGHT SAVINGS ENDS; "FALL BACK" ONE HOUR BEFORE GOING TO BED SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1

NOVEMBER 4 - STUDENT HOLIDAY

  AND ELECTION DAY

NOVEMBER 6 - 5:00-6:00 MUNCH & MINGLE (A Parent's Guide to Testing)
6:00 PTA MEETING 

NOVEMBER 11 - VETERAN'S DAY: HONOR THOSE WHO HAVE SERVED OUR COUNTRY IN THE ARMED FORCES

NOVEMBER 19 FOURTH GRADE THANKSGIVING LUNCH AT SCHOOL
PLEASE JOIN US!

NOVEMBER 24-28 - THANKSGIVING HOLIDAYS

WE WILL BE WRITING LETTERS OF APPRECIATION TO SERVICEMEN AND WOMEN WHO ARE SERVING OUR COUNTRY ABROAD.

WE HAVE MORE WORK TO DO WITH MULTIPLICATION OF MULTI-DIGIT NUMBERS IN WORD PROBLEMS -- ESPECIALLY WHEN WE NEED TO FIND AN ESTIMATE. STUDENTS HAVE BEEN VERY SUCCESSFUL USING THE BOX METHOD AND ARE READY TO TRY SOME OTHER STRATEGIES, IT IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT FOR EVERYONE TO MASTER THE BASIC "X FACTS" IN ORDER TO CONTINUE TO MAKE PROGRESS IN MATH. DIVISION IS COMING SOON AND WILL INVOLVE SOME STRATEGIES THAT WILL AMAZE YOU!

SORT 13 IS ALL ABOUT WORDS THAT END WITH -LE. PRACTICE THE WORDZ AT SPELLERZ WITH CODE AXV642! COMPLETE YOUR TRIAL TEST AND PLAY GAMES AT SPELLING CITY.

WATCH FOR THE SCRIPPS OFFICIAL NATIONAL SPELLING BEE STUDY LIST THAT WILL BE COMING HOME SOON. THE SCHOOL SPELLING BEE WON'T HAPPEN UNTIL AFTER THE WINTER HOLIDAYS BUT WE WANT TO BE READY! WE WILL BE CONDUCTING CLASSROOM BEES DURING THE NEXT FEW WEEKS.

OUR SCIENCE STUDY OF SIMPLE MACHINES WILL BEGIN.

S4P3. Students will demonstrate the relationship between the application of a force and the 

resulting change in position and motion on an object. 

a. Identify simple machines and explain their uses (lever, pulley, wedge, inclined plane, 

screw, wheel and axle). 

b. Using different size objects, observe how force affects speed and motion. 

c. Explain what happens to the speed or direction of an object when a greater force than 

the initial one is applied. 

d. Demonstrate the effect of gravitational force on the motion of an object.

ALL THE STUDENTS DID A FANTASTIC JOB ON THEIR NATIVE AMERICAN PROJECTS. THEIR CREATIVITY AND ENTHUSIASM HAS BEEN IMPRESSIVE. WE LEARNED HOW EACH TRIBE ADAPTED TO THE ENVIRONMENT IN THE REGION WHERE THEY SETTLED. IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT THEY WERE THE FIRST AMERICANS -  LONG BEFORE EUROPEANS DISCOVERED THE NEW WORLD.

WE WILL LEARN OF OUR COUNTRY'S BEGINNINGS AS WE STUDY SOME OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL EUROPEAN EXPLORERS WHO CROSSED THE ATLANTIC OCEAN TO EXPLORE THE NEWLY DISCOVERED CONTINENT.

SS4H2: The student will describe European exploration in North America.

a. Describe the reasons for, obstacles to, and accomplishments of the Spanish, French, and English explorations of John Cabot, Vasco Núñez de Balboa, Juan Ponce de León, Christopher Columbus, Henry Hudson, and Jacques Cartier.

b. Describe examples of cooperation and conflict between Europeans and Native Americans.

PARENTS, THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU DO TO SUPPORT YOUR CHILD AND HIS OR HER LEARNING!

SUCCESS!

Thank you, parents and students, for the great conferences this week! The time spent with each family seemed to just fly by. I trust that each of you walked away with more understanding of what your child is learning in fourth grade and ways that you can support your child. The students did a very nice job as they presented their Leadership Notebooks from the "pink chair." I am proud of them all! The poster below reiterates a few of the tips that were offered this week.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4

STUDENT HOLIDAY!

PARENTS, GO VOTE!

WE WILL CONTINUE MULTI-DIGIT MULTIPLICATION AND PROBLEM SOLVING NEXT WEEK. PLEASE PUT THOSE "X PLANS" IN MOTION! I AM ANXIOUS TO AWARD MORE STUDENTS WITH A "0 - 9 X FACTS" CERTIFICATE.  

 DOWNLOAD THIS GEORGIA STANDARDS NATIVE AMERICAN POWERPOINT TO REVIEW WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED ABOUT THE INUIT, KWAKIUTL, NEZ PERCE, HOPI, PAWNEE, AND SEMINOLE.

NATIVE AMERICAN PROJECTS ARE DUE WEDNESDAY. EVERYONE SEEMS EXCITED ABOUT THEIR CREATIONS AND WE ALL LOOK FORWARD TO SHARING. DON'T FORGET TO WRITE A SHORT PARAGRAPH TO TELL ABOUT YOUR PROJECT AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE TO YOUR TRIBE. WE WILL BE WRITING OUR INFORMATIONAL REPORTS ABOUT THE TRIBES IN CLASS.

SORT 12 --- WORDS ARE READY FOR YOU TO PRACTICE AT  SPELLERZ (CUSTOM INVASION TNF456) AND AT             SPELLING CITY.


TODAY IN THE SCIENCE LAB, WE HAD A FUN S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) LESSON. WE WORKED WITH A PARTNER TO DESIGN  MOLDS FOR MAKING ICE CUBES INTENDED FOR USE IN BUILDING AN "ICE HOTEL." THE STUDENTS WERE ABLE TO CHOOSE THEIR MATERIALS FOR THE PROJECT FROM A LARGE ASSORTMENT OF ITEMS MRS. KNOBBE HAD GATHERED. NEXT WEEK, WE WILL TEST THE SUCCESS OF THE ICE TRAYS WE CREATED. THANK YOU, MRS. HERNANDEZ AND MRS. BROWN FOR VOLUNTEERING TO HELP US WITH OUR ENGINEERING!


Another inky evening’s here—
the air is cool and calm and clear.
Can it be true? Oh, can it be?
Yes!—Bat Night at the library!
ON FRIDAY, WE WILL HAVE A SPECIAL HALLOWEEN TREAT! AWARD-WINNING AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR BRIAN LIES WILL VISIT OUR SCHOOL. HIS BOOKS FEATURE BAT CHARACTERS AND EXCITING PLOTS. WE CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR HIM TO SHARE HIS WRITING TRICKS!


HAVE A FUN AND SAFE HALLOWEEN!

NEXT WEEK

YOUR STUDENTS WILL BE LEADING OUR CONFERENCES.
I LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU ALL AT OUR SCHEDULED TIMES.


12:15 EVERYDAY!


BOOK FAIR!
STUDENTS MAY PURCHASE DAILY UNTIL 4:00! BOOK FAIR WILL BE OPEN LATE ON TUESDAY UNTIL 6:30! WILL END AT 11:00 ON FRIDAY. READALOT!


DURING RED RIBBON WEEK, WE WILL PROMOTE LIVING A HEALTHY DRUG FREE LIFE IN FUN WAYS!


DUE TO EARLY DISMISSAL, THESE CHANGES WILL BE MADE TO OUR DAILY SCHEDULE: SPECIALS - 8:30; LUNCH - 10:15

WE WILL STILL BE WORKING HARD NEXT WEEK! STUDENTS ARE DOING A GREAT JOB LEARNING TO MULTIPLY MULTI-DIGIT NUMBERS USING THE BOX MODEL STRATEGY. THEY EVEN BEG FOR CHALLENGES! TAKE A LOOK AT HOW WE CAN FIND THE PRODUCT OF 45 X 58. WE USE THE DISTRIBUTIVE PROPERTY BY WRITING EACH FACTOR IN EXPANDED FORM. FROM THERE, WE FIND THE PARTIAL PRODUCTS. THE SUM OF THOSE PARTIAL PRODUCTS GIVES US THE ANSWER!

WE WILL BE APPLYING OUR SKILLS TO SOLVING WORD PROBLEMS.

SPELLING SORT 11. I HAVE ENTERED THE WORD LIST AT SPELLERZ - THIS WEEK'S CODE IS CZN594 AND AT SPELLING CITY.  THE STUDENTS SEEM TO BE ENJOYING THE ONLINE TRIAL TEST AND PRACTICE GAMES.

IN CLASS, WE WILL BE WORKING ON OUR INFORMATIONAL WRITING ABOUT THE NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES.

REMEMBER THAT NATIVE AMERICAN PROJECTS ARE DUE ON OCTOBER 29. I HOPE THE STUDENTS ARE HAVING FUN WHILE LEARNING. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!


PLEASE SHOW YOUR APPRECIATION DURING SCHOOL BUS DRIVERS APPRECIATION WEEK!

NEW SPELLING GAME!

Here is a new Spelling game! Go to SPELLERZ . Choose "Custom Invasion" and enter this code: CNE658 to practice Sort 10. Each week, I will create a new list with a new code. You may print your results for homework credit if the assignment is "Online Practice." Have fun!

GOING BATTY IN OCTOBER!

What a great October week it has been! Did you see the blood moon and the lunar eclipse? Did your child tell you about something new he or she learned this week? It was fun to see the kids' handsome faces in their school pictures which were delivered. Students who did not order pictures received a catalog from which you may place orders now. 

 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17  

5:00 UNTIL 8:00

WRIST BANDS $10 EACH

FREE SHUTTLE SERVICE FROM HOLY TRINITY

GAMES, PRIZES, DJ, FOOD, BAKE SALE, VENDOR FAIR, BOUNCE HOUSES, PHOTO BOOTH, DUNK TANK (additional fee)

Parents must be present with children -- no drop offs, please,

25 CONFERENCES ARE SCHEDULED FOR NEXT WEEK!

Please bring your child with you. I know that you will be impressed with all that he or she has to share. Please arrive on time as we have a very full schedule.

We learned about factors, multiples, rules of divisibility, prime, and composite numbers this week. We are able to decompose numbers to find the prime factors. We played a couple of games to practice the Rules of Divisibility. The students enjoyed the games so much that I promised to put them on the blog! Access the Divisibility Rules powerpoint at star.spsk12.net/math/5/DivisabilityRules.ppt. The practice games are embedded in the lesson and there is an additional game at the end of the powerpoint. Next week we will work on multiplying multi-digit numbers. Yes, it is so much easier when you truly know the basic multiplication facts! Please continue to expect your child to practice daily!
I have added websites for practicing basic addition and subtraction facts to our "Links for Learning" that will help students become more efficient with simple facts. Let's try to stop using our fingers for addition and subtraction this year!

Writing is an art that requires skill. We are sharpening our skills and applying them in our writing. This week we focused on writing good topic sentences and developing paragraphs from a given set of details on a topic. This will lead into gathering our own details as we research our Native American tribes, organizing our subtopics, and writing our informational pieces about our assigned tribes. 

Here is a very good slide show that introduces the Native American tribes we are studying: http://secure.smilebox.com/ecom/openTheBox?sendevent=4e4445794f546b784e44593d0d0a&blogview=true&campaign=blog_instructions_directurl_makeyourown
Social Studies Native American projects are due October 29. The students are so excited to learn about America's early cultures. We will be writing our reports in class but information gathered from home is certainly welcome. There are links on Addison's website to help with research. I'm beginning to hear some very creative ideas! Parents, thank you for your support.

Today in the Science Lab, we made six weather instruments. Each group of four or five students was led by a volunteer. Mrs. O'Donnell who has a kindergarten student at Addison and a seventh grader, helped us make a wind vane. Mr. Reece assisted our class again, helping us build an anemometer. Mrs. Paine instructed us as we made a hygrometer, Mrs. Brown was the barometer expert, and Mrs. Hernandez knew just what to do to make a rain gauge! Mr. and Mrs. Eid were there to help the group that made a thermometer. After all the instruments were created, each group presented and gave a demonstration of how their instrument works. Every instrument worked and we were so proud! We are so appreciative of our volunteers and Mrs. Knobbe!

HEY Y'ALL, IT'S FALL!

What a perfectly beautiful Fall day it has been! There was definitely a new chill in the air that prompted me to stir up our first pot of chili of the season. I hope you are enjoying the weekend as much as I am.  I can hardly believe it is October already and we find ourselves at the end of the first quarter of the school year. October will be a very busy month.

CONFERENCE WEEK
OCTOBER 20 - 24

Early Dismissal 12:15

Conference notices will be sent home on Monday. Please respond as quickly as possible. Your child and I look forward to sharing his or her accomplishments with you.

Book Fair and Red Ribbon Week are the same week!

READING:  Students have been enrolled in two online programs that will help them work on their reading skills. They can access Study Island and Raz-Kids from the Addison webpage with the username and password I have given them for each site. Raz-Kids will be self-paced for each student at his or her differentiated level. We will be learning how to use Study Island to complete specific assignments soon.

SPELLING:  I have created a customized page for our class on the website, Spelling City. Simply go to http://www.spellingcity.com/leaders306/. You will be able to select the current week’s word sort and play a variety of fun games to practice. You can take a test and print your results or even a nice certificate! You may show me either one of those items to count for your Trial Test homework! You will still need to write the words you misspelled three times.
MATH:  Why did the boy eat his math homework? Because the teacher told him it was a piece of cake!   Indeed, Math is a piece of cake when we can recall the multiplication facts with ease. Does your child regularly practice the facts? Have you tried the websites on my blog? These two websites are especially good ones for increasing fluency:
Online Timed Facts:  http://www.mrmyers.org/Math_Mania/ttmult.html and
Math Expressions:  http://www.playkidsgames.com/games/mathfact/mathFact.htm.
We are beginning to multiply larger numbers and will use strategies that will make it as easy as pie – IF we are fluent with X Facts!
GRAMMAR:  Learning the parts of speech is an important step in understanding word meaning, word function, and proper English grammar. In fact, the Common Core State Standards require that as early as second grade, students will demonstrate command of all eight parts of speech, and that as students grow, their understanding and use of words will become more sophisticated each year (SpellingCity.com). We are constantly reviewing parts speech and proper English grammar, usage, and mechanics. We strive to apply all that we learn in all that we speak and write. The Grammar Gorillas at http://www.funbrain.com/grammar/ can make practice fun!  Practice punctuation, sentence structure, and more at http://www.funenglishgames.com/grammargames.html.

SOCIAL STUDIES:  We are embarking on a journey into history. We will learn about six Native American tribes: Inuit, Kwakiutl, Nez Perce, Pawnee, Hopi, and Seminole. Your child will become an expert as he or she researches and completes an at-home project to represent his or her assigned tribe. There are great resources that can be accessed through Cobb Digital Library via the Addison webpage. Thank you for supporting your child while letting his or her creativity show.