Happy Weekend

Dear 4-208 Parents,

Today we began a new school-wide initiative to encourage our students to become "Bucket-Fillers". This is part of our ongoing anti-bullying program.

Please ask your child what a bucket-filler is and what they learned from the stories we read.

As part of our bucket-filling plan and as a beginning of Advent project, we are going to participate in the Red Cross Christmas Cards to our veterans project Holiday Mail for Heroes.

On Monday we will be making Christmas cards to send to injured veterans.
(Note: no personal identifying information will be included - just first names.)

You can watch some videos about the project here and see how touched the veterans are to be thought of at Christmas - and as one soldier says - it's especially heartwarming when they receive cards from children.

We don't really need much in the way of supplies for this, but if you should happen to have any old Christmas cards that we can cut up, or Christmas stickers, we'd appreciate them. Thanks.
No glitter is allowed.

Week of November 26th

Parents - if you have any questions about the project or joining us, please email me.

Notice - 

Any parent who is Virtus-certified is welcome to join us in the classroom on Friday afternoon and/or Monday afternoon to help your child with the Natural Wonders project. We will begin @ 1PM on both days and work until dismissal. We will have additional time available on Tuesday (We only have from 10:30 - 11:00 because of music concert rehearsal) and Wednesday (11:00 - 12:30)

Please don't feel badly if you are unable to join us. I fully understand that work/family demands may not permit you to be here. 

Regarding supplies -

The children were supposed to draw up their supply list today.  I have plenty of paint so no one needs to bring that in. Any donations of boxes, brown wrapping paper (butcher paper), soil  or other supplies will be gratefully accepted.  I'll try to provide anything that's missing.

Thanks for your cooperation. The children are doing an amazing job with their research and designs and they're working well together. It's been inspiring to watch!

Thursday Homework -

Read for 25 minutes and log.

Math - 2 worksheets. You need to think about this and how to apply your knowledge of prime and composite numbers and factors.

Religion - color Disciple sheet. Don't fill it in except for your name. We will do that together.

Read pages 80 and 81 about the Liturgical Year. Answer the two questions about special days. As you are reading, take notes on things you think are important on page 80. When you read page 81, write down at least one important fact from each season of the Liturgical Year beginning with Advent.

Notice - 

Any parent who is Virtus-certified is welcome to join us in the classroom on Friday afternoon and/or Monday afternoon to help your child with the Natural Wonders project. We will begin @ 1PM on both days and work until dismissal.

If you would like to help out and those times don't work for you, please contact me and we'll see if another time can be arranged. I suspect we will need more time than that anyway.

Please don't feel badly if you are unable to join us. I fully understand that work/family demands may not permit you to be here. 

Regarding supplies -

The children were supposed to draw up their supply list today.  I have plenty of paint so no one needs to bring that in. Any donations of boxes, brown wrapping paper (butcher paper), soil  or other supplies will be gratefully accepted.  I'll try to provide anything that's missing.

Thanks for your cooperation. The children are doing an amazing job with their research and designs and they're working well together. It's been inspiring to watch!

 Wednesday Homework -

Read for 25 minutes and log.

Math - workbook page 40. On looseleaf, use addition to check at least 5 of the problems.

ELA - Write a set of directions for how you will build your project. (Parents - it doesn't have to be perfect, or a final copy. I just want the children to start thinking of the sequence of their work.

It was lovely to meet with so many of you at the meeting last night. If you have any questions or concerns about the new report card and grading system, please feel free to email me.

Tuesday Homework -

Read for 25 minutes.
Math - sheet on factors/Prime and Composite Numbers (both sides)
Work on Natural Wonders research. Focus on what you need to create your model. Remember to keep everything in your Team folder. You may decorate your folder with images of your natural wonder if you wish.


Reminder - Important HSA meeting tonight for information about the new report cards. A reminder notice went home today.

Monday Homework -

Read for 25 minutes.
Math - sheet on factors
Reading - sheet (both sides)

Study for Science test. I corrected the first page of the Take Home test and returned it for the children to study from. Please return them tomorrow.

Thanksgiving Week

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

A few updates:

The take-home Science test is due Monday. The in-class test will be Tuesday (on basically what is on the take-home test). 

Mia gave out a letter today regarding book donations. She and her sister are collecting books to bring to children in The Rockaways who suffered losses from Hurricane Sandy. If you have books that you have read and don't need to keep any longer (and they're in good condition), won't you please donate them so someone else can have books to read? Of course a new book is also welcome. (Just in case you're wondering.)

Vacation Work - 

I'm so sorry to have to give a packet over Thanksgiving break, but we're still catching up from the week off.

Homework is the Science Take Home test.   Open book, help permitted.

I'm also encouraging the students to participate in a writing contest the Diocese is sponsoring in connection with The Theater at Madison Square Garden. The Grand Prize Winner will receive 4 tickets to the December 19th performance of How the Grinch Stole Christmas (as well as winning tickets for the entire class to attend).

There will also be 5 First Place Runner-Up prizes that win 4 tickets each to the performance.

The contest is open to grades 4 and 5. Three finalist entries will be selected from our school to go on to the diocesan competition. The Office of the Superintendent will announce the winning entries on or before December 10th, 2012.

Here are the rules:

Students are to write a one-page type written essay on the topic "What is your favorite Christmas story?"

Essays must be typed, double-spaced, using 12 point Times New Roman font, one inch margins all around.

There should be a title page with Student's name and grade. Do NOT include this information on the essay page. There should be NO heading on that page.

The entries will be judged using the NYS Thematic Scoring Rubric. (Copy available here.)

NYS Thematic rubric.pdf

Essays may be emailed to me (as a Word doc) or submitted on the day we return from Thanksgiving break.

REMINDER - Wednesday dismissal is at 11:30. There is no afterschool.

Tuesday Homework -

Read for 20 minutes and record on log.
Reading comprehension sheet (poem)
Religion - read the Thanksgiving prayer and write your own prayer of thanks on the turkey.
Math - Thanksgiving math sheets. Try your best. Some problems are a review of multiplication skills.
Social Studies - Chapter 1 test (Lessons 1, 2, and 3)
Remember - bring your apple for tomorrow!



Monday Homework -

Read for 20 minutes and record on log.
Religion - write a birthday letter to Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne. She felt like her life was a failure because she couldn't speak the Potawatomi language. Using information from the page I gave you, write a letter encouraging her. (On looseleaf)

Math - Reflex

SS - sheet. Study for test on Wednesday

Science notebooks. I will be collecting them tomorrow to grade so take the time to make sure everything is complete.
Your Table of Contents should look like this:

1. Observation Skills
2. Observation of a Peach
3.  Observation of _____________ (Whatever you did for homework)
4.  Ladybugs!
5. Observation of an Ice Cube
6. Glaciers
7. Pumpkin Observations

Reminder - bring in an apple for Wednesday

Week of November 13th

Weekend Homework - 

Yes. Sorry.  :(


Math test Monday. I gave two review sheets and a review packet for the problem solving part. 
We will go over these and review everything before the test on Monday.

Social Studies - take home test that went home yesterday is due Monday. In class test will be Wednesday. If anyone is not going to be in school on Wednesday, please let me know and we can make arrangements.

Please continue to work on Reflex Math. It is particularly important that everyone get to 100% fluency so you can move on to multiplication since we will be spending the next few months doing multiplication and division.

Team NY folders went home today with info about our new unit. There is a parent letter inside. If you have any questions, just send an email.





Important - No letters due until after Thanksgiving.

Two updates - Friday November 16th is Denim Dress Down Day to support Breast Cancer research and awareness. The children received a notice about this today.

Our Thanksgiving Food Drive is underway, delayed because of the storm. Donations must be in by Friday, November 16th.  The 4th grade is asked to bring in applesauce or fruit cocktail.

Update: at our meeting this afternoon, Mrs. Bartone extended the time to bring in the applesauce or fruit cocktail until Monday. We understand people have been asked for a lot lately so please give what you can, but we understand if it is not possible.  Thank you.

Thursday Homework –

Read for 25 minutes and record on log.

Math – 2 sheets. For word problem sheet, show work on looseleaf.

Social Studies – take home practice test. This is due Monday. On Monday we will go over it and you can have it to study from
Science – pages 139 and 140 from packet

Wordly Wise – test tomorrow (Lesson 4)

Remember Denim Dress Down tomorrow.

Also, please try to bring applesauce or fruit cocktail for the Thanksgiving Food Drive by Monday.

Wednesday Homework
Read for 25 minutes and record on log.
Reading Comprehension Spacket
Math packet - review for test on Monday. Test will include rounding, estimating, adding and subtracting
Wordly Wise – test Friday
Science packet - only do the first two sides (pages 137 and 138). Test on glaciers will be after Thanksgiving.
There will be a Social Studies test next Wednesday. I will give more info tomorrow.
Sorry for bunching tests together, but the week off messed things up and the trimester is coming to a close.

Tuesday Homework –
Read for 25 minutes and record on log.
Reading Comprehension Skills sheet
Wordly Wise – 4 D
Reflex Math
Social Studies – Read pages 28 to 33 and complete sheet.

Week of November 5th

My apologies this is being posted late. Our internet went out at school this afternoon. I did print the homework out and give it to each student to be sure they had the correct work.

REMINDER - Picture day is tomorrow.

Thursday Homework -
Read for 25 minutes and record on Paws for Reading log
Math - sheet
Wordly Wise 4E (we skipped over C and D but will go back to them)
SpellCheck test is tomorrow


Wednesday Homework -

Read for 25 minutes and record on Paws for Reading log
Math - page 19
Wordly Wise 4 A and B
Writing - finish the first paragraph only of your book review.

No letters due this week.

If you want to vote on the Time for Kids site - use this link
http://www.timeforkids.com/news/vote-president/42751

Tuesday Homework –

Read for 25 minutes. Record on your Paws for Reading log.

Math:

1.  sheet

2. How many ways can you make the number 976 using flats, rods(longs) and units (cubes)?

Do this in your notebook the way we were doing in class. See how many different ways you can make the number.

Social Studies – Using the papers I gave you and The Election Book, write a paragraph telling how you would explain the American Presidential election to someone from another country who didn’t understand how we choose a leader. Use as many details from the text as you can.   (looseleaf)

Monday Homework -

Several important notices went home so please check your child's folder.
I included the old hurricane notice because it has info for future storms.

Read chapters 9 and 10 in The Election Book and take notes the same way in your SS notebook. (This counts as your reading homework.)

On looseleaf, write a paragraph about why it is important to vote.