Week 16 Update!

I hope everyone enjoyed the snow days and had a chance to rest up and recharge. This is by far my favorite time of year. We have been playing Christmas music every morning and the girls make sure to remind me to turn on the Christmas lights. The holiday abstract noun pictures are amazing. I continue to be wowed by this group's artistic abilities.

Even though we had a very short week, we were able to get in some math. We discussed how to decompose fractions (ask your daughter what this means) and how to add and subtract like fractions. We also did a fun hands-on activity where we hung fractions on a number line. This sparked some great conversations about how to compare and order fractions using all of the strategies we discussed last week.

In Language Arts, the girls spent most of their time preparing for and presenting their book reviews. This is the girls' first attempt at an oral report this year, so we tried to keep it as low-key and stress free as possible. I am very impressed by this group's oral presentation skills! Also, at the end of each presentation, the audience is given a chance to ask questions and give compliments. The girls are doing a great job of being good listeners and giving quality feedback to their peers.

***Please click here to view the information about the costumes for the Gift Service. Your daughter was given a copy when she received her costume. 

***Please look for a letter to be posted here (by the end of the weekend) that will give information related to the Service Project we will be participating in at Shepherd's Way on January 30th. Nira will be coordinating the volunteers and there is a link in the letter for a Sign-Up Genius to specify which food/drink items you are able to donate. Thank you so much for your help with this amazing project!

***Please have your daughter wrap her Secret Santa gift and place it in a paper bag. We will exchange the gifts on Monday morning.

***Please see the schedule below for all of the activities taking place this coming week:

Reminders and General Information

                                Information needing a parent response is highlighted.

*Parent How-To Videos for accessing Quia, Newsela, and That Quiz!

***Here are the details about the Gift Service that were sent home recently via e-mail:

* Homework- Posted for family planning.

* Carpool Helper-  Mary Michael will represent our class.

Class Leadership Week of 12/17

Ambassadors/Flag Raisers- Ava Jane and Chloe

Girls: Your blog question is...What is your favorite Christmas song? Post your answer here.

Week 15 Update!

                   

What a treat to see the first snow of the season on Wednesday! We had a great time trying to catch the huge snowflakes on our tongues on the way to lunch. It's looking like we might get some additional snow tomorrow. I'm told I need to wear my pajamas inside out, put an ice cube in the toilet and flush (one for each inch of snow I want), and put a spoon under my pillow. Have fun and stay safe!

It's been so fun seeing all of the cute outfits the girls have been wearing to school every day. I never knew there were so many hat and headband accessories out there! 

                

The girls enjoyed making clothespin/popsicle stick ornaments for the 4th grade Christmas tree outside by the playground. We have been talking about abstract nouns, so they chose a noun that reminded them of Christmas, wrote it on the front or back of their popsicle stick, and then decorated it. We are so lucky to have Mrs. Cavallo's artistic talents. She made the beautiful garland!

In math, we continued working on finding equivalent fractions, reducing fractions to lowest terms, and comparing fractions. We put fractions on a number line and then determined which fraction was greater based on if it was closer to 0, 1/2, or 1 whole. We also talked about how to multiply to find a common denominator (and create equivalent fractions), so that it's easier to compare fractions that are very close together on the number line. Give your daughter two fractions, and ask her to apply the strategies we talked about this past week. We wrapped up the week with a fun game of Fraction Golf.

In Language Arts, the girls continued to work on their magazine covers and articles (Sirena's is shown above). They interviewed a classmate in Mrs. Hiscock's class, wrote a detailed article about her, and then used a website to create a magazine cover. They are turning out really cute. Also, the girls chose an abstract noun related to Christmas and started drawing a picture to go with it. When they finish their pictures, they will attach small strips of paper with their word written on it. To spread Christmas cheer, anyone walking by is welcome to tear off one of the strips. Wow- this group of girls really understands the meaning of "attention to detail"! The drawings are looking great, but I'm not sure we'll get them out in the hall in time for winter break!

Chris Van Allsburg is such a great author, so we will be reading several of his books throughout the year. In "The Stranger", Van Allsburg gives clues throughout the book and challenges the reader to guess the stranger's identity. This is a perfect book to practice the reading comprehension strategy inferring. When we make an inference, we combine the clues the author gives us and our background knowledge to construct meaning from the text. We will continue to practice this skill with our class read aloud "Fish in a Tree" next week. We also discussed chapters 4 & 5 from "All of a Kind Family". I'm hoping to finish the book before break. We might read some chapters together in class. Please see the homework calendar for more information on this. Finally, the girls continued to work on their Book Reviews. I made my final comments on their Google Docs, and they are working to complete their Buncee presentations.

In History, the girls completed Job #1 for the 1900's. They watched a clip of the first narrative movie called "The Great Train Robbery". They wrote a movie review in their composition notebooks. They were pretty tough critics!

Reminders and General Information

                                Information needing a parent response is highlighted.

***Please let me know if your daughter will NOT be at the Gift Service on December 19th- Ms. Priddy was asking for this information.

*Parent How-To Videos for accessing Quia, Newsela, and That Quiz!

***Here are the details about the Gift Service that were sent home recently via e-mail:

* Homework- Posted for family planning.

Special Week: Grace

* Carpool Helper-  Sirena will represent our class.

Class Leadership Week of 12/10

Ambassadors/Flag Raisers- Ava Jane and Chloe

Girls: Your blog question is...What time is dismissal on the last day before Winter Break (December 19th)? Post your answer here and then go ask your mom or dad to see if THEY know the answer! 

Week #14 Update!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...The girls are working on their "Mathements", which are math worksheets they complete to earn ornaments for their Christmas trees. This is a great review of the concepts we have covered so far this year.

We are off and running with basic fraction concepts in Unit 3. We have explored multiple ways of showing equivalent fractions using area models (i.e. fraction circles and strips) and linear models (i.e. number lines). The girls have their own set of fraction strips in a pocket in their composition notebooks. On Wednesday, we played a fun game called "Fraction Wall", where the girls rolled virtual dice then competed against each other to fill their fraction walls. This game is in Google Classroom, if the girls would like to play at home. Also, you will find a new web page at the top of my blog called "Math". Here the girls can find information, practice quizzes, and games. I will also upload Powerpoint presentations (or other various documents) that were discussed in class, so the girls can review using this information as well.

In Language Arts, we had a great discussion about Chapters 2 and 3 for "All of a Kind Family", and the girls worked on their #hashtag summaries in Google Slides. I handed out the next set of comprehension questions, and Chapters 4 and 5 are due this Thursday. Also, the girls continued to revise their book reviews. They will finish up their Buncees this week and start preparing their presentations for the class. Also, we started Writing Lab #6. This is a super fun lab. The girls interviewed the girls in Mrs. Hiscock's classroom and took pictures of their partners out on the Green. They will be writing an article about their partner and creating a magazine cover. I am really excited to see the final products! Finally, we read another poem called "Regal Bonfire Dancers". This author used interesting literary devices to describe a group of palm trees on a beach at sunset. We compared this poem to the first poem we read and discussed how the author used metaphors and personification. The girls will get into groups this week to write their own descriptive paragraph or poem describing a beach scene in the morning.

In History, the girls read more about the early 1900's and wrote summaries in their composition notebooks. We will be starting the job tasks on the History 4 Fourthies website this coming week.

Reminders and General Information

                                Information needing a parent response is highlighted.

***Please let me know if your daughter will NOT be at the Gift Service on December 19th- Ms. Priddy was asking for this information.

*Parent How-To Videos for accessing Quia, Newsela, and That Quiz!

* Lower School Christmas Community Service project: Please consider donating a present. This benefits families involved with SCAN. Flyers were sent home last week. We are sponsoring a boy age 15 years and up.

* Homework- Posted for family planning.

Special Week: Abigail

* Carpool Helper-  Maeve will represent our class.

Class Leadership Week of 12/3

Ambassadors/Flag Raisers- Julianna and Annabelle