Grade 4NOVEMBER

class newsletterRIS

2012-2013

Important dates

9 November—2nd semester school fees due

21 November—early dismissal

5 December—King’s birthday holiday

21 December—1/2 day school

22-31 December—Winter Break; return to school 14 Jan.

HOMEWORK

All students should be reading 30 minutes or more each night, recording their book and time on their reading log

Math, Science, and/or Social Studies may also be sent home each night for homework.

All students are expected to complete homework on time and submit it to their homeroom teacher DAILY.

Literacy

Students have been busy writing personal narratives and are beginning their realistic/historical fiction pieces.

We will be working to increase their writing stamina and engagement, as well as improving their word choice, use of conventions, and overall structure of writing a narrative piece in Writer’s Workshop.

In Reader’s Workshop, students will focus on tackling complicated literature with practice and instruction in Historical Fiction. They’ll learn how to build interpretations and how to listen closely to each other as they read, carrying ideas across book club discussions and across more than one text.

Science

The kids have jumped right into science with our unit on Earth Materials. Final assessments for the first four parts have been given; soils, layers of earth, and plate tectonics will be studied in more depth during November.

Mock Rocks—rock and mineral properties

Scratch Test—specific properties of minerals

Calcite Quest—presence of calcium/calcite in rocks

Take it for Granite—using mineral properties to find out which minerals are in the rock, granite

Earth’s layers, soils, and plate tectonics

Social Studies

Students will need to address the Big Ideas:

What causes people to move?

What effect does migration (or moving) have on my own life and others?

What connections can I make to my own family?

During the Month of November students will begin to explore the

concept of Immigration.

Long Term Learning Targets1. Students will understand patterns of change and continuity, relationships

between people and events through time, and various interpretations of these relationships.

• I can describe changes in society (e.g., political, social, cultural).• I can identify cause and effect relationships in history.

2. Students will understand causes and effect of interaction among societies, including trade, systems of international exchange, war, and diplomacy.• I can explain varied causes and effects of conflict and cooperation among individuals, groups, societies and nations in the following categories: politics, economics, geography, ethnicity/race/gender, and culture.

5. Students will understand social systems and structures and how these influence individuals.• I can identify and describe ways that ethnicity and cultures influence people's daily lives.

Grade 4 Learning Project

 Students will have the exciting opportunity to look back at their own family, where did they come from and why did they move from one place to another. After interviewing their grandparents and other relatives students will create their own Family Tree!

Ms. Katie’s classMath Tiles Cultural Week

Ms. April’s class

Halloween

fun!

Mr. Joe’s classHalloween word work with Mrs. Madeleine and horror story writing with Mrs.

Kat!