October 21 Update

Greetings! All is moving right along in fourth grade. We have been extremely busy in our classes, and students seem to be really stepping up to the demands of fourth grade. I know a few of you voiced concerns about the greater amounts of homework, and higher level of work. Your children, though, are rising to the challenge, and this is so important as fifth grade doesn't get easier! :) Here's what we've been doing in our classes...



Math: We continue to work with the addition and subtraction of whole numbers and money. Regrouping has been a big challenge with many in this class. This has been surprising to me, as usually it is something that is already mastered in the third grade. Be that as it may, we continue to practice it daily, and the class is improving all the time. We also work with our multiplication math facts four days a week. This will help the children so much when we get to long division and long multiplication. Please keep practicing these at home!



Reading: We are on the story What Jo Did in our main texts. We also read Boss of the Plains this week, from our supplemental material. Both stories are so much fun. The skills the class is working on are comprehension, vocabulary, main idea/details, and cause/effect. We also have been doing some journaling and paragraph writing in class.



English: We had a simple review this week of common and proper nouns. The students did a nice job with this.

Science: We read about landslides, floods, hurricanes, and forest fires this week in lesson four. The class is filling out an outline packet on this lesson. We also did an activity on tidal waves, and the students built their own jetties to prevent beach erosion.

Social Studies: We will have a test tomorrow on Chapter 2: Regions of the United States. Children should have brought home books and study guides to help them study this evening. We also reviewed together in class today.

Religion: We said the rosary together in the chapel this week. We continue in our book, reading about God's creation and love for us. Father Hennen has been talking about the various plagues God sent to help Moses lead the Israelites out of Egypt. We will be studying the ten commandments in order soon.

Art: We have been decorating buttons for the Buffalo Days contest. This is done by all fourth grade students in the city of Buffalo each year. It's been a couple of years since a St. Francis student's design has won... maybe this year! We also will finish decorating our masks Friday.

Monster Sing-a-Long: We will be having a monster sing-a-long with our first grade buddies next Thursday afternoon. Please send a camping/folding chair with your child that day. We have our silly sing-a-long out in the courtyard (weather permitting), and have snacks with our buddies.

Grandparents Day: NEXT FRIDAY!!! If you haven't turned in your RSVP please do so ASAP. Thank you!!!

Have a great evening!
Kristen