January 21, 2010

Oh my goodness, it's been a long time since I have written in our class blog. I have needed to send home "hard copies" of my Thursday letter, as we have two families without an email address, and I wanted to be sure all had the correct State Report information.

Here's what we've been up to this week in the fourth grade...

Math: We are doing multiplication of 2 and 3 digit numbers by 1 digit numbers (for example, 246 x 5 or 68 x 7). Overall, the students are doing very well with this. The one problem we keep having is that some children still are not proficient with their math multiplication facts. We continue to practice them almost daily, but some students need to continue their practice at home. Please ask your child which level they are at. They should be at least at level R or S by this time of the year. If they still are not at M or N, they really need to keep practicing these at home. They are ALWAYS welcome to take home these sheets to work on them.

Reading: We are reading a por quois story from Brazil this week called How Night Came from the Sea. We are working on generalizations, vocabulary, and comprehension. We also are writing/illustrating our own por quois stories in class.

English: We are working on subject and verb agreement.

Social Studies: We are wrapping up our classroom work time on our state reports. We had over an hour of class time to work on these last week, and another 45 minutes of class time this week. These are due next Friday, the 29th. Again, if you have any questions, please contact me. I have examples here in the room for anyone to see. The students have all had access to these on a daily basis. This way, they know they're on the right track.

Science: Tomorrow will be the first time we will be able to do science this week. We will be reading about the classification of matter. We will also be filling in a packet/outline for this lesson.

Religion: We spent Tuesday's relgion/social studies time watching a video on Martin Luther King, Jr. called Our Friend, Martin. The students really enjoyed this and we had some great discussion afterward. My favorite teacher by far was my fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Carlotta Young. She was an African American who grew up in Houston, Texas. She was very light skinned, and used to tell many stories about how she was treated differently from her darker skinned siblings. I enjoy telling the students her stories about growing up in the South, having to sit upstairs at movie theaters, trying to pass for a white child, and having to use separate bathrooms at some stores in her town. The students are always so amazed that children are/have been treated in such a way in our country.

We also read from our weekly gospel magazine, Venture, this week. It focused on the gospel of Luke. It talked about who Luke was and why he wrote the third gospel. Father Hennen will be in again for religion class tomorrow.

Have a great evening. Finish up those state reports and boards!!!