Looking back on January, Ahead to February

Despite the many interruptions to our learning as a result of snow and ice days, we're making good progress on our learning as fourth graders! Aside from lots of mid-year testing (Discovery Math & Reading, Delta Math, and DIBELS Reading), here's a bit of what we've been working on and what is to come...

Reading

• We're in the middle of book clubs and are using Edmodo to share our thinking and respond to our group member's ideas. Students should be using sticky notes to keep track of their thinking in their book club books. Please ask them to show you some of their stick notes!
• We'll be starting working on nonfiction reading in the next week or two. 

Writing

• We're in the process of learning how to write literary essays. These are writing pieces that reflect on the theme (lesson learned) of short stories and then support our thinking with examples from the story.

Math

• We've wrapped up work on our division unit and are moving into a unit of study of algebra and word problems that contain addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division (and sometimes several in the same problem!). See the attached Family Math Letter for more information.
  

Science

• In Science we're studying the many forms of energy, how they help to do work, and are observing how those forms of energy change. Currently we're getting started looking at electricity as a form of energy.

Social Studies

• We're in the midst of looking at human geography, specifically human migration within the United States. So far we've studied the pioneers and the Underground Railroad, both of which have made us learn a bit about U.S. history in order to completely understand the push and pull factors that made these people leave their homes.

Looking Ahead

• Book Orders are due Tuesday, Feb. 11th - use the class code GNG4M to order from scholastic.com
  
• Valentine's Day celebration, Thursday, Feb. 13th - See attached letter regarding Valentines and gingerbread houses.
• No School - Friday, Feb. 14th and Monday, Feb. 17th - Winter Break
  
• Roosevelt Community Gathering - Friday, Feb. 21st - 10:40am - in the gym
  
• Spring Parent-Teacher Conferences - Monday, March 3rd - 2:00-8:00pm - Look for an invitation from the office in the coming weeks. If you don't receive an invitation, you are welcome to contact me to set up a time to meet. (No school for students on that day)
  
• 4th Grade Swim Unit - March 10th-21st - Be on the lookout for a letter from the swim instructors with more information about this unit.