Archive for 'Fourth Grade'
Mrs. McClure – Fourth Grade
Posted on January 27, 2012, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintI hope this month finds all of you falling “head-over-heels” in love with your family and loved ones all over again. Please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help assist you and/or your student. Please continue to check the class website. You can access it through the school website by clicking on my link. There are many links and tabs that will help assist you and your student. Please remember, homework is not an option, but a tool to help build in the concepts we have discussed in class.
English/Reading: We are currently working on the last few chapters of Bud, Not Buddy. We will finish this up in the next couple of weeks and begin working on our next novel, The Watson’s Go to Birmingham. During the third quarter, fourth graders will also complete 2 IN CLASS book reports. This will help ALL students stay on track meeting expectations within their homework, such as reading daily at home for 30 minutes. The deadlines for the completed reading will be posted as soon as possible on the website. These book reports will reflect skills that students should have mastered and help the students practice key concepts such as correct punctuation, complete sentences, capitalization rules, the importance of proof reading, and much more.
Math: We just recently began working with division. We will continue to practice division skills during the lovely month of February as well as learning and using the check step to make sure we have answered the division problems correctly. We will continue the “Weekly Check-Ups”. This is very important and will connect what they children have learned from the beginning of the year as well as pull in the material that we have learned, practiced, and mastered during the week. This is a great way to bring many different concepts into the long term memory. It allows children to continue to practice mastered concepts as well as test new ones. In addition to the “Weekly Check-up, the students will receive a “Mad Minute” test over multiplication facts on Fridays. If your student is having difficulty with their multiplication facts, they are invited to the class website, where they can play games that are located on links listed on the math tab.
Social Studies: We have just recently finished discussing the first American Colony settled in Texas. We will test over the Colonization. We will watch The Alamo as a preview to help the children develop a idea of what we will be reading and discussing, followed by the reading and discussion of the fight at the Alamo and the other battles surrounding the independence of Texas from Mexico.
Science: We are currently working on our Science Fair projects. Following this we will move back into the “Water Cycle”. We will begin bringing home a lapbook for science as well. Please note, this will help the students become better prepared for section material and vocabulary building.
Religion: We currently have finished discussing the 2nd and 3rd commandment in detail in class. We will continue to discuss the Ten Commandments in detail in class. The next lesson in line is about “Respect”.
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Mrs. Schmitz – Third Grade
Posted on November 30, 2011, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintMath
We are deep in the heart of Multiplication. It is critical that your students recite their multiplication each night when they get home. I know you may think that writing the multiplication facts is just busy work; however, it is critical that each student masters the facts in 3rd grade. I am having them write the facts, recite the facts, and work the facts each day because I want to make sure they will be successful in Math. I am even giving each student an incentive. If your student can memorizes all their multiplication facts by Jan. 11th, they will receive a free movie ticket. Once we finish up with Multiplication and Division, we will begin working with Maps and Graphs. Thank you so much for your help and support at home.
Social Studies
We have finished working in our Junior Atlas for the time being; however, we will come back to it later in the year. We are working on learning about the different types of communities and the people that work to make the community a success. Students will present a mock interview with a worker from the community so we can get a better understanding of all the people that work together to make a community successful.
Science
Students will be working on their science projects in class. Hopefully this will be a fun learning experience for each of the students. They will have the opportunity to learn through trial and error and learn about the Scientific Method. Parents will be invited to come and see their student’s projects during Catholic Schools Week. Students will also be learning about Chemistry. We will learn about the different elements and how to locate information on the Periodic table.
Religion
December
We successfully learned the Ten Commandments and have learned about many great Saints. The students did an awesome job presenting their saints to the class. As we move into the Advent season we will focus on what the season of Advent means within the Christian community. We will hear the story of Jesus birth and the story of how Mary accepted God’s call.
January
We will be taking a deeper look at our Ten Commandments and trying to gain a better understanding of what they mean. What does it mean to love God above everything else? What does obedience have to do with Love? Why go to church each Sunday? What should we do when we break God’s Laws of Love? We will discuss reconciliation and how this brings us closer to God when we have broken his commands.
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Mrs. McClure, M.Ed.- Fourth Grade
Posted on November 30, 2011, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintTis the season to be thankful, joyful, and try to hang up the stressful! 
I hope you all have a very happy and memorable Advent season. May you and yours be filled with many memories to last you until next year. Until we celebrate these very happy times, we have some work to do!
Math: We will continue to work with multiple digit multiplication. We still have not mastered this concept yet and we will continue to work with this until we can recite and work in our sleep. Please make sure that your students are practicing nightly their multiplication facts up to the 12’s as well as a few multiple digit math problems daily. Practice and memorization is key in learning this concept.
Science: We are currently reading and discussing “Matter”. As we move into the months of December and January we will begin discussing and learning about our science projects that we will complete in January. This will be an in class science experiments. Have those kiddo’s begin to search topics. We will use class time to find an experiment to complete. Keep in mind, this is NOT to be completed at home, rather in class.
Social Studies: Oh BOY!!!! We are getting to the best part of Texas History! We are currently discussing the first missions in Texas that were built near Indian villages and the movements of some Native Americans moving into those missions. Next we will begin to discuss the break of Mexico and Spain, followed by the independence of Texas from Mexico. Can we say, ALAMO! Yippee!!!
Reading: We are currently reading Bud, Not Buddy, 4th graders have fallen head over heels for this novel. Please note we are currently in between a few chapters as we are building our comprehension. Note, it is recommended that students feel free to reread chapters and preview others. This will only help them build comprehension. However, if students are doing this, please note, this is not considered their 30 minutes reading time for daily silent reading at home. They are to still be working on another novel at home for their book report that will be completed by the end of the quarter. These book reports will be completed at school for this quarter. I will send more information out as time gets closer. Our next few novel to look at purchasing will be, The Watson’s Go to Birmingham. This novel is by the same author as our currently class novel, Mr. Christopher Paul Curtis.
English: We are currently working on review of subject nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, article adjectives and have just added in prepositions and objects of the prepositions. Please note, even though we test English/ Shurley method on the odd weeks, we will work and review these parts of speech weekly. As time progresses and mastery is made, we will move into the direct and indirect objects and the adjectives that modify them. Please note, testing weeks, I ALWAYS have some type of practice for the kiddos on the website.
Religion: We will begin discussing the Corporal Works of Mercy. This is to prepare for the trip to the nursing home. We are called by Jesus to help those in need. This includes those that are hungry, those that are sick, and clothe those that are naked. Please help us bring some light to the residents of a nursing home we will be visiting on December 12, 2011. We can show our children through our giving how to help those who are less fortunate. Please check the list in the email that was sent out on November 21. Any way that you can help will be very appreciated. I will try to post a list of items we need for the nursing home on the website.
Important Information: The website is up and running and is a great resource for many things while at home. Homework is posted, spelling words, social studies notes for the full chapter, shurley questions, shurley practice, etc. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, check it out.
It is there to help you!
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Mrs. McClure-4th Grade
Posted on October 14, 2011, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintEnglish:
We have lit the halls of St. E’s in the afternoon as we continue to work on the Shurley jingles. We will continue to learn the rules for punctuation and capitalization. During our labeling of sentences in Shurley, we will add on prepositions and objects of the prepositions as well as the adjectives that describe those objects. We will continue to work on these until we have mastered them. Remember, we do not move and add on until mastery is achieved. Shurley tutoring has and will continue to be on Tuesday mornings at 7:30 am.
Reading:
We have recently ended our first class novel How to Eat Fried Worms . We have started the newest novel, The Taste of Blackberries. This is a pretty short novel. We will continue to read, discuss, and complete comprehension activities and vocabulary. As these are handed back, the students will keep these in their binders. Watch the website for upcoming tests and quizzes. All students MUST be reading nightly. This is homework and should be completed nightly, no excuses. In reading at home nightly, your students practice fluency. Ask your student about their book, read with them so they can hear what a master reader sounds like. What a great activity for “special time” with your 4th grader! YIPPPPEEE!!!!
Math:
As we move through the months of the school year, we move closer to the more difficult math. We CAN NOT move on to this work until we have mastered the concept of regrouping with multiple digit numbers in both adding and subtracting. This is a key building block that students will use in both multiplication and division of multiple digit numbers. I ask nightly for students to practice multiple digit numbers, both adding and subtracting. They must also use the check-step to check their answers. Again, math tutoring is Mondays at 7:30am. Every Friday we will have a weekly check-up that will include all the concepts worked on that current week as well as previous weeks to the beginning of school.
Social Studies:
We are still currently building up to the beginning of the “meat” for the ACTIVE and more interesting pieces of Texas history for the year. We have recently discussed the landforms and regions of the United States as well as the United States. We have just wrapped up the political regions, economic regions and the population regions. The next step we will begin involves the 1st people of Texas followed by the Spanish entering Mexico. Yippee! So much love for our Texas history and how it has shaped us as a state.
Science:
We will finish up adaptations of animals and we will be moving into the human body! Watch the website for the next individual project that we will be working on. Head and shoulders, knees, and toes!
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Mrs. Schmitz – 4th Grade
Posted on May 27, 2011, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintAs this school year comes to a close, I would like to thank each of you for entrusting your students to the faculty and staff of St. Elizabeth. I hope everyone has a safe and blessed summer. I leave you with a prayer: (the source is unknown)
End of School Year Prayer
O God of all beginnings and endings,
We praise and thank you for the gift of this school year.
It has been a time filled with grace and blessings,
With challenges and opportunities, joys and sorrows.
The days have passed quickly, O Lord.
The weeks, the months, the seasons, the holidays and holy days,
The exams, vacations, breaks, and assemblies,
All have come forth from your hand.
While we trust that your purposes have always been at work each day,
Sometimes it has seemed difficult to understand and appreciate
Just what you have been up to in our school.
Give us the rest and refreshment we need this summer.
Let our efforts of this past year bear fruit.
Bring all of our plans to a joyful conclusion,
And bless us, according to your will,
With the fulfillment of our summer hopes and dreams.
Watch over us in the weeks of rest ahead,
And guide each day as you have done this past year.
Help us return to school with a new spirit and a new energy.
May we continue to grow
In age, wisdom, knowledge and grace
All the days of our lives.
Amen.
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Mrs. McClure – Fourth Grade
Posted on April 18, 2011, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintEnglish:
4th Grade will continue to work on Shurley Method techniques. We are currently working on our Direct Objects and the adjectives that describe them. We have also started to work on negatives in a sentence as well as conjunctions and labeling sentences as the following; sentence, fragment, sentence with a compound subject, sentence with a compound verb and lastly sentences with conjunctions. We will continue to work on this as well as adding in the last few pieces for the year, indirect objects and their adjectives that describe.
Reading:
We are currently finishing up the chapter “Onions” in Esperanza Rising. There will be a quiz coming up the week after Easter break. Your student has all the comprehension questions and vocabulary. This test will be on the Wednesday following Easter break, April 27, 2011. We will review in class. Students should be studying ALL material that is located in the comprehension questions and vocabulary sheets for each chapter up to chapter 8.
We will finish out this novel, and the last novel to read this year will be Matilda. Please make sure that you have a copy for your student. I have a couple to loan during the time we are working on that novel.
Social Studies:
We are currently wrapping up the Civil War. The students have truly enjoyed this chapter in hearing about auctions, plantations, the Union and the Confederate states as well as the assassination of President Lincoln. We will continue to move through this chapter on the Civil War in the next week. Returning after the Easter Holiday, we will begin to move into the 20th century where we will discuss the railroad, the cattle kingdom, and WWII.
Make sure you are checking emails and the web-page. As new dates come up, we will have them posted in the announcement box. Fourth Quarter book report dates have been posted online. CHECK OUT THE DATES!!!
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Mrs. Schmitz – 4th Grade
Posted on April 18, 2011, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintMath - We will be finishing up our unit on Fractions. We have learned how to find the GCF and LCM, we have learned how to simplify fractions, add fractions, subtract fractions. We have learned how to fix improper fractions and how to work with fractions that have unlike denominators. There was a lot to learn about fractions but “By George!” I think we’ve done it!
Science – We are learning about rocks and minerals. There are 40 common minerals found in the rocks around us! Each student should be working to create a character to represent the mineral they were assigned in order to share interesting facts about the mineral with the class. We will finish up this unit and then we will get to dissect a pickle and star fishes
Religion – As we near the end of the school year, we will finish up discussing the Ten Commandments in detail, and then we will begin to discuss and learn the Beatitudes. In honor of Earth Day, we will do a community clean. We will clean the school property and rid it of all the trash that people leave behind. We will also see the movie African Cats and learn about their natural habitats and what we can do to preserve their environment.
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Mrs. McClure – 4th Grade
Posted on March 7, 2011, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintHOWDY PARENTS! I hope you are all doing well! This is what is going on in ELA and Social Studies for the end of February and March.
ELA
In Shurley Method, the students will continue to work on all the parts of speech from subject nouns to interjections. We began a new part of speech in the middle of February. This new piece was for the Direct Object. We will continue to work on these and later take a quiz to see if we have mastered this new piece. Our next piece in Shurley method will be the indirect object. This will not be introduced until we are all on the same page.
In Reading, we will continue to work in small groups for reading as well as whole group. We will be finishing our current novel, The Watsons Go to Birmingham by the end of this month or early March. I will be sending home all the questions and the review as the time approaches as well as the next novel we will read.
During the month of March we will also begin working on our treasure books. We will begin choosing the journals we would like to include in our book and begin editing Friday, February 18th. We will send out more information as the time comes to order extra copies of your student’s own personal published book.
Social Studies:
As we move from February into March, we will continue to discuss the divide or break between Texas as a Republic and Mexico. We are currently reading and talking about the the first president of Texas that was voted in by the people as well as how the Texas Revolution was funded and the first battle of this revolution. We will continue in the next chapter by reading, discussing, learning and later watching THE ALAMO! The kids are really enjoying this part of Texas History! As the Texans demonstrated in the first battle of this revolution on the cannon in Gonzales, “COME AND TAKE IT!”
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Mrs. Schmitz – Fourth Grade
Posted on March 7, 2011, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintReligion
In Religion we are discussing the importance of Respect! We know that the 4th Commandment tells us that we should honor our father and mother, but what does that really mean? We are discussing how we are to honor our parents by respecting and loving them, but we should not stop there. We need to respect all authority figures, and we also need to respect our friends and enemies. We also are learning the importance of respecting our belongings and our world.
Math
Wow! We are doing an awesome job with division. We are working on double digit multiplication, and everyone seems to be picking up on this skill pretty well. This is also a good refresher on subtraction skills. We will continue to work on division for the next few weeks, and then we will move on to more exciting things. We still need to cover Factor Trees which should be fun, and then we will begin working on measurements and time.
***Please make sure your student is working to memorize all of their multiplication facts!!!***
Science
We just finished our unit on the Water Cycle,and now we are looking at how the Water Cycle influences weather. We are looking at all aspects of weather such as how human behavior impacts weather, what causes weather to occur and what should we do if we find ourselves in a major weather related disaster. Hopefully, the kids will enjoy this unit.
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Mrs. Schmitz – Fourth Grade
Posted on January 18, 2011, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintReligion
We are moving into unit 3 in our Christ Our Life workbook. This unit will cover how we show God that we love him. We are discussing the different types of prayer and how we should find a place that we are comfortable praying. We are recognizing all of the gifts that God has given us but learning to realize that we should not put these gifts before God. The first commandment: I the Lord am your God. You shall not have other Gods besides me. We are discussing how the gifts God gives can sometimes get in the way of our relationship with God and how we always need to keep him #1 in our lives.
Math
Wow! What about these students! They are doing an awesome job with division. Everyone seems to be picking up on division so far. This is also a good refresher on subtraction skills. We will continue to work on division for the next weeks and then we will move on to more exciting things. We will have a lesson on Factor Trees which should be fun and then we will begin working on measurements and time.
***The 4th graders are also getting faster at completing their mad minutes.
Science
Science fair projects are in full swing. Fourth grade is so excited to be participating in the science fair this year. We have some really cool projects and everyone is working really hard to ensure that we have great displays for our big day. Thank you for your support in getting all the supplies required for us to be successful.
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Mrs. McClure- 4th Grade
Posted on January 18, 2011, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintWelcome back! I hope this year brings us many happy times here in the halls of St. E’s.
During January in 4A ELA we will continue to work on grammar with the Shurley Method as well as in our grammar text book. In the next month, we will be adding direct and indirect objects as well as 3-point paragraphs. These pieces will be introduced in small pieces as the children are ready for the new information. We are currently reading the novel No Talking! We will test over the novel by the end of the month and begin our next novel, The Watson’s Go to Birmingham. Please make sure that your child is reading nightly. This is most important in continuing to build their reading fluency. I have just received all lexile scores and will be Dibbles Testing the students during class. The children will be increasing their reading time to 30 minutes nightly beginning 3rd quarter. This is to prepare them for the following year with Miss. Vercillo. Please also take note that all book reports should be given on the novel that your child is reading at home and logging on their reading log. Each student is given notice of the next book report due for that quarter. We have discussed in class as well as in emails that have been sent home this year about certain books that can not be used for a book report. All book reports should be based on books that are on your child’s reading level; comic novels do not count as book report material. However, if your child does read and complete one of these comic novels and wants to do an extra book report, s/he may do so for an extra prize at the end of the semester.
The fourth graders have just started discussing and reading about the American Revolution. We will continue to discuss the need for freedom and independence in America, starting with the first 13 colonies in America to their will to want to explore westward. This will include adding states to the United States of America and eventually begin to lead to the battle of the Alamo where Texas breaks free from Spain/Mexico. Please take notice that during the Alamo section, 4th graders will watch the movie, Alamo. I will be sending home an email alerting you of a permission slip that has been sent home for you to sign. This will be written consent that your child will or will not be permitted to view the movie.
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Mrs. McClure-Fourth Grade
Posted on December 8, 2010, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintHi there Mommas and Papas! It’s amazing how time has just blown right by us this year. As we bring November to a close we do the same with our current novel The Taste of Blackberries . All novel material as well as the study packet will have come home by November the 19th, 2010, and we will have our novel test on Tuesday November 30th, 2010.
In Grammar, we have continued to work both in the Shurley Method as well as our grammar book in the classroom. We are currently working on prepositions and their locations in the sentences and the number of prepositions that we can have in sentence. We continue to practice labeling subject nouns, verbs, helping verbs, prepositions, etc. We have also extended the simple predicate to include not only the main verbs, but the helping verbs as well. This will better prepare the students for Ms. Vercillo next year in 5th grade.
In the month of December, we will continue to work with the above information; however, we will work with conjunctions in sentences as well as compound subjects and compound predicates. We will add new pieces as the students become ready.
In Social Studies, we have moved to the unclaimed land of North America. We have started to discuss the explorers, the reason they came to America, the developing of new colonies and how they are claimed and ruled/governed. Lastly, we have discussed the movement of the Spanish and the fight with the Aztecs in Mexico that turned all power of the country over to Spain. We will next move into the Spanish and French in Texas. We will begin to discuss the raising up of missionaries and presidios and early towns in Texas. Along with this, we will talk and read about the explorers from both France and Spain who explored through parts of Texas and their battles with Native Americans in the the state. As I tell the children in class, we are just getting into the fun and interesting things that happened in history. They mostly like this piece of our year because we are reaching a part of Texas history where colonies are beginning to form and take shape, and the fight at the Alamo is ahead. As the Texans wrote on the Mexican cannon they received as a gift, “COME AND TAKE IT!” These are the fun times in Texas history in 4th grade.
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Mrs. Schmitz – Fourth Grade
Posted on December 8, 2010, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintReligion
We completed Unit 2 in our workbooks. This unit covered many topics like the Ten Commandments and why we honor Mary. We will now take a closer look at each of the commandments to ensure that we have an understanding of each of them and make sure we understand how to follow the commandments in our daily lives.
Math
Wow what about these students! They are doing an awesome job with double digit multiplication. We will be finishing up this unit on multiplication and begin our unit on division but will continue to work on double digit multiplication. Students will be required to do the check steps on all division work to ensure they have calculated correctly.
Science
We our beginning a unit on Solids, Liquids and Gases. Hopefully this will be a fun unit for us. We will make Rock Candy to demonstrate …. solids, liquids and gases. Students will begin selecting their science fair projects in class. When we return from the holiday’s students will focus all of their attention on completing their Science Fair projects in class. There will be several due dates for the students to meet to ensure that we complete the projects on time.
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Mrs. McClure – Fourth Grade
Posted on October 28, 2010, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintHappy Halloween from 4th Grade!
ELA:
We are currently finishing up our 2nd novel for the year which is How to Eat Fried Worms. We will complete the last set of chapters and begin to prepare for the test beginning the week of October 18th. Our novel test will be on October 28th. We will watch the movie, How to Eat Fried Worms on Friday, October 29th. Test corrections will be due on Friday, the 29th of October, as well. Our third novel for the year will be A Taste of Blackberries. I do have a class set of this novel. Please make sure that your children are reading daily at home. This is a requirement for 4th grade and a class expectation.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
In social studies, we are beginning to move into the beginning of TEXAS. During this month, we will begin discussing the people of the Western Hemisphere, people of the Coastal Plain, People of the central and Great Plains as well as the Mountains and the Basins. We will go into detail about the earliest Texans and civilization of Texas. Lap books are an important key in studying nightly. All notes and material in these booklets are important for tests and quizzes. Please make sure your child is studying nightly.
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Mrs. Schmitz – Fourth Grade
Posted on October 28, 2010, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintReligion
We will begin learning about the saints over the next few weeks in Religion. We will learn some interesting facts about several saints including feast days, what they are the patron saint of and a few details of their lives. Each student will have the opportunity to present information about a saint they are inspired by in class. We will watch several videos: Mother Teresa, Bernadette, and The Lady of Fatima. Hopefully we will also get to see a video on Juan Diego and the Virgin of Guadalupe if the video becomes available.
Math
We are working to finish up our review of addition and subtraction; estimating and rounding; problem solving strategies and place value. Once we are finished with our review, we will begin working on multiplication math patterns and multiplication properties. This will hopefully be fun, exciting, and challenging for us.
Science
We are learning about the body and how our body systems and organs work. Each student has been assigned an organ or body system that they will research and then will present their findings to the class. They all seem very interested in figuring out just what makes us tick.
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Mrs. McClure – Fourth Grade
Posted on September 29, 2010, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintHAPPY OCTOBER, MOMMA’S AND PAPA’S !!!!
ELA
During the month of September, we worked on Shurley Method material, adding in possessive nouns, pronouns and continuing to work on Prepositions and Objects of the Prepositions. We will also begin working out of our other grammar book. Our 4th grade writers are doing pretty swell in their daily journal writing. We published our first piece to be presented outside the class room.
SOCIAL STUDIES
We will continue to work on our lap books for chapter 1. We have completed sections 1 and 2 which are discussing hemispheres, lines of latitude and longitude and more, and we are moving on to climate and Texas plants and animals. We will have a quiz coming up for sections 3 and 4 followed by a chapter 1 test. Be looking for dates to be posted on class website as well as planners and emails.
FOURTH GRADE TO-DO LIST
Make sure that all spelling homework that is not workbook material is to be done in the spelling comp book. Each student should be reading EVERY night at least 20 minutes, and Lap books should be studied even if we have quizzed over the first set of sections. This is key in being as prepared as possible for class in social studies. Last but not least, please make sure you are checking the class web page. It is updated daily with homework and important dates and reminders.
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Mrs. Schmitz – Fourth Grade
Posted on September 29, 2010, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintReligion
We are finishing up with Unit One in our Religion workbooks. One of the skills we have acquired from this unit is saying the Act of Faith. We have learned this prayer and we say it frequently in class. This is a good prayer to have in our memory banks as it reminds us of what we truly believe as Catholics. The next several chapters discuss how God strengthens us to Be Holy.
Math
We are still in the review stages in Math. Currently we are working on Roman Numerals and putting together charts and lists. We will begin covering properties of addition and quick tips for addition. We will also be reviewing subtraction as well as doing a mixed review of the materials covered so far this year. We work many word problems together as a class to ensure that the students can find and understand the key words in the word problems. If the students only remember one thing this year in math, I would like for them to remember the math problem solving method: Read, Plan, Solve, and Check. If they follow this process they should be successful math problem solvers.
Science
We have now finished the Nancy Larson lesson booklets and are beginning to work in our textbooks. We will be discussing animal adaptation. Students will find out ways in which animals adapt to their surroundings and reasons why they have to make these changes. I am very excited about the students’ first Science Projects!
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Mrs. McClure – Fourth Grade
Posted on March 11, 2010, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintEnglish
During the month of March we will continue to work in English with our Shurley Method labeling. The students have come a long way. We will continue to label as well as hit key areas in our class English book. We are zipping through and the kids are loving every minute of it. Remember English tutoring is at 3:00pm on Wednesdays.
Reading
We are currently reading the novel The Watson’s Go to Birmingham. I have started keeping the students review questions in my classroom in individual folders so we do not misplace these papers when time comes to study for the test. I have recorded these grades and the children have the chance to look the papers over before they are placed in their safety folders. We should be completing this novel when we come back from break. We will then watch the movie that goes along with the story we have read and will have an assignment that will follow this activity. As always, I will send out a study guide when we complete the questions for the last chapter of the novel. If you have any questions, please let me know.
BOOK REPORTS ARE DUE ON MARCH 26, 2010
Social Studies
We will be completing Chapter 8 which is discussing the Civil War and the end of Slavery in America. We will begin our next chapter for the year which is the discussion of the Turn of the Century. Here we will be discussing Oil, the Depression, Ranching and much more in Texas History. We will have a test this Friday, March 12, over Chapter 8.
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Mrs. Schmitz – Fourth Grade
Posted on March 11, 2010, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintReligion
We have begun discussing in detail the 7th commandment: Thou shall not steal and the 10th commandment: Thou shall not covet your neighbor’s goods. We have discussed that stealing is not only taking what does not belong to you but also damaging things that belong to others as well because they no longer have what was damaged. We discussed the importance of replacing items that you may have damaged even if it is an accident. We are having discussions about respect for our own property and the belongings of others. We are also talking about being happy for others when they receive great rewards instead of being envious or jealous.
Math
Wow! What about these students! We have just finished our unit on division and most of the students picked this up very easily. We are now focusing our attention on fractions. We have already learned about the GCF (greatest common factors) and putting fractions into lowest terms. We know that whatever we do to the top we must do to the bottom! Hopefully this background knowledge will help us as we learn to add and subtract fractions that have like and unlike denominators.
Science
We are finishing up our unit on Weather with a viewing of the movie Twister. Hopefully this will be an enjoyable treat. When we return from Spring break we will begin looking at layers of the Earth which will include topics such as earthquakes and volcanoes, rocks, minerals and fossils. We will probably have a project to go along with this unit.
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Mrs. McClure – Fourth Grade
Posted on December 10, 2009, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintELA
We will continue to read Esperanza Rising. We will review when we come back from break. We will then pick up and continue to read the story. We will be working on vocabulary, comprehension, setting, and characters. In English we will continue to work on helping verbs as well as our recently learned direct and indirect objects. Our work will be both out of our English books as well as from the Shurley Method.
Social Studies
We are currently working on Colonization in Texas. We will have a quiz over sections 3 and 4 this Thursday and a chapter test over sections 1, 2, 3, & 4 on Thursday, December 17th, 2009. Please make sure that your students are studying nightly over ALL sections of their lap book. As you know, this is a nightly assignment and helps them bring the information into their long term memory. When we return in January we will begin discussing the Texas Revolution.
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Mrs. Schmitz – Fourth Grade
Posted on December 10, 2009, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintReligion
We just completed Unit 2 in our workbooks. This unit covered many topics like the Ten Commandments and why we honor Mary. We will now take a closer look at each of the commandments to ensure that we have an understanding of each of them and make sure we understand how to follow the commandments in our daily lives.
Math
Wow what about these students! They are doing an awesome job with double digit multiplication. We have just begun our unit on division but will continue to work on double digit multiplication. Students will be required to do the check steps on all division work to ensure they have calculated correctly.
Science
Students will begin selecting their science fair projects in class. When we return from the holiday’s students will focus all of their attention on completing their Science Fair projects in class. There will be several due dates for the students to meet to ensure that we complete the projects on time.
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Mrs. McClure – Fourth Grade
Posted on November 11, 2009, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintEnglish Literature Arts
We will continue working on the 3-point persuasive paragraphs in English as well as Shurley Method labeling. In Reading we will be finishing up our current novel Henry on the Paper Route. The upcoming test date for this novel will be coming home along with your student’s study guide. We will begin Esperanza Rising by Pam Munoz-Ryan following the test. Please make sure you have a copy for your student. Please make sure your student is reading daily for 20 minutes and logging their times daily.
Social Studies
We will complete our lapbooks for the chapter “New Settlers in Texas” this week and we will be moving on to discuss “Colonies and Independence.” We will have a chapter test over the material in our lapbook. Students are asked to study this material as well as their quizzes for Chapter 4. This chapter test will be held next Tuesday, November 16, 2009. We do have weekly vocab and key concept quizzes at the end of each week. Please make sure your student is studying their lapbook nightly.
We are planning our trip to St. Joseph’s Nursing Home this year as a Corporal Work of Mercy. Please check with Mrs. Campos in the office to make sure you are up-to-date with your Safe Environment. We would love for all of you to attend. Have a very warm and blessed Thanksgiving filled with many colorful memories.
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Mrs. Schmitz – Fourth Grade
Posted on November 11, 2009, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintReligion
We have been working to learn the Ten Commandments and how they apply to our daily lives. We are now working on Saint Projects and learning about the saints. We will reflect on the lives of the saints and how we should model our lives after them. As we enter the Thanksgiving season we will also take time to reflect on the blessings in our lives and what we are thankful for in our daily lives.
Math
We are working on our multiplication facts and working multiplication problems each day. The student’s have been working on knowing their multiplication facts by memory. We are now working on double digit multiplication and will soon be moving on to division problems.
Science
We are finishing up our unit on the food pyramid, healthy eating and hygiene. We will be introduced to the science article process. Each student will be required to complete a science article per month beginning in December. The articles will be due the second Friday of each month.
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Mrs. McClure – Fourth Grade
Posted on September 24, 2009, by Alexis McClure, under Fourth Grade.
PrintSocial Studies
We are closing out of our first chapter of the year!!! We have been discussing elevation, sea level, continents, landforms, plants and animals of Texas. For the month of October, we will begin to discuss People of Texas. We will read and learn about political region, population and look at line graphs, as well as economy, agriculture and land use. Following this chapter we will move on to the Earliest Texans beginning with Texas Indian Myths and legends.
English
We are currently wrapping up our re-cap session of basic grammar skills. We have reviewed the following: subject nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, prepositions, object of the prepositions, prepositional phrases, possessive nouns, possessive pronouns, subject pronouns, synonyms, antonyms, correcting punctuation and capitalization, and beginning subject verb agreement. We will push on and begin to add in new pieces this month including the 3-point paragraph. WOOHOOO, we are ROCKING the Shurley Method out!
Reading
Ramona’s World has just been completed. What a great book to begin our 4th grade year. The children have seemed to love this classic. We will have a test over this class novel next Tuesday, September 29, 2009. We will do a review in class to help the students prepare for the test, which will be based on past chapter questions and vocabulary.Thank you to those who have sent a personal dictionary with your student; however there are still some students who have not done so. This is very important as the dictionaries I have do not always have the words that we are in search of. Remember ALL 4th grade students should be reading nightly. This is very important in keeping up their reading levels as well as their comprehension. Reading logs are due to me every other Friday. Your student’s next reading log will be due on October 2, 2009. We will begin our next class novel beginning next week. WOOOOHOOOOO!!!
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Mrs. Schmitz – Fourth Grade
Posted on September 24, 2009, by Maria Schmitz, under Fourth Grade.
PrintReligion
We have finished up with Unit One in our Religion workbooks. One of the skills we have acquired from this unit is saying the Act of Faith. We have learned this prayer and we say it frequently in class. This is a good prayer to have in our memory banks as it reminds us of what we truly believe as Catholics. The next several chapters discuss how God strengthens us to Be Holy.
Math
We are still in the review stages in Math. We have recently covered properties or addition and quick tips for addition. Currently we are reviewing subtraction as well as doing a mixed review of the materials covered so far this year. We work many word problems together as a class to ensure that the students can find and understand the key words in the word problems. If the students only remember one thing this year in math, I would like for them to remember the math problem solving method: Read, Plan, Solve, and Check. If they follow this process they should be successful math problem solvers.
Science
Wow! What great science projects the students in fourth grade prepared. I was very impressed! We have now finished the Nancy Larson lesson booklets and are beginning to work in our text books. We will be discussing animal adaptation. Students will find out ways in which animals adapt to their surroundings and reasons why they have to make these changes.
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