Week of October 24

Halloween is Coming!

The 4/5 BLEND would love some help with a Halloween Party. (LOW KEY!)

Please contact me if you would like to help.

Thank you to Lisa Ghandour, who is the 4/5 PTO rep. She will be emailing you with updates from PTO meetings. Also, thank you to Shannon Tom, who has been making copies for Mme. Jana and me twice a week. Beau Buck photo-copied and enlarged a 30 shilling note from his personal collection, dated 1776! Many thanks for supporting our classroom.

4th GRADE LANGUAGE ARTS

Spelling: New lists are made on Monday, as before, but this is a reminder that the tests will be on Thursday instead of Friday. Because of our 4-day schedule, I can't give the kids class time to study their words, so this is going to become a homework assignment, in addition to the packets that they bring home.

Writing: We are finishing a second 5-paragraph essay. Students have been using the first (scored) essay to help them with the second. The first will come home as soon as they have handed in the second.

Novel Study: Next Monday we will begin an individualized novel study. Each student is selecting a book from the OBOB list (even students not participating) and this unit will take us three weeks. It will involve nightly homework and an in-class book report. I want to support the students who have taken this on and to give the rest of the class the opportunity to experience some of the same books. I'm hoping that we can come up with enough books since many students own their own copies. I have some, as well. 

4/5 BLEND

French: We are continuing to work on writing, spelling and comprehension with weekly dictation. The week of October 31 we will begin to work in small reading groups (4 - 5 people) with students reading short stories, books and excerpts at their appropriate level.

Social Studies: Students are very enthusiastic about our study of the thirteen original colonies along with the earlier settlements. We will have a test later next week covering this material. We watched a National Geographic video via Netflix instant view titled "The Nightmare at Jamestown." Our read aloud, Blood on the River, is echoing much of the same information, and we are also using our textbooks as source material.

The students have been working on group projects in social studies, and we are taking Monday "promenades," sometimes assigning a buddy and a topic.

I'm looking forward to seeing everybody at conferences!