Dear Families of
Room 209 Students,
Happy Spring! Here is what’s planned for the month of
April. Read on please J
Community Building/Issues:
April is Autism Awareness month and we have a few students who are
involved in our school’s Students with Communication Program (SCIP)
program. We are working with the
students to learn how to include these students in positive peer
interactions. Check in with your child
about this idea and see what they can tell you about it.
Math: After Spring Break, we will be moving into learning about
decimals. Students will learn about
decimals to the tenths and hundredths place.
Students will learn what these decimals look like visually and which
fraction they are equal to. For example:
0.2 = two tenths, 0.20 = twenty hundredths, etc. Later in the month, we will focus on going
deeper with measurement concepts: length, weight, capacity, etc. Mornings in the next six weeks will be
dedicated to new math learning and afternoons will be used for practice and
review skills as we prepare for the MSP (Measure of Student Progress) Test. Please check in with your child daily about
their math understandings as quick checks for understanding along the way
ensure strong understanding and help the child avoid huge misconceptions about
math concepts. Some students don’t
recognize when they don’t understand and then struggle as more learning is
added to a shaky foundation. Thank you
for all your support in completing math homework so that it is correct and
complete daily. Please remember to keep
math facts going so that they are strong and not forgotten. This continues to be one of the most
important skills fourth grade students need mastered.
Reading: In reading, we will be focusing on the
thinking strategy of questioning and review summarizing. We will also focus on comparing and
contrasting texts in different genres/modes.
For example, a poem about owls compared to an informational magazine
article about owls. Much of our practice
will be integrated with our learning about pioneers and the Oregon Trail. We will be polishing up our skills needed for
the MSP. You will see Reading Problems
of the Week coming home. These are
released items from previous testing years.
Writing: We are continuing our
work with writing in the imaginative mode.
We are specifically targeting improving our use of dialogue, similes,
metaphors, and STOPPING to describe the main character and the setting with
high-level word choice. Right after
Spring Break we will complete a story called, Under the Rug, and it will be
completed in pretty short order as we pick up the pace now that we’ve learned a
lot of the procedures we use when we are writing in our class. Then we will
begin a new piece called, The Cave. Students will be expected to type OR handwrite
with best CURSIVE these stories. Dates
for typed or handwritten final drafts of
both stories will come home soon so keep an eye on the planner. Thank you so much in helping your child
get their stories published. They love
having their work in such a professional format! Then we’ll shift into polishing up our
abilities to make plans for writing to a prompt quickly and effectively in the
narrative, expository or imaginative mode.
This will build our confidence as we near the MSP testing window. Students will be tested in the narrative and
expository mode. If you want to know
more about the testing, please read the MSP Night presentation slides which I will post soon, which
were shared at our MSP Informational Night here at Fisher’s Landing on March 19th
at our Pride Night/MSP Night.
Social Studies: We
will begin our pioneer simulation about the Oregon Trail later in the month of
April. The kids will thoroughly enjoy the
experience of taking on a pioneer identity and the fates that affect them as
their table group wagon trains move along the trail toward their final
destination in Oregon. Students will
learn more about pioneers and life on the trail as we read more about that time
period through lots of experiences.
After the MSP, students will be working on the Social Studies Classroom
Based Assessment (CBA) People on the Move.
This assessment has the students complete an essay that they work on in
class which will answer these guiding questions with regards to pioneers: 1)
Where did this group start? 2) Where was
their destination? 3) What route did
they take? 4) Why did they leave? 5) Why did they choose that destination? 6)
What were the costs of the trip? 7) What
were the benefits? 8) How does the movement of this group help us understand
why people move today? Students will
also create a map that shows this movement.
Science:
Will be on hold
until after the MSP testing window.
MSP (Measure of Student Progress) Testing: Attendance
is vital in the coming weeks as we make our final preparations to show all that
we’ve learned this year. The testing
window will be in. Students may be
excused from EXCEL the days they are testing.
Testing Schedule: Mark your calendars please!
Reading: Tuesday,
April 30th
Writing: Thursday,
May 2nd Narrative (Story mode)
Writing: Tuesday,
May 7th Expository (Essay/Explaining mode)
Math: Tuesday,
May 14th
It is very
important that students be in class during testing days. Makeup tests are not done in class or with
your child’s teacher as the proctor.
This is typically harder on the kids and their results are not often
consistent when tested in an alternative environment from their normal class
routines. In class we will be doing our best to prepare in each subject area we
will be tested in. We have a Successful
Testing Packet that will give us mixed practice and review for math. We have Released Problems of the Week for
Reading. Finally, for writing we are
practicing designing plans for different kind of writing prompts.
I am looking for donated
nutritious snacks to be
sent in to distribute on testing days.
Healthy snacks are items like apples, string cheese, red licorice, fruit
snacks, goldfish crackers, carrot sticks, etc.
If you are willing to provide healthy snacks for one of the testing
days, we would so appreciate it as we know that kids can do a better job
showing what they know if they are not worried about having enough to eat. Please email Mrs. Allen if you would like to
support our class in this way and I will coordinate with you for the day the
snacks will be needed. I will send a
sign-up via email after Spring Break.
Important Dates Coming Up:
Recorder concert: June 6th
Thank you so much
for taking the time read our newsletter to know what we’re up to. Thank you for your support. Please contact me with any comments,
concerns, or questions. I appreciate you,
Karri Allen
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