Grade 4AW Weekly Newsletter Jan 21-25

Grade 4 AW

Weekly Newsletter

January 21 - January 25, 2019

Language Arts
In Reading this week we will be launching our non-fiction reading unit " Reading for Research". In this unit student will be  starting the unit by revisiting some our previous work on identifying the main idea and details and throughout the whole unit students will be answering these questions: What strategies can you use to locate and define key ideas and details in informational texts? How does understanding Non-Fiction craft and structure help me better understand an informational text? How do readers use their research to develop their own ideas across texts?

In writing this week we are completing our drafts of our second realistic fiction story and will move on to peer editing using CUPS (Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation & Spelling), as well as revising with ARMS (Add sentences and words, Remove unneeded sentences and words, Move a sentence or word placement and Substitute words or sentences for others). We will be both giving and receiving feedback from peers and teachers in order to get our realistic fiction stories to the publishing stage.

Math
This week we begin teaching our unit on equivalent fractions and ordering. We start with building and drawing fractions with different fractional parts. We move on to recognising that when we compare fractions with a visual model we have to have the same size whole. This week also sees us look at the effect of changing the whole on fractional parts. Throughout this whole unit we use visual models, like the area model or fraction/ number lines to show and prove their thinking.

Science
As we launch our science unit, students are introduced to the unit and to their roles as geologists exploring a fossil that was discovered in a rocky outcrop in Desert Rocks National Park. They learn that a geologist is a scientist who studies the materials and processes that form the solid part of Earth. They learn that rocks and fossils can provide clues about the way Earth changes over time. They reflect on what they understand and don’t understand, allowing them to prepare for learning new things. Students also learn about observations and inferences and make inferences about the found fossil and are introduced to some simulations.

Announcements
Water Bottles & Hats - Please check that your child comes to school with their water bottles and hats every morning. Recently, many students seem to be forgetting them at home.
Camp Lost Property - There are some leftover items from camp that have been forgotten by students. Please remind your child to check the table in the grade four common area for lost or missing items.
January 25th: FREE Dress day -  If your child chooses to not wear their uniform they can make their 5 RM donation to one of the Red Hats

Resources
Here is a video explaining a game called Race To 1 that you can create at home to help reinforce the concept of fractions. It is a game primarily for teaching addition and subtraction of fractions but it can be modified to simply build fractions and conceptual understanding.

Here is a website resource,  The Math Learning Center where students can build and manipulate fractions. Open the link and select fractions. When building fractions we encourage only using rectangles as it will reinforce what we are doing in the classroom.