October 29- November 2

October 29-November 2

This week in 4th grade:

Math: We are continuing to work in Unit 3 of Investigations.  We have been working on building multiple towers and division stories.  The students have done a great job working through multiplication and division problems including problems with remainders.   We will have our weekly math computation quiz on Friday with review problems as well as some of the division type problems we have been learning how to solve.  Please use the thin Math Investigations textbook to help your child with math stratgies if needed.

Vocabulary: This week is a Vocabulary week. Students have their assignments on Spelling City that they will need to have completed by Friday.  They only thing they will turn in on Friday for vocabulary this week is their vocabulary cards they made.  The Vocabulary test will take place on Friday. Students will be expected to know the meaning of each word and/or apply the word in a given context/sentence. There will be NO word box for this test and students will be expected to the spell the vocabulary words correctly. Words and definitions can be found behind the Spelling/Vocab tab in the BEE Binder and online at www.spellingcity.com.  

Reading: We are continuing our study on exploring narrative texts focusing on character, plot, setting, and character conflict. We will finish our read-aloud, "City of Ember" hopefully by Friday.  We have gone over in detail the different chapters of the "City of Ember" in class.  Students will be tested again on Friday for reading comprehension on what we have read.  Students need to be tracking their reading online through www.reading-rewards.com.  Students need to enter their data on their own at home. If this is a problem, please just send me a note and students can enter the data here at school.  I have given the children time to become familiar with the reading rewards.  I will be sending an email to you soon with prize ideas your child may pick from when he/she has reached their reading goal. 

Writing: We started our study on adverbs this week and we are finishing up our Veteran’s Day writing pieces.  We are trying to get these ready before our musical on November 13 at 6:30 during the PTO meeting.  Students will be tested on Friday on adverbs and verbs as a review. 

Social Studies: This week in Social Studies we have been learning more about Explorers.  Today the students took their Explorers quiz.  They are working on their Explorer projects, researching about their specific explorer and will present next week.    

Other Reminders:

• Graded papers will come home on Thursday. Please look through these papers with your children correcting their mistakes and RETURN them by MONDAY.
• This Saturday is E-Learning Day.  The kids have been practicing working on Edmodo and will have an assignment on their Edmodo account starting Saturday, November 3.  They will need to complete these assignments (Math, Reading/Language Arts, and a Quiz) by Monday, November 19. This is due to starting the school year at a later date.   
• Our field trip to the Space and Rocket Center is next week, Wednesday, November 7th.  PLEASE make sure your child is here at 6:30 a.m. ready to load the bus.  Buses will be leaving SSC at 6:45 a.m., so it is critical that all arrive to SSC on time.  Remember that lunch is provided (pizza, cookie, and soda).
• Friday, November 2th is the last day you can turn in your forms for the Family Movie Night.  Family Movie night is Friday, November 9, Madagascar 3 will be showing here at school.     

Please email me if you have any questions.

Your children are such a joy!  Thank you for sharing them with me!

Mrs. Wilkes

October 15-19

This week in 4th grade:

Math: We are working through out next investigation in Unit 3. Monday was our first day looking at division. For many students, division is a new, scary, and challenging concept, but hopefully with lots of practice, students will gain the confidence needed to master this operation.  We will have our weekly math quiz on Friday with review problems as well as some of the division type problems we have been learning how to solve. 

How can you help at home? Although many of us learned how to divide in a more traditional sense (the long division algorithm), please avoid teaching your child this strategy at home. Students will eventually be exposed to partial quotients (a segway to long division); however, we are not teaching this strategy at the current time. The last thing I want to see happen is students getting confused and frustrated because they are taught one way to divide at home and one to way to divide at school. Remember, the Student Math Handbook (SMH) is your resource to how your child is learning Math in the classroom.  This textbook has been passed out to every student and they are allowed to keep it at home for more help. For help with the division strategies we will be using in class, please see SMH pages 50-52. 

Our goals this week include using and interpreting division notation, solving division problems by making groups of the divisor, and making sense of remainders in terms of the problem context.

Vocabulary: This week is a Vocabulary week. Students have been given daily assignments to complete for homework. The Vocabulary test will take place on Friday. Students will be expected to know the meaning of each word and/or apply the word in a given context/sentence. There will be NO word box for this test and students will be expected to the spell the vocabulary words correctly. Words and definitions can be found behind the Spelling/Vocab tab in the BEE Binder and online at www.spellingcity.com.  I have gotten our spelling city account set up so next Friday I will have the students take their test online at school.  They will also be able to complete spelling city activities online (which will be sent to me as soon as they submit them) and will not need to print them out. 

Reading: We are continuing our unit on allegory and theme, as well as our read-aloud, "City of Ember".  We have gone over in detail the different chapters of the "City of Ember" in class.  Students will be tested again on Friday for reading comprehension on what we have read.  Students need to be tracking their reading online through www.reading-rewards.com. I will allow the students to chose from the treasure chest if they reach their reading goal each month.  Students need to enter their data on their own at home. If this is a problem, please just send me a note and students can enter the data here at school.

Writing: Our verb study continues as does our Veteran’s Day writing piece. Please help your children by revising their Veteran's Day writing piece.  Students will be tested on Friday on helping, action, and linking verbs. 

Science: This week in Science we have built electrical circuits.  We have experimented with open and closed circuits as well as parallel and series circuits.  They enjoyed using test objects to identify conductors and insulators.  Please ask your children to teach you about these science terms.  We will finish our unit on electricity this week with an assessment on Friday.  Students need to STUDY the study guide (front and back) we have gone over in class.  

Other Reminders:

• Graded papers will come home this week. First nine weeks report cards will come home next Wednesday, October 24^th.
• Information about the November 7^th field trip to the Huntsville Space and Rocket Center went home last week. Student cost is $40.50. Chaperone cost is $25.00. Chaperones must ride with us on the charter bus. If you prefer to make payments, the first non-refundable deposit payment of $16.00 is due no later than October 24^th. All money is due no later than October 31st. The best way to pay is online at www.myschoolfees.com 
• Our school is partnering with The Assistance League of Birmingham to collect books and distribute them to specific schools that do not have access to many books and distribute them to children who may not have access to books at home. If you would like for your child to participate, please have them bring in new or gently used books during the week of October 22 – 26^th. For more information, see the flyer that went home tonight in your child’s graded papers.
• Join us on Friday, October 19^th, from 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. for Bedtime Stories & More in the Media Center. Parents and grandparents can come and shop at the Book Fair while children enjoy juice, cookies, and stories. You never know who might show up to read stories? Kids are welcome to wear PJ's!
• The Scholastic All-Star Book Fair is next week, October 22 – 26 in the Library. Students will have the opportunity to shop for books all week. Accepted forms of payment include: cash, checks (made payable to our school), and the credit cards (Discover, Mastercard, Visa, and American Express) should you decide to come shopping as well!
• In preparation for the November 3^rd  E-Learning Day, students will be utilizing Edmodo, a secure place to connect and collaborate, share content and educational applications, and access homework, grades, class discussions and notifications. Stay tuned for more information!
• Mark your calendar for our next FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT! Friday, November 9^th, we will be showing Madagascar 3.

Your children are such a joy!  Thank you for sharing them with me!

Mrs. Wilkes

October 8- October 12

This week in 4th grade:

Math: We are starting our next unit in Math, Multiple Towers and Division Stories. During the first part of this unit, students will develop strategies for multiplying that involve breaking apart numbers, reviewing multiplication combinations to 12 x 12, and multiplying multiples of 10. Again, automaticity with basic multiplication combinations is extremely important in this unit. Students will be assessed on knowing these facts, so keep practicing at home! Please use the Math Investigations textbook for more help if needed. 

Vocabulary: This week is a Spelling week. The long i sound is our focus for Spelling this week. All of our words follow the long i pattern with i, igh, y, ey, uy, or i-Consonant-e. Students have nightly assignments to complete for homework. Words can be found behind the Spelling/Vocab tab in the BEE Binder and online at www.spellingcity.com.  I will let you know when I have our class SpellingCity account set up.  It has just been purchased so now the students will be able to log in and complete homework after it has been set up correctly. 

Reading: We are continuing our study on allegory and theme.  Students are inferring theme from short allegorical texts.  Students are defending interpretations by using details from the text.  

Our City of Ember read-aloud is going great! This read-aloud just so happens to connect to our current Science unit on Magnetism and Electricity.

Finally, students are excited about tracking their reading online through www.reading-rewards.com . Students need to enter their minutes read each night on their own at home. If this is a problem, please just send me a note and students can enter the data here at school.

Writing: We are starting our study of verbs this week. It is important that students recognize verbs not only as words that show action, but also a state of being. Our focus will be on the three types of verbs: action, linking, and helping. We will also begin working on a Veteran’s Day writing piece that all 4^th graders participate in as part of the SSC Veteran’s Day Program. 

Science: Science continues this week with our study of electricity. Our goals this week include: building and comparing simple circuits, identifying the essential components of an electric circuit, demonstrating the flow of electricity, and identifying materials that are conductors and insulators.

Other Reminders:

• Graded papers will likely come home later this week.  Please take time to review these WITH your child. For questions that are missed, please have your child go back and rethink/rework to find the correct answer and write all corrections directly on the paper with a pen. If I have already corrected the item, please have a discussion with your child about what he/she missed.
• Information about Fall Conferences and Sign up times if you would like one: http://www.signupgenius.com/go/20F0E4DADA629A13-fall
• I handed out the October Scholastic book orders last week.  They are due this Friday, October 17^th. Remember, if you order online with our class code: JT2TW, we receive free books for the classroom.
• Dr. Mims is sponsoring a Chess Club for 3^rd and 4^th grade students. Chess Club will meet on Thursday mornings from 7:20 – 7:45 a.m. For more information, please see the flyer that is came home today.
• SSC is partnering with The Assistance League of Birmingham to collect books and distribute them to specific schools that do not have access to many books and distribute them to children who may not have access to books at home. If you would like for your child to participate, please have them bring in new or gently used books during the week of October 22 – 26^th. For more information, see the flyer that went home yesterday.
• The Dolphin Echo was sent out on Monday so please make sure to read it over.
•  Join us on October 19th for Bedtime Stories & More at the South Shades Crest Elementary Media Center, 6:30 - 8:00 PM.  Parents and grandparents can come and shop at the Book Fair while children enjoy juice, cookies, and stories. You never know who might show up to read stories? Kids are welcome to wear PJ's!
• Mark your calendar for our next FAMILY MOVIE NIGHT! Friday, November 9^th, we will be showing Madagascar 3.
• Finally, stay tuned for more information about our 1^st field trip of the year…It’s going to be a big one!

Thanks for sharing your children with me each day!

Mrs. Wilkes

October 1- October 5

This week in 4th grade:

Math: We are wrapping up our unit on factors, multiples, and arrays. An end-of-the-unit test is currently scheduled for Friday. Students will be notified if this should change. Our objectives this week include: Identifying all the factors of 100, using knowledge of the factors of 100 to find factors of multiples of 100, and using representations to show that a factor of a number is also a factor of its multiples. For example, if 25 is a factor of 100 (25 x 4 = 100), then 25 is also a factor of 300 (25 x 12 = 300). A review handout will be coming home tomorrow for homework. A thorough understanding of prime, composite, and square numbers is important, as well understanding the difference between factors and multiples. Please review these key terms at home with your child so that application of these terms in mathematical scenarios makes sense!

Vocabulary: This week is a Vocabulary week. Students have been given daily assignments to complete for homework. The Vocabulary test will take place on Friday. Students will be expected to know the meaning of each word and/or apply the word in a given context/sentence. Words and definitions can be found behind the Spelling/Vocab tab in the BEE Binder and online at www.spellingcity.com.

Reading: Individual beginning-of-the-year Reading assessments are complete. We began a new unit on allegory/theme and a new read-aloud, The City of Ember. The students are really enjoying this book!  Student accounts have been set-up with www.reading-rewards.com. I will teach students how to use this new program to track their individual reading online.
Last week we finished reading Flying Solo and we had the opportunity to participate in a "rock ritual" even though we miss our friend, Isaiah, who moved away.  You will have to ask your children about our "rock ritual." 

Writing: Our study of pronouns is wrapping up this week. Students will have a quiz Friday. Next up, verbs!

Science: Our new Science unit on Electricity kicks off this week. Week one begins with a hands-on investigation on the properties of magnets and the force of magnetism.

Other Reminders:

• The Change for Change Fundraiser was a huge success! Early numbers indicate over $16,000 was raised for SSC in just ONE week! THANK YOU!!
• Graded papers will be coming home this week. Please take time to review these WITH your child. For questions that are missed, please have your child go back and rethink/rework to find the correct answer and write all corrections directly on the paper with a pen. If I have already corrected the item, please have a discussion with your child about what he/she missed.
• A fall parent conference schedule will be emailed out through www.sign-upgenius.com . Look for it by the end of the week!
• Please send in your book order by this Thursday.  I will put the order in on Thursday after school.  
• October Scholastic book orders will be sent home next week. Remember, if you order online with our class code: JT2TW, we receive free books for the classroom! Please send in your book order !

Thanks for sharing your children with me each day!
Mrs.Wilkes