Hi Families!
Quick notes to know:
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Now- 2/21 Box Tops Contest- Send in your box tops
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2/14 Valentine Party and PBIS
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2/17 No School- Presidents’ Day
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2/18 No School- Teacher Institute Day
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2/20/20 Farm to Table
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2/25/20 Sectional 3 Spelling Bee – 6:30 pm in the gym
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2/26/20 Early Release
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2/28/20 End of 2nd Trimester
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Valentine’s Day will be celebrated on 2/14/20. Students are welcome to send Valentines in to share with the students (we have 24 students). If you send Valentines in, please be sure to send one in for each child. A class list of students can be found on the website, or students can feel free to label their valentines “To my friend.”
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I recently sent home a national lands pass. Here is a little about the program, “To help engage and create our next generation of park visitors, supporters and advocates, Federal Land Management agencies, launched the Every Kid in a Park initiative. The immediate goal is to provide an opportunity for each and every 4th grade student across the country to experience their federal public lands and waters in person throughout the school year.” If you would like to learn more about the program or get ideas of where to visit, please visit this website.
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Attached is the link for the Spanish Quizlet, which will help students study their vocabulary. Test scheduled for 2/21/20.
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Our school has noticed an increase in students using watches to receive or send texts, etc. during class. Please note that cell phones and watches fall under the same category in the student handbook. Both are not allowed to be used during school hours. Watches, just like phones, need to remain in backpacks and turned off during the school day. Additionally, it is important they are turned off and not utilizing bandwidth, so PCCS does not experience network connectivity issues because of too many clients connected to one access point. Thank you for your help in guiding your student to make sure they are aware of and follow these rules.
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Thank you so much to the many volunteers who helped make Pizza Friday a success! Your efforts are very appreciated and the students loved having pizza! Just to let you know the impact, one student told me he had been “waiting ALL MONTH for Pizza Friday” to happen! You really are making an impact with your volunteerism- Thank You!
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NEXT WEEK:
Reading and Writing,
We will follow our normal spelling schedule this week, with our spelling test scheduled for 2/14/20. Next week, we will not have our traditional spelling lists or a test due to the shortened week. Instead, we will focus on working with and expanding our vocabulary words. Spelling will resume the normal schedule the week of 2/24/20.
In writing we are working on a fictional narrative with children’s author Natalie Rompella. We have learned about setting development, character development and, now, dialogue. Students are finishing up their rough draft and will be starting the editing process. Mrs. Rompella will teach one final lesson on editing techniques. Then, students will write their final draft. Students will also select 2 scenes to illustrate. Each student’s final draft with illustrations will be shared and read aloud with another class on 2/25/20.
Students are now working on non-fiction literary elements. This week and next week, we will learn how to retell an informational piece of text. We will also learn about the informational text structures of compare/contrast and sequence. In reading groups, students are reading short informational passages and then answering vocabulary and comprehension questions on each passage with their group. Then, student reading groups will fill out a graphic organizer identifying the structure of the text and the important details. Last, each group will write a short essay on their text. This week’s focus is sequence, and the essays will summarize in chronological order, the important events in the text their group read.
This week, students will listen to a read aloud of “Somebody Loves You Mr. Hatch.” Then, they will identify the key elements of the story and the cause and effect relationship of events in the story.
Students will write a short fictional Valentine themed story, using a “roll a story” game to generate ideas. Students will also build their spelling words using wood tiles, and work on cursive this week.
3rd grade Math,
We have been working hard on Unit 5. This week and next week, we will work on the last lesson in module 1 and all of the lessons in module 2. Next week, we will start module 3. Module 2 focuses on Multiplication & Division Families. Students continue to explore two different interpretations of division—sharing and grouping—by solving
story problems that elicit one interpretation or the other, and then sharing and discussing their work as a class. We will also introduce fact families—sets of related facts that further help students understand the connection between multiplication and division.
Module 3 focuses on Division Practice. Students will again investigate two different interpretations of division—sharing and grouping—by solving story problems that elicit one interpretation or the other, and then sharing and discussing their work as a class. Then two new division Workplaces will be introduced, Line ‘Em Up and Division Capture. The first of these is designed to deepen students’ understanding of the operation, while the second provides practice with basic division facts.
In Number Corner, we started our February calendar which focuses on area and perimeter. In our February collection, we are collecting fractions of a dollar and building up to whole dollars. First we have started with tenths of a dollar and we will work up to fourths of a dollar, comparing the two collections.
4th grade math,
Please see Mrs. Ottaviani’s website for 4th grade math information and updates.
Science/Social Studies,
We are finishing our science unit on motion and matter this week. Students have learned about forces, balanced and unbalanced forces, including gravitational pull. Students have experimented with top designs, as well as wheel and axle designs. We have learned what will make a wheel and axle wobble, roll straight and curve. We have tested whirly bird designs and discovered what aspects make it spin, and fall slower or faster. For our last segment of this unit, students will engineer carts and test out their designs. Following this, we will start a long unit on geography. We are starting the first segment of the unit next week and we will focus on identifying the oceans and the continents. This unit will span about 8 weeks as we dive into specific regions.
We are continuing phenology and solo spots, alternating each week. Please make sure your student is prepared to be outside on a regular basis.
I hope you have a wonderful week!
