||Fourth Grade Newsletter
Our Mission: At Shrine Catholic Grade School we try to exemplify Christ by praying, learning, and growing together.
FEAST OF St. Therese, Wednesday, October 1st. Mass @ 9AM.
PICTURE DAY October 3rd....wear your Sunday best!!!!
Week of September 29, 2014
Religion-This is a very special week in our school and parish. We celebrate the feast day of Saint Therese on Wednesday. Join us, if you can, for the All Schools Mass, where students from the Academy and High School join us to honor and celebrate her life. Students will view "Thérèse: The Story of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux". This movie shows the struggles Therese endured to serve God as she was called.
Students have also been reading and talking about God's plan for us. In our new Bibles, children read the parable of Jonah and the big fish, which we are all familiar with! It teaches the lesson, thousands of years later, that God has a plan for all living and non living things. Another lesson we discussed was that God loves EVERYONE, which means those we consider our enemies are loved. The Israelites, since they were the chosen ones, thought God should wipe out their enemies, yet God didn't. It was a lesson for them, too. We continue exploring God's plan this week and work on an illustration of our ultimate prayer space to talk to God!
Science-Students enjoyed their IPad quizzes last week! I printed out their individual reports and sent those home last week. Ask your student their results!
We wrap up fungi this week and move into the popular topic of animals. We'll discuss how animal adaptations enable them to meet their needs. We have a visit to the Science Lab near the end of the week to use a variety of "bird beaks" to pick up "food". Bird beaks are developed to specifically pick up certain foods. Which beaks work best for worms? Seeds? Water? We'll find out!
Reading- Our story this week is The Horned Toad Prince, a modern fairy tale. Students will be identifying the elements of fairy tales such as good & evil characters, royalty, magic, LOVE, and the numbers 3 & 7. Students will be exposed to a variety of fairy tales this week including some of the old goodies like Cinderella, Goldilocks & the Three Bears, The Three Little Pigs, and Little Red Riding Hood to see if the elements are found in these tales as well. Last week's Time for Kids focused on school dress codes, even in public schools. Our class discussion left us at about a 50/50 tie regarding whether dress codes should be set or not. We also read that Honey Nut Cheerios is the #1 selling cereal in the country and there is a 9:00 p.m. kid curfew being mandated in Baltimore, Maryland. Interesting stuff! We really love reading about current events in Time for Kids!
English- This week we will move onto studying, identifying, and using singular, plural, common and proper nouns in our writing. Students will also be writing their own narrative paragraphs with a grabber sentence.
MATH-The week of October 6th kicks off our annual IOWA testing, so all week long we will focus on strategies and review basic math concepts covered on the test. There will NOT be a chapter 3 TEST, but there will be a QUIZ on this material Thursday. There will not be the usual workbook pages this week either. Instead, your child will be assigned worksheets that cover a specific skill each night. We have been using the iPads in class to practice facts and telling time as we prepare for testing, but this week we'll also use the "clickers" as well. When I use the clickers, I format assessments and lessons to mimic the IOWA test. We'll review estimating, eliminating wrong answers, reading the questions carefully, and checking our answers in the IOWA format which will hopefully help your child understand expectations. If you are interested in helping your child prepare for the IOWA tests, I highly recommend accessing IXL Math on your computer. It is grade leveled and subject/topic specific.
SOCIAL STUDIES-Our Great Lakes projects adorn the fourth grade hallway and I have to say, I'm impressed with the effort and quality that went into these projects! We'll use much of this week reviewing MICHIGAN and the Great Lakes as we prepare for a test on Friday. We'll also spend time discussing the IOWA test and use the clickers to practice some IOWA-formatted questions. Reading maps, timelines, using scales, and interpreting graphs are an important skill tested. Why not help your child prepare by pulling out a map at home and asking a few questions about it? Or look at a graph in the newspaper and discuss what is being shown.
Mrs. Gmeiner, Mrs. Morrison, Mrs. Frechette
4th Grade Website
Shrine Catholic Grade School
Royal Oak, MI 48067