I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving Break. It has been a good week getting back to the business of fourth grade. In English, we have started a new book, The Best/Worst Christmas Pageant Ever, which will carry through until the Winter Break. The children have really enjoyed reading about the Herdman family and the naughtiest kids to ever walk the planet. Once we have finished the book, the students will get a chance to write their own chapter with their own adventure with the Herdmans. I am sure their imaginations will run wild!
In language arts, we have continued our work with Wordly Wise and, after a week’s break, we will pick up spelling again next week, with our words coming from Wordly Wise, a recent free choice writing assignment and from our current class novel. In math, we have been working our way through a look at time. The students were intrigued by the 24-hour clock and the difference between it and our standard 12-hour clock. It was interesting to learn that there is no AM or PM when using the 24-hour time cycle. In this day and age of digital clocks, it has been great for the class to learn how to tell time “the old fashioned way.” In social studies, the class did an absolutely fantastic job with their Land Form Projects! Everyone was excited to hear what their classmates had discovered about topics as varied as fjords, rain forests and volcanoes. They especially loved having the model of the volcano “erupt,” thanks to the science of combining vinegar, baking soda and food coloring! We have started our study of the geography of the United States, and the students have been working on locating and identifying the states on a map.
The children all seemed to enjoy the Book Fair. They had fun searching for and purchasing new books to explore. I also thank all of the parents who purchased books from my classroom wish list, adding them to our in class library. I know everyone will enjoy having some fresh titles from which to choose.
Thank you to all the parents who were able to come to our parent – teacher conferences over the past two days. It was wonderful to spend some time talking with you about the progress your children have made during the first part of this year. I am looking forward to speaking with those who could not meet this week at the times we have already arranged before the next school break. As always, if you would like to further discuss anything with me, please let me know.