Things to Remember:
Tuesday, Dec. 16 4th grade bowling in the P.M. - Homework Club 2:30-3:30
Thursday, Dec. 18th Homework Club 2:30-3:30
Friday, December 19 - Whole school Tivoli Theater - How the Grinch Stole Christmas
December 22-January 2, 2009 Winter Break
I wish all of you a happy and healthy winter break.
Service Projects: We want to thank all the students and parents for contributing to our Service Projects. We were able to provide many nice gifts for the families who are having such a difficult time financially and dealing with extremely sick family members at the same time. It will bring some happiness to these families during the holiday season. We thank you for your great generosity.
Spelling There will be no spelling test this week. We will work on dictionary skills and computer usage to help us with vocabulary development.
English - This week in English we will continue our work with verbs. The children will identify and write past tense verbs with the helping verbs has, have, or had, with singular or plural subjects. They will also write past tense of irregular verbs and proofread for forms of irregular verbs.
We will have an English test over verbs on Thursday, January 8.
Reading The reading stategy this week is finding the main ideas and supporting details of both fiction and non-fiction passages. The students will also be introduced to new vocabulary. The students will also role play The Polar Express.
Math We will begin a unit on telling time, reading a calendar and thermometer. I encourage parents to practice telling time with their children at home. They should practice telling time to the nearest minute, 5 minutes and both before and after the hour.
Social Studies This week we will learn about causes of the Civil War and discuss the positive and negative effects of the war on the Southeast.
Science We will have a science test over chapter 3 on Friday.
The students should know:
All vocabulary
the basic needs of all living things
examples of learned behaviors and instincts
What happens in hibernation
examples of extinct animals
examples of body adaptations and behavioral adaptations and how they help the animals/plants
be able to show examples of the cycle of life with plants or animals
why a change in ecosystem may cause an animal population to shrink
what might a scientist be able to tell from a fossil of footprint of an animal
