News from Mrs. Cavoto's Room May 2-6

Things to Rememeber:
May 13 Early Dismissal
May 16 All School Concert at 9:00
May 17 Fourth Grade Beginning Band Concert at 7:00 on at Lakeview.

The students may buy Life Saving Grams to help the people of Japan. Information went home with them today. This benefit begins on Monday and goes through May 25. Send a Life Saving Gram today! If you want more grams to send out, you can print them from the Prairieview website or just ask a teacher. Thank you!

Math - This week in math the students will multiply 3 and 4 digit numbers and money. The students will learn multiplying numbers with zeros and multiples of 10, 100, and 1,000. There will be a test over chapter 9 and lesson 10.1 on Friday of this week. There will be a fact timed test for all students on Thursday. They should be studying their facts. They will not be able to use a calculator on this test.

Spelling - This week the spelling words will have silent consonants. If you pass the spelling pretest with a score of 19 out of 20 points or higher, you do not have to complete the workbook activities. You will need to work on alternative activities from the sheet given to you by your teacher using your 10 alternate words. You may take a final test over your new words to earn 2 extra points to your grade.

Reading Our reading strategy for next week is making inferences. Readers must make inferences, or "read between the lines,"when an author doesn't tell the reader everything. Readers can do this by applying what they already know to story clues given by the author.

English We will begin a unit on pronouns this week. The students will identify pronouns in sentences and distinguish between singular and plural pronouns.

Social Studies This week the students will identify a nonrenewable resource in the Southwest. They will describe how the technology of the Southwest has impacted the United States. There will be a test covering the Southwest land and resources chapter 10 on Friday of this week.

The students should know:
All vocabulary
All key concepts from the lessons
How the Grand Canyon was formed
Understand the role of erosion in the continued formation of the Grand Canyon
Why is the Grand Canyon a national park
Why do people visit the Grand Canyon today?
What is the climate like in the Southwest Region
How does the Saguaro adapt to life in the desert?
How does the Saguaro help the animals of the desert and how do they help it?
What is a nonrenewable resource? Give example of the one very important one found in the Southwest.
What technology industries exist in the Southwest?
Nuclear energy and laboratories are in in what Southwest state?
Very Large Array?

Science The students will investigate inclined planes. They will explain how a screw and wedge change the way work is done. They will make their own screws. There will be a test over simple machines chapter 17th on Tuesday, May 10.

News From Mrs. Cavoto's Room April 25-29

Things to Remember:
Tues. 4/26 MAP testing
Thurs. 4/28 - Family Reading Night
Fri.4/29 - MAP testing
Fri. 5/13 - Early Dismissal @ 11:00

Please remember to send in your
Box Tops! The final collection is
April 29th.

Math This week in math the students will be estimating products of two, three, and four digit by 1 digit multiplication and then finding the product. There will be a test on Tuesday, May 1 over chapter 9 and lesson 10-1.

Spelling This week the students will work with words that have unusual spellings. There will be a test on Friday of this week. Workbook pages 213-215 are due on Friday. Those students who pass the pretest may take the final test on their words for extra points. They will have activities assigned for each day of the week to work on.

Reading Our reading target for the week is to identify topic, main idea, and supporting details. Topic is what the whole text is about. The main ideas are important points about each topic. Each paragraph can have its own main idea. Supporting details are facts and examples that support each main idea.

The students will finish reading Earthquake Terror this week. There will be a vocabulary test on Friday of this week. The students will make their vocabulary word list on Monday and those will be the words they are tested on. They should be able to write the word in a good sentence so that I can tell that they have a good understanding of the meaning of the word without it being a definition. They should also know the definition of the words and be able to complete sentences using their words correctly.

English In English there will be a test covering adverbs on Friday of this week. The students will have homework through the week to help them review the skills in chapter 7.

Science - The students will learn about the pulley and the wheel and axle. How do these simple machines help people do work?

Social Studies - The students will learn about the history of the Grand Canyon and the people of the Canyon- the Anasazi, Pueblo, and Havasupai. They will also understand why the Spanish explorers came to the Grand Canyon.

News From Mrs. Cavoto's Room April 18-22

Things to Remember:

April 21 - Early Dismissal - Students dismissed at 11:00

April 22 - No school

Math We will have a test over chapter 24, probability on Wednesday of this week. They should study the worksheets in their binders and bring home their math books to study the extra practice in their textbooks. They should be studying their multiplication facts also. This week there will be a time test on Thursday. We will begin a chapter of multiplication of higher numbers.

Spelling This week the students will be working with three syllable words. They will need to work on pages 193-195 throughout the week. They are due on Thursday of this week. If they passed out of the words on the list with no more than one wrong, then they will need to do the activities assigned on the activity sheet in their binders.

Reading - This week in reading, we will be focusing on two important skills: following directions & summarizing. When reading a passage that describes how to complete a task, readers should look for clue words such as first, next and finally to clarify the order of steps. They also must understand that steps must be followed in the correct order in order to complete the task. Summarizing involves retelling a story in your own words, and including only the most important events. All students will study these skills using appropriate instructional-level materials.

We will continue to read Earthquake Terror and work on journal questions which reinforce the skills above.

Language We will continue our work with adverbs. The students will practice using the words good and well, and they understand how to use negatives correctly in a sentence.

Science The essential question this week is "How do Simple Machines Help People do Work?" The students will investigate levers. They will define work and simple machines and explain how a lever changes the way work is done.

News From Mrs. Cavoto's Room April 11-15

Things to Remember: April 14 - Prairieview Open House/Book Fair - 6:30-8:00 p.m. April 21 - Early Dismissal - 11:00 a.m. April 22 - No school April 12 - all fourth grade students will be taking the OLSAT (Otis-Lennon School Ability Test) test. This test is designed to measure abstract thinking and reasoning ability. Please make sure that your child eats breakfast & comes to school well rested that day.

Math - On Wednesday, April 13, there will be a test on chapter 23 perimeter, area, and volume. There are many papers in their folder that they can use as study tools. The students should review these skills at home. We will also review possible outcomes. They will express probability as a fraction and find all possible combinations and arrangements in probability situations.

Spelling: This week in spelling the pattern continues words with the Vowel Consonant Vowel pattern. (VCV). The assigned workbook pages for the week are pages 175-177. Those students who pass the pretest with no more than 1 wrong will do the assigned activities for the week. (They do not have to do the workbook pages.) They can earn extra points on their grade if they take the test on their new words at the end. Reading: This week in reading our class will also be reading Earthquake Terror By Peg Kehret. We will practice the reading strategies that have been learned since the beginning of the year. We will also focus on understanding different genres, specifically pourquoi tales. Pourquoi is a French word meaning "why". Pourquoi tales are stories that tell how, long ago, something in nature came to be. Often times these tales contain animals or natural forces that speak or have personalities. English The students will continue to work with expository writing. They will focus on organizing their writing and using different kinds of supporting details to elaborate their ideas with. They will finish working with a partner to write an expository essay on what they would do with a robot if they had one. They will then write an essay on their own telling about their own personal hero. Science Science projects are due on Tuesday of this week. They should be prepared to give an oral presentation of their invention. We will go over how to do that in class, but they need to prepare and practice it at home They will be given an oral presentation grade in English on it. We will be writing Social Studies We will begin our tour of the Southwest. The focus will be on the Grand Canyon. The students will learn how the Grand Canyon was carved out by erosion caused by the Colorado River.