News from Mrs. Cavoto's Room Sept. 30-October 4th

Brookfield Zoo Field Trip  on Thursday, Ocotober 3
Please send in a completely disposable lunch, and the kids should be sure to dress for the weather.

We are going to have a "Wormy Time" this week!
  We will begin our worm investigations on Tuesday of this week, so all worms need to be in on Tuesday. The students brought home a sheet today, and they know what to include in their worm habitats. (moist soil, not soaking wet,dried leaves, rotting roots-all things found in soil already. They can find their worms in the yard or they can purchase earthworms at Walmart or a pet store.

Math - In math this week, we will review estimating sums and differences.  They will add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers and regroup if necessary.  They will check reasonableness of their answers by estimating.

Spelling - The students will be working with words that have the /u/ sound.  They will be assigned workbook pages 52-54.  If they are in the pretest group, they will have an activity sheet to follow throughout the week which they will complete in their spelling journals.

Reading - This week in reading the children will learn about author's point of view.  We will use the poems written by Shel Silverstein to help the children understand this concept.
Our story this week is "Finding the Titanic" by Robert D. Ballard. The reading strategy that we will focus on is text organization. Many non-fiction authors organize their selections in time order. They also use features such as headings, pictures, captions and charts to help the reader better understand the information. Students will be studying these elements of text organization while reading a variety of non-fiction passages. 

English - We will begin a unit on capitalization and punctuation.  This week the students will review the different kinds of sentences and practice writing paragraphs that have a variety of sentences in them. They will also review their capitalization rules of names of people, pets, titles used with names, places and things.

Social Studies - Our social studies test will be on Wednesday of this week not on Tuesday.
This test will cover chapter 2 lessons 2 & 3.   They should study the worksheets in their binders, know all vocabulary from the lessons, and study the key concepts in each lesson. Pages 46-59

They should know:
The three levels of government and who is the head of each (page 49)
The three branches of government(who is the head of it,where they meet,their job or role)
U.S. citizens' responsibilities  
Children's responsibilities (page 59)
U.S. citizens' rights (freedoms)
13th Amendment
19th Amendment
26th Amendment
What citizens need to do to make good decisions (page  59)
Why should people vote?

News from Mrs. Cavoto's Room Sept. 23-Sept. 27

Dates to Remember:
Monday, Sept. 23 Recorder money due for music
Tuesday, Sept. 24 Magazine turn in day 3
Wed./Thurs., Sept. 25 & 26 Beginning Band Sign-Up
Thursday, Sept. 26 Fall Pictures
Friday, Sept. 27 Early Dismissal 11:00
Thursday, Oct. 3, Field Trip to Brookfield Zoo- Dress for the weather and bring a disposable sack lunch.

Time for Kids will go home with the students on Monday with a worksheet that goes with it.  They should leave the magazine and sheet in their binder on the homework side to remind them that they should  read and discuss this with their family throughout the week.  They will need to turn the sheet in on Friday, and they will have a quiz over the material in the Time For Kids magazine on Friday.  They will be able to use their magazine to help them answer the questions, so it is very important that they leave it in their folders.

Math -The Essential Question for this chapter is: What strategies can I use to add or subtract?  We will review the properties of addition (commutative, associate, and identity properties) and the rules for subtraction. When you subtract 0 from any number, the result is the number, and when you subtract a number from itself the result is 0.   They will also practice using patterns and place value to add and subtract numbers.  They will use different mental math strategies to help them solve problems.

Spelling - This week in spelling the students will work with words that have the long and short vowel sounds of "i" and "o".  They will be responsible for workbook pages 37-39.

Reading - This week we will be focusing on the reading skill of determining author's viewpoint. Author's viewpoint refers to the author's opinion of what is important, or the attitude toward the topic. The author might give his/her opinion directly, or the reader might have to infer the information by finding clues or other information that the author provides. We will work on this skill by looking at some fun poetry by Shel Silverstein that expresses his point of view towards topics such as the dentist and school.

We will be working on writing for our Daily 5 lesson this week.

English  This week the students will learn about the simple subject and predicate of a sentence, and they will identify run-on sentences.  A test over chapter 1, The Sentence, will be on Friday of this week.  The students will have homework throughout the week to help them review.

Science -  The students will understand the scientific method. We will conduct an a couple of experiments so the students can apply their knowledge of the scientific method.  Our worm unit will begin the following week.  In this unit, the students will follow the scientific method as they learn about worms.  Be prepared to bring in worms a week from this Tuesday.  Please do not bring them in earlier.  We will learn about their habits, so they can make a good home for them:)

Social Studies - We will review the three branches of government. The students will decide what branch they would like to be in and why.  They will understand the jobs of the different branches of government.  The students will identify two ways in which they can be a U.S. citizen and the responsibilities of  U.S. citizens. They will understand and identify types of services that are paid for by our taxes.

A test is planned for a week from this Tuesday over chapter 2 lessons 2 & 3.   They should study the worksheets in their binders, know all vocabulary from the lessons, and study the key concepts in each lesson. Pages 46-59

They should know:
The three levels of government and who is the head of each (page 49)
The three branches of government(who is the head of it,where they meet,their job or role)
U.S. citizens' responsibilities  
Children's responsibilities (page 59)
U.S. citizens' rights (freedoms)
13th Ammendment
19th Amendment
26th Amendment
What citizens need to do to make good decisions (page  59)
Why should people vote?

News from Mrs. Cavoto's Room Sept. 16-Sept. 20th

Dates to Remember:
Monday, Sept. 16 - Beginning Band Parent Orientation 7:00 in the multi-purpose room
Tuesday, Sept. 17 - Magazine turn in day 1
Tuesday, Sept. 17 - Curriculum Night 4th grade 6:30-7:30
Thursday, Sept. 19 - Magazine turn in day 2
Tuesday, Sept. 24 Magazine turn in day 3
Wed./Thurs., Sept. 25 & 26 Beginning Band Sign-Up
Thursday, Sept. 26 Fall Pictures
Friday, Sept. 27 Early Dismissal 11:00

***Looking for Helpers:  If anyone would be interested in helping with running off papers once a week or once every other week, it would be greatly appreciated.

Time for Kids will go home with the students on Monday with a worksheet that goes with it.  They should leave the magazine and sheet in their binder on the homework side to remind them that they should  read and discuss this with their family throughout the week.  They will need to turn the sheet in on Friday, and they will have a quiz over the material in the Time For Kids magazine on Friday.  They will be able to use their magazine to help them answer the questions, so it is very important that they leave it in their folders.

Math - We will have test on Wednesday of next week.  This test will cover the skills and concepts learned in chapter 1. They may bring home their books to help them review and they can use the papers in their math binder folder to review. We did not finish some of the pages in the chapter, so they may finish them for extra practice if they would like.  There will be a review sheet going home as well for homework.    Concepts to review:  How does the value of a digit in the thousands place compare to its value if the same digit was in the hundreds place? (Make a model: 222,222 - if the 2 in hundreds place was in the thousands place its value would be 10 x more. 200 x 10 )

Spelling - The students will  work with long and short "a" and "e" words this week.  They will be responsible for workbook pages 17-19. On Monday their assignment will be to write each word twice. Then each day they will be assigned a workbook page.  I will check their pages in the morning for completion and then on Friday I will collect one of those pages for a homework grade.  There will be a test on Friday.

Reading -  The students will read a story called Akiak by Robert Blake.  Akiak is about a famous Iditarod race that takes place in the Alaskan wilderness. We will use a story map to examine how a problem and its solution affect the story's plot and characters. We will continue to work on the "Read to Someone" strategy of our Daily 5.  We are working on building stamina and the students will learn how to help their partners sound out unknown words.

English This week in English the students will identify the complete and simple subject of a sentence.
They will understand that all sentences need complete thoughts -  Sentences need a subject that tells who or what, and they need a predicate that tells about the subject.

Social Studies - This week the students will understand what the Constitution is and why it is important.  They will identify the three levels of government.  They will Describe the responsibilities of each of the three branches of government.

Science - We will review why we need to have standard units of measure.  The students will identify the tools used for inquiry.  They will understand how to measure the volume of a solid.

News from Mrs. Cavoto's Room Sept. 9-Sept 13

Dates to Remember:
Tuesday, Sept. 10 Magazine Kick Off
Wednesday, Sept. 11 Spirit Days (wear red, white, and blue)
Monday, Sept. 16 - Beginning Band Parent Orientation 7:00 in the multi-purpose room
Tuesday, Sept. 17 - Magazine turn in day 1
Tuesday, Sept. 17 - Curriculum Night 4th grade 6:30-7:30
Thursday, Sept. 19 - Magazine turn in day 2

Looking for Helpers:  If anyone would be interested in helping with running off papers once a week or once every other week, it would be greatly appreciated.

Field Trip helpers:  I am looking for 3 more parent volunteers to come on the field trip to Brookfield Zoo, October 3. . We would need you to be at school at 9:00 and we will return by 2:00.  Please let me know if you are interested.  I will take the first three people who respond.

Math - In math this week,  The students will be ordering and comparing numbers through the millions.  There will be a math quiz on Thursday for lessons one through 4.

Spelling - In spelling this week the students will continue to work with most commonly misspelled words. We will take a pretest on Monday, and they will have a list of activities to complete for each day of the week in their spelling journal.  I will collect one of  those activities on Friday to grade. Their test will be on Friday.

Reading - This week in reading we will finish reading The Pumpkin Runner.  The students will complete a story map to summarize the story.  This week for our Daily 5 lessons we will review strategies on Reading to Someone.  They will learn how to choose what books to read together and how to choose a classroom spot.  Every day children have been working on building their stamina.  How long can they read to self without being distracted.    The students will also read a story called Akiak by Robert Blake.  Akiak is about a famous Iditarod race that takes place in the Alaskan wilderness. We will use a story map to examine how a problem and its solution affect the story's plot and characters.

English - The students will continue to work with the four types of sentences. The students will practice writing good sentences.

Science- In science this week the students will study standard units of measure vs. nonstandard units of measure.They will investigate tools for observing and handling.

Social Studies  This week in social studies the students will begin their Patriotic Quest to help them understand the organization of our U.S. government.  They will use their skimming and scanning skills to help them with their quest.