We recently took a test over long division.  There are several students still struggling with this!!  There are some great resources on the web and other places to get some more practice with this.  It would be helpful to continuet to give your child practice with this by assigning them a few problems to complete every so often.



We are now in a geometry unit and will finish before break.


We are just finishing the Theme 2 Benchmark Reading Test.  The 4th grade skills being tested are:
-Main Idea and Details
-Context Clues
-Sequencing
-Author's Purpose
-Literary Devices
-Cause and Effect
-Idioms
-Word Parts
-Homophones
-Prefixes and Suffixes
-Stanza, Line Break, Meter, and Rhyme
-Charts
-Surveys
-Parts of a Book
-Complex Sentences
-Singular and Plural Nouns
-Irregular Plural Nouns
-Possessive Nouns
-Compound Sentences
-Common and Proper Nouns

In Science, we finished units on Earth Materials and The Earth, Sun, and the Moon.





In Social Studies, we will be finishing our unit on the Northeast tomorrow, and starting a unit on the Southeast after break.

Science- Earth, Sun, and Moon (We are not studying the planets!)  Key items:

MISIC Benchmarks:
	· S.04.02.01a     Benchmark: Identifies the characteristics of the sun. Description: Students will define what the sun is and how it effects things on Earth.

 · S.04.02.01b   
Benchmark: Identifies the characteristics of the moon. Description: Students will explain the characteristics of the moon and identify how the moon relates to both the sun and Earth.  · S.04.02.01c   
Benchmark: Identifies the characteristics of the Earth. Description: Students will identify the layers, the rotation and how the Earth changes over time.       

Essential Questions

· Why is the sun important to us? Why is the moon important to us? Why does the moon appear to change shape? What is the difference between rotation and revolution?

Vocabulary
· rotate - to spin around. axis - a real or imaginary line that a spionning object turns around. gravity - the force of attraction betweeen any two objects due to their mass. orbit - the path an object follows as it revolves revolve - to move in a circular or nearly circular path around something else star - a hot sphere of gases that gives off energy. crescent moon - the shape the moon makes when it is less than half full (lit up). waning moon - the time after full moon and before new moon when the moon seems to be getting smaller. new moon - when the moon is in full shade and not visible or apearing only as a very thin cresent. waxing moon - the phase between new moon and full moon when the moon seems to be getting bigger.

MATH-

Long Division!!  This is hard and takes lots of practice!  Extra practice at home would be very beneficial!







READING-

Theme: Making a Difference;  Stories we have/ are reading:

 

 

Current Content

Math: We are starting the age-old multiplication algorithm!!  We first learn how to do each part of the problem separately (expanded algorithm) before putting it all together.  Many adults did not learn the expanded algorithm and went straight to learning the standard algorithm.  If you have any questions on this, please let me know.  The next unit will be on the division algorithm.



Anthology for this week: 
Vocabulary- legendary, muttered, flinched, gaped, insult, and snickering
Comprehension skills- monitor comprehension, author's purpose, compare/ contrast, poetry
Grammar- singular and plural nouns
Fluency- Using good intonation and expression
Spelling/ Phonics- Digraphs
Writing- use good word choice to show actions

Science- We are plugging away in our Earth Materials unit!  Your child has learned the difference between rocks and minerals, how scientists can tell them apart/ how to identify them.  They have learned about the layers of the earth and plates in the Earth's crust.  They are having a lot of fun!

Current Units

We have begun a new Science unit on Earth Materials!  There are a lot of vocabulary words!  Students have created Memory cards and are using them to study and learn the new words.  See below:

fossil	any evidence of an organism that lived in the past
Igneous rock	fire-made rock formed from melted rock materials
Metamorphic rock	rock whose form has been changed by heat and pressure
Sedimentary rock	rock formed from bits or layers of rocks cemented together
mineral	a solid, naturally occurring substance that is not a plant or an animal
hardness	how well a mineral resists scratching
luster	the way a mineral reflects light
property	any characteristic of matter that you can observe
streak	the color of the powder left when a mineral is rubbed against a hard , rough surface
core	the center of the Earth
Inner core	the very center of the Earth made of iron and nickel
crust	solid rock that makes up Earth’s outermost layers
fault	the place where two plates of the Earth meet is called
magma	hot, molten rock below Earth’s surface
mantle	the layer of rock below the crust
mass	an amount of material
erosion	the carrying away of soil and rock particles by water, wind, or glaciers

Welcome if this is your first time!

At conferences, I passed out a half sheet of paper telling parents about this blog.  If you are visiting for the first time, welcome!  I try to update this once or twice a week.

Please remember that Fall conference times will stay the same in the Spring.  There is very little room for adjustments unless you'd liket to come on the Friday of that week instead.

This Friday is the end of the 1st quarter.  Can you believe it?!  Where has time gone??!!  As far as grades go, I used the cutoff as anywhere from October 12-19th so that I could begin working on them.  The information I presented at conferences should be similar to what you see on the report card, possibly just worded differently.  If you get the report card and have any questions, please let me know.

In math, we are beginning to work on the standard algorithm for multiplication.  For many parents, this is the way you learned it when you were in grade school.  I would like to stress again that it is VERY important for kids to know their basic facts.  I am already starting to see some kids struggling with solving 2 digit x 1 digit multiplication because they don't know their basic facts.

After completing the Social Studies units on Iowa History and the Midwest Region, we are taking a break to switch to Science.  We will be taking a test this week on the Scientific Process and then beginning units on Earth Materials and the Earth, Sun, and Moon.

This week is our first big reading test!!  We have spent two weeks reviewing for this assessment.  Again, the best way for your child to improve at reading is to.... READ!!  We are also practice lots of different writing skills, including paragraph, details, grammar, etc.

I have really enjoyed this group of kids this year.  They are learning quickly and we are getting used to my routines.  If you have questions or concerns at anytime, please remember that you can always contact me at:

afreiberg@marshalltown.k12.ia.us (email)
641-754-1030 (school phone)

Assessments and Conferences

Conferences are next week!
Please try to arrive on time for your scheduled conference.  If you are unable to attend, please let me know as soon as possible so that we can try to re-schedule.  Each conference this year will be up to 30 minutes.  Also, it is good to bring your child with you to the conference so they can hear and be a part of the discussion.

At conferences, you can expect to hear about the following items:
**Behavior at school: good and not so good
**Math, reading, and other assessment scores
**Interventions that your child may be in
**Other question/ concerns

Specific tests that your child has taken recently or will be taking soon:
-First Quarter timed tests
-Topics 1-4 Math tests
-Topics 1-4 Math Cumulative test
-Dibels (Reading) test
-Social Studies tests (Iowa History and Midwest)
-Anthology Unit 1 Theme test
-Spelling test averages
-Homework completion averages

Objectives in the Classroom

     Everyday, students have objectives posted in the room for Math, Science/ SS, and Anthology.  Objectives are reviewed in the whole group to make sure students understand exactly what they are to be learning throughout the day.  The objectives can then be occassionally referenced and they help keep me on track with what our learning goals are. You can ask you child each day what they learned in Math, Science/ SS, and Anthology and their answer should be based around the objectives.  Below are some objectives for today.