Reading Celebration…

        After receiving all of the February Vacation Reading Challenge papers, I am pleased to announce that 16 kids read a total of 5,524 minutes!!  Congratulations to all of the readers!  J

Coming Up This Week…

Read Across America Day

        Tomorrow is Read Across America Day in celebration of Dr. Seuss’ birthday!  We will be having a guest reader in to read to our class.  It will be a great start to the week!

Reading Workshop

        In Reader’s Workshop we are working on comparing and contrasting nonfiction topics this week. We are looking for ways that two topics are similar and different based on evidence from the text.  The kids have gotten really good at finding evidence that shows exactly what they want to say.  We will also be comparing and contrasting two different points of view.  For example we could look at reasons for wearing school uniforms and reasons against it.

Writing Workshop

        In Writer’s Workshop we spent last week taking a closer look at writing personal essays based on a prompt.  The kids got to write about what they would like to learn to do.  We have many eager learners in our classroom.  Their interests included learning how to be a photographer, a cook, a babysitter, a better football and basketball player, a gymnast, learning how to snowboard, and how to be a chemist!  These are just to name a few!  It was great to see all of these interests coming out in their writing.   They got to use all of their expertise from earlier in the year to write this essay.  They also got to add to their learning by thinking about the importance of adding mini stories into their essay. 

        This week we will be taking another look at writing realistic fictional narratives. We will get to review all that we already know about writing in this genre and be able to add to our learning as well. 

Math Workshop

        In math we are continuing to work on fractions.  Last week we spent a lot of time on finding equivalent fractions. We used a lot of visuals to demonstrate how two fractions could be equivalent.  By the end of the week we started to notice a pattern or rule that could be applied to finding equivalent fractions without a visual.  We will continue to work on this rule this week as well. 

This Week’s Good Evening Math….

Attaching the Good Evening Math last week seemed to be helpful if a student forgot their paper at school.  

Here is this week’s Good Evening Math:

Name:  _____________________                               Week of:  March 2^nd

Good Evening Math

Directions: This is a daily review of the math we have learned so far this year.  Please do your thinking on a separate sheet of paper and staple it to this sheet.  Make sure to label each problem on your thinking paper.

Monday	Tuesday
Divide 7,462 by 7 A:	Multiply: a.)     3 x 1/3 b.)     7 x 2/9 c.)     4 x 2/8 A: B: C:
Find two different equivalent fractions for 3/5 A:	List all of the properties of the polygon below that you can think of.
Draw an example of parallel lines and perpendicular lines and label each. A:	List all of the factors of 42. A:
Wednesday	Thursday
Round to the nearest hundred thousand 835,745                     A:	Are 1/3 and 3/16 equivalent?  Explain. A:
Divide 523 by 8 A:	34,823 + A = 65,274 A:
65 x 78 A:	1,267 divided by 4 A:

This Week’s Reading in the Edge Question….

Compare the main character in your book to YOU!  What do you have in common with the character?  What makes you different from the character in your book?  Use one of the ways that you have been taking notes in class to show your thinking this week.  (We have been using a Venn Diagram or a T-Chart)

        

     I have chosen one way to show my thinking.

         I have written down at least 4 similarities that I have to my character.

         I have written down at least 4 differences that I have compared to my character.  (Make sure you have a difference on both sides.)

         I have used some evidence from the text to support my ideas.

         I have edited my answer with one LENS (capitals, punctuation, spelling)-circle one

Just a reminder...

We have a half day of school this Wednesday, March 4th!

I hope everyone has a great week!

Mrs. Lewis

Coming up this week....

February Vacation Reading Challenge

             I was so excited to see how many students participated in the February Vacation Reading Challenge!  The kids came in to class very excited and proud that they had taken time to read over the vacation week.  A few kids forgot their page at home, so I am taking them tomorrow as well.  After that, I am going to tally the results of the two challenges and share the results with the class.  I will keep you posted!

Coming up this week…

Fraction Work

      We are continuing to learn about fractions in math.  We have been using tape diagrams to break apart a whole into smaller pieces.  The visual picture that we use is really helpful for the kids.  Here is an example of a tape diagram below. 

        We will use tape diagrams as we continue our work with fractions over the next few weeks!

Applying what we know…

      In writing we are talking about what we have already learned as writers so far this year.  We started our discussion today, and it is amazing to see all that the kids have learned.  Over the next few weeks we are going to be using our learning and trying to raise our writing to the “next level.”

Each student will be taking a closer look at his/her own writing.  Ever student has made progress in writing this year.  We are going to celebrate those accomplishments!  Each student will also be thinking about how they can improve their own writing.  We are going to be setting small achievable goals and putting in the effort to meet the goals. 

At this point in the school year, I am trying to push the kids to believe in their writing ability.  They have learned many strategies this year.  At this time of year, they need to be able to have the confidence in their ability as a writer! 

This Week’s Homework…

I am going to post the Reading in the Edges prompt and the Good Evening Math for the week.  If your child forgets the papers at school you can print the page or they can at least see the problems so that they can complete them on separate paper. 

Reading “IN THE EDGES”

Reading in the Edges- Reflection:  At the end of the week you need to reflect on your reading for the week.  You should keep “notes” about your book on sticky notes or on a separate piece of paper so that you can answer the question below. 

Pretend you are one of the main characters in your book and write a diary entry about something that is happening in the story and how you feel about it.  Use details from the story to support your answer.

•          I have the date.
•          I have a greeting (Dear Diary,)
•          I have the diary entry explaining an event in the book.
•          My diary entry explains HOW I feel about the event.
•          I have evidence from the story.
•          I have a closing (Your friend,) and a signature (the name of your main character).
•          I have edited my answer with one LENS (capitals, punctuation, spelling)-circle one

Monday	Tuesday
What do a trapezoid, parallelogram, square and rectangle all have in common? A:  ________________________________________	Compute to find the value of T: 4,533 – T = 489 A:
The first underlined digit is _________________ times as many as the second underlined digit 52,783   74,275 A:	Tell the place of the underlined digits 2,139,668     23,034,782     3,340,219 1. 2. 3.
Write an equation for the following problem and then answer the question. 9 groups of kids join the Basketball Club.  If each group has 25 kids in it, how many kids joined the club altogether? A:	Find the sum 375,572 + 242,825 A:
Wednesday	Thursday
Round to the nearest thousand 835,745                     A:	I want to give each kid in 4th grade a candy bar.  There are 156 kids in 4th grade.  If the candy comes in boxes of 9, how many boxes will I need to buy? A:
Over vacation I went to Florida and walked on the beach.  I collected 75 shells each day I was there.  I was there for 8 days.  How many shells did I collect altogether? A:	Draw and label a right angle, obtuse angle, and acute angle. A:
How many lines of symmetry does the figure below have?    A:	Compute:  8,472 divided by 5 Make sure you CHECK your work! A:

Have a great week!

~Mrs. Lewis

            We are getting ready for another short week!  I hope everyone was able to shovel out and find a place to put all of this snow!  Hopefully you are going someplace warm next week for vacation.  I know I have heard a few kids talking about going away. Even though I am not, I can’t wait to hear all the warm weather stories!  J

Battle of the Picture Books

       The kids have been working hard reading the 32 picture books for our Battle of the Picture Books.  This week we will start voting for the BEST picture book!  They have worked on taking notes about the books, thinking about setting, characters, and theme.  The kids have done a lot of deep thinking about these picture books.  It will be fun to see what book comes out on top!

Wrapping up Geometry

            We will be wrapping up our Geometry unit in math early this week.  We have learned a lot about angles, different types of lines, and describing the attributes of shapes in this unit.  It is fun (and would be a good review) to look for different examples of angles and lines in the real world.  Also, it is important that the students can describe the attributes of shapes, such as right angles, parallel lines, the number of vertices (points) on a shape.  Practicing this and trying to describe shapes with real world objects would be a fun way to keep up with all that the kids have learned so far. 

          Below are some posters that explain how we have talked about angles and lines in our Geometry unit. 

          We will be moving right along into our next unit before the start of vacation.  This next unit is all about Fractions.  I did teach this specific unit of EngageNY last year (as a trial) to my class.  I have never seen so much deep understanding of fractions as I did with this unit last year.  I know that many of the kids overall have a much deeper understanding of numbers and math this year thanks to EngageNY, but I am really hopeful that students will continue to have this deep understanding about fractions.  Last year it really made a lot of sense to students in their understanding of fractions. 

Practicing Over Vacation….

          Since we have had so many snow days and February vacation is right around the corner, it would be beneficial for all of the kids to continue to read over vacation.  Reading even 20 minutes each day over vacation is a simple way to help your child as a reader.  We will talk this week about finding time to read. 

          I am attaching the February Vacation Reading Challenge that I will explain to the kids this week!  

          The information below will be sent home with your child later this week.

                                            

                                             February Vacation

Reading Challenges

We have more vacation time coming our way.  During this time away from school, I hope that many of you will take advantage of this time to do some reading.   I know I will!  To motivate some of you who may not open a book, I have come up with two different challenges.

Challenge #1:  Group Challenge – the girls against the boys.  For this challenge, you’ll need to record how much time you spend reading each day.  The team that averages more time reading each day will win!

2/14 Time: PS:	2/15 Time: PS:	2/16 Time: PS:	2/17 Time: PS:	2/18 Time: PS:	2/19 Time: PS:	2/20 Time: PS:
2/21 Time: PS:	2/22 Time: PS:	PS= Parent Signature

Challenge #2:  This will be an individual challenge – who can read the most books?  This challenge is simple!  Read a chapter book and record it below.  Please record the title and author.  You can go on a separate piece of paper if needed.

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

Prizes will be rewarded for the readers who read!  In order for your books to count, you must have this sheet when we come back to school!  Good luck, happy reading, and see you in a week!

  

I hope everyone has a great week!

~Mrs. Lewis  J