4th Grade News

Important Dates














Spelling Week 2
Said
Have
They
Discovery
Musician
Study y ending
Study ian suffix



H
e
le
n
M
a
th
e
w
s
E
le
m
e
n
ta
r
y

August 22, 2014
Issue #2
Character Word: Cooperation
Its been a busy week at school. I hope youve been checking your childs assignment
book. Its the spiral notebook in his/her binder. This is where students record their
minutes read aloud. Please sign the reading page at least once a week.
Youll also notice I can or I am working on statements in this notebook. This may
be a change from last year. Instead of students writing down what were doing in
class, they are taking ownership of their learning with these statements. The news-
letter will let you know what were learning.
One I can statement tells how many multiplication problems your child can do in
five minutes. Fact fluency makes doing math so much easier! Ten to fifteen minutes
of nightly practice online or with flashcards is recommended until mastery of 100
problems is achieved. The class website, www.cd-4.net, has links to supplementary
material. Mrs. Michel, the computer teacher, set up Xtra Math accounts for every
student. Your child should know how to log into this account at home.
Another I can statement tells if your child is reading above, on, or below grade
level based on his/her SRI score a computerized reading test. Regardless of the
level, ALL students need to read aloud for at least 20 minutes, five times a week.
Weve been working on good reader strategies, so you may notice him/her stopping to
summarize, make connections, visualize, monitor, infer, or question. Im training stu-
dents to pay attention to what happens in their minds as they read. This will increase
comprehension quickly.
The students are loving the science experiments. Well continue investigating the
scientific method with these experiments next week. We will also explore soil. If
you have clay soil at your house, Id LOVE a gallon baggy of it. Were going to
plant seeds in clay and topsoil to see which soil grows better plants. Well also
see which soil holds the most water.
In writing, were going to write personal narratives. The students seem to enjoy
writing, and most love sharing their stories with the rest of the class.
Book orders are due 8/29. For ordering information, go to
www.scholastic.com/readingclub and use this code: J6MJ4


9/1No School
10/101/2 Day
Week of 10/13
Parent/Teacher Conferences
10/17No School