Ms. Wentworth's 4th Grade Class

Dear Families,

Happy Friday everyone! For a short week, we have been able to squeeze in a lot of learning. This included a hands-on approach as we visited our outdoor classroom Holly Hill! Students exhibited fantastic expected behavior on our first field trip, and as a result we got a lot out of this learning experience.

This week in 4W, we continued our second unit in math. We are working on square numbers, factor pairs, and multiples. Understanding 4^th grade vocabulary in math this year is critical, so it is important to take our time with homework and discuss these words with someone at home. Today, students rotated through a “carousel” in class which reviewed math terms and got us out of our seats to practice these skills. We also worked on a math open response which encouraged students to use critical thinking skills. Students then revised their work after reviewing samples from others, which allowed everyone to carefully examine their answers and add onto it!

In science, we are dissecting lilies on Monday to conclude our botany unit. This was such an enjoyable unit of study, and we were fortunate to visit Holly Hill to reinforce these concepts. This week in reading, we read a Tall Tale titled Stormalong and we learned how to completely answer an open response question using our R.A.C.E forms. This organizer is used to help us organize our thoughts and fully answer the question by citing evidence from the text. If you ask your child about this, I am sure they will respond by saying it was a lot of work at first, but as we practice it will become easier! They did a great job as I modeled this technique. In ELA, students also began our novel study, Gilly Hopkins. This novel is about a spunky young girl and her experience as a ten year old in foster care. We will be spending this time analyzing, comprehending, and writing about Gilly Hopkins and her adventures. Having just read two chapters as a class, I already see students diving into the story and connecting to our main character. We look forward to reading more about the life of this mischievous ten year old.

To conclude our updates, students received their first book report today! We spent time reviewing the directions and were able to view examples from previous years. This book report is a mystery puzzle report, and students will be given the opportunity to choose a mystery book to read in library next week! Students will also receive their oak-tag on Monday. This is not due until November 14^th. Below, are some questions for classroom conversation. Thank you for your continuous support. Enjoy your weekend!

Sincerely,

Ms. Wentworth :)

1. What evidence from the text did you use to support the character traits for Stormalong?

2. Is 28 a prime or composite number?

3. What is the difference between a factor and a multiple?

4. Can you describe a R.A.C.E form to me? How did you use this to answer the Stormalong question