Q3W6
Happy Week 6, Amazing 4th grade families! This is a time of year to encourage all scholars to finish the year with a renewed vigor and perseverance. Many scholars have pushed through challenges and barriers through Q1-2, but are showing signs of weariness and a lack of persistence. These are truly amazing kids, and have shown great stamina. Fourth grade in general saw a lot of progress on the Galileo tests! Let's keep up the at-home motivation, check-ins, study help and positive encouragement. Thank you for all your support!
Reminder:
Fourth Grade Homework Expectations
It is the scholar's responsibility to regularly communicate with their parents about any missing assignments. Students receive a daily notification of any late work. This will not happen in 5th grade.
For Quarters 2-4, all late assignments will incur a 10% deduction per day. After 10 school days, missing assignments will be recorded as a zero in the grade book.
Dear Parents of 3rd – 5th Grade Students,
I want to share with you that AZ Science (5th only) and AASA (Arizona’s Academic Standards Assessment) for 3rd, 4th, 5th grade are upcoming. To learn more about these assessments, please refer to the following AZ Department of Education resources:
Our testing window spans Monday, March 31st through Tuesday, April 17th. The dates for each grade are:
3rd Grade Writing: Tuesday, April 3rd Reading: Wednesday, April 10th ELA/Math #1: Tuesday, April 8th ELA/Math #2: Monday, April 14th
3rd graders will have on-campus practice sessions March 24th, 27th & April 2nd | 4th Grade Writing: Friday, April 4th ELA/Math #1: Thursday, April 10th ELA/Math #2: Tuesday, April 15th
4th graders will have on-campus practice sessions March 25th & 28th | 5th Grade Science: Monday, March 31st Writing: Monday, April 7th ELA/Math #1: Friday, April 11th ELA/Math #2: Thursday, April 17th |
Please ensure that your student is present on time, and does not depart early on testing days. Please reschedule any appointments that conflict with your child’s testing schedule. State testing includes many restrictions that impact administration of the test. These rules include the inability to stop and resume testing beyond a single school day and the strict guidelines governing students leaving the testing environment, testing breaks, and well as test completion deadlines.
During testing, homework may not be assigned or significantly reduced on the evening prior to the AASA test administration. I ask that you support your student’s testing success by ensuring that (s)he arrives at school well-rested, on-time, fortified with a healthy protein breakfast and snack, and full of words of encouragement.
Furthermore, parents can help enable student success by exploring the TestNav portal at home with your student on a familiar device. The ‘Student Readiness Tool’ allows students to explore the testing portal to gain familiarity with the technological knowledge needed to truly display their academic knowledge. The goal is never to ‘teach to the test’, but testing anxiety can be lessened with exposure and encouragement.
There are sample tests available as well. 3rd & 4th graders will have on campus practice sessions with the student computers. However, additional at home practice is encouraged. Invite your student to click all the buttons to avoid that temptation on the day of testing. Explore the variety of answer formats (select one, select all, drag/drop, ordering, short answer, highlight from the paragraph, etc.). Please note that students will be using laptops with a trackpad (not a mouse), are asked to write a rough draft of their written response before typing & are asked to utilize scratch paper to solve math problems.
To visit the sample tests, visit: https://home.testnav.com/. Select Arizona, scroll down, then click on Mic Check and Sample Tests. Select AASA TestNav Sample Tests or AzSCI (5th grade only) and your child’s grade level. Select the sample tests provided for Math, Writing or ELA.
Thank you in advance for your support,
Lindsay Tremblay
Dean of Academics & Testing Coordinator
-Chapter 7 Math test is Tuesday, 2/11. Scholars should make corrections in their Blue Math books and correct all classwork quizzes in order to study!
Dress Code Notes:
Only school logo sweaters are allowed to be worn in the building. Non-dress code sweaters/fleeces/jackets can be worn at recess only and must be in their backpack/cubby while in the building. Now that the weather is getting cooler, remember that long sleeve shirts worn underneath a polo can be white, maroon, navy, or black. Black or blue leggings are allowed under skirts, but they should reach the sock line (not capri length).
CURRICULUM:
ELA:
POETRY "Paul Revere's Ride" stanza 6 is due this Friday, February 14th. This poem spans 13 weeks (into Q4) and culminates in a grade-wide reciting of the poem in entirety for the parents.
This Poem is a behemoth of a memorization task for scholars. It should be taken seriously and can be enjoyable to accomplish such a task. In Fourth Grade, we do not have any "at-home" projects per se. Consider the memorization and recitation of this work a 13 week-long project endeavor. It can even become a family practice to memorize the weekly stanza.
Helpful Practices for Memorization:
-Listen to the poem in it's entirety, daily
-Scholars should write out the stanza memorization for the week (hang it on the bathroom mirror)
-Illustrate or act out the stanza
-Look up unfamiliar words or phrases to understand the meaning
-Re-write that section in your own words (modern language)
-Perform a word while another person says every other word until scholar can say it independently
-Practice reciting in the mirror
-Make up body or hand motions to certain lines and phraes
-Write the stanza out on a whiteboard and erase a word or phrase
-Tell yourself everyday, "I can memorize this, and so did the Fourth Graders before me!"
LITERATURE This week we continue reading "Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis. Scholars should have the book in class. This week we will read chapters 5-8. We will read chapter 6 in reading groups on Wednesday.
In the COMPOSITION program for the week we will again work on analyzing writing pieces and utilizing comprehension skills as our preparation for AASA testing in April.
In GRAMMAR, we again take a break from the WOL book as we look at vocabulary and grammar related questions and thinking to standardized testing.
In Philosophy, we will examine the dialogue between Caspian and Nikabrik on pg. 77, "Do you believe in Aslan"...
In LATIN AND GREEK ROOTS we have 3 roots this week:
Q3 W6 Roots
Mon
skopeo – look at, inspect, examine
scope (n) all that the eye can see
mi cro scope (n) – device to look at small objects (mickros=small)
tel e scope (n) device for seeing distant objects. (tele = distant)
per i scope (n) device for seeing around obstacles (peri=around)
ka lei do scope (n) device for seeing changing beautiful forms or arrangements of small fragments of glass, etc. (kalos=beautiful; eidos=form)
Tues
video/visum – see
tel e vi sion (n) machine for seeing things that are far away (tele=far away)
in vi si ble (adj) unable to be seen; not visible to the eye
dico/dictum – speak, say
dic tion (n) – the choice of words in speech or writing
con tra dict (v) to say against
dic tate (v) to say something for another person to write down
Math:
In Math, we will finish Chapter 7 decimal concepts in our 4B Green and Blue Math books. We will begin chapter 8 concepts on finding Area and Perimeter after a lesson on properties of quadrilaterals on Wednesday. Once chapter 7 tests are graded and returned, Test Corrections should be submitted.
History:
In History in W6, we will continue our journey in African Kingdoms. We will read chapters 3-5 about the development of regions of ancient Africa.
W5:
Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe
The Ancient Aksom City of Meroe
Science:
We will begin our investigation of 4 major geologic events including earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and geysers. This week's focus is earthquakes and resulting tsunamis.
W6 Videos
Tsunami 1
Tsunami 2
W4-5 Videos
Remember, the blog is updated weekly. Be sure to come back frequently to see any upcoming events or changes in fourth grade.