Stanza 9 of PRR is due this Friday!
Attention Parents! Please help 4th grade win the highest number of surveys completed in the school!
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.
NEWS:
Please send in "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" books before Spring Break.
Testing News:
Dear Parents of 3rd – 5th Grade Students,
Please make note of our state mandated spring testing schedule for AZ Science (5th only) and AASA (Arizona’s Academic Standards Assessment) for 3rd, 4th, 5th grade. To learn more about these assessments, please refer to the following AZ Department of Education resources: · Why Statewide Testing Participation Matters to Students · A Parent Guide to Understanding Arizona's Statewide Assessments (Spanish)
Our testing window begins on Monday, March 24th and runs through April 17th.
4th Grade Testing:
Practice Days: 3/25 and 3/28
Writing: Friday, April 4th
ELA/Math Part 1: Thursday, April 10th
ELA/Math Part 2: Tuesday, April 15th
Please avoid absences, late arrivals, and early departures on testing days. Please reschedule any appointments that conflict with your child’s testing schedule. Our testing schedule is carefully planned to maximize our computer resources and battery life as well as to support student achievement. 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 will be eliminated or significantly reduced on the evening prior to the AASA test administration. Parents can best support testing by ensuring that students arrive at school well-rested, on-time, fortified with a healthy protein breakfast and snack, and full of words of encouragement.
Furthermore, parents can additionally enable their scholars by visiting the AASA website and utilizing the sample test resources beforehand. The AASA practice tests mimic the real test portal and provide an advantage of familiarity of the technology and website functionality. Students will be briefly exposed to the sample tests in the classroom. However, any additional time spent exploring the sample tests at home helps to expose students to the format and functionality of the portal along with the types of questions that might be asked. Practicing builds confidence and allows students to display their knowledge without worrying about the computer-based testing format. Invite your student to click all the buttons to avoid that temptation that typically manifests on the day of testing. Please note that students will be using laptops with a trackpad (not a mouse) on campus and are asked to write a rough draft and show their work on scratch paper.
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 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
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 9 is due this Friday, March 7th. 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 finish reading "Prince Caspian" by C.S. Lewis. This week we will read chapters 14-15. There are no reading groups in Q3W9.
In the COMPOSITION program for the week we will write a 5-Paragraph essay using the 10 step method. Students will take a position and use two articles to draw evidence and make citations.
In GRAMMAR, we will work from AASA test preparation materials.
In LATIN AND GREEK ROOTS we have 3 roots this week:
Q3 W9 Roots
Mon
metron - measure (Greek)
me ter (n) – unit of measure (39.47 inches long)
meas ure (v) – determine the size, amount, or degree of something
ge om e try (n) – (GEO = earth) – measurement of the earth
sym me try (n) – (SYM = same, equal) measuring the same – made up of exactly similar parts
di am e ter (n) (DIA = through, across) – the measurement through the center of a circle or sphere
Tues
astron – star (Greek)
as trol o gy (n) – study of the stars and celestial bodies
as ter oid (adj) (EDIOS = form) – in the form of a star 2 (n) a small rocky body orbiting the sun
as ter (n) star-shaped flower
as tron o mer (n) (ONOMA = name) - one who names the stars/an expert in celestial studies
as tral (navigation) (n) navigating by the stars - added navigation due to Bowditch book coming up
Wed
stella – star (Latin)
con stel la tion – (n) (group of stars forming a recognizable pattern
in ter stel lar – (adj) between the stars
stel lar – (adj) – pertaining to a star, or stars
stel late – (adj) – star shaped
stel ler id – (n) – a star fish
Math:
In Math, we will continue Chapter 9 on Geometry and measuring angles. Here are links to instructive help for scholars.
History:
In History in W9 we will finish up our lapbooks for the quarter.
Science:
Scholars will conclude our unit this week with a volcano simulation.
Remember, the blog is updated weekly. Be sure to come back frequently to see any upcoming events or changes in fourth grade.