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:

-Make sure scholars bring back their baggies with hearts for their classmates by 2/9.

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. 

NEWS:

Medieval Faire 2/21

The PSO is updating how the Medieval Faire will run this year. Instead of each 4th‑grade class having its own booth, the entire grade will run one shared booth: the Royal Cupcake Court (a musical cake‑walk–style game) on Saturday, Feb. 21 from 11 AM–2 PM. Parents are asked to volunteer to run the booth, help with setup and cleanup, and donate individually wrapped treats a few days before the event. Volunteers also help staff one bounce house.

A sign‑up link is provided for all volunteer roles, and no fingerprint clearance is required. Each grade’s booth has a supply bin ready for pickup; 4th‑grade class parents should coordinate who will pick it up by Friday, Feb. 6. The booth has a $50 budget and access to a tent, tables, and chairs. PSO leads Sarah Davis and Kirsten Mussi are available for questions.

Here’s the link to the Medieval Faire Sign-Up Page, which includes the grade-level sign-up as well. Please share this with all of your parents as often as possible between now and February 21! We need all the help we can get!

https://signup.com/go/YFoARYh

4th Grade Parents- each class in 4th grade is looking for a parent volunteer to help coordinate our Field Day on March 5th. Please reach out to the lead teacher if you are available to help. Things needing coordination include:

--This parent volunteer will oversee your class wagon (provided by parent) on Field Day and will accompany the class throughout the event (not be volunteering at any station). Please note that snacks and drinks will not be supplied by the school/PSO for Field Day so this parent will coordinate a class snack with other parents; Students should bring their own water bottles and snacks, which can be carried in the class wagon by the parent volunteer. Their support will be very helpful as we move forward with planning and logistics including organizing the class themed color (for example 4A is red- so buying red bandanas, sweatbands or the like for the class).

-For our field trip on Thursday, 2/12, we will be able to explore life during the American Revolution through the lens of the Liberty Festival. The students will be seeing the day-to-day of American life in 1776 through crafts, games, and even battle reenactments, all of which peer into the stark contrast between the students' experience and their founding fathers'. Such an adventure lays the visual groundwork for our history unit in the fourth quarter: The American Revolution. This will occur at Schnepp farms, where the sun hangs high, so it will be vital for students to bring sunscreen and water. From there, we will go to Phoenix Regional park to finish the day with fun. This trip as a whole will take up the majority of the academic day, but does not excuse students from responsibilities such as homework, late work, or studying.

Reminders: Students will need a bagged lunch and a disposable water bottle that day to ensure that anything lost is not a major concern. Uniforms are still required due to safety reasons. It looks like the weather will be cloudy and cool, so students may want a jacket (labeled with a name) as the entire day will be outside.

-Chapter 7 Math test was Friday 2/6.  Test corrections are due 1 week from receiving the graded tests.

CURRICULUM:

ELA:

     POETRY  "Paul Revere's Ride" stanza 6 is due this Friday, February 13th.  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 this week students work through an independent, graded 5-paragraph essay during an extended writing block. We reviewed the essay writing process, structure, and expectations using spiral notes, mentor examples, and prior class notes. Students are reading two paired texts (Pets and Schools), highlighting the prompt, planning with a graphic organizer, and drafting their essays while incorporating text evidence in each body paragraph. The focus is on organization, clarity, and using evidence effectively. Students are encouraged to work efficiently, though some may need additional time to finish their essays.

    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 will postpone the Roots program this week due to the Composition assignment and the Field Trip and Great Hearts Day. The roots for this week were skopeo – look at, inspect, examine and video/visum – see. We will come back to these later this year.

Math:

In Math, we have finished 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 Monday.  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.

Video on Mali

W5:

Archaeological Sites of the Island of Meroe

The Ancient Aksom City of Meroe

Science – Using Natural Resources for Energy
    This week in Science, students begin our new unit on Energy Choices by learning how people use natural resources to produce electricity and how scientists make decisions using cost-benefit analysis. On Wednesday (2/11), we will read Chapter 1 of the Student Reader and explore the difference between renewable and nonrenewable energy resources, discussing their pros and cons through class discussions, videos, and science journal work. Students will practice explaining how energy sources work, identifying one benefit and one challenge of each, and using academic vocabulary to support their thinking. There is no Science on Thursday (field trip) or Friday (GH Day). A comprehension check is scheduled for 3/4/26, and students will continue building skills that prepare them for the final written assessment later in the unit.

Remember, the blog is updated weekly. Be sure to come back frequently to see any upcoming events or changes in fourth grade.