Friday, Merry Christmas!

We had a great day today. We finished, A Christmas Carol, made gifts and opened presents. The students did very well on their two songs at the program. May you all have a blessed Christmas. We will see your children on January 2nd, 2014.

Thursday - gift exchange is tomorrow

Students enjoyed seeing Christmas around Cache Valley. Different people came in and had the students join them in various activities about Christmas. Then in the afternoon we went over to practice for our Christmas program. Hope to see you there.

Wednesday

We finished our second, A Christmas Carol movie today. The class seemed to like it. On Friday we will watch the last one. We are hurrying to finish the book too. In math we learned how to recognize acute, obtuse and right angles. Then in the afternoon students practiced for the program set for Friday afternoon. Please make sure to be there early. Also, students need to get their gifts for the exchange here tomorrow. It just saves a lot of grief if the gifts are here a day early.

Tuesday

Students studied their vocabulary words today, tomorrow we will review. Then we started the second of the, "A Christmas Carol." This one is the "Muppet Christmas Carol." Again, we are comparing similarities and differences between the movies and the books. Math was a bit of a challenge today as students began using protractors. I think the most difficult part is remembering where to place it so you can use both angle arms. We worked diligently on the page, and will continue to do so. Students then went to science and library. We finished the day cleaning and reading, "A Christmas Carol." Please remember to send a gift with your child by Thursday. It will make everyone's life calmer. And at this time of the year we seem to all need that.

Monday - Christmas is coming

This morning students read their stories and we finally got to watch Mr. Magoos's A Christmas Carol. We will be watching two other versions and compare those with the actual story by Charles Dickens. In math we struggled with measuring angles. It was new, we redid the paper and some students will have it as homework tonight. Make sure they are putting the lines together and the point of the measuring tool is on the point of the angle. We will continue this tomorrow.

On Thursday we will be doing Christmas around Cache Valley in the morning. On Friday we will have our Christmas Party from 11:00 to 11:45. Before that we will be finishing our last A Christmas Carol, movie. We will be doing a gift exchange. Your child can bring an inexpensive store bought gift or something homemade. Please make sure the gifts are here by Thursday so we don't have to fret on Friday. Thanks!

Friday

Our Hour of Code on Wednesday went really well. Some of the students have already started on the Khan Academy lessons for coding. Some are just reviewing the first lesson to relearn the information. I really would like to use the Khan Academy for all students to help them in the areas they are weak. If you will send me permission, I will put your child in my class. Thursday we learned about adding fractions and Friday we learned how to do word problems with fractions. Students needed to understand which information was necessary. We took reading and spelling tests today and started on our first, "A Christmas Carol" movie. Unfortunately the school Internet did not cooperate. We will be comparing the movies to the book, which is a skill listed under the common core to compare and contrast.

The Christmas program is next Friday at 1:30 in the auditorium You are invited to watch your child in this activity. It is a good idea to arrive early as last year there was standing room only. Also Scrooge is being presented in Preston tonight.

Tuesday, please let me know

This morning we practiced making sentences more exciting. Students had fun adding words to their sentences so the sentences would be more exact in meaning. Then we read our fluency words for the story, "The Bridge Dancers." Then we read the story. In math we are learning to add fractions. This is fairly simple for the students who add well. For those who do not, it is a trial. Please practice basic math facts with your children regularly. It is one thing that parents can do that will help students so very much.

Tomorrow, during math time, we are going to do something very different. We are all going to go on Khan Academy to learn a little computer coding. We will just do it for the one day. Students that find it interesting can continue with Khan Academy lessons. I would like each parent's permission to register their child on Khan Academy. I have sent home an email asking for that permission. If you do not want to do that, they can do this without registering. Please let me know as soon as possible as it does take the parent's email to do this and I need to set a password up. So it will take some time. This should be an eye opener for the children as to how easy basic coding is. Many jobs in the future will either depend on farming or coding.

Monday

Today students reviewed their spelling words. We sat at the table and the students were able to see the connections in the words that they are spelling. Then we went to the computer lab. Students that can type more thatn 20 words per minute with 95% accuracy are being allowed to type stories. We will be getting into power point after Christmas.

In math we learned how to multiply denominators together to get a common multiple. Some students really struggled with where to put which number. We will continue to review, or you can help them at home. Then they went to Science where there are learning about how animals use camouflage

We are having a food bank at the school. Students are encouraged to bring food for those without. Canned food is the best to bring. Thanks for your help. Also, we need any book orders in right away. Please get this done so I can send it in. Thanks!

Friday

So sorry for the lack of posts, my mom has been having some health issues and I had to be gone today. Students should have taken their reading and spelling tests. Some students will be in different spelling groups and their homework pages were handed to them before I left school today. They also had an art activity this afternoon. Our Scholastic reading orders need to be places as soon as possible. If you could please get online and post your order. The password to do so is L8J7V. Thanks

Wednesday

We read the most interesting story today. It was about the first doctor who opened a chest to sew up a heart. The story told how dangerous it was for the doctor, but he knew the man would die if he did not operate. Students then started on their third story. This one is a narrative. They are to tell a story. It is required for the 4th grade common core. This story must have conversations in it. In math we came one step closer to the mathematical way of finding equivalent fractions. It will be nice to get here.

In Social Studies we learned the dance "Mayim" to got with our Hanukkah study. It is a fun dance and the students appeared to be having a great time. Then we sang "Hava Nagila." Students went to choir, they are getting ready for the Christmas Program which will be held about 1:30 on December 20th. If you plan on coming, come early. Scholastic book orders will be due on December 6th. That way we will get the books back in time for Christmas. You can order online. Our class's code is L8J7V http://www.scholastic.com/parents/

Monday and Tuesday

This week we are learning about Hanukkah. On Monday we listened to a Hanukkah story and today we watched a movie and each student made a menorah. As students learn about different cultures, they will learn to appreciate other people. The story of Hanukkah tells how the Jews fought against the Greeks who were trying to destroy the Jewish faith by encouraging the people to give up their beliefs.

We took a math test yesterday and today started anew on equivalent fractions. Up to this point we have just compared models. But tomorrow we will begin seeing the mathematical way to find equivalence.

In reading we reviewed the new words in our reading selection. There were many words that the students were unfamiliar with. We will not be doing normal vocabulary this week, and the first spelling test will be Thursday instead of Wednesday.