Manning's Message

Welcome Back!

I hope that everyone had a fun and relaxing February break!  We are getting back into the swing of school, and I am looking forward to a solid eight weeks of learning and growing!  This week we will review our expectations for behavior and learning, and I hope to move quickly back to where we were before vacation.  The students are developing their skills and many are able to take on more independent activities.  Students are completing many learning tasks using the iPads and they are learning to manage their assignments and time.  In the upcoming weeks ask your student to see what they are working on using the iPad.  We will continue to develop responsible independent learning practices as our year progresses.

Donations
Thank you to everyone who sent in donations of tissues, soft soap, and wipes! We are all set for a good while.

MCAS

Dates for our class MCAS testing will be:

ELA  - Grade 4 – April 8 & 9

Math - Grade 4 - May 13 & 14 

Language Arts

During reading, we are  focusing on the text structure of compare and contrast. Students are reading a variety of texts based on this structure and are learning how to take notes while reading this type of text in order to write a summary.  Later this week, they will be writing summaries of compare and contrast texts.

During writing,  we are learning to use our narrative writing skills to write text-based narrative essays. This type of essay is written in response to a prompt based on a narrative text.  Students wrote one narrative response before vacation and you can view this response entitled “Wacky Shoes” in their Google Drive.  This week the students have read a text entitled “Enemy Pie” and will be learning how to write a narrative from a different character’s point of view. 

Math

We are beginning Chapter Eight, Adding and Subtracting Decimals where the students will learn that the algorithms for adding and subtracting decimals are the same as for whole numbers.  The students will learn to take care to line-up the decimals points correctly so all the digits are in their proper places.  We will also focus on drawing bar models for two-step real-world problems involving decimals. 

Chapter Seven test came home the Friday before vacation.  Please review the test with your student, sign and return the test and “Glow and Grow.”  You may keep the Ban document for your records.

Social Studies

We are beginning our study of the rights of citizens of our country.  Students will be making a “Rights of Citizens” pyramid and will be researching the the Bill of Rights.